Day 10: Our Earthquake experience (5.3 magnitude quake)

Blog post from Jocelyn:

Half of crew near Osaka castle. We met a German Exchange student named Entrich who talked with us for a while

Today we all travelled from our separate host family’s houses to the train station and met at Osakajo-koen station. But while Luna and I were waiting for a train, there was an earthquake and the platform shook. Nothing was damaged near us, but it was still very unexpected, and there was a bit of confusion as we decided what to do next. 

Clay

“I thought the earthquake was very scary. Originally I thought my host dad was doing something downstairs until Fynn told me it was an earthquake. In the end, everything was okay and everyone was alright.”

Fynn

“I knew it was an earthquake, so I didn’t think it was too scary. But afterwards I watched the news and I was worried about the trains because they stopped moving.”

Calvin:

“I was on the train when the earthquake happened. The train was just about to leave the station. I was about four stops away from the station we were going to meet at. So I had to take a bus and walk the rest of the way.”

Originally we were going to go to Osaka Castle today, but now we might go another day. But we could see the top of the castle from our meeting point at Osakajo-koen. 

Instead, we took the subway for the first time, and walked to big Glico sign by river in downtown Osaka. It has lots of clothes shops and restaurants. 

During our free time we all had lunch and explored the area. Eventually we were able to meet up with Isabel, Chenoa, Payton, Damaris, and Cassie who had a little bit of a difficult time getting to the meeting point since the trains were down. Unfortunately, Patience wasn’t able to make it since her host family lives a little bit farther away and the trains were down but she’s doing okay. 

Isabel/Chenoa/Payton:

“I was staying with Payton and Chenoa when the earthquake happened and we were still in the house. Payton and Chenoa thought it was a train but were told it was an earthquake. We still went to the train station afterwards but found out none of the trains were running. It took us awhile to figure out how to meet up with everyone but it worked out in the end.”

Damaris:

“I was getting ready when the earthquake happened. It wasn’t the first earthquake I’ve been in but it was still a long time since I’ve experienced one. We went outside during the earthquake and eventually I took the subway to meet everyone.”

Cassie:

“This morning was a little stressful and confusing with the earthquake.”

Afterwards we headed our separate ways and returned to our host families.