KINU conference and Andong

This week was probably my busiest week yet. It was filled with numerous deadlines and meetings, such as group meetings for class and deadlines for housing back at MSU. I applied to live in Owen Hall when I return to the U.S., since I'm only studying at MSU for an extra semester in the fall, so I'm anxiously waiting to see if I actually did get the housing space I wanted. The good news is that I think my financial situation has been figured out and that I will be receiving both the Boren Scholarship and FLAS Fellowship and the funds I will be receiving will cover exactly what it takes to be here (so less than the full FLAS amount, which is slightly unfortunate because I was hoping to use the extra money for traveling). This means I shouldn't have to worry about taking out an extra loan or borrowing money to pay for the rest of my stay here.

My professor from my North Korea class works at the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) which hosted the 4th Chaillot Human Rights Forum on Thursday. He graciously invited our class to the conference which includes talks from very important officials and academics as well as a free lunch. The conference took place at the Westin Chosun Hotel, arguably South Korea's most famous, and fanciest, hotel. The conference consisted of three sessions after an opening ceremony where the President of KINU, Jinwook Choi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Unification, Nam-Sik Kim, and the Former Chairman of Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly, Jin Park, spoke. The first session's topic was "Evaluation on the Status of North Korean Human Rights and Plans for Practical Improvement." The speakers included Robert King, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues and Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. Special Rapparteur on the Human Rights Situation in the DPRK. Jung-Hoon Lee, the Human Rights Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, acted as the chairperson. This was the most well-attended session as it should be; Mr. Darusman is the person responsible for pushing the human rights agenda regarding North Korea in the U.N. As a member of the Commission of Inquiry (COI), he is responsible for the COI's 2013 report on the violations of human rights in North Korea, an extremely important report that has now linked human rights violations with accountability in North Korea which has not been done before. Instead of the leaders in the DPRK getting away with crimes against humanity, they will now face consequences if this report is discussed in the U.N. Security Council and then passed to the International Criminal Court where sanctions will be taken against those the most responsible for the human rights violations. With this report, the DPRK also became more concerned with their human rights which has never happened before. This is evidenced by their presentation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the U.N. where they made effort to show that progress has been made. For the first time, the DPRK played by the rules which is very, very significant. There is now a paradigm shift in how the international community deals with North Korea; the DPRK can no longer divert the international community like it has been doing for decades. I am so fortunate to live in a time when these events are occurring and I even had the chance to meet and introduce myself to Mr. Darusman. I now realize what K-pop fans feel like at a concert because I was fangirling the whole time with these important policymakers, haha.

From left to right: my classmate, Mr. Darusman, me, and my professor.

Mr. Darusman also emphasized that accountability and cooperation is needed when dealing with the DPRK, and not one or the other. Additionally, Darusman discussed that if the COI had more time to write the report, it would have looked into the deep structures of the North Korea set up (such as the flow of policy processes), would have included targeted sanctions, and would have included issues of North Korean workers abroad and whether it is forced labor or not.  Mr. King commented on Mr. Darusman's words throughout the session and emphasized the support the U.S. has for South Korea regarding policy towards North Korea and his praise for the COI report, which he said was the best report the COI has ever written. He also commented on the recent release of the American citizens from North Korea which he said was not done on a secret deal with North Korea. He honestly did not know why North Korea decided to release the individuals at that time, but it might have been related to the U.N. resolution and the DPRK wanting to make a good gesture.

Robert King, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues.

The first session ended with a delicious lunch, which I still can't believe I got for free. The second session's topic was titled "Human Rights Situation in North Korea -- Ordinary Prison Camps (Kyohwaso)." For both session two and three, there was one chairperson, three presentations, and three discussants who commented on the presentations. The title of session two is slightly misleading because while one presentation did focus on the prison camps, the other two focused on health, specifically how we can research human rights violations in North Korea and how we can deal with those affected with psychological disorders after going through human rights violations. What stood out for me from this session is how we should think of about human rights as health so as not to offend governments. For example, instead of accusing a government that they are violating human rights, instead say they are hurting the health of their citizens. I think this way of thinking is very important and if adopted maybe more change towards eradicating human rights violations can be brought about.

The lunch that was provided.

Some of the press that was at the conference. There were a lot more represented in session one. 

After a short coffee break, session three began which was titled "Practical Ways to Improve Human Rights in North Korea -- Maternal and Child Health Program." The title for this session is explicit and it is exactly what the participants discussed, child and maternal health. One detail that stuck with me from this session is that at the U.N. level, the DPRK is grouped with the East Asian region, but at the WHO level, the DPRK is grouped with the Southeast Asian region. Therefore, research about the DPRK and how it is compared regionally can get really confusing really fast. There are obviously many, many more details I am leaving out from this conference and my opinions toward what was discussed, so if you want to hear more feel free to contact me.

