The Last Day

Well, this is it. We began our journey many months ago, and here we are.

It's weird how the mind works. It seems like forever ago that I first entered the classroom and had a panic attack when a man in a suit (who I would soon find out was just a guy advertising some service) started speaking Korean. However, it seems just like yesterday that I was standing in line at Cincinnati Airport waiting to get rerouted after flights to Chicago were cancelled. It seemed like yesterday that I hugged my parents farewell and proceeded through security. It was just yesterday that Dongmin saved two exhausted travelers after they navigated their way to Gongdeok Station.

So much has changed in 4 months. Instead of having no idea how to get to Korea University, we are pretty confident with the transit system here. I feel like I can go just about anywhere and find my way back, something I didn't think would be possible when I first arrived.

We have made many new friends since then as well. We met people through KUBA (Korea University Buddy Assistant) and our KUBS (Korea University Business School) groups. We became pretty close with a few people, in particular Martin and Min from Hawaii, Huyen from California, and Zoë from Toronto.

Today, Colby and I attended the farewell ceremony. There was much laughing and crying, but it was overall an enjoyable experience. There were videos of our past activities and such. As fun as it was, neither of us had eaten anything all day, so we were pretty hungry.

Eventually the program ended. Although there was a free dinner thing with our KUBA groups, Colby, Martin, Huyen, Zoë, and I all headed out to get a more private dinner. I can't speak for everyone else, but I became a lot closer to these people than anyone else while I was here. I didn't want to be bothered with sitting around a whole bunch of other people, these guys were my family while I was here. We went to get some fried chicken at a place down in Anam for one last meal in Korea. Given the proximity of Kentucky, California, Hawaii, and Toronto, it might be a while before we can all meet again. We said our goodbyes outside the restaurant since they were all going to drink some fruit soju. As much as I wanted to go with them, our flight leaves tomorrow and we plan on getting up early. We had a group hug and we went our separate ways.

It was a sad moment, but it was an honor getting to meet such wonderful people. Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne) said "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

I couldn't agree more.

Alright, who wrote all that mushy garbage anyway? Tears? Nah, that's just some dude down the hall chopping onions again! Sheesh, I thought I told him to stop!

Yesterday (June 19), I did a quick tour of campus. I said I would do it a long time ago. Like they say, procrastinators unite...tomorrow! It's not the greatest, but I had to shorten it down or it would have taken forever! I tried to keep it as entertaining as possible. There's not much commentary and the camerawork isn't the best. I felt kind of weird filming with all these people around. Not sure how acceptable that is around here, but oh well!

To view the video, visit this url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6gzJbGLgXU
It is taking Youtube a bit to process the video, so it might not be ready. They said to give it between a few minutes and a couple of hours. I'll make sure to post the link on Facebook once it is ready and make it viewable from this page as well. As for now, that link is the best I can do.

Edit: Oops, the account I use to write these blogs isn't the same one that I used to upload to Youtube. Just click on the link. Also, it doesn't play in 1080p like I asked it to. Grr...so frustrating!


Tonight is the last night. I'm here sitting on my bed. All of the sheets are packed up and everything. There's still a few things that need to be packed up, like the power strip and a few other things, but a majority has been put away (I think I might be pushing the weight limit for one of my bags.) I even packed my pillow already. Even if I wanted to sleep, I don't think I could. The plan for me is to not sleep at all tonight and try to sleep on the plane tomorrow. Colby is trying to sleep right now, but he isn't having much success. We are both excited to finally go home.

Our flight leaves tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 11am KST (10pm EST for you guys back home) and arrives at Cincinnati at 3:30PM EST. That's about a 15 hour flight (well, a 2 hour layover in Chicago, but still not looking forward to it.) Instead of fighting the crowds on the subway in the morning, we decided to try and take the earliest train possible, which leaves at about 5am, which is why I don't plan on sleeping. It's about 12:30 while I am typing this, so what's another few hours of staying up? Anyway, instead of going from here to Gongdeok and taking the airport commuter train to Incheon Airport, we are going to take the subway to Seoul Station instead. From there, we can check in, get our seating assignment for the plane, have our bags checked, and take the express train to Incheon rather than having to make the 9 stops the commuter train would have to make. It also means we don't have to have our bags on what could be a crowded train. Let's just hope getting back home is easier than our trip to Korea and there aren't any hiccups.

