Reunite Day

A good friend came three hours to visit me this weekend. She came on saturday and spent the night. Ashley Stoffers went to college with me. Right now, she is a fullbright scholar teaching English in a subarb near Seoul. It was so great seeing her. I was so used to seeing her at school that it felt wierd not seeing her everyday. She is the most caring nicest person in the world. She brought me my early birth present which consisted of items to survice in Korea. It was in a cute Hello Kitty bag. I've been having a not so good experience in Korea and her coming had made my week.

We went out for lunch and had a delicious meal- it was cold noodle with chilli sauce. I felt way healtheir after eating that. We than took the subway to a traditional shopping place. Things were on the pricey end but we all ended up buying little souvenirs. I say ninja turtle!! Well, actually there was this man who was literally green walking down the street like it was a normal thing. There was a white dude doing something on the streets; Koreans were actually giving him money! Next, we went to Daedonum (?) shopping district and I was blown away by the vastness of everything. There were whole buildings (many) dedicated to clothes. The clothes were the most fashionalest I've ever seen. I wanted to buy everything I set my eyes on but fortunately I was able to controll my impulsiveness and bought just one shirt. But boy, am I coming back and shop like crazy! I have to figure out how much I can afford to spend and still have enough for food for the next three months. We toured till we got tired and left for home. We stopped by this really good restaurant by Yonsei Uni and had a delicious spicy meal. Constant going to the bathroom was definately worth that good food!

This was the most relaxing day of the week! Ashley definately made me feel better. We had a midnight icecream craving so we hopped over to GS2 and bought some snacks. I ended up buying icecream and Ashely bought these popcorn snacks. Korean snacks are delicious!

Walking the HILLs

I felt my calories burning up particulary in my thighs and calves as I walked up the hills to my classes. My heart and lungs are getting a good work out but Seoul's air is poluting them at the same time. My first week of school was the most fustrating week of my entire college career. It is really hard to get the classes you actually need being a senior. All the classes are either too low of a level or taken up. This week was the first time that I felt a little regret of coming to South Korea. I feel like I'm so stressed out about school that I am not enjoying my stay here as much. I hope that this is just a feeling brought out by the inconveniences I had encountered so far.

Highlights:

September 1, 2008- It RAINed. A few girls and I decided to leave early by city bus and not by shuttle bus. We didn't count the traffick being a majoy obstacle in getting to class. We guessed wrong. Traffick jam was horrible! Absolutely horrible. We took about 1hr15minutes to get to school and class when in reality it should have taken us 30 minutes by bus and 20 minutes by shuttle. The worst thing was that we missed our stop and so we dashed through the rain (stopping three times for directions). We were told to carry umbrellas wherever we are because Korea rain is never predictable especially during its monsoon season. Plus, the rain is supposedly very populated. Well, we got soaked by the rain and were 15 minutes late to class. I hate it when everyone stares when you walk into the classroom. Geeze! Mind your own business : )

September 2, 2008- Everything went okay today. I went to Korean language beginning level 1 class today and was in for the shock of my life. The professor was going to teach korean in korean. I was about to pee in my pants. Even the books were all in Korean when it's title clearly states "English version". It's a good way to learn but I can't seem to be able to connect to korean. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

September 3, 2008-Walking the hills are hard! Korean class was scary! I still can't rememer all the sticks and circles. My professor is so nice though.

September 4, 2008- Thursday is the beginning of the add/drop period! I dropped one class and signed up for another. It turned out the "Literature and Stylistics" was the same course as the one I took at Augsburg. I switched it to "Coveant of the Christian Moral Life". Everything is so complicated. They are making registration so fustrating. The professors are bad at communicating. The communucation system here is bad overall. I don't have a clue what is going on nor what and where everything is. When I ask a staff or a student, they don't know a word of English. This language barrier is getting to me. I understand everywhere else where there is no English Translation but I expected Yonsei to display its labels and directions in English. I'm having a little hard time settling in to my role as a student at Yonsei. It is so wierd hearing Korea spoken as a common thing.