Over the weekend I finally took the trip I've been meaning to do all semester: to go to Andong, specifically Hahoe Folk Village (prounced Ha-Hway, despite the English spelling). The village is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a valuable part of Korean culture because it preserves Joseon period-style architecture, folk traditions, valuable books, and old tradition of clan-based villages. Lea, Marisa, and I met at 7 a.m. in Sinchon on Saturday, took the subway to the bus terminal in East Seoul, and then took a 3-hour bus ride to Andong. From there we took a taxi to the village (although coming back we realized there was a bus that goes directly from the terminal to the village which would have saved us money). The taxi dropped us off in the part of the village that had the museums and restaurants but we had to pay an admission fee and then take a short shuttle bus ride to the actual village (a lot of traveling!). We made a reservation to stay in a guesthouse so our first order of business was to find where it is so we can put our belongings in there while we explore for the rest of the day. I wanted to stay in a traditional house to get a real feel for Korean traditional life, so this included sleeping on the floor in a tiny room with the bathroom in another building. For many Westerners this set-up would have probably been uncomfortable, but I actually really enjoyed my stay and I found the room to be very cozy despite sleeping on the floor and it was largely due to the floor heating. The owners were also very, very nice and if anyone wants to visit the village, I highly recommend staying in the guesthouse we did.

A photo of the guesthouse. This photo only captures a part because the house is formed in a square with several buildings and rooms.

A corner of our room: tiny but very cozy!

A photo of me sitting by the sign listing the village as a World Heritage site. 

After setting down our stuff, we walked back to the entrance to watch the mask dance that the village performs every day. The mask dance consists of 10 stages and it was really amusing. Marisa told me that commoners would criticize the upper class back in the day because they could get away with it by wearing masks. After the mask dance we walked to the edge of the village by the river (the river encloses the entire village which makes it very scenic) to take a very short ferry ride to the other side where we climbed a cliff to be able to see the whole village. The hike was very therapeutic and it was nice being out of the city in a quiet, peaceful village which had mountains, trees, fields, and a river surrounding it. In fact I felt as if I went to a spa after we returned to Seoul, which I think demonstrates how relaxing the trip was.

One of the stages of the mask dance: castrating the bull.

A view of the village when we were on the cliff.

After the hike to the cliff, we went back to the village across the river where we walked around to view the various traditional houses, some with thatched roofs and others with tiled roofs. The village is not large so you can easily walk around the entire village in half an hour. I loved being able to appreciate the architecture of the houses and how well-preserved the houses were. We then headed to dinner in the market area where the restaurants were. I had tofu and kimchi, and the kimchi was delicious and I knew exactly why: it was homemade and fresh. The village had several cabbage fields (cabbage is used in kimchi) and when walking around I saw that a couple of the houses were in the process of making kimchi which made sense because kimchi is typically made before winter where it stored for the winter months. After dinner we walked around looking for an ATM and for some snacks to buy for breakfast in the morning. At this point it was already dark even though it was only 6:00 p.m. and unlike the city, the village suddenly becomes very dark and silent after sunset and almost everything closes. So we walked back to the guesthouse for the remainder of the night where we ended our day playing card games and talking. Since we wanted to be up early tomorrow, we ended up going to bed at 9 p.m. (which actually felt like midnight since everything in the village was closed).

Some of the tiled roof houses.

A thatched roof house.

We woke up nice and early at 7 a.m. on Sunday and headed toward the shuttle bus because we wanted to see a temple on the other side of the mountains surrounding the village. After seeing the temple, which wasn't as large as I expected it to be but beautiful nonetheless, we headed back the village and walked around again. We found a cafe where we sat and had hot chocolate and we also found a folk playground which had some very large swings we went on. Unlike swings I'm used to, for these swings you stood up, making swinging that much more difficult. We also visited a couple of shops in the village which sold the traditional masks that Andong is known for. I bought two as a remembrance of my time in the village.

A photo of part of the temple.

Another photo of the temple.

We then grabbed our stuff from the guesthouse to check out and we said goodbye to the village to head back to Seoul. We wanted to leave around 12:00 p.m. because we wanted to be back in Seoul by dinnertime. After traveling by shuttle bus, bus, and then subway, we made it back to Sinchon where we had dinner together and then headed our separate ways.

The bus back to Seoul.

I ended my Sunday night with homework and laundry (which was much needed at this point). I highly, highly recommend visiting Hahoe Folk Village for all of those who are in Korea or planning to visit Korea. The village is incredibly scenic and relaxing, exactly what I needed after a very stressful couple of weeks. The village was such a contrast to the bustling city of Seoul and it made you appreciate what Korea has to offer with its history, food, culture, and scenery. Similar to the conference, I could talk about the village a lot more and I'm leaving a lot of details out, but if you would like to learn more feel free to contact me. I will see you all next week!

