친구들

There were many things I had prepared for before I left for Korea; I had read the instruction guides, prepared myself for culture shock, what to do if I was lost, cultural customs, brushed up on my language skills. I packed plenty of clothes, medicines, a spare set of glasses, I studied the maps and read and reread the guidebooks. Thinking about the people I'd meet, the friends I'd make, was pushed far into the back of my mind. I figured I'd meet people in my classes, probably other Americans, we'd be able to eat meals together, and then in six weeks say goodbye to each other and move on. What I didn't anticipate was that I would meet some of the most incredible people I've ever been fortunate enough to have cross into my life, people from all around the world, who looked different, acted different, spoke different languages (as a matter of fact, I was usually the only one who wasn't bilingual in the group! I'm working on it though!). I knew that during these six weeks, I would learn tons about Korea, and I did, but what I didn't expect was that I would be learning about places like China, Japan, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Singapore or the UK. I didn't expect to learn more about my own country by seeing it through the eyes of the rest of the world, but having to answer questions about America that I'd never even thought about before was an enlightening experience. Sans a fellow Marylander I was fortunate enough to meet and hang out with on occasion, I almost never spent time with any other Americans. I felt an unfamiliar pressure to properly represent my home country, but also an insatiable curiosity to learn about those of my new friends.

But more importantly, we all got to experience Korea together. This was something that was completely foreign for so many of us. We experienced the same challenges and frustrations, but also the same joy when we finally did something we'd been messing up correctly or suddenly understood why something that seemed so nonsensical upon our arrival was the way it was. Our differences were washed away under new labels; "How old are you? Are you a student? You're a foreigner!". And at the same time, we had other friends who have lived in Korea, but who not only strived to see it through our fresh, foreigner eyes, but helped us so immensely in making our way around Seoul and making this experience truly wonderful.

Words can't describe how fun it has been to spend these six weeks with you all. Whether it be getting dinner together, making the wait staff take pictures of us no matter where we were, or travelling to new places around Seoul, sometimes getting lost, sometimes getting rained on, sometimes getting frustrated but always having fun in the end, or even just sitting in a bar, talking late into the night, playing games, learning more about each other, and just basking in each other's company. There are so many things I'm going to miss about every one of you, but I am so thankful we have the ability to keep in touch with each other even after we leave (and you all had better keep in touch!!).

I would love to say that we'll all see each other again. And, who knows, maybe we will! I promise you guys if I win the lottery I'll personally host an ISC "bro bro and sis sis" reunion. But even if I don't make my way to Canada, China, Japan, Europe or anywhere else, even if I were somehow to manage to go back to the US and spend the rest of my life there and never travel again (not going to happen, don't worry!), I'm so much happier having had you all in my life. So thank you all so much for making this Summer absolutely incredible (or, should I say, 감사합니다!). You are all truly amazing people!

행복

I officially have less than a week left in Korea now. In seven days, I will be attempting to battle jetlag and fall asleep in my house in Maryland.
I've been trying to make a special little treat for you all in the form of a video, but it's not been going as well as planned. Hopefully I finish it before I return to the states! Until then, however, I'll catch you all up on the past week.

I don't think I can really do my usual specific day-by-day recount of the week, because I've waited far too long to post this, and far too many things have happened. So this will be a little sporadic as I attempt to just explain the major events, possibly out of order, possibly with foggy detail. So, here's a hopefully somewhat descriptive list of the highlights of my second to last week and last weekend in Korea:

1. Tried Korean fast food for the first time. I don't eat fast food all that often in the US if I can help it, but I kept seeing Koreanized fast food restaurants here and vowed to give it a try before I came home. My chance came on Monday when I was meeting Ana to study during my lunch break, and just wanted to grab something quick to take with me. I had a Bulgogi burger, bulgogi is a Korean dish of marinated beef, and the burger was just a regular hamgurger with a bulgogi type of sauce on it. One thing I've noticed here is that the western style foods are the most expensive; I can get a large Korean meal for about $5, but the burger, which would have been like 99cents in the US was about $3.50, when we had pizza the one night, it was over $20 for what would have been a medium pizza in the US, and a small coffee drink at a cafe here can be as high as $7. Korean food is great though, so it's fine by me. Also this week, I went to a Korean Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, which was pretty funny. I tried to at least get vaguely non-American things though (green tea flavored drink and glutinous rice donut).

