This summer vacation was my very first summer vacation in university. I had a lot more free time than the vacations in previous schools. The main reason is that I did not have any homework. So I got to do a lot of fun things. The most impressive things were that I went to see my grandmother in Hokkaido, went to the "Morikoro Park" in Nagakute city with the members of my club activity, and to Disneyland with my friends.

 

First, I went to Hokkaido where my grandmother lives. I stayed there for four days. Annually, I go there with my family, but this time I went there by myself. At first, I was a little nervous because as I stated, I have never been there on my own before. Nevertheless, when I arrived there, I felt relieved and satisfied. First of all, I took a plane to the city called Chitose. Next, I took a train from there to the city where my grandmother's house lives. From the station, I took a taxi. As soon as she noticed that I had arrived at her house, she came out to see me. We were so happy to see each other. During my stay there, I helped her a lot. The main thing that I did was go to the grocery shop for her. She told me that she can barely go to the grocery store since her knees hurt and it is far away from her house. For that reason, her refrigerator was as good as empty. In fact, she did not even have a bottle of water. So I decided to go there for her. I bought many things and as a result, her refrigerator was filled with food and drinks. She felt so happy and thanked me a lot. On the second day, we went to a hot spring which is close to my grandmother's house. It takes less than 30 minutes by foot. However, it is impossible for my grandmother to walk at my pace, so it took us nearly 45 minutes to go there. I felt so comfortable because I had not been to a hot spring for such a long time. I talked with my grandmother about many things. She looked so content when I told her that I am studying hard and have made good friends in school. After we took a bath, we had dinner at a restaurant which was near the hot spring. Since it was after a bath, the meal was so delicious. When we got home, I went to bed straight away. On the morning of the day that I returned home, she told me that she would be lonely again from that day. I reminded her that I would go next year as well to see her. I went to my grandmother's house by my own efforts for the first time and had a great time there.

 

Next, I went to the park called "Morikoro Park" which is located in the city called Nagakute with the members of my club. The club that I participate in is a group that teaches English to children, so we went with some of the children that we teach. During the morning, we divided into groups of pre-school, first year students, fourth year elementary school students and walked around the park. I was in charge of the pre-school group. Each group had some quiz which they were assigned to answer. For example, "There are some statues of girls within this park. Can you find them"? Our group had to find the statue of an elephant, an old man, and a picture of something. I forgot what picture it was. we were able to find all the things which we were asked to find. After lunch, we went to the children's hall in the park and stayed there until the time of our departure. We did not have enough energy to play, seeing that we were exhausted. In spite of that, the children were so powerful that they were in high spirits. We were so content to see them play so happily due to the fact that they got to have so much fun. I thought they were cute and in addition, it reminded me of my childhood. At the time we left the park, the children looked so tired that some of them even slept on the train. Even so, they were more fulfilled than what I imagined. Moreover, I was so fatigued that I went straight to bed when I reached my destination. We had so much fun and it was a satisfactory day.

 

The last big thing I did this summer was that I went to Disneyland with my friends. I was so excited but a little nervous since this was the first time that I went with friends. We went on many kinds of attractions and bought many cute things. The most entertaining things were "Mickey Mouse's House" and "It's a Small World". I thought Mickey Mouse's House was very cute. The things that he owned were so charming, such as his clothes, his pet Pluto's house, and the pictures of him and his friends such as Minnie Mouse. It seemed like he was setting great value on these things. We did not only see inside Mickey Mouse's House but also we had an opportunity to take pictures with him. He was very happy to see us that he welcomed us warmly. He was exceedingly adorable. We were happy to see him as well in view of the fact that we did not have much time to meet the characters because it was crowded. I found the ride "It's a Small Word" so intriguing and endearing. Many children from many different countries were singing and dancing so cheerfully. I got absorbed in that atmosphere. It seemed like they were advocating something important to us- we live in the same planet, each country should respect each other, and that racial discrimination and segregation are intolerable. In the past, people who were discriminated against were not even treated as human beings. Some people were treated worse than animals. For example, during World War 2, in Germany, many people subjected Jewish people to insult just because of their religious views. They deprived them of living normal lives. Moreover, until that late 1960's, African American people were segregated from white people which means that they could not do the same things as white people. Even in the present age, there are countries who dislike each other and humiliate people of each other's countries. The ride is telling us that even if some people look different from other people, they are the same as us, human beings. I also liked their clothes. They were so lovely. We looked at some gift shops. Everything was so highly lovable that I wanted to buy all the things in the store. There were numerous things that are impossible to find in other stores. I bought many of these things though they were rather expensive. I purchased so much that it got too heavy for me to carry them to the bus. This being the case, I felt so fulfilled that I was able to go on many enjoyable attractions and had an opportunity to buy things that I can only find in Disneyland.

 

In summary, this summer was the most pleasurable summer that I have ever experienced. In view of the fact that I got to go to Hokkaido on my own to see my grandmother, went to "Morikoro Park" with the children and went to Disneyland with my friends. Hopefully, the summer next year will be as wonderful.

by Aya