A stressful week that ended with a stressless weekend

This week has been dominated by financial stress. I have been awarded both the Boren scholarship and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) and because they are both federal government scholarships, I have had to go through a lot of bureaucracy to make sure I am actually receiving the awards. Right now Boren is withholding my award until FLAS is figured out. In other words, FLAS needs to determine the exact amount of money they are giving me so I can report it to Boren so Boren can still deposit their award money in my bank account. Both scholarships need to make sure that the money they are giving me doesn't overlap. For example, Boren would pay for plane tickets and room and board while FLAS pays for tuition and program fees. Boren has given me a deadline of November 15th to report FLAS funds and the silver lining to all of this is that MSU has given the Asian Studies Center, who administers the FLAS, the same deadline for reporting FLAS funds to MSU so I should theoretically be okay. This has been especially stressful because I need to receive both scholarships in order to keep studying over here. If I don't receive FLAS funds then I have to take loans to cover tuition costs next semester. Additionally, the Office of Study Abroad has been incredibly incompetent with providing essential information, like tuition and program costs, which has not lent help to the situation. My rant about the OSA will be saved for another blog post because this is not the first time that department has failed to serve its students. I look at the bright side to all of this though, and it's that if I can handle this situation, I can handle any bureaucratic situation that comes my way in the future. I think the people I'm dealing with fail to realize I barely turned 21 and I'm handling everything the best I can as a young adult who's living in a foreign country by herself. The last part of that sentence has been stressful enough.

Fortunately the weekend took away the stress from the week. After finishing up with five hours of class on Friday, I headed to dinner with a classmate from my Korean class, Anna. Anna is exactly what I needed because she's my Nisreen over here. In other words, Anna understands me and I understand her and we are able to share what's going on with our lives with empathy. We ended up talking for four hours about a myriad of things, from problems of making friends in Korea to lack of support for foreign students to racial problems. It was very relieving to have someone on my side over here considering everything I've faced so far. I plan on writing a blog post soon that doesn't sugarcoat my experience over here and explains the dilemmas and problems I've been facing as a foreign white American female student.

We went to a BBQ restaurant in Sinchon near the Hyundai Department Store that always has a long line of Koreans outside any day of the week. We ended up waiting for 45 minutes but the wait was very worth it. We ordered kalbi sal (beef) and the quality of meat there was very high. The restaurant also offered several items for free (unlike most restaurants which is probably why there were so many customers) like steamed egg, twae jang chigae, and coffee. After dinner we were both craving a taste from home so we headed to McDonald's where I got a Oreo McFlurry. That night was a testament to what I knew before, and that is that food is the greatest therapy one can receive. I was instantly in a better mood because I had delicious food. And afterwards we went back to my apartment and looked at the amazing view from my rooftop and realized this, this is why we're in Korea. We just wish there were more of those moments here.

Lea and I went to Hanok village on Saturday, a tourist spot in the middle of Seoul. The village is modeled after a Korean traditional village, so it was neat seeing how Koreans probably lived back in the day. I wanted to check the village out to see if it was worth bringing visitors over when they come here and I think it is. Afterwards, since we were nearby, we walked and shopped around Myeongdong. I was planning on a buying a specific sweatshirt later in Seoul in Dongdaemun but I saw this exact sweatshirt in Myeongdong as a surprise so I bought it there. The sweatshirt says "ㅅeoul" on the front and the back has names of other major cities with one letter in each city changed to a letter in Hangul. I've been meaning to find one with "ㅅeoul" on the front and in a gray color and I guess that was my lucky day.

Front of the sweatshirt.

Back of the sweatshirt.

We then headed to the lantern festival in Gwanghwamun that opened this weekend and will last for another two weeks. There were a ton of people there so we took a couple shots of the lanterns and instead of waiting in line and going in closer, we decided to come back another time, possibly during the week, to avoid the large crowds. The night ended in Hongdae, where we had a couple of beers in a bar and because I was so tired from walking around, I headed back to my apartment where soon after I fell asleep.

One of the lanterns at the festival.

Another lantern.

Patrick and I met up on Sunday to go to the kimchi museum in COEX mall near Gangnam. It wasn't until we got there that we realized the museum is closed for construction and won't re-open until March 15th, which is a bummer because I wanted to bring visitors to that museum. So we walked around the area instead and it was very strange because the buildings were so massive but there was barely anyone or anything inside of them. We walked into a building and we were very, very confused because it was like an airport. There was a check-in for luggage and everything, but it wasn't the airport. We thought that since this in the business district of Seoul, perhaps businesspeople check in their luggage there and then get a ride to the airport so at the airport they can just immediately go to their gate. It was very strange. We eventually found a Hyundai Department Store so we headed to the food court to grab lunch. While grabbing lunch I looked up things to do in Gangnam besides shopping and eating, and I came across a cafe that has dogs who perform tricks. We decided that would make for an interesting afternoon, so we hopped back on the subway for two stops and found the cafe which did indeed have dogs that perform tricks. There were both small dogs and large dogs, and even a dog painted as a panda, and they did tricks ranging from shaking hands to riding a skateboard to ringing a bell. It was nice being around animals again and I'd be willing to take friends there because it was definitely a unique experience that you wouldn't have in the United States.

COEX mall.

The dog cafe: Puppy Spoon. So many dogs!

A panda dog riding a skateboard.

