Last Thoughts in Seoul – Reflecting

The last few days in Seoul had an odd feeling to them. Sitting in the lobby watching people slowly leave the dorm building with their packed luggage bags – heading back to their homes, family, and friends all over the world. Walking through the dorm halls – each door had our names on it with a flag of where we came from and I began thinking about how we were a brave group of individuals. Not everyone dives blindly into a new world, leaving everything loved behind – but we all came to South Korea to explore and live a new life. Some of us came for a temporary stay, while others have plans to spend the rest of their lives in Seoul.

My close group of friends planned one last night out in Sinchon, the college town near Yonsei, and we visited old spots we frequented during our stay for one last time. That night it sprinkled snow and I experienced my first snow. It was a happy night. Another night, a friend and I headed to Dongdaemun and I showed him how to haggle – a skill I picked up and mastered during my stay in Seoul – something I am now proud of.

A final outing occurred the night before I left Seoul and during this outing many people broke down in tears as they started saying their goodbyes. We all hope we’ll meet again – but even if that happens, we’ll never meet again in the same situation – although the memories we made will certainly be with us throughout our lives.

As I packed my bags to head home – my friend Wason, notified me that it was snowing outside – as if Seoul was saying goodbye to me. I went outside and the snow was coming down. It was an experience indeed – I wrote goodbye to Seoul in the snow. I’ll post the photograph below.

A few hours later – a few friends: Allen, Wason, and Sunny had breakfast with me as I spent my last few minutes at SK Global House. Allen and Sunny helped me carry my heavy luggage to the limousine bus stop to Incheon Airport and as we left it began to snow again – this time a much heavier snow. It was beautiful and indeed I can’t imagine a better ending to my time in Korea.

While riding in the limousine bus to Incheon Airport, I started reflecting on the first time I rode the limousine bus to Yonsei University with my first friend in Seoul, Taylor, just a few months prior. All the excitement of living in a big city and experiencing all that Seoul had to offer me. Indeed, Korea offered me an experience like no other and I’ll always remember the many people and experiences it brought to me. I have no regrets about this once in a lifetime opportunity to study abroad.

As I sat in Incheon Airport waiting for my flight to depart on my laptop. I saw an overwhelming number of Facebook status updates of people saying goodbye and I felt overcome with emotion. Sadness mixed with happiness that I found a new home, new friends, and I was ending a time in my life that was at times lonely and then at times completely fulfilling. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything in the world.

Finally the boarding began on a long flight back home to Tampa, Florida…

Yonsei Mentors Club Cheering Orientation & Cell Meeting

The Yonsei Mentors Club is the backbone that teaches international students about Yonsei University school spirit. They cheer. They dance. They wear cool blue track outfits and represent their school. Part of our orientation was learning some of the cheers from the club. They guide you through each cheer and dance. It was silly, yet fun to hang out with everyone and watch them all trying to dance on command while watching the experts perform in front of us. I shot some video footage of the cheering orientation so you could see for yourself.

Some of the songs were funny because the beats were familiar to us, especially one song that had the beat of Butterfly from Dance Dance Revolution (my favorite game at home =P).

Most of us got worn out during the middle of the show, but the Yonsei students had an endless supply of energy and made it all look so easy. They were really cool and must have practiced really hard to have such a flawless performance.

After the orientation ended we split our cell groups and went out to eat with our mentors. They went out the first night as well, but I missed it since I was in the middle of flying around the world. Our mentor walked us into Sinchon and took us to a Korean restaurant. The Korean food there was actually too spicy for my liking and I didn’t really enjoy the food, but it was fun hanging out and meeting lots of new people in my cell group. 🙂

Our cell group leader is a medical student so he is always busy studying, but he tries his best to come and meet us. Korean students work so hard to be hospitable to foreign students, it’s really great. He explained the food we ate in the video below:

This food is called Nolbu Budaejjigae (놀부부대찌개). It’s a spicy stew of ham, sausage, tofu, and fresh vegetables boiled in front of you. It originates from the Korean War and was popular for quite some time afterward when people didn’t have much to eat. They made the dish by combining leftover Spam and hot dogs from U.S. army facilities. The city of Uijeongbu (의정부) is famous for Budaejjigae.