2. Tried traditional Korean rice wine from Jeju Island, thanks to Polly and Philomena bringing it back with them when they went there last weekend. I can't say I actually liked it, it tasted vaguely vinegary to me, but it was neat to try something so traditional. It's also great to have friends here nice enough to think to bring us some to try anyways! I also enjoyed hearing them tell us about Jeju Island over dinner, everything from the traditional statues and beautiful beaches, to the Teddy Bear and Sex Museums, which was pretty entertaining. I'm going to miss the daily dinner conversations when I go back to the US so much.

3. I've been having great food as usual, including plenty of Korean food, as well as Japanese food one night, and the best bubble tea I've ever had. Unfortunately, I also got it in the same flavor I normally order in the US (coconut), which means I'm going to be forever disappointed whenever I order it when I'm back.

4. We had a minor Korean actress, 이세은 (Sae-Eun Lee), come to our Korean Mass Media and Popular Culture class to talk to us and let us ask questions about the Korean television industry. It was pretty neat, even though she didn't really know much English so our teacher had to translate back and forth. She was, of course, very beautiful and personable; I didn't even know who she was before she came in and I was still somewhat starstruck.

5. In the same class, we went on a field trip to MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) Studios in Yeoeuido. We got to have a behind the scenes look at radio and television in Korea, which was really fascinating. We caught a bus at 1pm from campus and arrived about 40 minutes later, just in time to make our way in for the 2:00 tour. The tour guide was Korean, so again our teacher had to tag along and translate for us (however, there were times when I could catch what he was saying. I'm admittedly pretty proud of myself for that, because there's no way I could have done that when I first got here). We walked in and took an elevator to the seventh floor, which is where the radio programs were made. We got to look in at older sets used to recording radio dramas, which were full of old drawers, random items, and even a car to make sounds effects for the programs. We also looked at a newer studio, which the tour guide told us cost around $2,000,000 to make, which is used to do live music recordings and radio performances. We also peeked through a window to watch one of Korea's oldest and most renowned radio hosts, whose name I don't actually remember (whoops). We also watched two comedians doing a radio show; they did their opener, and then when the "theme song" started playing one of them noticed us and started doing all of this crazy dancing for us, it was hilarious. Especially when our tour guide turned off the speaker we were hearing them through so we were just watching him through the sound proof glass flailing around to music we couldn't hear. He waved and blew us kisses as we left. We were then shown the "MBC Golden and Bronze Mouth Awards". They were metal casts of Radio celebrities' mouths; bronze if they'd been with MBC for over ten years, gold if they'd been for over 20. The next room held some stages for talk shows, including one for the Olympic games. We then saw some TV sets for Korean dramas; a mock traditional Chinese palace next to a mock modern apartment with stairs that went to nowhere, all with hundreds of numbered lights overhead. It was really neat to see. We also saw a room with seats for a live studio audience, and a blue screen room. Afterwards, we waited in a cafe while the second group from our class went on a 3:00 tour, then took the bus back to campus.

6. I kicked off my last weekend in Korea with my friends eating Samgyupsal and drinking beer and soju. It wasn't all that different from our normal weekend celebrations, however, there was definitely an air of desperation (not a bad thing, hear me out) as we ate and drank and talked. You could tell everyone present wanted desperately to make the most out of their last weekend, and conversation flowed openly throughout the group as we sat on the floor grilling our food. The beer and soju kept flowing, and we stayed for close to three hours simply savoring each other's company. It's nights like that that I think I will miss the most when I go back to the states. Afterwards, everybody planned to go to a club in Gangnam except for me and Blair (a more recent friend of mine who is also from the Baltimore area!). They tried to convince us to tag along but we declined, and instead went to a little food bar called 유자유 (Yoo Ja Yoo) and shared a kimchi pancake and small pitcher of 유자주 (Yoo Ja Joo), a citrus mixed soju drink from which the restaurant based its name. All in all, a very nice night.