So, this is one of the last few updates from Korea. We might make a few more posts since we will (HOPEFULLY) be at the airport and have tons of spare time tomorrow morning. We might make a few video posts too, who knows? Anyway, that's it for now. Now I have about 4 or 5 hours to kill before we leave. They were giving rain when we planned on heading out. Holding an umbrella with 2 suitcases is not easy, so hopefully they missed the forecast. They are already pushing the rain to 3am instead of 5, so we have that going for us.

I guess we will see you guys soon! Mom, bring me some Ale8 when you come to the airport please! Thanks!

The End Is Nigh

Another week has flown by. This one consisted of presentations and our final classes at Korea University. It was such a relief to get these presentations out of the way. The weather was typical summer, nice sunny days with temperatures in the 80s and on a couple days we had some thunderstorms. Luke and I got caught walking back from class in a hailstorm. It was painful, yet refreshing.

We spent the majority of the weekend preparing for our final exams, or procrastinating that at least. One evening we went to an area of the city called Insadong. It is known for its gift shops. We got there a little late and decided to have dinner first. We figured we would try a Vietnamese place. I'd never really eaten Pho (pronounced Fuh) before, but it was quite interesting. It was pretty much a beef broth with noodles, onions, and beansprouts. I thought it was pretty good, but I'm not really a Vietnamese food expert. Martin and Huyen, who are Vietnamese food experts, said it wasn't that great. Oh well... More for me!

Pho

After dinner, we went out to look at the gift shops only to find that most had already closed for the night. A couple were still open, so we went in and looked at all of the oddities they had in stock. We ended up getting a few gifts so it was a mission accomplished after all. The rest of the weekend was spent in that weird limbo between studying and procrastinating.

But, it's all come down to this. Our last week in Korea. The most exhilarating and shortest four months of my life are coming to an end. It's a mix of emotions. One one hand, I'm ready to get home to see my family and enjoy my summer in Inez. But on the other, it'll be sad to leave Korea not knowing when I'll ever get to come back or hang out again with all of the great friends that I have made.

I've grown to love this place over the last four months. The people, the food, and the memories that I have made will be forever etched in my mind. It's amazing how much you can experience in such a short amount of time. I'm not sure if I'm the same person I was at the beginning of this trip. I've learned to be more independent and even more empathetic of foreigners. There are times when I've felt alienated and detached from the culture, but that has given me a deeper understanding of it and I've grown to value the differences and similarities that exist between the East and the West.

I'll try to write one or two more blog posts at the end of the week and when I return home, but for now I'm signing off! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we take our finals and journey home.

Getting Closer...

Hey guys! Things are really starting to heat up in these final few weeks. Focus is beginning to shift from fun and adventure to preparing for finals and projects. Yuck! This is a rather boring post, but I am bored and people (*cough* Mother *cough cough*) complain when there isn't a post.

I was in the first group to present in International Finance. We were talking about the European Debt Crisis. Exciting, right? My friend Martin was also in the group, which was nice. All of the other students were Korean. They weren't too keen on presenting, so Martin did almost all of the presentation. At the end, me and the Korean students did a role-play of other countries. I was Angela Merkel of Germany. The class got a kick out of me playing a woman. The Korean students were very nervous about speaking English. They actually did great! They honestly don't give themselves enough credit! The professor didn't stop smiling throughout our presentation, so I think we did very well.

Tomorrow (Monday), I have to do a presentation about how Netflix should enter the Asian market. My group outdid themselves again! The PowerPoint is done, the paper is done, and I'm ready to present our project! After that, I am done with presentations!

