Damyang, Boseong, and Seoraksan

These past couple of days have been filled with some fun adventures. Now that it's May, the weather is nice and there are several festivals in Korea, so I plan to fully take advantage of both of those aspects. This past weekend I went to Damyang and Boseong and spent the night in Gwangju with Marisa and Lea.

We left Seoul at 8 a.m. on Saturday to head to Damyang to visit the bamboo festival. We actually learned about the festival in my Korean class so it was neat experiencing all the activities firsthand. After 5 hours on the express bus, we finally arrived in the town of Damyang. After seeing that the festival is relatively close to the bus terminal, we walked there, which allowed us to see the quaintness of the town. We arrived at the festival to see a lot of people, tents, and a beautiful river with several stone walkways. As you can guess, there was bamboo everything at this festival. There were boats made out of bamboo on the river, tents filled with bamboo goods to buy, and cute bamboo statues found throughout the town. We sampled bamboo hotteok, a honey-filled pancake, and later made bamboo candles.

The tents at the bamboo festival.

Posing by the river on a stone walkway.

Boat made of bamboo.

Bamboo hotteok.

Making bamboo candles.

We then headed to the main attraction of the festival and town of Damyang: the bamboo forest. The forest was breathtaking. The bamboo was much taller than expected and when there were no people around, the forest was very peaceful. The forest was unique to me because as someone from the U.S., when I think of "forest" I think of pine trees or maple trees. The bamboo was foreign but inviting, and allowed for some great photos which the three of us took advantage of wholeheartedly. 

Posing in front of the bamboo forest and giving a sense of how tall the bamboo trees are. 

Inside the forest.

We took a lot of photos that day!

The bamboo was so tall!

After exiting the forest, we went to a restaurant by the river to try tongbab, rice steamed in bamboo and mixed with other healthy ingredients. Like I mentioned, I read about the festival in my class and this was one of the activities described, so I was dying to see what the rice was like. In short, it was delicious and did taste different with a slightly bamboo flavor. We also received a bunch of other Korean dishes with our lunch that were healthy but very filling. The cool thing about tongbab is that you get to keep the bamboo "cup" it was made in as a souvenir, so I have it sitting on my desk as a reminder of my experiences. After our early dinner, we headed back outside to a nearby tent to try bamboo ice cream. It tastes like a faint green tea ice cream and it was very refreshing for a hot day. 

Tongbab.

Bamboo flavored ice cream.

We took one last loop around the festival and then headed back to the bus terminal to head to Gwangju to stay for the night. On our way to the terminal, we stopped by a store that sells bamboo goods. The storeowner was incredibly sweet and even invited us for tea, but we couldn't stay because we had to catch the bus. I ended up buying a bamboo basket made in Damyang as a souvenir. 

After waiting a couple of minutes at the terminal, we caught the bus to Gwangju and rode it south for about half an hour. On the bus, we actually met other exchange students from Yonsei who had the same weekend plans as us, so we chatted during the bus ride. I was surprised by how big Gwangju is, but it makes sense because it's the third largest city behind Seoul and Busan. After arriving at the terminal, the three of us looked on a map and saw that our hotel looked to be not that far away from the terminal, so we opted to walk there instead of hail a taxi or find a bus. That proved to be a mistake, because the distance was actually much larger than expected and ended up being around 3 miles, so it took us an hour to walk. Despite the distance, we were all in a good mood and didn't mind a lot of walking, plus we were able to see the city better. We arrived at our hotel and passed out soon afterwards, preparing for our next day at Boseong.

Similar to how Damyang is famous for its bamboo forests, Boseong is famous for its green tea fields. We left for Boseong at 8 a.m., first by taking the taxi from our hotel to the terminal and then taking a 1.5 hour express bus ride to Boseong from Gwangju. I just want to say that the amount of green was shockingly beautiful the whole time we were in the south. Everything was a bright lime green and the trees and grass were just so vibrant. The scenery differed from the north, which is still green but darker and not as vibrant, and I spent the majority of the bus ride in awe as I looked out the window. When we arrived in Boseong, we were welcomed by extremely kind people. 3 people individually went out of their way to help us since we looked kind of lost looking at the bus schedules to the green tea fields. This would never happen in Seoul, and it makes me want to travel the south more because the people are so friendly. I think it's universal in most countries that the people residing in the south are more hospitable and friendly.  

We ended up taking a taxi to the green tea fields by the friendliest taxi driver, and arrived in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor and it was slightly raining and misting on and off. However, the size of the green tea fields and their beauty made up for it. The mist also added a neat "mysterious" factor to the photos. The atmosphere also greatly reminded me of the Northeastern U.S., and I had to keep reminding myself that I was in Korea. We took a ton of photos on the fields that were on a mountainside, and it was so neat seeing what green tea looked like in person. I was kind of surprised because the leaves reminded me of a simple shrub you would see in the U.S. and I wouldn't be able to differ between the two. 

The green tea fields.

Posing in the fields.

Posing again to show the distance between the hedges.

