A summary of my life and some of my favorite things to do

I lived in a house with 3 other American girls and 4 Japanese girls, each in our own room. We'd cook at home and our house was often a gathering place for the students of the program, Japanese and American. I had about 10 hours of Japanese classes a week with students from CET, and then an additional 2 classes, one in English, one in Japanese, with exchange students from CET and other programs. It was hard to break out of the exchange student bubble and meet other Japanese students.
One of the great advantages of living in Osaka (and Japan in general) is how easy it is to travel, and I spent many of my weekends traveling in Osaka, or Kyoto, or Kobe. While I cooked most of my meals, which meant I didn't necessarily eat a traditional Japanese meal most of the time, there are lots of great restaurants to eat at -- and it's not as expensive as everyone says! Prices are very similar to the US, and there is lots of delicious food to try--okonomiyaki, ramen, soba, udon, takoyaki, taiyaki were some of my favorites. Also, I loved being able to go to a sentou or onsen as often as I liked, almost once a week in my case, and that is one of the things I miss moust about living in Aikawa, my neighborhood in Osaka.