7. I got to see an amazing show! On Friday, the ISC program hosted a trip to the Myeongdong area to watch "Nanta", a musical/dance/acting performance about a kitchen staff preparing for a wedding meal, where they use kitchen tools as musical instruments and create a story using almost no words whatsoever (it's a bit difficult to explain, so if you're curious: http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/Nanta/en/About/AboutNanta.aspx ). It combined traditional Korean style music with a modern flair, and was both fascinating and hilarious. They also drew people from the audience, including Kirsty, who had to compete in a race to make the most Mandu. I had debated not going, but I'm very happy I did. Afterwards, we decided to forgo the bus back to campus and instead walk around. We walked the 45 or so minutes to Myeongdong (kind of the next town over in a sense), partially outside in the sweltering sun, and partially through the underground shopping center, thankfully air conditioned. We stayed and walked around Myeongdong for a while, which is a huge area for shopping and is completely packed with people, and eventually split into two groups, one heading over to Express Bus Terminal to shop some more, and the other (myself included) heading back to the dormitory.

8. On Saturday, I woke up bright and early (6am!) so I could meet my Korean teacher from the States, Soyoung. I had to take the subway for about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to where we were to meet, which was quite the experience. Fortunately, I feel I am well versed in subway usage now after being here for over a month, but it was still very different. I took line 6 (where the Anam and Korea University stations are located) for I believe six stops, transferred to line three and took it for somewhere over ten stops, eventually transferring to an unnumbered line whose name I can't remember (it's red on the map though, I'll call it the red line). This line only had about five stops, but each one was very far from the other, taking anywhere from 5-12 or so minutes to get from the other, as opposed to the usual 2-3. I got off at the last stop to transfer to the "yellow line". This was by far the eeriest part of this foreign subway experience. Whereas before I had grown used to the modern subways, with automatic sliding glass doors stopping you from jumping onto the sleek tracks, this simply had some metal gates (not closed, mind you, so you were free to jump onto the tracks) and the tracks themselves were old looking and very large, the same as train tracks. I took it for one stop and got off. I noticed on the last track I had become the only visible foreigner, as well as one of a declining number of young people. In the more metropolitan areas, it's at least 60% younger people using the subway, and there's a decent spattering of foreigners in the mix. Here, there were a vast majority of middle aged and elderly people, and everyone around me was Korean. It was strange.
Soyoung and her husband (whose wedding I had attended and written about earlier) met me there and we went to their car, where her husband drove us another 30 minutes away, leaving Seoul (my first time out of Seoul!) and taking us to 한국민속촌, meaning "Korean Folk Village". We walked around for around 8 hours, watching performances (a traditional instrument and dance performance, a tightrope performance, and some horseback acrobatics), eating and drinking food (a traditional drink made from 7 different grains, traditional rice candy, and herbal medicine tea), stopping in an outdoor pavilion for lunch, where we sat on the floor to eat in the shade next to a stream. It was really cool to see all the traditional houses and items on display, and to learn more about traditional Korean culture, which I hadn't really experienced prior. It was also a nice break from the loud and hectic life of Seoul, and I left feeling physically exhausted, but mentally refreshed.

