Adventures in Korea: 맥주

So I've decided I love it here and am never going back to America.

Just kidding. Well, about the never coming back to America part anyways. I do love it here.

Today was orientation. We began with some speeches and formalities, rules, etc. All rather boring. Then there was a two hour break for lunch and upon returning to the building, the numbers had dramatically decreased. Which is a shame, because that's when all the excitement happened. First, there was a performance by a vocal ensemble from Harvard, which was nice, but nothing compared to the Korea University cheerleading squad that followed. I have a distinct image of what a cheerleader is in my head, and they did not fit that image whatsoever. Dressed in stylized Korean garb, excitedly leading us in song and dance, I don't think a person was left untouched by "KU Spirit". After the performances, there was a campus tour. The campus here is gigantic. I mean, overwhelmingly huge. I have no idea how I'm going to get around here, but I'm sure I'll figure it out... eventually...

After the campus tour, we were all invited to go to a bar 5 minutes away from the campus by foot and mingle. Not everybody went, but even so we filled the restaurant. I sat at a table with a Korean girl I met and talked to during the tour, a guy from Sweden, two guys from Japan, and a guy from Korea. We were brought two plates of fried chicken, one in a spicy sauce, and a gigantic pitcher of beer. I'm just going to say now; if American college orientations ended with off campus beer and fried chicken socials, I think people would be much more inclined to go. We stayed for about two and a half hours, with conversation ranging from drinking culture (Korean drinking games, American drinking games, Swedish drinking songs) to sports to saunas to height differences. We all soaked up each other's cultures, with questions constantly flying around the table (Maybe when I have more time/am less exhausted I'll try and recount some of the conversations). Finally we made it back to our dorms, and I was able to take a nice shower.

Tomorrow is my Korean placement test, and since I haven't practiced all Summer, I'm pretty nervous. So I'm going to read up on my book a little bit and then take some well deserved rest.

안녕히 계세요!