A moment that stands out during our time in the green tea fields is when the three of us suddenly became celebrities. Since we were in the south, seeing white foreigners is kind of rare and so when a Korean does see us, they either want to take our photo or call us "beautiful." At one point when Marisa was taking my photo, a Korean man also took my photo and called me beautiful. I was just cracking up the whole time, haha. Later, a group of Korean men came to Marisa and asked to take a photo of her, which she obliged after which Lea and I also got involved. They took so many photos of us! We took at least ten different group photos and individual photos as well. I got a huge kick out of it and they were so nice about it that I didn't mind. I wish there was a way to see how many albums I show up in around the world because this was not the first time this has happened, haha.

We were celebrities, haha.

After our celebrity status moment, we hiked up the mountain that the field was on to head to a nearby waterfall. The hike was kind of brutal since it was just mud "stairs" all the way and it was compounded by the fact that the mud was very slippery. I'm honestly surprised none of us slipped and our shoes definitely paid the price (I'm sure mine still have some mud on them now even though I tried wiping it off when I got back to Seoul). We finally arrived at the top of the mountain, but we could unfortunately only see fog. As we were descending, we walked through a forest which looked mysterious with the fog and then came across the waterfall. Because of the rain, the path itself became a waterfall, so it was slightly challenging jumping from stone to stone with a stream of water running through. 

The fog at the top of the mountain.

I felt like I was in the Northwestern U.S. with the fog and pine/cedar trees.

The waterfall as we descended the mountain.

After reaching the end of the path and back in the bottom of the fields with the stores and restaurant, we stopped for lunch. This restaurant had Korean meals that were made out of green tea. I ordered green tea bimbimbap, which had green tea rice. It was surprisingly delicious, and the green tea paired very well with the vegetables in the dish. We then headed back outside to shop for green tea items, and I ended up buying green tea cookies, green tea powder, and green tea latte mix. For those who know me well, you know that I absolutely love green tea. In Korea whenever I go to a cafe, I always order a green tea latte. So being in a place that specializes in green tea made my heart swell in excitement. I also ordered green tea yogurt ice cream at a stand after we went to the shop, which was also delicious. 

Bimbimbap with green tea rice.

The several green tea things you could order.

This area of Boseong also had a bamboo forest that we wanted to check out. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bamboo there was much more green and much taller than the bamboo in Damyang. There were also barely any people there so it felt like we had the whole forest to ourselves. 

These trees were bigger and more green than Damyang.

Me being excited with all my purchased green tea goods.

After the forest, we headed to a taxi stand to head back to the Boseong terminal to head to Gwangju, and then head to Seoul from Gwangju. Even though leaving at 3 p.m. seemed early, when you take into account the amount of traveling time back to Seoul (around 6-7 hours), it wasn't that early after all. We called the taxi driver that drove us to the fields, and he picked us up to head to the Boseong bus terminal. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for the express bus, which we took to Gwangju. After arriving in Gwangju we decided to take the KTX instead of the bus because we didn't want to worry about waiting in traffic. After taking a taxi to the train station and standing in line to purchase our tickets, we found out that all the train seats heading back to Seoul were sold out. So we bit the bullet and still bought train tickets, we would just have to stand or sit on the floor. After getting on the train, we sought out the area between the train cars where the bathroom was because it had the most room, and we stayed there for the whole 4.5 hour ride. The ride was honestly not that bad, considering we had to sit on the floor. It was my first time taking the train in Korea so it was neat experiencing something different. I was surprised by the amount of people who also had to sit on the floor, and those number of people increased after each stop we made. Marisa and Lea played games the whole time and I nodded on and off between sleep and being on my phone, and before we knew it we arrived in Seoul around 9:30 p.m.

Making the best out of train circumstance on the way back to Seoul.

My weekend was wonderful, and one I will always remember. I hope more people travel to the south because it's wonderfully different than the north, and I plan on traveling there again at the end of May.

I went to class on Monday but we had no school on Tuesday because it was Children's Day, one of the two days of school we get off for break (the other being Buddha's birthday on May 25th). Marisa and I took advantage of the day and travelled to Sokcho for a day trip. We took a 2.5 hour express bus ride to the east coast of Korea to venture into Seoraksan National Park, arguably South Korea's most popular mountain range. We then took a local bus from the terminal to the park.

The weather was beyond perfect that day; not too hot and not too cold and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The sky honestly looked as if someone filled it in like in MS Paint. Marisa and I hiked two trails that day: one to Biryong Falls and one halfway to Ulsanbawi rock. Each trail took about two hours to complete, and we stopped for lunch on the waterfall trail and for a beverage break on the second trail. The trails were "medium" difficulty, which was just enough to get a decent workout for the day. I was also surprised by how nice the trails were; there were bathrooms on the trails and benches for resting. Hiking that day was very cathartic and I greatly enjoyed being in nature again. I also finally hiked my first mountain in Korea! Hiking is Korea's most popular pastime, and you see Koreans of all ages hiking mountains all the time, especially when the weather is nice. If I lived in Korea longer, I would hike a lot more frequently because it's a good exercise and you get to see wonderful scenery along the way.

A view of the Seoraksan mountain range.

The waterfall we hiked up to.