After we finished our food, our mentors group went out for Makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and some Haemul Pajeon (seafood pancake). I tagged along for a short while before breaking off to head to Hongdae (홍대) for Club Night with some friends. 🙂

1st time riding the subway in Seoul, visiting Yongsan (용산), and orientation

My first time riding the subway in Seoul was certainly a scary experience. We purchased our tickets through the one-way machines. The machines conveniently work in English and are friendly for foreigners from many different countries. There are plenty of helpful things on the subway to help you find your destination, maps outside of every stop, and maps inside each subway bus. Some buses have televisions that tell you in English (as well as other languages) when you are approaching a stop or an electronic map that blinks in the direction you are heading and turns get when you reach the next stop.

One thing to note is at the front and back of each subway bus are seats for the elderly…don’t sit there. Sometimes they are marked in a different color, but it varies. One interesting thing I noticed about the subway is the phone reception in it and I frequently see people chatting on their cell phones in the subway.

The subway in Seoul isn’t loud, allowing you to listen to music while waiting for your destination. I remember going almost deaf trying to listen to music in the BART trains in San Francisco last year because the trains are so loud. We rode the subway to Yongsan (용산), which has an electronic shopping district with many bargains, in search of an American power strip and Korean hookup.

When we arrived in Yongsan the station left us right in the middle of a shopping building with at least 8 floors of electronics. Many of the electronics weren’t marked with prices, which means you can haggle the price. We looked around the plaza and then ventured out into the streets and after about a half and hour we found an American outlet with a Korean hookup for around $11. The outlets themselves cost $8 at the convenience store inside SK Global…so this was certainly a great deal.

We grabbed some bibambap (비빔밥) afterwards in a whole-in-the-wall, but had some difficulty communicating with the employee (even with an English menu). There seemed to be no way to communicate that we wanted beef and we ended up with tofu. It was here that it became clear life in South Korea was going to be very difficult without an English-Korean dictionary, even with English being sprinkled throughout Seoul.

On the ride back to Sinchon from Yongsan we got lost a few times and it took well over 2 hours to get back to Yonsei University. It was a little scary and a little bit of a fun adventure at the same time. We made it back for the orientation…which was a little boring. The main topic was sexual harassment (I felt like a freshmen all over again sitting there while a psychologist told me women are sensitive beings). I think if people have the maturity to spend their time deciding to apply around the world, they’re probably ready to deal with this sensitive topic so it’s not really necessary. After orientation we picked up our student IDs which can serve as T-Money cards and charge your way through the subway system (you also save 100 won when you use a T-Money card for transportation).

After the orientation ended we went back to our dorms  to get ready for the Global party at Heidelberg, a German pub in Sinchon. I was really excited because it would be my first opportunity to really go out and meet people.

Settling in at Yonsei University and Exploring Sinchon (신촌)

When I awoke after passing out the night before from traveling across the world, my roommate took me out to Sinchon (신촌) to explore the neighboring town. The first thing I noticed was all the hills in South Korea. Some of the hills aren’t smooth or even as they are in San Francisco, so I lost my balance a few times (probably causes lots of injuries in Korea).

Sinchon is located between many different universities and serves as the ideal college town with tons of bars, restaurants, and various forms of entertainment to keep students and visitors busy all night long. I was surprised to see the number of American brands on our walk. 7-11 is on almost every block, but they are convenience stores instead of gas stations (like in Florida). We walked by a Smoothie King (I didn’t even know that company was international) and also Starbucks (I was aware they were in the Korea because Koreans love coffee shops). Most of the Korean restaurants weren’t open yet (they just closed a few hours ago), so we decided to try Dunkin’ Donuts and compare it to the American version.

The prices were about the same price as in the United States, if not a little cheaper since tax was already included. One of the nice things about South Korea is you never have to calculate your subtotal. With no tips accepted and taxes included, if something costs 4,000 wons (roughly $4) then that is what is costs. I had an onion bagel and my roommate had one as well. Here was the cool part: Dunkin Donuts in Sinchon has two floors and the second floor is fully equipped with cushioned seats, a window looking out into the street and booths. Quite a big difference from your Dunkin’ Donuts in the United States. It’s easy to just lounge here instead of just taking your order to-go.