We headed back to Sinchon after the cafe and because I had errands and homework to do, I went back to my apartment. I spent the rest of the night taking it easy while also being productive. It was hard not watching more seasons of Breaking Bad, which I began watching last week. This week was filled with so many ups and downs and I hope things will settle themselves out soon. I will see you next week!

Halloween and a giant rubber duck

This week was relatively low-key which was nice because relaxing weeks are needed once in awhile. I had a normal week of classes but during Korean my class on Monday (or Wednesday, I forget which day) we watched three videos depicting three gatherings: alumni, college club initiation, and co-worker. We were learning about the different kinds of gatherings in Korean so the videos displayed how those gatherings would typically be acted out in real life. One somewhat disturbing detail stood out to me. After watching one of the videos our teacher would write down phrases that were spoken in the video and then translate them to English. Two phrases that were spoken in the alumni video between two female friends were "You gained a little weight" and "You're aren't getting plastic surgery?" My class was shocked to find out that this woman was saying these things so nonchalantly to her friend. In the United States this would be considered extremely rude, but in Korea it's commonplace. Beauty is very emphasized here from the numerous plastic surgery advertisements to cosmetics stores. Have you ever looked at K-pop stars and wondered why they all look exactly the same? Well the beauty standards in Korea and the extreme pressure both women and men face explains how so much effort is put into appearance. I find it very sad and discomforting and probably an aspect I dislike the most about Korea.

Since Halloween was this weekend, the mentor's club threw a Halloween party at a club in Gangnam on Thursday so me and my friends went. Halloween is really only celebrated in the foreigner-populated parts of Seoul and usually only in clubs. Instead of going all out on Halloween with my costume like I usually do in the United States, I brought my leopard ears I bought in Lotte World and didn't put them on until we reached the club. We took the subway there and no one was dressed up except for us, but our costumes weren't outstanding in anyway so it looked like we were just wearing normal going-out clothes. The club was fun because it was decorated for Halloween and I enjoyed catching up with some of my exchange student friends. A 7-11 was also conveniently located right outside of the club so instead of paying for $15 club drinks we were able to buy bottles of soju for $1 or $2. While I had a lot of fun, one thing that bothers me about clubs here is that you are allowed to smoke inside, so the air is so smoky because the smoke can't escape that it becomes hard to breathe after awhile. Your clothes and hair also get saturated with smoke so you have to wash them pretty well when you get back home.

Clubbing in Gangnam!

I had five hours of class on Friday and I was still worn out from the previous night so I decided to take it easy. Back in the summer someone on Reddit posted a map of Seoul's subway that I really wanted. I was thinking about ways to decorate my walls in the apartment and I remembered that the artist for that particular map is in Seoul. After further research it turns out his store is only a subway stop and a 15-minute walk away, so Lea and I (since Lea is also a fan of maps) went to the store to buy the map. I absolutely love the map especially for how it depicts the Han river, which looks like the inner part of South Korea's flag. The artist also has subway maps of other major cities. I highly recommend checking out his website: zeroperzero.com. It was hard not buying more items at his store, haha.

A photo of the subway map hanging in my room. The website provides a clearer image.

Lea and I then grabbed some dinner and then headed to Hongdae to people-watch those who decided to wear a costume. Compared to the U.S. there was a significant less amount of people dressed up but it was still cool seeing those that did dress up. We also headed to the Hello Kitty cafe and relaxed there before heading back to Sinchon. Even though it was Halloween it didn't really feel like it, which is to be expected when you are in a foreign country. This is the first of several holidays I will experience here where it won't be the same as the U.S. I already know not celebrating Thanksgiving will be tough, since it's my favorite holiday, but I'm determined to see if a restaurant in Itaewon serves Thanksgiving food. Or maybe the American army base opens up to American citizens that day, but I'm doubtful.

The Hello Kitty desserts at the cafe.

The green tea latte I ordered. Isn't it cute?

A giant rubber duck made by artist Florentijn Hofman has been traveling the world since 2007 and for one month it's in Seoul! Out of curiosity I wanted to check the duck out, so me and my KLI classmate headed to Jamsil to see the duck. It's located in the lake right next to Lotte World and it was indeed giant! I still wonder how the artist was able to make an inflatable so large. There was also a pop-up store nearby so I bought a couple of postcards to decorate the walls in my apartment. We wanted to get another view of the duck further up so we walked into the nearby Lotte World Shopping Mall and went to one of the top floors where we took photos of the duck on the lake. They also had a mini version of the rubber duck so of course I had to take a photo with that one too, haha. This mall was incredible! Inside there was an aquarium and movie theater and I have to say it was the best movie theater I've ever been in. I definitely want to make my way back to the mall just to watch a movie in that theater.

Posing by the giant rubber duck.

A photo of the duck taken in the Lotte mall.

A mini version of the duck.