A giant Buddha statue before the second trail.

What our path looked liked: lots of rocks.

A view of Ulsanbawi rock and the temple at the top of our second trail.

A temple in the national park.

After completing the second trail it was about 4 p.m., so we decided to head back into the town of Sokcho before catching our 6 p.m. bus back into Seoul. Since we had time, we wandered to Sokcho beach to take some photos and enjoy the water and people-watching. We also grabbed some dinner at Lotteria, Korea's equivalent to McDonald's, a sort of tradition we have. For some reason there's usually always a Lotteria by bus terminals and for 4 trips now I've eaten there before boarding my bus. For some reason fast food just tastes and sounds so good after a long day. Due to traffic, we didn't arrive in Seoul until about 9:30 p.m. When I arrived back to my apartment it wasn't long before I fell asleep, exhausted from a long past couple of days.

Sokcho beach.

These past couple of days were exhausting and long, but also so memorable and exciting. I can't wait to make more trips now that the weather is perfect. This upcoming weekend I'm going to stay in Seoul and be very productive with my schoolwork so I can afford to make more trips in the coming weekends. I plan on making another weekend trip next weekend, and then afterwards I'm going to Jeju, Busan, and other places in the South. I look forward to telling you about Korea outside of Seoul later and until then, see you later! 

Midterm results and relaxation

I finished my midterms on Wednesday and after two days of stress, received my results on Friday. I passed! Exams in Level 3 are MUCH more difficult than the exams last semester. To give an idea of how much more difficult they are: last semester for my midterms I got a 90% average and this semester I ended up with a 79%. Fortunately, my grades from Yonsei do not transfer to MSU so I just need to get at least a 70% in the course to receive credit. Unless I do really badly on my finals, that shouldn't be a problem.

The speaking midterm consisted of our 3-minute speech (which I wrote about meeting Christopher Nolan) and an interview. I did really well on the speech and ended up getting a 93% and I did decently on the interview. Ironically, the speaking portion of the exam was my highest score. I say "ironically" because I consider speaking to be one of my weakest abilities in Korean. The interview was more difficult than last semester because the questions were different. Instead of asking four questions and then responding using whatever grammar points we wanted, the teacher crafted the questions so we were forced to use certain grammar points. You couldn't just prepare the topics but instead also prepare practice sentences for each grammar point. I'm hoping the final exam will use the same format so I will be better prepared.

The listening was surprisingly easier than I expected. We took a practice exam in class and I was honestly predicting that I would fail the listening because it was that hard. I ended up with a 77% on the listening which is honestly a good score for me, considering I thought I was going to receive below a 60% and listening is the biggest weakness of my Korean language ability. On the other hand, I was unpleasantly surprised by how our reading part of the exam was. Unlike last semester, this part of the exam included two readings that we didn't cover in class. I understood the first reading quite well but the second reading had so much vocabulary I didn't know that I just had to make a bunch of educated guesses. The questions for the readings that we did cover in class were also very difficult. Last semester the reading part was by far the easiest part of the exam (I got a 95% for the semester), but this semester is by far the hardest part. Luckily my reading-out-loud grade (which is 10% of the total reading part) saved me, so my score wasn't too horrible. I was actually surprised how nicely my teacher graded me for the reading-out-loud. I thought I made more mistakes this semester than last semester but I received a much higher grade. But despite the toughness, I didn't fail and I got above a 70% and that's all that matters.

Lastly, the writing part of the exam was formatted without any surprises except for the second page. That page included questions where there were four sentences and you had to choose the false, or least correct, one. I had to spend a lot of time with those because there were a couple that I swear all looked correct. I made some silly and not-so-silly mistakes throughout exam and I think I can improve this part of the exam for the final because I have a better idea of what to study for.

Overall, I'm very relieved with my results. I really thought I was going to fail at least one part of the exam or receive a lower overall score. I guess those two weeks of studying paid off. And I'm so happy I don't have to take higher levels of KLI because I honestly don't think I could pass them the first try. Some people are naturally talented at languages, and I'm just not one of those people.

By finishing all my homework before Friday, I set out to make this weekend a relaxing one. I deserved it. I celebrated Marisa's birthday with Lea and Marisa's friend, Kira, by eating Mexican food and cake and then heading to Hongdae for some maekkoli Friday night. We ordered strawberry-banana maekkoli and it tasted exactly like a smoothie. It was beyond delicious. We also ordered a maekkolia, a maekkoli-sangria, and that was also delicious and surprisingly refreshing.