We walked back through Sinchon and through Ehwa Women’s University (another school that USF students can exchange to). The campus is beautiful, full of trees and neat walkways. We saw a hill with trees on it and were shocked to see that under the hill they had built classrooms in what looked to be a very environmentally friendly design. I’ll snap a photo when I get my camera fixed (did I mention it broke on the plane to Seoul? -___-).

When we got back to Yonsei University my feet were killing me and I was sweating like crazy. It was going to take some effort to adjust to this new place. Back in our dorm, I unpacked some of my clothes. Our SK Global dorm comes with a desk, bed, closet, toilet room, and shower room. Although much of the supplies for the room (such as power adapters) still needed to be purchased. We were soon going to board to subway to head to Yongsan (an electronic shopping town) to shop for some electronics for our dorm room.

Vivaldi Park Ocean World

My friend Janelle invited me to join her Mentors Club Cell Group at Ocean World, a water theme park during my second week in Korea. It was so much fun and really cheap thanks to a group discount we received.

I previously was not aware that there were water parks in South Korea. Apparently there is another popular water theme park named Caribbean Bay elsewhere. Ocean World is based around an Egyptian theme. Most of the designs inside the park echo Egyptian things. The weather was warm during our visit and I was surprised to discover Ocean World is actually located in the mountains.

When you enter you are given a rubber watch. This watch serves as your access key to both a shoe locker and a bigger locker to store all your things in. I’m accustomed to paying extra for these services and the inside of the locker rooms feel more like a resort as well.

You are also provided with a ticket for a life-jacket. Most rides will require you to take it off. There is a policy in the theme park that you must wear a hat or swimming cap, while walking around…however nobody bothered us about not having one. I think one of the reasons the locals wore hats was to keep out the sun (Korean people like most Asians prefer whiter skin color tones). Some people even wore raincoats on in the shining sun, an odd sight indeed.

The park is surrounded with saunas and pools of water. One of the things I found to be quite enjoyable was the gadgets in the lines of the ride that allow you to shoot out water at those below or dump buckets of water on those in line.

There is a basket that dumps 1.5 tons of water on top of the people lying below. The basket slowly collects water until it finally tips over and soaks the crowd.

Most of the rides were fun to get on. The wait times averages 15-30 minutes with a few exceptions for especially popular rides. The slides were the most fun, in my opinion. The tube rides had some interesting moments where I was afraid we would tip over, but we always made it through in the end.  The wave pool was fun, but not quite as crazy as Wet N’ Wild in Orlando, Florida (that wave pools get intense at the deep end) .

There are a good amount of rides to occupy you for most of the day and also restaurants for when you get tired. Starbucks even found their way into this water park. As is the case with most theme parks, you’ll pay more for food inside the theme park. I had a small ebi-don (shrimp with rice) with a drink at a stand in the middle of the park for about 6,000 won (not enough to count as a meal, but enough to keep me full throughout the rest of the day).

The memories made at Ocean World were awesome and I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit this park while studying abroad.

The Flight to South Korea and Arriving at Yonsei in Seoul

The flight to South Korea was just another obstacle on the way to South Korea, but the final one until I could finally set foot in my study abroad country. There was no way 24 hours of traveling in the skies and through various airports was going to be a pleasant experience. We arrived in Tampa International Airport at around 7AM on August 23rd. While checking my bags the American Airlines employee made a joke about “Seoul Food”, but nobody laughed….too early for jokes. ;] We made our way to the gate and decided to get some Burger King in the airport since it was the only thing open. I hate breakfast at Burger King…it gave me a stomach ache later.

The flight from Tampa to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport wasn’t too painful. I spent most of my time playing Pokemon Yellow on my Game Boy Color. That game never gets old. Once we arrived in Dallas I decided to have a burrito via a recommendation from my Mom at Blue Mesa Grill in the airport. They advertised a 12″ burrito and I asked the Spanish employees if they had Carne Asada…their response wasn’t convincing but I was hungry. The burrito was a mess.