At this point we were both starving so we headed across the street to the Lotte Department Store. As if you couldn't tell already, this part of Seoul is filled with Lotte everything. We decided on Japanese food and so I got a huge meal of beef teriyaki, udon, rice, tempura, kimchi, and salad. It was by far one of the best meals I've had here and I ate every last bite despite how large the meal was. Afterwards we headed to an outlet mall for department store clothing at the Gasan Digital Complex where I went to earlier to buy my winter coat. One of the outlet malls called Mario Outlet is simply awesome. I was able to buy a quality winter coat that was originally $400 for $60! When I went the second time I wasn't planning on buying another coat but I came across a perfect fall coat that I know I wouldn't be able to find in the U.S. that was originally $350 but was selling for $40! Not all coats had that good of a deal. I actually had to look around a lot and scope out the correct stores to find a coat that was under $100. I highly recommend the Mario Outlet for anyone in Seoul if they need to find a good but affordable winter coat. I now don't even consider shopping in department stores anymore (and I'm glad I haven't) because this outlet mall is the way to go. I'm actually looking forward to the weather becoming colder just so I can wear my coats more, haha.

The delicious meal I had at the Lotte Department Store.

Today on Sunday I've been taking it easy and completing a lot of errands I've been putting off during the week. I've done laundry, cleaned, and now I'm working on homework and this blog. I also have to do some grocery shopping. It's great being an adult, isn't it? But I really do enjoy and have enjoyed living in my apartment thus far. With my new decorations it's starting to feel like home and with the weather becoming colder it's gotten a lot more cozy.

Additionally, before I moved into my apartment I was interviewed by a Korean newspaper about my homestay experience. The article is now published and it's really cool seeing my face in a publication written in a foreign language! It can accessed here: http://www.newscj.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=263263. In short, I discussed how I learned about Korean culture and ate delicious Korean food everyday. I also talked about how speaking with my host family everyday greatly improved my Korean speaking skills and because of that I did well on my speaking midterm.

A screenshot the newspaper home page. You can see my face on the left!

The article wanted to promote the benefits of Koreastay, the website where I found my host family, so the article discussed the program to get more families involved. If anyone wants a full English translation, let me know and I'll do my best. Anyways, I will see you next week!

My new apartment and meeting my friend from India

I am finally all moved into my new apartment and I can confidently say that I absolutely love it!  I want to give a huge shout-out to Lea, another Boren scholar here and a good friend, who helped me move the entire day. Not only did she help me move my luggage but she stayed with me to unpack and go shopping for all the items I needed. I can't thank her enough because there was no way I could've moved by myself.

The space is perfect for one person, it doesn't feel cramped nor does it feel like there is wasted space. The apartment is a studio apartment, although the kitchenette has its own little room when you enter the apartment. The bathroom also has a bathtub which is somewhat rare in Korea for studio apartments. Most studio apartments have bathrooms where the bathroom is the shower space, so anytime you wash everything gets wet. Even though there is a bathtub there was no pole or shower curtain, but I bought them really cheap so it really wasn't an issue.

Bathtub with the shower curtain.

Another bathroom photo.

An adorable bear mat I bought for the bathroom.

The apartment came furnished, so there's a desk, desk chair, bed, wardrobe, full refrigerator, TV, and small table. The owner was also really nice and provided me with sheets and a drying rack for my clothes. The apartment is "old" for Korean standards but it doesn't feel old. The space is really clean and it doesn't feel aged by any means.

View of the TV and desk.

View of the bed.

View of the fridge and wardrobe.

My little kitchenette!

Luckily there is a store called Daiso in Korea that sells a bunch of functional, cheap, and often adorable household items. It is actually pretty hard to find items there that are over 10,000 won, so it's perfect for a college student's budget. I had to buy a pan, pot, plates, bowls, silverware, laundry basket, shoe basket, waste baskets, hangers, bathroom stuff, etc. and I didn't spend more than 100,000 won. I also did some light grocery shopping to make sure that I have at least some food for breakfast.

There are two downsides to the apartment so far, but they really aren't that bad. First, the wifi router that I bought didn't work so I had to consult with the company to get a new one. Right now I'm connected to the internet through an ethernet cord. The internet is fast though and I have data on my photo in case I need to access the internet, so it really isn't an issue and it'll be resolved soon. Another downside is that I don't have my own washer, but instead there's one on every floor and there's only four apartments on each floor so they're rarely, if at all, all being used at the same so that it is also not a big issue.

The location of the apartment is quite interesting. I'm located in between the Sinchon subway station and Sogang subway station. I'm about a 3-minute walk away from the Sinchon station and about a 10-minute away from Yonsei University. My apartment is also where all the "love hotels" are located in Sinchon. Love hotels are where couples go to have, you can guess it, because a lot of places in Korea don't allow overnight guests, especially places where college students live. Love hotels in Korea are actually really nice and many choose to stay there instead of regular hotels because they are cleaner and more fancy. Unlike the perception that similar places may get in the United States or other countries, love hotels in Korea are actually very safe as well as the areas they are in. I haven't faced any issues yet and I don't think I ever will. The area that my apartment is in also has a random assortment of other buildings including a church, traditional houses, a Buddhist temple, a dry cleaning place, and a couple of restaurants. It's a unique area in Sinchon and it has already made for some good stories.