On Saturday I started the day off by Skyping Henrik and then I headed to Insadong to buy a gift for Nisreen, my best friend in the U.S. After stopping in multiple stores, I found something I think she would like (I won't reveal what it is in case she reads this blog) and I greatly enjoyed and appreciated the storelady who helped me. Honestly, customer service swayed my decision on which gift to buy. I hope all storeowners realize that genuine friendliness will get you more customers! Before heading back on the subway, I bought some rice cake in a really nice rice cake shop for a snack later on. I love Korean sweets and desserts because they're not very sweet and actually are pretty healthy because they use a lot of beans, sweet potato, green tea, rice, etc. I then headed to Hongdae to do some retail therapy and then I met up with Kate for dinner. I ended up buying a dress, leggings, and some jean shorts. I lack warm weather clothes and now that the weather is getting to be consistently in the mid-70's it's necessary that I pick up some items other than sweatshirts and cardigans. Kate and I stopped in a burger restaurant, and an interesting event occurred in the restaurant. This Korean guy in his thirties came up to us and starting what I assumed was flirting in both Korean and English. It was just really awkward and even though Kate and I said we both had boyfriends, he just didn't seem to get the hint. Luckily he eventually went back to his table when our food came out, but we were actually worried he was going to follow us out of the restaurant because he had those creepy vibes. Luckily he didn't, and we were able to leave that awkwardness behind.

One of the rice cakes I bought: sweet potato flavored!

If you know me well, you know that I'm very much a morning person. To me, nothing beats a relaxing, early morning. I either like to chill and drink coffee or go on walks. Back at MSU, I would enjoy my morning walks on our beautiful campus. Because I live in a city now, nature is greatly lacking so my only option is to go to a park. I've been to Seoul Forest before back in January, but I decided to check it out again to see all the spring flowers. I woke up at 6 a.m. on Sunday and headed to the Eastern part of Seoul while also occasionally running into drunk people still awake from the night before. Despite people walking around, it was still less busy than normal and the lack of people makes everything more calming for me. I spent about an hour and a half walking around the several parks in Seoul Forest and taking photos of all the flowers I walked by. It was really relaxing going by myself and on my own schedule. I even saw a random pen of bunnies! I took a break halfway through and ate the rice cakes I bought the day before, contemplating the fact that I'm in Korea and I have two months before I leave.

Pretty flowers!

More flowers.

Aaaand more. I have more photos on my Facebook.

A random pen of bunnies!

I have a lot mixed emotions about leaving Korea. I'm really excited to leave soon because I get to see Henrik, my friends, and my family, but I'm also sad because I don't when I'll be able to visit Korea again and I know I'll miss certain things like food and public transportation. Time has already gone by fast, so I know these next two months will fly by.

After leaving Seoul Forest, I headed to Edae for some more clothes shopping and then I walked to Sinchon for lunch. I then came back to my apartment, did some much needed cleaning, and then took a very nice nap. The weather is absolutely perfect so I was able to open my window and comfortably chill for a couple of hours. Overall this weekend was great. It was incredibly relaxing and rewarding. I also did most of the activities by myself, so things were never stressful and instead I found some inner peace.

I'm going to Damyang and Boseong with Lea and Marisa next weekend. We'll visit the bamboo festival in Damyang on Saturday and then head to Boseong to see the green tea fields and consume green tea everything on Sunday. I've been looking forward to the weekend trip for a really long time so I'm excited to recall the events next week. Until then, see you later!

Cherry blossoms

Spring is finally here! And you want to know why? Because the flowers are finally blooming! After the dreary winter days, it is so refreshing seeing cherry blossoms and green starting to appear when I walk around in Seoul. On Saturday I decided to take advantage of seeing the cherry blossoms by visiting Yeouido. I went my friend from Russia, Veronika, who's also in my KLI class, her boyfriend, and her friend from Russia. After getting off the subway, we walked toward the Han River to the park where we saw a lot of pretty cherry blossoms on the way. The weather was also perfect (70 and slightly cloudy), which made the day even better.

Veronika, Sergey, and I. 

Cherry blossoms!

More cherry blossoms!

And even more!

After reaching the park and walking around for a little while, we stopped to rest and take in the view and weather. We also ordered some chicken and beer as a snack. When going to the river parks it is very, very common to order chicken and beer via delivery for food. While eating, we talked about some interesting things, varying from crime rates in our respective countries (Nika's boyfriend is Korean) to why Americans don't like traveling to other countries. While I'm in Korea and abroad in general, I find myself being a representative for the U.S. a lot of the time. I think of it as people diplomacy, and if I ever want to have a career in diplomacy in the State Department, which I do, I think this is good practice. While I have my patriotic doubts sometimes, I am reminded that I'm proud of the U.S. for varying reasons and I hold my responsibility of representing the U.S. strongly.

The park was full of activity.

After our snack, we got up and walked around some more. That day was perfect for people-watching and I could've spent all day watching people if I wanted to. Two moments stood out to me while we were walking around. First, we spotted people riding these single wheel things and then dodging through cones to show off their skills. Apparently they cost about $1,000 when we asked one of the riders. I've seen people ride these things in Seoul before and I wonder if they'll become more popular in the future. Second, we saw a guy on a bike jumping on stone blocks. He was actually really good at it, and I wonder how he got to that point. I mean, it's not a common trick to want to learn when you're on a bike, but impressive nonetheless. 

These cool single wheel-rider things.

A guy jumping on stone blocks with his bike.