First of all it was 6″ burrito…not 12″ as advertised and it cost me $10. I passed a McDonald’s on the way there and probably would have been better off eating there. The burrito had almost nothing appetizing in it and fell apart the minute I started eating it. I paid extra for sour cream as well. It was a waste..but I was hungry so whatever.

The next flight from Dallas to Tokyo was the real challenge. I landed a window seat for a 12+ hour flight. I didn’t anticipate I would need to pee at least once every hour. The Japanese woman sitting next to me slept almost the entire flight so it was awkward waking her up every time I had to use the bathroom. American Airlines served some stomach turning food as well…especially this frozen ham and cheese sandwich. Towards the end of the flight I got the guts to speak some Japanese to her and it felt great to be able to communicate with a real Japanese person in a language I have been studying for years. After 12+ hours of boredom we finally arrived at Narita Airport…the view of Japan flying in was awesome. The rice fields and feudal castles were visible from the plane. I thought to myself I will come to Japan one day!

Once we touched down in Narita Airport we had to pass through another inspection and then head to our connecting gate. Narita Airport was awful. I would be happy if I never have to return to Narita Aiport again. There was no air conditioning and it was ridiculously hot and congested in there. There was no free Wi-Fi and I honestly expected a Japanese airport to be more high-tech. Ironically, Incheon Aiport in Seoul has free Wi-Fi and looks more modern than Narita Airport. In addition, during my visit you could only get 79 yen per dollar and with items well over 1,000 yen you were sure to lose tons of money if you exchanged and bought something there. I decided to wait it out and exchange my dollars in Seoul for wons.

The flight to Seoul was actually the best flight of the entire ride. The American Airlines flight was hosted by Japan Airlines (JAL) and they were the most courteous flight attendants I have ever had the pleasure of riding a plane with. The view of Tokyo at night from the plane was amazing…completely lit up.The flight was less than 2 hours, but they still provided a meal and the meal was delicious. A fusion of different Asian cuisines in a bento box. The flight attendants also brought plenty of drinks and stayed busy throughout the flight instead of just sitting in their seats like on the other American Airlines flights. I would recommend Japan Airlines to travelers.

After the flight I finally arrived in Seoul at around 9:00PM on August 24th. I passed quickly through the passport inspection and then proceeded to the baggage claim. Korean people use these carts to put their baggage that I have never noticed anyone using in the United States. I decided to grab one and it helped me out since my bags were so heavy. I spotted another American and decided to wait next to her for my bags. Turned out she was also on her way to Yonsei and I made my first buddy.

We decided to go together and exchanged our cash and then headed to the bus stop to wait. The bus took quite awhile, for some reason all the other buses kept coming around at a quicker rate. When it finally came we were so excited to be on our final transfer to Yonsei University. One interesting thing on the bus was that the bus driver made sure everyone had their seat belts on…in the USA it is sit at your own risk. There was also a television with Korean TV on and Korean magazines in front of us.

We got off on the Ehwa University exit as recommended by Yonsei and then I realized I was going to need to carry over 75 lbs of luggage (4 bags) up a hill to SK Global House. Luckily, we found another foreigner who helped us out. I am not accustomed to walking up hills, especially with luggage and when we finally made it up it was a great relief. We were given our key cards to our dorms and I headed in to find out I got my requested roommate. Awesome.

He wasn’t in the room when I made it to the dorm and I decided to go exploring downstairs. Turns out there is tons of things in the SK Global House building. Restaurants, a 24-hour convenience store, a fitness center, laundry mat and dry cleaning center, phone store, computer labs and more. I was fascinated…especially with the computer lab since I wasn’t sure how to hook up my internet yet and wanted to update my family and friends on my status.

I came back up afterwards and unpacked a little before calling it a night and heading to bed. I had arrived in South Korea and I was officially a student at Yonsei University.

Leaving in a few hours to South Korea!