9. I finished up the most Touristy day of my trip thus far by going to Namsan (Seoul) Tower with Polly and Philomena. After some initial confusion, with Philomena and I arriving at the base of the tower by bus, and Polly taking the cable car, we found each other. The base of the tower was at the top area of a mountain, and the view overlooking Seoul, especially since it was at night, was positively breathtaking. Lights stretched on for miles and miles, it made the city which has seemed so huge and exciting this entire trip seem both smaller and larger at the same time; the buildings were nothing but specks, but those specks stretched on for what seemed like forever. We bought tickets to take the elevator to the top of the tower, and the view was also breathtaking (albeit clouded from smudged windows). Looking straight down made me feel as though my stomach had fallen to the floor, I had never felt so high up. The observatory deck was circular, and each window had the name of a city (or multiple cities) that it was facing, along with the distance to that city. It was definitely really cool to see. We took one of the last cable cars down to the base of the mountain, where we wanted to catch a taxi back to Anam (the subway was closed, and about a 30 minutes walk to the nearest station anyways). There was a group of taxis waiting outside, and one asked where we were going, we said Anam, and he said it would be 16,000 won ($16). It was a little steeper than other taxis we'd been in, but we decided ~$5 a person wasn't the worst and got in. As we were driving, he told us to pay first, so we pooled our money and handed it too us. He then pulled over and said told us he had said 60,000 won, not 16. We looked at him like he was crazy (which he was, or rather, looking to pray on foreigners in a touristy area), and told him no. He said he would accept 30,000 instead, but we took our money back and got out of the taxi, now on a sidewalk at midnight with no open buildings and no other people out as the taxi driver turned around and sped off. We walked for maybe five minutes and saw a hotel on the other side of the street, where we figured we could ask for directions or the like. As we crossed the street, another taxi rounded the corner, and slowed down, waiting to see if we would flag it down for a ride, which we did. We told him to take us to Anam, which he did, using the meter and costing only 2,000won per person. We thanked him graciously as he dropped us off, and cursed the name of the other taxi driver as we walked to the Barket to meet our other friends. We stayed at the Barket (I mentioned it in a previous post, but it's a bar where you pick your own bottles of beer from the wall coolers and pay for your empty bottles at the end) until it closed at 3am, talking and playing games like First Impressions and Truth or Dare, then headed back to the dorms, where I promptly crashed after having been awake and active for 21 straight hours.


Well, I think that's everything of importance from the last week! Today, I've been catching up on my blogging and my homework, and trying not to think about the fact that it's my last weekend in Korea. In less than one week, I'll be touching down in Baltimore and heading back to my home. I'm really hoping my final week in Korea goes well, but I know that even if it somehow doesn't, I've already had the time of my life here.

A lot of exciting things have happened, so a lot of pictures follow!

Sae-Eun Lee, the Korean actress, presenting to our class, with our professor translating.

Drinking the traditional Jeju Island wine at dinner.

MBS Golden Mouth awards

Me and a fellow student being Olympics commentators

Outside=plywood, inside=traditional palace

Kicking off our last weekend, Samgyupsal style. You can see the bottles we burned through.

The group at the Samgyupsal restaurant.

Nanta stage!

Peter managed to sneak this picture of Kirsty doing the Mandu challenge at Nanta

Looking past a city and seeing mountains and a statue is really surreal.

Hot day, Korean children playing in a cool fountain.

We decided to join in!

Fortunately we found the air-conditioned indoor shopping center to walk through

One of many people on the streets of Myeongdong

The girls of the group teamed up to help pick out a shirt for Torkel while shopping in Myeongdong :P

Outside of the Korean Folk Village with Soyoung, my Korean teacher from IUP!

Korean statues outside of villages

Old house

Trying to play a traditional game, but failing.

Drummer

Drummers

I'm not entirely sure what this guy was doing, but it was cool!

Tightrope walker!

Taking a rest on the tightrope.

One of the horseback riders (I think this one had a sixth sense for when pictures were being taken of him)

Horseback acrobatics!

I didn't know this picture was being taken of me, I just wanted to pet the cow 

Ordering a drink made with 7 grains

Statue

Pagoda

Tree meant to keep out evil spirits (I think?)

Soyoung and I playing drums

Wood mask carver at work

Me drinking Shikye, a sweet Korean rice-drink

Man making traditional Korean rice candy.

You were supposed to write down a wish and tie it to the stone

Lower class traditional house

Herbal medicine teas

Walking up the steep hill from the bus stop to the base of Namsan tower!

Namsan Tower

View from the top (my camera doesn't take good night pictures unfortunately)

Polly, Philomena, and I, at the top of Namsan tower (which some romantic lighting edited in by Philomena)

At the Barket, celebrating our last Saturday night.