After it started to rain a little in the park, we hopped on the subway again to go to a market that is famous for its non-spicy tteokbokki. I haven't tried the non-version yet so I was definitely curious to see what it tastes like. Geumcheongyo Market is a small market by Gwanghwamun, and we stopped by a food stall to try this famed snack. It was definitely unlike any tteokbokki I've ever had, and the flavors were very simple. We got both spicy and non-spicy and I actually preferred the spicy, which I think is indicative of how Korea has changed my tastebuds, haha. 

Trying the famed non-spicy tteokbokki. 

We walked around in the neighborhood by the market where we shared a Nutella waffle and then chilled in a cafe with some tea. The neighborhood was quite and peaceful, which was the icing on the cake for the day we had. Afterwards Nika's boyfriend was generous enough to drive me back to Sinchon, where I ended the night with some movie-watching.

On Sunday I was productive with my Korean homework and studying, and I did my usual end-of-the-week errands like laundry and cleaning. I spent some time that day thinking about possibly getting my hair permanently straightened before I go back to the U.S. It's a lot cheaper to do in Korea and since I straighten my hair almost every day with a flat iron, why not? I'm also going to spend the next couple of days planning for some day trips. Specifically I want to travel south to visit a bamboo festival and tea fields sometime in May. There's also a pretty good chance that I might be able to travel to Vietnam at the end of June. Once I get those details figured out I will let you know.

Midterms start next week so I will be spending the next two weeks preparing for them, which means I won't be writing a blog post until the end of April or early May. Hopefully I do well on my exams so spirits will be high, but only time will tell. I will you see you at the end of the month!

A day in Ganghwa Island

The highlight of last week was a day trip to Ganghwa Island on Saturday. I learned about Ganghwa Island in my history classes. There are many relics from prehistoric times found throughout the island, such as dolmens, and Ganghwa is also a place of historical occupation by the U.S., France, and Japan. American forces occupied the island until they essentially forced Korea to open its doors to international trade and diplomacy in 1876. The island was also the dynasty's capital (Koryo dynasty, I think) during the Mongol invasions. There is a lot more to be said about the island and if you're curious about Korean history, I encourage you to read more about it.

I met with Marisa, Sam from my internship, and my Korean friend, Sung-hyun, in Sinchon in the morning and we caught a bus outside of the subway station that took us all the way to Ganghwa. For an hour and a half bus ride on comfy seats I only had to pay 1,500 won! Just another reason to love the public transportation here in Korea. Ganghwa Island is located on the West coast north of Incheon and really close to North Korea (about 5 km more or less). Sung-hyun told me that when his family visits the northern part of the island they are able to catch a North Korean signal on their car radio.

After arriving on the island, we stopped by the local market for some lunch. The ajumma who runs the restaurant stall was very kind to us and ending up giving us hwaeteopbab (회덮밥), a Gwanghwa speciality, for free. She later came up to us and said that I reminded her of her granddaughter who is studying in Denmark (if I remember correctly). The dish was SO good and I'm bummed I can't get it outside of Ganghwa. It consisted of mixed raw fish, crunchy vegetables (they tasted like apples and radishes), and lettuce with a pepper and sesame sauce. You then take the dish and mix it with rice (and it was "purple" rice, my favorite!). It was very light-tasting and very flavorful. I couldn't even tell I was eating raw fish because it was so light. I'm also a huge fan of sesame so I was enjoying the fact that the dish was smothered in those seeds. We also ordered two huge bowls of a seafood noodle soup. The noodles were homemade and reminded Marisa, Sam, and I of chicken noodle soup. Like the 회덮밥, the seafood was not fishy-tasting at all, demonstrating how fresh it was. In addition to the regular panjan (side dishes), there was a special dish for Ganghwa which was another type of radish kimchi. The main difference was that the radish was a lot stronger, in comparison to most radish kimchi I've had so far. I was also a fan of that dish. After only paying 6,000 won for all of that delicious, comforting food, we met with Sung-hyun's family and Jeremy (who is dating Sung-hyun's sister and was in my Korean class before I switched sections). His family was beyond generous and ending up driving us around all day. They also brought their dog, Stein, who was the chillest and sweetest mini poodle I've ever encountered. I enjoyed cuddling and petting him all day, especially since I've been so animal-deprived being in Seoul.

Eating in the market.

Our first stop was at the Ganghwa Historical Museum. I was already quite familiar with the history of the island beforehand, but it was neat being able to see relics and artifacts I learned about in class firsthand such as the honey-combed patterned pottery. My friends were also quite surprised to find out how much history the island has since they never heard of it before I brought it up to them. After walking through the museum, we walked outside to see one of the famous dolmens on the island. Dolmens are prehistoric stone structures where a horizontal stone is rested on two vertical stones. Dolmens were typically tombs, and are important because they show when society started to become stratified into the ruled and ruling. Dolmens are found all over the world but the largest concentration of them are actually found in the Korean peninsula. What astonishes me is how a dolmen was made. First the two vertical stones were buried in a dirt mound and so the horizontal stone could be rolled up on logs. After the horizontal stone was placed properly, people then dug out the dirt around the vertical stones, giving its image of what you see below. I can't even begin to think about how time and labor-intensive making a dolmen of that size was. 

A dolmen.