September 5, 2008- Yay! Finally Friday. I think today is the most stressful time this week. I'm trying to contact a professor for a class i need to take but that professor either doesn't know Englsih thus the reason for a no reponse (still she should send something in Korean so know that she received my two emails) or she is just ignoring my emails. I really need this one class "Victorian Lit and Culture" because it is the only class with the time and level to fulfill my English Major. The only thing is that I'm not sure what the class consist of and if it is even taught in English (although the course catalog says so). Also, the Vic Lit class is full so I would need her permission to get into the class. But she is not replying to any emails! It is getting on my nerves. Right now, I am signed up for a class that I have interest in yet don't want to take because it will not cover any of my requirements. This STINKS. Monday is the last day for add/drop. I would go in to personally talk to the Vic Lit professor but the course description, which I can not open doesn't have her office building and number. I'm about to go out of my mind. I also would like to take one more class because I feel like I'm going to have a lot of time here in South Korea.

I really wish and hope that the professor in the Vic Lit class would reply back to me even if it means no. I just want a definitive answer so that I can know what step I need to take next. I hate this ambiguious feeling. I'm not good at dealing with disorganization. Right now, I dropped the covenant class and am taking the nutrition and health course. I would like to take both classes but their overlaps. I feel like the nutrition and health course will benefit me more in the futue despite its inability to fulfill any requirements except as an elective.

I can't wait til everything is set in stone. I need organization in my life!

Aghrrrr. I'm crossing my fingers for next week!

First weeK of scHooL (all over again)

After being in Seoul for a week, I feel better and more confident in my surroundings. I still feel like I am lost in this big city. There's so many things to do- touring, shopping, etc- but the problem is that I don't know any Korean so I can't ask questions nor bargain. I don't even know how to say "where is the bathroom?"! . I'm a sad sad person. Yonsei University is very beautiful. The buildings are on hills. There's a gorgeous park. I have yet to explore all of Yonsei partly because 1. it's too hilly 2. everything is so far apart 3. it's the first week of school. There are so many people. To see all these people coming down the hill reminds me of ants scurrying out of the anthill. The only difference is that everyone...EVERYONE...is dressed up. The women are in heels, short mini skirts, cut of necklne t-shirts while the men are in tight jeans or slacks with collar shirts and a vest. No one carries a backpack. Wow. I think the way we call all tell each other apart is the difference between a shoulder back and a backpack (koreans carry a shoulder bag and foreigners have a backpack). I feel so grummy in my baggy jeans and plain t-shirt. South Korea is definately a pop culture place. Everything is not for convenience- it's more towards the "looking good". I'm planning to shock them with my sweat pants and sweat shirt on final's day. It's a good thing that I'm leaving South Korea then.

*Read the next post for highlights of the week.

Catching Up- 2 weEks impresSion

August 23, 2008 at 3:30pm my flight left Minneapolis international airport. Thousands of miles- Minneapolis to Tokyo to Seoul. It's been over 12 days here in South Korea and I still feel like I am in a dream. I'll be studying at Yonsei University for a semester. What am I doing all the way over here in South Korea? I don't know the language nor the culture. I feel completely lost and so small. I didn't expect South Korea to be so advanced. From all the stories I've heard, I expected a torn country- where we still had to pay to use the public bathrooms. I didn't expect electrical toilets with buttons I have no idea what it's for. The students (myself included) ended up living at DMC Ville (Digital Meidal Center), which are apartments...like no other! When I first walked into the apartments, I was extremely excited. There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully equiped kitchen, a LCD flat screen tv, coaches, a desk in the living room....it was a dream apartment. Why are simple college students living in apartments such as I just described? Well, as it turns out Yonsei University is constructing another part of the building to the internation house. CIEE (the program I am with) decided that we should not live there during construction.

Since I'm so far behind, I'll just highlight some of the things that happened so far on the trip that happened to me or to the people that I'm with on this study abroad program. This first post will be about my first week in South Korea. The second post will be this week's summary. Enjoy!

