The second day, we got up so late, it was 11:30am. Then, we had a branch. Two of us, Takashi and Shinji, had much more homework, so they went back to college earlier. Rest of us, Saori and I, visited a kind of old village near here. It is called 窶廣mana colonies.窶� They originally moved from German to New York City, but they loved countryside life, then, moved to Iowa. Some of them have really fundamental thinking; they rejected to use electricity. They live in near Iowa City and still continue this lifestyle. But the people in Amana colonies are really modernized. This district is designated National Historical Landscape, so that many tourists came to see some German cultural stuff. Barbara explained to us in detail. We watched the houses from the car. Architectures are kind of old fashioned, but it was so beautiful. When they change the color of the house, they have to have a meeting to maintain the 窶彙eautiful窶� town scenery, she told us. We also walked around the cemetery. Unlike the Japanese cemetery, they are buried in died order not with their family. Most of the last name seemed to emanate from Germany. Each gravestone was the same figure. In this sense, they are really equal, my teacher added. That was interesting place. After that, we saw the Christmas tree house and souvenir shop. Then, we left the town, got back to Coe.

Overall, we had a really good weekend. Not only did we talk a lot, we enjoyed staying; cooking, dinner, playing cards. Most of the students, including Japanese exchange students, went somewhere interesting whole the week. It is true that I envy them, but I am sure I had an enjoyable, relaxed, fun week as much as they had even though I didn窶冲 go away from here, Cedar Rapids.

Next usual busy week will start tomorrow again.