We then jumped on a ferry to Seongmodo, an island to the West of Ganghwa. After driving the car onto the ferry, we walked up to the upper level to feed the seagulls. Several people were feeding the seagulls, resulting in a huge flock of them following and diving at the boat. We fed them with shrimp crackers that Sung-hyun's mother bought. I was too chicken to hold the cracker in my hand for them to take, so instead I threw crackers at them to catch. I was surprised to find that seagulls are quite good at catching food from a speeding ferry, haha.

Feeding the seagulls.

We then ventured to Bomunsa Temple on the coast of the island. Walking up a very steep hill to the temple definitely gave us our workout for the day. Even though at this point I've been to numerous Buddhist temples in Korea, this one still stood out. For starters, there is a display (I'm not sure which word to use) of 500 statues, which I haven't seen at other temples. There was also a huge statue of Buddha lying down in one of the temple buildings which was also unique.

500 statues of what we thought were Buddhist priests.

A lying stone Buddha inside one of the temple buildings.

We then climbed a set of steep stairs to reach an engraving of Buddha in the side of the mountain. Sung-hyun told me that Koreans go up to make a wish at the Buddha because it is believed that the wish will come true. It was really impressive to see, especially since on the other side you were facing the sea. We had great views and overall it was very peaceful, especially after being out of breath from the hill and stairs. 

A Buddha engraved into the stone on the side of the mountain.

Another view of the engraved Buddha.

The view from the top of the mountain.

Posing by the lanterns at the top of the mountain.

To finish off our trip, we headed back to Ganghwa and headed to the southern end of the island to relax by the beach. Because Ganghwa is at the intersection of the Han and Imjin river and the sea, the water is not as salty so the air was actually very fresh. Also, because it was low tide, several people were walking in the mud collecting clams. The mud stretched pretty far, making it look like a scene from another planet.

A beach at the southern end of the island.

A photo of the low-tide. Doesn't it look other-worldly?

After exploring the beach, we set up camp for dinner. Sung-hyun's family was awesome and brought enough supplies to cook samgyeopsal along with kimbap, side dishes, and rice. They also brought beer and maekkoli that we enjoyed. Sung-hyun's father likes to camp so apparently they do this quite often. I was so thankful for their generosity throughout the entire trip and this was just the icing on the cake. It was so nice enjoying authentic Korean food while having interesting conversations by the seaside. Our conversations the whole day were about half Korean, half English, so I also got good practice using my Korean. This day trip has probably been one of my most fulfilling experiences while here and I owe a lot of it to Sung-hyun's family.

Enjoying samgyeopsal at the seaside.

We then took the bus back to Sinchon while Sung-hyun and his family headed to their home near Incheon. I was so exhausted that I went straight to sleep when I got back to my apartment. I then spent Sunday doing some much needed cleaning, laundry, and homework. I highly, highly recommend a day trip to Ganghwa for those in Seoul. It was such a perfect day and I wouldn't change anything about it if I could. Next weekend I plan on going to the cherry blossom festival in Yeouido so I will keep you updated with that event later!

Focusing on Korean while also enjoying the weather and the city

I've been really focusing on my Korean class this week, from reviewing an hour before class to memorizing the vocabulary and grammar points to already preparing for midterms. It might sound crazy that I'm already preparing for midterms (they're not until the end of April), but I'm not natural at picking up languages;  for most people, they barely have to dedicate time to learn a language and are very proficient. I, on the other hand, have to put hours in practicing to become even remotely good. If I want to do decent on the exams, I have to prepare in advance. I'm worried that I'll do badly on one part of the exam (I'm looking at you, listening) and if I don't pass the class, I don't get the credits so I wouldn't get a Korean minor. It wouldn't be the end of the world because I don't need the credits for my majors, but it would be a huge bummer.

After finishing up another long week of classes, I met up with my unofficial language partner, Sung-hyun, for lunch and coffee. I took him to my favorite 순두부 place and my favorite cafe, Pop Container (they have the best green tea lattes and who doesn't like sitting on bean bag chairs?). We spoke in English for lunch and in Korean when we were in the cafe, so it was good practice for both of us. I also felt very comfortable speaking Korean with him which is a huge plus because you can't learn a language if you aren't comfortable and confident. I'm going to go with him and a couple of my friends to Ganghwa Island on Saturday and he's really excited to introduce me to the sites there. I'm also just excited to get out of Seoul. I love the city but you need a break from it once in awhile.

After lunch I went back to my apartment to chill and work on homework and then I met up with Lea and her friend, Elana, for dinner and dessert. Elana just arrived from the U.S. for vacation, so it was cool introducing her to some Korean culture. We ordered shabu-shabu and then got chocolate bingsu for dessert. While waiting for Lea's boyfriend to arrive at the dessert cafe, I caved and bought myself a cup of warm ginger tea but it was so worth it. I think once I get back to the U.S. I'm going to start making more traditional Korean teas like ginger and citron tea.

Yummy chocolate bingsu.

