Well, there's quite a bit to catch up on, everything from the adrenaline high of bungee jumping to the calm relaxation of a Korean spa. I'll try to keep everything short and sweet!
Let's start with bungee jumping! There really isn't much to say about it, other than it was super fun! I went with three other friends of mine, all of us determined to scare ourselves to death. We jumped off a platform...
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
Bibap!
I just got back from what was probably the most fun activity I've done here in Seoul: the delicious musical Bibap! It was a wonderful blend of acting, comedy, singing, dancing, acrobatics, martial arts, beatboxing, breakdancing, and audience participation. It has been a long time since I've laughed as hard as I did tonight! Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Seoul, go to this show. It's essentially...
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Awkward in Korea Round II
Well, I managed to achieve another awkward moment here in Korea, which I'm sure is no surprise to anyone. My friend Kate and I were going to visit the Konkuk University library for the first time, which was a struggle in and of itself. We heard that there was an English section, but we didn't know where. For a while, we wandered around aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon the section on one of the six...
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Gyeongju, Nami Island, and Volunteering
My Saturday was like a tourist's dream! I got to wake up at 6 am and spend a total of 10 hours on a bus! Okay, so maybe it was more like a tourist's nightmare when you look at it that way. But in spite of the long hours, it really was a fantastic trip! We went to Gyeongju, a small city outside of Seoul. It had such a different feel since it was so much more rural and relaxed! Almost every site we...
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Pepero Day, Short Shorts Kid, and My Awkwardness
Today was 빼빼로 (Pepero) Day! For those of you who don't know Pepero, it's like the Korean brand equivalent to Pocky sticks, which are long, slender, rod-shaped biscuits dipped in chocolate. 11.11 is Pepero day, since the numbers resemble the shape of Pepero sticks. On Pepero Day, couples give each other Peppero in hopes of growing taller and thinner (which is ironic, since you're...
Monday, November 10, 2014
Demilitarized Zone, Joint Security Area, and the Trick Eye Museum
Not too long ago, I had the change to go see the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea as well as the Joint Security Area (JSA). It was a tour that my study abroad program booked for all the students here in Korea, but it was different from our other excursions because Jaehoon, the...
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Everland: Halloween & Horror Nights
I sincerely apologize that my blogging lately has been, well, virtually nonexistent. The past two weeks have been so busy that I simply didn't have time. Two weeks ago was midterms week, so that kept me very occupied. All I'll say about midterms is that I don't think I failed any of them, but my GPA may certainly go down this semester. And that's all I'll bore you with about that.
To celebrate conquering...
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Should Have Been Studying.....
This upcoming week is Midterms! So, naturally, I should have spent the whole weekend studying. Emphasis on the "should." Like any good college student, I spent 100% of the weekend talking about how I should be studying and 5% of the weekend actually studying. But this weekend I made some fantastic memories, so I'll ignore the fact that I'm going to have no life this week to make up for my lack of...
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Fireworks and Sticker Pictures!
Every year, Seoul hosts an International Fireworks Festival along the Han River. Last weekend, a group of my friends decided to brave the crowds and go see the fireworks display. We were sure to arrive plenty early, since we read online that somewhere around 1 million people attend the festival. It gets so busy that sometimes the subway doesn't even stop at the station closest to the festival because...
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Weekend in Busan
This weekend, I had the opportunity to bid farewell to the beautiful city of Seoul in order to visit Busan. Busan is home to beautiful beaches and boasts the title of second largest city in Korea (the largest being Seoul, of course.). My study abroad group all hopped onto the KTX, which is a high-speed train that connects multiple locations throughout Seoul. The KTX is fantastic and cuts travel time...
Saturday, September 20, 2014
My Busy Week.....
This week has been absolutely full of adventures! Which is both wonderful and absolutely exhausting. Totally worth it, though! Just a warning.. this is a rather lengthy post since I've done so much. Read on, if you dare!
The first adventure was the Hello Kitty Cafe! I met up with Hanna, one of my best friends from high school, and she took me to the cafe in Hongdae. It was so crazy cute! I posted...
Sunday, September 14, 2014
KBaseball!
Today I got the chance to go cheer on one of the Seoul baseball teams, the LG Twins! Although the actual game is played the same way as in the USA, the experience of spectating was much different.
First Difference: The teams aren't named after the cities of their origin (ex: Boston Red Sox), but after the companies that sponsor them. So the two teams I saw play were the LG Twins and the Samsung Lions!...
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Bus Tour
Today I met up with Kate and her roommate at 6:40 am to take a bus to the countryside. All I really knew about the trip before I showed up was that, somehow, there were going to be sheep involved. I hadn't even met Kate's roommate yet! But the day ended up being a ton of fun.
We took a tour bus to the countryside 2 1/2 hours outside of Seoul. Our first stop was the Hyoseok Cultural Festival! It's...
Monday, September 8, 2014
Culture Chanel Exhibit
Somewhat on accident, a group of study abroad students and I wandered upon the Culture Chanel
exhibit at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza today! What a stroke of good luck! My Global Fashion Marketing teacher had actually even recommended the fashion students go to this exhibit if they got the chance, since it chronicles the work of Danielle Chanel. The exhibit...
Sunday, September 7, 2014
KChurch!
Today was my first experience at a Korean Church! And it was pretty awesome. My Mission Mentor, Borra, invited me to go to hers. At first I had a bit of a bad attitude about it, since it meant I had to wake up early to take an hour long subway ride by myself (including changing lines and everything! I'm so proud of myself for not getting lost). But it was totally worth it!
For the first service,...
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Korean Classes
Both fortunately and unfortunately, our week of hardcore tourism is over and classes have begun! It's nice to be able to relax a little more, rather than running around the city for 12 hours each day. However, I do miss the rush of fun activities. Classes have been very interesting though!
I've been lucky enough to have all of my classes taught in English. Some students are running into the problem...
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Day 6: Seoul Tour Round 2!
Today was... well, quite frankly, crazy! Our study abroad group met at 9 am for Round 2 of our Seoul Tour. I'm not sure I can even remember all the things we did today! But it started with a trip to a traditional Korean housing area. It was really cool to see what that looked like, but kinda awkward since it wasn't just a tourist attraction, there were actual people living in the homes. Some of the...
Friday, August 29, 2014
Days 4 & 5: Funeral & Subway Challenge
The past two days have been really great! Yesterday I met my Mission Mentor for the first time! A Mission Mentor is someone who volunteers with the Christian study abroad program I am a part of. We (me, the Mission Mentor, and the other girl who is part of the Christian program named Kate) are going to meet once a week to have a Bible study and just talk about life. Bora is also going to help Kate...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Day 3: Seoul Tour
Yet another wonderful day in South Korea! The day started out with some boring orientation stuff, of which I will spare you the details. Things started getting interesting when we got our schedules and took a city tour of Seoul!
Our schedules are rather confusing. Printed off, they're nearly impossible to read! The only thing you can really tell is when they are and the class number. So I had to...
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Day 1 & 2
Well, I have officially completed two days of my study abroad! And they've definitely been eventful. Very eventful indeed.
First, it began with almost 24 hours of travel time between leaving my hotel in Portland and arriving at my dorm in Seoul, South Korea. I was supposed to fly over with my friend Hanna, but there was a mixup and we weren't on the same flight, which provided some interesting experiences...
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
This is a Test
Well, I created a new blog to chronicle my adventures in Seoul! I'm still working on getting it set up though, so this is just a test post to see how things lo...