In my opinion, probably the best part of this apartment is my rooftop. Most Korean apartments don't have rooftop access so the fact that I do is awesome and I've already made some of my friends jealous, haha. I have a fantastic view of the city and I've already periodically gone up there just to look at the buildings. I'm also located on the top floor so the rooftop is only a couple stairs away. It's nice knowing that if I ever feel somewhat claustrophobic in my apartment, I can go to the rooftop for some peace of mind.

 A view from the rooftop during the day.

A view from the rooftop during the night.

After moving and running errands all day on Saturday, I immediately passed out and slept really well on my first night in the apartment. The area I'm in is very quiet and I rarely hear my neighbors so I'm able to be very productive in a calming environment. It is so rewarding to finally live completely on my alone and even more awesome that I started to do it in a foreign country. I've had terrible issues with roommates in the past so it's nice to finally have my own space to do what I want and to keep it clean. I already know it's going to be hard to leave the apartment 8 months from now.

On Sunday I experienced a moment that I didn't think would ever realistically happen in my life: I met a classmate and good friend from when I lived and went to an international school in India. He is Korean but lived in India for pretty much his whole life and he has completed two years at New York University but is now currently serving in the army since Korea has male conscription. We met for lunch and coffee and talked for about 6 hours. The last time we talked in person was 8 years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It was such a strange but wonderful moment to have two distinct but important parts of my life bridge together. We both would have never expected to meet again in Korea and we plan to meet again in the future. In fact he's going to send a request to the army to see if I can visit him at his base next month. And he'll be back at NYU when I'm back in the U.S. so I plan on visiting him in New York City as well, especially since I've never been to NYC.

My friend Hisu and I!

It's crazy how life works out that way sometimes and I'm hoping I can have similar experiences in the future with all my friends from the past. Each week here never fails to surprise me and make me happy so I can only expect the future ones to be even better. See you next week!

Nami Island, Chuncheon, League of Legends, and midterms

I can thankfully say that midterms are FINALLY over! I'm quite proud of the fact that I survived a 5-day Korean midterm. On Thursday I had to read two passages out loud in front of the class to be graded on my pronunciation, intonation, and speed. Each student randomly picked two passages from our reading book and of course I got the most difficult passages to read. I was fine for most of the reading but there were some spots that were tongue-twisters and so I would slow down a bit, which unfortunately probably lost me points on speed and intonation. I can read Korean fine. In fact I learned how to read Korean within a week. The difficult part is reading very fluently, which is actually quite challenging.

On Friday we had our roleplaying exam. The class was divided into groups of partners and we had to write a 16-turn skit, memorize it, and then act it out in front of the class. We had three scenarios to choose from and my partner Becca and I chose to do the shopkeeper-customer scenario. We memorized and acted our lines perfectly so the only thing I can imagine us getting marked down for is if we made a mistake when writing the skit. I also had my midterm exam paper for my North Korea class due that day. We had to answer a prompt that asked whether we supported conservative or progressive policy toward North Korea, so whether reciprocity should matter between North and South Korea or whether the South should continue to give unconditional assistance to North Korea. I ended up arguing for the conservative side because there were more examples that could support that argument.

To take a break from midterms and venture outside of the city, my friends and I visited Nami Island which was about a two hour trip outside of Seoul. We took the subway and then we took a ferry to the island. It's so amazing to think that you can take the subway from downtown Seoul to another city for two hours and the ride will cost you around 2,000 won. Nami Island is famous in Korea for a couple of reasons: the trees during autumn, the animals on the island, the relaxing (and often romantic) activities you can do on the island, and it was where a famous Korean movie was filmed, Winter Sonata. Despite the small size of the island, you can also rent a cabin to stay there for the night with friends.

A lane of gimpo trees on Nami Island.

It was such a fresh breath of air being outside of the city. I love Seoul, but sometimes I need to be in a more quiet landscape where you have animals running around and the beautiful scenery to look at. Speaking of animals, Nami Island has squirrels with fluffy ears and they are the cutest critters. It was difficult trying to take a photo of them because they move so fast. Being in Nami showed me how much Seoul lacks animals. It's kind of strange actually. Usually in large cities there are stray dogs and cats wandering around but in Seoul that is not the case. I've seen maybe three stray cats since I've been here and that's it. Nami also has ostriches and magpies.

 Ostriches!

Squirrels with fluffy ears a.k.a. the cutest animals ever.

Since the island is small and well, an island, it is surrounded by water and you can easily walk around the whole island in about an hour at a leisurely pace. I had extreme deja vu the whole time because the island really reminded me of northern Michigan in the fall. When I updated my profile photo on Facebook with me standing by the water a couple of people actually thought I was in Michigan and not Korea. The island is filled with beautiful trees, flowers, fields, and pathways. It was a really great spot for photos, and my friends and I definitely took advantage of that fact and had several photo shoots, haha. There are other activities you can do on the island as well like rent a bike, a boat, etc. and there are restaurants and a gift shop on the island where you can eat and do a little shopping. I really want to visit the island again in the wintertime and perhaps rent a cabin with some friends. I can't express how refreshing it was being in nature again and I know I'm going to crave that feeling again in the future.