On Saturday I met up with Marisa to go to the Hangang Park (the Han River is the huge river that runs through Seoul). I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and I realized I've never been to the river in person even though I've seen it a bunch of times when I cross the bridges. Even though it was super windy by the river and so I felt dirty afterwards because of the dust, I had a good time. Being next to a body of water was very comforting and reminded me of home. I hope to go to the park again when it gets warmer.

Marisa and I and the Hangang Park.

Another view of the park. I can't wait for the grass to become green!

Posing by the river. It was so windy that day!

Afterwards we went to the nearby Times Square mall to do some shopping. I was on the hunt for some perfume (since the stuff I brought here ran out) and a light jacket. In the midst of shopping we noticed a Taco Bell in the mall and even though we already had lunch, we were hungry again (I guess shopping does that to you). I've been to Taco Bell three times in Seoul already, but this was something else. The best way I can describe is that is was a fancy, classy Taco Bell (very unlike my experiences in the U.S.) For starters, they put the sauce in the thing you order instead of giving it to you on the side. The nacho chips are also seasoned instead of being plain and if you order here, they leave the item unwrapped. And here's the best part: instead of pop, you can get draft beer for your drink! How cool is that? I didn't expect to come across such a thing in Korea that's for sure.

Fancy Taco Bell.

After smelling a ton of perfumes, I didn't find one that I really liked but I did walk out of the mall with a new jacket. I got it at H&M since their clothes actually fit me (it sucks having long arms and legs in Korea as a girl) for 50% off, so I was happy with the purchase. 

After getting back to Sinchon, I spent the rest of the night working on homework. This week has also been pretty low-key. I'm working on booking my accommodation in Jeju and planning my day trip to Ganghwa. When I see you next I'll have more to talk to about but until then, see you next week!

Getting back into the swing of things

After two weeks of class, I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and getting comfortable with a regular routine. Having long productive days again are tiring, but I feel like I'm taking advantage of my time here (no more days of sitting inside watching several movies like I did over break). On Monday I have 6 hours of class, starting at 11 and ending at 6. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I have my internship from 9:30 to 2:30 and then Korean class from 4 to 6. And on Wednesday, my "short" day, I have class from 12 to 1, 2 to 3, and then Korean class from 4 to 6. I then spend at least an hour on homework every night, usually more, especially since my Korean class is more challenging this semester so I need to take more time to prepare for class and review what we learned. This then leaves my free time for the weekend, which I always spend half a day doing errands like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping.

Like I said, Korean is a lot more challenging this semester and it's hard to stay encouraged when you struggle in class sometimes. To make things worse, the level 3 classes contained too many students so they chose 3 students from each class to create a new section. I was one of the 3 that were chosen, and as much as I miss my old class and had to get used to a new class vibe, I do like my new class. Although, in my opinion, everyone's ability is a lot better than mine so I went from being comfortable in class to being one that struggles from time to time. I think with enough studying though I'll keep afloat, and as long as I'm learning, everything will be worth it and okay.

My history classes remain very interesting, but I did not realize how much work I was getting myself in to. I knew going into the classes that I would have to write a weekly essay and a summary of the readings. Each paper has to be around 1,000 words, and in my head I thought that was around 2 pages. Nope, 1,000 words is more like 4 pages. So each week I have to write 8 pages for one class, multiply that by 2, that's 16 pages a week. Then multiply that by 10 for 10 weeks of class, and that's 160 pages I have to write. That's basically a novel! The writing isn't difficult by any means but that just means I have to spend that much more time for those classes.

My internship is also proving to be challenging because my new "supervisors," essentially the leaders of the organization, are in Geneva for a United Nations event until the end of March. They sort of left the other interns and I high and dry, so we've had to create work for ourselves. As a relatively new intern, that's proving hard to do, so I've had to think of ways to keep me busy. I'm working on two grant proposals at the moment and starting the third, but unfortunately the third one requires a lot of information from the supervisors since they know the most about the organization and about how life, like realty, works in South Korea. All of the interns are in the same boat though so we'll find a way to get through this together.

This past Friday I met up with a classmate, Jeremy, and his Korean friend, Sung-hyun, to get dinner. We ended up going to a Western-style place that was recommended for its quality and good portion size. We ordered bacon carbonara, pork steak, and seafood risotto. Sung-hyun wanted a language partner to practice his English with and I agreed because I wanted to practice my Korean more outside of class. Speaking of language partners, I also was assigned a partner like last semester. Her name is Hansol, and oddly enough like my last partner, she studied abroad in Canada for a year. She's really nice and we have similar career goals so it is easy to have a conversation with her. We plan on taking some trips together in the future, with one dinner trip involving eating Korean raw beef, something I've meaning to try since I've been here but I just didn't know a good place to go.

On Saturday I started off the day by Skyping with Henrik and doing errands. I then had the wonderful opportunity to meet another friend from India, Seo Ha (she changed her name from Ji Young), and later we met up with more of my friends. Just like with Hisu, it was so nice catching up with her after all these years. We talked about our future plans and what we did after India. And of course we reminisced on things we did together in India like field trips and hanging out with friends. I was reminded again that it's been 9 years since I lived in India, and I can and can't believe that much time has passed. I guess a part of growing up is realizing that time will go by much more quickly.