August 24, 2008- Backpack strap broke in Tokyo Narita airport. My most memorable thing about this day was the airport taxi man holding a sign with my name "Nou Chang" on it. What can I say? I feel special:)

August 25, 2008- Krystal (a school mate) and I went on a one hour walk straight down the street. We didn't want to get lost. On our walk, Krystal accumulated too many things so we decided to take a random green bus (there are different colored bus- blue, green, yellow, red- we had no idea which is which). The bus took a scary right turn but fortunately, it turned back on the correct street and we got back safely to our apartments. Whew! My first dinner meal in South Korea was accidental Japanese food. Krystal and I didn't realize that we were in a Japanese restaurant (the sumarais on the doors weren't clues enough!). When they wouldn't give us our bibimbap and bogolgi- we realized that the food they had was Japanese.

August 26, 2008- Yonsei University and CIEE orientation. Yonsei is a huge university. The building is located on rolls of hills and hills. I took one look at Yonsei, and I was glad I packed sturdy tennis shoes. We got a mini long tour of some buildings and a surrounding neighborhood. My first lunch and dinner meal was delicious! I don't remember what they were called. It was just delicious.

August 27, 2008-We visited Gyeongbok Palace and say the exchange of guard's ceremony. I felt like wearing a honbok and walking around the palace. We also met with people to discuss the topics of "Staying Healthy in Korea" and "Culture Shock". We were told that the only food we probably shouldn't worry about is kimchi- it was spicy enough and had preservation good bacteria in it already that it'll kill any bad bacteria (if this makes any sense at all). We also walked through a crowd of buddhist protestetors. As it turned out the next morning, the demostration was the largest buddhist protest in South Korea.

August 28, 2008- We made a visit to the US Embassy Annex where we learned about the political, social, and economical background/relationship of South Korea and the United States. We had the chance to see the DMZ (demilitarized zone), which is the cut of zone between North and South Korea. We visited the first tunnel dug out by the North Koreans that was discovered after the armstice. We went down the tunnel and caught a small light coming through the crack of the tunnel- we saw North Korea! We were actually in North Korea (if you count the tunnel). We visited different parts of the DMZ. It was very interesting, sad, scary, and exhilirating.

The following three days and two nights are of my trips around South Korea with CIEE.

August 29, 2008- We traveled South to Jeonju where we picked up Professor Adams and his wife who were with us throughout the trip. They were our tour guide. We visited Saemangum (land reclamation area on the west coast). It was beautiful. This is the place where they made some movies/dramas! We stayed in Jeonju Hanok Village. The village consisted of old fashion houses. We made paper as well. We slept on the floor. I finally had icecream and steammed buns (filled with sweet fig). YUMMMMMM.....

August 30, 2008- I had a nice morning walk with the professor. There was monnument that consisted of a tortoise (longivity), middle square stone (earth- humanity), and a dragon (power). The professor said that these symbols will be found almost everywhere. We visited the Confucian school and Namwon (a city park). During the afternoon, we climbed Mt. Chirisan located in Nogodian. It took us 1hr15min to climb up the mountain. The pain and the view was totally worth it. After our exhusting climb, we visited the Hwaomsa Temple which contained the largest temple in Korea. We enjoy a simple dinner with the monks. It was a beautiful and peaceful dinner. We joined the chanting ceremony which was simply magical. I feel like I could stay here for a few days and in the process find myself. This peace and quite could work miracles.

August 31, 2008- We visited Hadong, which is a folk village and setting of a famous novel. The view from one of the houses was breathtaking. The simplicity of it catches my heart. The best part about this trip was our time at the tea museum. I loved it! It was a quint little place with rows and rows of green tea bushes! We picked leaves and we drank some green tea. It was the life style that I can live and be happy in. The view from the tea place was a sight that is unexplanable. I can sit on the chair and gaze into the mountains for days and see a different view each time.

The next day, September 1 is the first day of school. I feel like I am starting college all over again. We didn't get a chance to go look for our class buildings. Overall, we didn't get a chance to see all the buildings. It was so stressful, not knowing how to get to Yonsei by bus nor by walking. There's a shuttle that comes at 8:20am but I was still nervous that I will be late for my 9:00am class. If only we had the chance to visit Yonsei by ourselves and explore....It would have lessen my anxiety.

*Read the next post for my update about how school went! Yay, for first days of school : ) Wether elementary, junior high, high school or college- starting new at a different place always bring back the same feelings!