My First Week in South Korea.

Stepping off the airplane, I knew I was in for the biggest adventure of my life. The two hour drive from the airport to my oneroom was filled with watching as we passed through different areas of the country. Having barely settled in, I was anxious to explore so I messaged two of my friends from Portland and we met up.

Bingsu

   We took the subway to Myeong-dong, a popular shopping center. We walked down the main street taking in all the sights, getting some street food and just exploring. We eventually found our way to a small place that sells bingsu ice (빙수). We chose and apple-mango ice. After eating, I made my way home to get some rest. 

   The place I am staying in Seoul is close to Hanyang University--just a short walk down a very steep hill. I am also close to a small shopping center called Wangsimni. There is also a subway station there that has already proven to be the best one for traveling around. 

   My place is small, a new cultural adjustment to be sure. Less than 100 ft². Walking into the room there is the shower on my right. In the shower is the toilet and the sink, with a hand-held shower attached to the faucet. To the left, a desk with shelves above, a mini-fridge below and a cupboard for clothes all the way against the wall. Taking two steps from the door, I reach my bed, which fills the remaining floor space. In some ways, I enjoy the smallness of the space for my time here. It forces me to get out and go places. 

 

Melon tart with Chan

My second day in South Korea, I made my way to meet Chan. For all of you reading my posts on Korea, just for an update on him; it was great to see him. I met him in Gangnam and he took me out to lunch; of my choosing. I choose to have chicken and we found a great restaurant. We ate our chicken, with cheese and he showed me how to make it into a wrap. After lunch, Chan found us a place to get tarts and tea. We shared a melon tart, he made me practice Korean with him-- I mostly protested from still being shy about my Korean-- and drank our tea while catching up. I told him about this years K-Night and what he has been missing in Portland. He told me about his new job and showed me his schedule so that we could coordinate meeting up again. He told me he wants to meet every week so that he can help me with Korean. He asked me where I wanted to travel in South Korea and decided that he will travel with me. We finished our drinks and conversation and said our goodbyes; with plans to meet again.

   My third day was spent getting errands done. Settling in further, getting my sim card and wandering around the area I live to get familiarized with everything, wandering around campus, etc.

Eliane

 Tuesday I was planning on having a lazy day at my place. Making plans and going over my to-do list was all I had planned; maybe a trip to the store thrown in, but nothing else. That was until I saw a message on the group text. I have a group on KakaoTalk with other international students going to Hanyang University. It's hard to keep up with sometimes, but I just happened to check this time and saw a message asking if anyone was near campus. I replied and met up with a new friend, Eliane. She is from Monterrey, Mexico and it is also her first time in South Korea. For lunch we had 닭갈비, chicken stir-fry. Afterward, we made our way to a raccoon cafe. I had never

Princess

heard of a raccoon cafe before, but Eliane brought up the idea after I saw someone advertising a cat cafe. While we were eating lunch I searched up raccoon cafe and found one called Blind Alley. At the cafe, there is a corgi named Cookie, two pigs named Honey and Map. After feeding the pigs and finishing our smoothies we got to see the raccoons. We held one named Princess and got to feed all three that they had in the back room. Princess even crawled up on my shoulders.
South Korea. We went to Myeong-dong again to explore and get lunch. We had

   On Thursday I went to orientation for international and exchange students at Hanyang University. It was mostly a lot about classes and registration but at the end, they had a taekwondo performance and introductions from various student groups. When I first got to the orientation I didn't know anyone, and I soon made friends with a girl named Nanami. She told me about where she was from in Japan and how she was the only one from her university studying at Hanyang. We made plans to meet up at the welcoming party on Friday after we finished our campus tour.
   Later that night I met up with two other Portland State students to go to Hongdae for shopping and to watch people busking. We never actually made it to shopping though. We watched some busking and then went to get dinner. We found a BBQ restaurant for dinner and spent almost three hours eating and talking. By the time we were finished, it was almost midnight and we had to catch the last subway home.

   Friday I slept in after a late-night then woke up just in time to meet some friends for lunch. We

Muzi

went to the Kakao Friends store to explore and got some drinks at the Ryan Cafe. We later made our way back to Hanyang and did some home shopping before getting chicken and pizza at a restaurant just by our place. I then got ready for a welcoming party that Hanyang Global Lions Student group was putting on.
   I met up with my friend Georgia and we went to the party together. The theme was black and neon and it was in this underground club inside a hotel. The place was reserved for Hanyang Students only so it was designed as a good way to meet other students. Georgia and I made several friends that night and after the party went to a local bar with a student from Toronto.
   The trip to get to the bar was farther than we thought, so by the time we got there we each only had one drink and played a quick game of beer pong with some locals from Korea University.
   Now for the rest of my weekend. After a fairly busy week, I think I'm going to take the weekend to relax and prepare. Probably walk around campus and familiarize myself with where I'll have classes. Tuesday is my first class of the semester, and the following week I'll start my Korean courses.