Another lane of trees.

A view of the water on the island.

Since Nami is close to Chuncheon and Chuncheon is known for its dakkalbi which I've been meaning to try for awhile, we headed there for some dinner and walking around. Dakkalbi is a spicy chicken dish with cabbage, rice-cake, and sweet potatoes. We went to one of the more famous restaurants and I was so happy by how good the dish was. It was spicy but not too spicy and also a little sweet. After eating we walked around the city for a little and then got ice cream at Baskin Robbins. It was a little strange being in a Korean city and not being in Seoul only because the whole time you expect the city to be bigger and more bustling with people but then you have to remind yourself that it isn't Seoul. What was also interesting about Chuncheon was the amount of stores that sell hiking gear. Hiking is a popular past-time for Koreans since 70% of the Korean peninsula is mountainous. If you go out into the countryside like we did, I would say that about 80% of the people on the subway besides us were all wearing hiking gear because that's what they decided to do that day. The older generation also tends to hike more than the younger generation.

Dakkalbi.

One of the streets in Chuncheon.

A couple of weeks ago, after hearing a classmate in my Korean class talk about it, I bought my ticket to the see the League of Legends 2014 World Championship. I was sort of familiar with the computer game but I wanted to go for the experience. I went on Sunday with two friends to the World Cup Stadium about a 20-minute subway ride away and it ended up being one of the best decisions I've made since I've been here. It was a very unique experience because it was treated like a sports game, but instead it was a championship for a computer game. There were a TON of people there, mostly guys. For once in my life actually the men's bathroom line was consistently longer than the women's bathroom line and it was great, haha. I bought a ticket for the cheapest section of seats for $20 which was not bad at all. What made the experience even greater was that Imagine Dragons performed and they even performed their most popular songs. I also received a gift bag filled with cool items like a League of Legends cloak, a light-up bracelet, a skin code, and banging sticks. Watching the gameplay was also really, really fun. I'm not familiar with the gameplay that much but my friend that I was with plays a lot so she was explaining how things worked. I also enjoy watching people play video games in general, rather than playing myself, so I thoroughly enjoyed watching the best players of the world compete with each other. The championship lasted for four hours but instead of being bored like most sports games I actually had fun. So for $20 I experienced something really unique, saw Imagine Dragons, and got a bunch of free items. Looking back it was almost too good to be true. Being at the championship also made me really want to start playing League of Legends. And to make things even better, the Korean team (Samsung White) ended up winning!

A view of the gameplay from our seats. The lights were awesome!

My friends and I posing with our cloaks after Samsung White won!

The happiness high I got from the weekend worked to push me through the rest of midterms the following week. On Monday I had my Reunification class exam and my oral exam in Korean. The Reunification exam was almost a joke. All I had to do was memorize terms and short answers from the study guide and then write them on the exam. I finished the exam in about 20 minutes and I'd be shocked if I didn't get a 100%. Luckily I'm learning things from the reading in that class because the midterm did not help me learn the material at all because it was review from my past international relations courses at MSU. We had to define easy terms like neorealism or unipolarity, which I already knew going into the class. Korean, on the other hand, was a lot harder. Each student was given a time to come into class on Monday to complete an oral interview that was supposed to last for 7 minutes. No matter how much I prepare for oral exams, I always get nervous and this time was no different. Although even though we were told it was a interview, it wasn't really an interview. Instead the teacher asked us 4 questions and for each question we had to answer with at least 4 sentences. The questions that were asked were about my life in Korea, what food I like, where I go shopping, and what I plan to buy for my friends when I return to the US. I studied a lot for the oral exam and anticipated which questions she was going to ask, so I actually did much better than I expected. The teacher was also really impressed as well. She asked me how I speak so well and I talked about how I live with a host family and that I speak with my Korean friends. She also said I sounded like a Kyopo, which is a member of the Korean diaspora, and that was definitely the biggest compliment I've received in my Korean learning so far.

We had our listening and reading test on Tuesday for Korean. The reading was a piece of cake. We had an hour to answer questions about passages from our reading book and because I prepared so much for the reading exam on Thursday, I pretty much had the meanings of the passages memorized. I didn't have to even read the passages on the exam which meant I got done with the exam in about 25 minutes. I feel confident about that part of the exam as well. However, the listening exam was a totally different story. I felt confident with my answers for the first two pages but towards the end of the exam the conversations we had to listen to and the questions we had to answer became much more complex. For example, you had two tries to listen to a conversation between two people and you had to answer 3 to 5 questions about that conversation. So 3 questions might be three statements that you have to say if they're true or false and then 2 questions where you have to write out the response. So you have to be listening to the conversation while also remembering the questions so you can answer them correctly. And if you can't keep track of the names in the conversation and who is talking to who, you can't answer the questions correctly. Also, if you make a spelling mistake in the written answer but other than that got the answer correct, you still get the whole response wrong. So long story short, the listening was really hard and I'm expecting to get around a 75% on it. I'll be shocked if I get above an 80% on that part of the exam.