It’s been a busy and nice summer, but it is time to head to South Korea! My American Airlines flight leaves from Tampa International Airport tomorrow morning at 9:30AM. I’ll be flying for at least 23 hours…the longest I have ever been on a flight.

I spent the last week finalizing things and catching up with friends who I didn’t get to see too much this summer. Today, while I was doing some final preparations, I ran into lots of friends in the Marshall Student Center at USF. It’s going to be weird not seeing them anymore. I will miss these guys, but hopefully we can keep in touch :).

The process getting abroad has not been easy, but the reward is waiting soon on the other side of the Earth. Between what seemed like endless paperwork and processes, I have finally made it to the night before my flight. My bags are packed. My electronics charged and I am excited for what is to come!

Here we go 🙂

photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/a51media

Carlos Abroad on YouTube

USF World is providing some students studying abroad with Flipcam cameras to record their adventures in other countries. I was one of the lucky students chosen to receive a camera and now I am more excited than ever to bring you footage from my travels in South Korea. Expect lots of restaurant and street food footage :). If there is any event or place you would like to suggest for me to travel to, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

Checkout and subscribe to my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/carlosabroad

P.S. Excuse my Korean pronounciation…it will get better when I take classes in Korea!

Korea Destination: Autumn in my Heart this Fall

My favorite Korean drama of all time is Autumn in my Heart(가을동화 or Ga-eul-dong-hwa). The story has just about everything I want to have in a romantic drama story-line and even though the writing is cruel on the audience, I can’t help but re-watch the show every few months. The soundtrack works perfect with the episodes and I love the guitar and powerful ballads. Plus I love Song Hye-Ko (fan alert!).

She is beautiful and an excellent actress. Song Seung-heon has been in a few k-dramas that I have watched as well and I was first introduced to Won Bin during this drama. It smokes Spring Waltz and Summer Scent, and beats Winter Sonata as well, in my opinion. When I travel to South Korea I want to visit the sites from Autumn in my Heart.

Visit Korea is a great place to research the famous locations where Korean entertainment has been shot, especially K-Dramas.

Two places I definitely want to visit from the drama are Hwajinpo Beach (an important place for Eun-suh and Joon-suh from childhood to the end of the story) and Abai Village (the place where Eun-suh grows up). Little by little I’ll be posting some other places I want to visit (Summer Scent and Winter Sonata both have amazing locations for their dramas).

Can’t wait to check out these and other spots this Fall.

Final Study Abroad Orientation COMPLETE

I just finished my last study abroad orientation meeting Monday at the Patel Center. We went over using technology in foreign countries (such as cell phones and laptops…gotta make sure they don’t get ruined due to voltage differences) and some final notes about representing my university in a foreign nation and a checklist of things to make sure we do before we go. The study abroad office has been really helpful in the planning to go abroad and tries to be available as much as possible for us…maybe my only complaint is that the Patel Center is so far away from the rest of campus. It can be a pain getting there and it isn’t as convenient for students as Cooper Hall was (where the office used to be located). Oh and we got t-shirts because we’re studying abroad (I have racked up on maybe 20 free t-shirts throughout this school year ^^).

I have been working on course approvals for classes, but with exams and all these end of the school year activities, I have barely had the time or energy to even look at the form, but thankfully there is just one more week left in the Spring 2011 Semester and I will finish earlier than most students and be able to still handle things before Professors leave for the summer.

Finals are crazy. I already took my Basic Marketing and Principles of Management finals. My Info Systems in Organizations Final is Saturday night from 8-10PM and my Statistics and Japanese IV finals are both on Monday. The library is swarming with everyone trying to catch up with all their classes and get that one final good grade to make the semester worth it. Just a few more days until summer!

I’ve also been doing research on Yonsei University using other student blogs as a resource to find out what people have first-hand experienced while studying abroad there. One really good blog is called Khanh in Korea (http://khanhinkorea.tumblr.com). He updates regularly and has tons of posts about the places he goes, the food he tries, and his experiences going to school at Yonsei. I hope I can keep a blog that in-depth while I am experiencing South Korea this Fall!

BTW check out Jay Park’s new music video for “Abandoned”.  I’m really enjoying it.

That’s all for now. Back to studying!