Seo Ha (Ji Young) and I! 

We went to get BBQ for dinner and then went to Boss Bar for drinking, the same place my KLI class and I went last semester for some fun. I had fun playing Korean drinking games but I also drank way too much soju. I forgot that if one doesn't drink a lot of soju for a long time and then you drink a lot all at once, it hits you hard. Luckily the morning after I had Korean "hangover food" which cured my headache and tiredness. Seo Ha spent the night since she lives in Yongin (about an hour and a half away from Seoul), and so she was able to take me to a restaurant in the morning for the hangover. We ended up ordering a slightly spicy boiled pork soup which hit the spot so well. From now on I'm going to do it the "Korean way" and eat other types of "hangover foods" (which usually includes spicy soups), because it really worked wonders. We then went to a cafe where we talked some more. We plan on meeting up again in the future especially when Hisu gets out of his army service in June. I can't believe I'd ever have a little India reunion in Korea but it looks like it's going to happen!

I spent the rest of my Sunday relaxing and working on homework. My weeks will probably be very similar to this one except when I take day and weekend trips. Now that it's getting warmer (it's supposed to be 68F on Thursday!), I should probably get started on planning those. My history classes are also giving me good ideas for day trips as well. I think visiting Ganghwa island is in the near future (and I'll explain why later). Anyways, I will see you next week!

Basketball, Suwon, and starting classes

Last Friday I went to a basketball game in Olympic Park with Lea. I got free tickets because of how I met a basketball player's wife a couple of weeks ago with my mom (as I mentioned in my last blog post), which was really nice because who doesn't like free things? The game was entertaining to watch, especially noting how a basketball game in Korea is a lot more elaborate and cheery than a basketball game in the U.S. After the game was over, we were able to walk to the VIP section to say "Hi" to Shawn and her kids. We also finally got to meet her husband, who plays for the SK Knights, which was really neat. He's definitely the tallest person I've meet in person being 6'11". We got invited to more games which I definitely plan to take advantage of in the future.

Our seats at the basketball game.

Over the weekend, Lea invited me and her friend Victoria (who ended up being in my KLI class this semester) to take a day trip to Suwon. Suwon is the capital of Gyeonggi-do, the province that surrounds Seoul. After a little over an hour on the subway, we got to the city and then we took a short bus ride to Hwaseong Fortress. Back in the 1700s during the Choson Dynasty, King Jeongjo tried to make Suwon the capital of the dynasty instead of Seoul (but failed), so he build a fortress encompassing the whole city. Suwon has since expanded past the old walls but the fortress still stands. It was much bigger than expected and I really enjoyed seeing the architecture and how the fortress was laid out. It was also refreshing to visit a new place, something I haven't done as often over break because I had visitors.

One of the gates in Hwaseong Fortress.

A view of part of the wall.

The stream that runs through the fortress.

Another view of the fortress.

After walking around close to an hour, we grabbed lunch and then caught the dragon trolley which we took up a nearby hill/mountain to see the city of Suwon better. There was also a giant statue of King Jeongju on the hill which was impressive to see.

The trolley we took to the top of the hill.

A statue of King Jeongjo of the Choson Dynasty who built the fortress.

We then headed to the toilet museum in Suwon. Yes, you read that correctly. The toilet museum was created when the former mayor, nicknamed Mr. Toilet, passed away. He had his house built into the shape of the toilet and after he passed away they converted it into a museum. He got his nickname from being born in an outhouse and also from being a huge promoter of public restrooms in Suwon. I was amused by all the fake poop and statues in squatting positions while I was there, but I did learn a lot about the history of toilets. It was definitely the most unique museum I've been to, and I'm glad Lea dragged me along because otherwise I probably would've never visited Suwon let alone the toilet museum located there.

Posing by a giant statue of poop outside of the toilet museum.

Bathroom signs from around the world.

Toilets from the past.

A giant "squatter" toilet that is typical in Asia.

This week also marked the start of my classes for the semester. My history classes are taught by the same professor and so far I'm really liking the classes. The first two weeks are the same for each class so I only have to attend one, which is nice. The professor isn't super lively, but he's very thorough and knowledgable which I enjoy because I learn a lot and can take good notes. I've enjoyed the reading we've done so far as well, especially since I'm starting to learn about places I've visited in Korea, like Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla dynasty. The professor also posts all the readings and assignments online which is great because I don't have to worry about finding a way to bring back my textbooks to the U.S.

My Korean class also went well. The vibe in the class is different this semester because everyone in the class is much more on the same level of ability rather than last semester where there was much more variety. Additionally, unlike last semester all the material this time around is new instead of being half review and half new stuff. The class also all speaks in Korean when asking questions and when giving explanations, versus last semester we would squeeze in English when we really couldn't understand the explanation of a vocabulary word or grammar point. While the class is more challenging than last semester I think I'll learn a lot, which is why I came to Korea in the first place.

I'm starting to feel like I'm fitting in to the PSCORE family by hanging out with my co-interns and getting more involved in projects in the organization. I think I'll get nothing but positive experiences from this internship. I'll see you all next week!