Lastly on Wednesday we ended the Korean midterm with the writing section. I studied a lot for this part of the exam because I knew it counted the most for the entire Korean midterm. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the exam was much easier than I expected. I think I did really well which definitely brightened my mood for the rest of the week. The exam consisted of filling in the blanks with vocabulary words, writing sentences with certain grammar points, true and false questions with grammar points, a passage where we had to convert it from formal speaking to casual speaking, and then a short essay at the end. I was so relieved to finally be done with the Korean midterm, mostly because it lasted for so many days. I hopefully find out the scores on all the parts of the exam soon and hopefully I received high scores because this class counts towards my GPA so I want to do well.

Like I said in my last blog post I move into my apartment on Saturday so in a couple of days I'll update everyone how apartment living in Seoul is!

Yon-ko-jeon and preparing for midterms

This week was relatively normal and low-key except for the weekend. On Friday and Saturday was an event called Yon-ko-jeon. Yonsei University and Korea University, two big rivals, compete with each other in a series of sports games including baseball, basketball, ice hockey, rugby, and soccer. What is unique about Yon-ko-jeon in comparison to other sports events is the amount of cheering. You spend the entirety of the game going through various cheers that each have their own dance. For those who are unfamiliar with the dances like myself, they had what are called Blue Knights stand on a stage by the field of whichever game was being played and dance so you could follow. What was strange about the event is that instead of watching the game, you watch the Blue Knights and focus on cheering. It was very odd when we continued to cheer after Korea University scored a goal or points but everyone didn't seem to mind.

Olympic Park, where Yon-ko-jeon was held. 

I went to the opening ceremony on Friday and then I had to head back before baseball started because I didn't want to miss my North Korea class. Yon-ko-jeon was held at the Olympic Park near Jamsil, which is about a 40-50 minute subway ride from Sinchon. It was neat being in the stadium that was built 26 years ago for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. On Saturday I went to watch rugby with calligraphy club but I had to leave afterwards because I unfortunately caught a cold the night before and I wasn't feeling well enough to stand and cheer for hours.

Calligraphy club at Yon-ko-jeon!

Another photo from Yon-ko-jeon.

Due to my financial status, I am unable to live with my host family any longer because the cost of living with them is much higher than if I were to live in my own apartment. I conditionally received the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship, but the Asian Studies Center is working out the details of whether I am actually able to receive the award since I also received the Boren scholarship. If I don't receive FLAS I can't live with my host family so instead of taking the risk and waiting, I decided to find an apartment to move into. After watching rugby I met with a realtor and we looked at some apartments that fell within my price range and what I wanted, which was primarily location and the apartment being fully furnished. I feel in love with the second apartment which is a little older than other apartments but the room is bigger, it's furnished, and it has an AWESOME rooftop. I move in on October 25th so I will take some photos then. As much as I love living with a host family, it'll be nice to be independent again in my own apartment. The apartment is also a 10-15 minute walk to Yonsei so I will save a lot of money on not having to take the subway every day.

Midterms start this week on Friday and go until Wednesday. For my Reunification class I just have to memorize some terms and for my North Korea class I have a short two-page paper I have to write. What I am worried about is my Korean language midterm, which is four days long. On Friday I have to act out a skit that I wrote and memorized with my classmate. On Monday I have an oral interview with my teacher, on Tuesday is listening and reading, and on Wednesday is writing. Unlike my two content classes which are just pass/fail for me, in Korean the grade actually affects my GPA so I want to do really well in the class. Luckily I have a lot of credits already from my studying at MSU but a 6 credit class can still affect your GPA a considerable amount depending on how bad you do. So because I will be concentrating on studying for midterms, I won't be writing a blog until the end of next week or possibly after I move into my apartment. Hopefully my blog next week will sound positive!

Since I'm already on the topic of apartments, I will talk about apartment living and renting in Seoul. What is unique about apartments in Seoul and in Korea in general is the amount of the deposit. Deposits here are very high. I'm paying $2,000 and that is on the cheaper side. Usually they are $5,000 or $10,000. However, the higher the deposit you pay the lower your rent is. I'm paying $600 a month for my apartment, which includes rent, utilities, and building fees. Sometimes the deposit is so high that you don't even have to pay rent. It's a lot of money you have to put up front but you end up getting all the money back at the end of your contract. And the reason they can make the deposit so high is that the next person renting the apartment will pay that same deposit, so the owner is not losing out on any money. Additionally, a lot of one-room apartments, which is what I will be living in, have strict rules regarding who can come over. Most one-rooms won't allow overnight guests or a night of hanging out with your friends. Fortunately the apartment I will be staying at I can have long-term guests and I can have people over to hang out. I'm already planning on having a mini party on the rooftop.

This week's post has been shorter than previous weeks but I'll have a lot to talk about next week so I will see you then!