THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL OF YOKOHAMA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY LEAVES US WANTING MORE

May 19th, 2018

Following the long preparation, the day is finally here - the school’s famous festival has arrived! Students from all departments and clubs or circles are rushing around, finalizing the decorations and stands. Spirits are high and laughter can be heard in any corner of the campus. The delicious aroma, coming from the food stands, which are lined up along the main road of the campus, are drawing in huge crowds and long queues. But students don’t seem to mind it all that much and seem eager to go back and enjoy the different events, organized by the circles and clubs.

We visited the tea ceremony club and had the delight of experiencing an authentic tea ceremony. The whole ceremony lasted for about 15 minutes, during which we were served freshly brewed matcha tea. The whole experience was enchanting and it was easily noticeable that the preparation took many, many hours.

After the tea ceremony was done, our team decided to try out some of the appetizing street food, prepared and served by the students. We managed to get a generous serving of okonomiyaki, classic bite-sized yakitori and a couple of pancakes. The waiting was completely worth it, because each meal entered our “clean plate club”!

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and in this case we completely agree - by the time we finished our food, the sun had already started to set and people started gathering around the center of the campus, pumped up for the long-awaited dance club’s performance. And let me tell you, our team completely understood the hype, surrounding this part of the school festival.

The dancers were outstanding, the teamwork and synchronization were flawless and the whole crowd was going wild. The best part is that due to the size of the dancing circle, there were plenty of groups with different styles and music, so everyone could pick their favorites.

When the event finally finished, we were left with a feeling of bliss, which proved to us that we would definitely visit this unforgettable festival again next year.