Meanwhile, Colby is doing a presentation about a Korean dash cam producer and their expansion into the global market. He's meeting with his partner right now and practicing the presentation. On Tuesday he is presenting in International Finance about the Chinese Yuan and its place as a key currency. He's nervous, but I'm sure everything will be fine! What he has told me seems pretty interesting...at least as interesting as Finance can be!

This week's itinerary is really not that bad all things considered. With all these group projects going on, International Finance is pretty much done for me. We are having a guest speaker in Trade Theory and then some students are presenting, so that class is pretty much done as well.

We will probably keep up the pace in Investments. In fact, we will probably have a quiz this thursday (last class before finals.) Our International Business class is just presentations, but the professor wants to have one class during finals week. At least I don't have a final on that day!

So, yeah, exciting stuff!

We did go to HomePlus (pretty much a Walmart) and bought a few things, mostly gifts for some people. I also bought a few snacks for the plane ride while we were there. It's going to take some willpower not to eat all the snacks in these last days.

Still not completely sure what we will do for the last weekend. We might try to find something special to do. I will need to do a bit more exploring and find some other gifts...

If you made it this far into this boring post, I salute you! There might be something a bit more exciting next week though!

Alright guys, it's been a while since the last update, but nothing really happened until late Sunday night when Colby got back from his trip from a traditional folk village. I was busy preparing a speech for a class, so I didn't go.

Colby, tell everyone back home about your trip!

Mkay.

I went with some friends from my KUBA group to a traditional folk village. It was a two hour trip south from Seoul, but it was nice to venture outside of the city again. The folk village was kind of like an amusement park, a history museum, and a renaissance festival all packed into one. It was amazing.

A traditional Korean 7-eleven 

A traditional Korean blacksmith

A traditional Korean method for making soy sauce

A traditional Korean flower

A traditional Korean outdoor decoration

I watched singing, dancing, and equestrian performances. We also got to play some games on an outdoor playground thing. I even got an old Korean lady to jump rope with us. We walked around the village all day checking out the different sites and relaxing. It was nice to take a break from studying and the hustle and bustle of the city. One of the girls that I went with turned the adventure into a video.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3HwrhldyEU

After the park we came back to the city and had dinner. It was some kind of noodle soup, and it was one of the most delicious meals that I've had on this trip. Maybe I was just starving and exhausted. Who knows?

Anyway, back to Luke!

Last week was pretty boring. Investment quiz as usual. My speech went...ok I guess. I didn't do what the professor expected I would do. He's always very vague on things, so whatever. I made him laugh though, so there's that.

On Thursday, we went to Itaewon to get some custom clothes. I passed on the clothing, but Colby got measured for a shirt. He will go back sometime this week to pick it up. Dinner that night was at the Mexican place called Vatos, the place that had the good tacos we mentioned quite a while ago. After that, we headed for Sincheon to a theater to watch Godzilla. On the way there, Colby and Huyen agreed that we needed to go to the subway on the left. Well, the subway on the right stopped and they decided that was actually the correct train. I ran onto the train behind Colby right as the doors were closing. The door closed on my shoulder, which I was able to get in, but the door had me by the ankle. I couldn't turn, but a random stranger pried the doors open to free my foot. Thank you random stranger! I have a fear of closing doors these days.

Anyway, we got to Sincheon, but the theater was a bit of a walk away. The theater was pretty nice, but it was in this creepy abandoned mall. We walked in the doors and found a big room that had barricades up to keep people from wandering into the dark hallways of the abandoned building. We hopped on the elevator and arrived on the fifth floor, which was a pretty busy movie theater. Talk about a change in views! We watched Godzilla. It was pretty good, the plot and acting was...meh, but I didn't go watch a Godzilla movie to watch actors, I wanted to see monsters kill each other and destroy a city. The movie was great based just on those criteria.

We did absolutely nothing on Friday. I worked a bit on a few of my projects, but that was it. I finished my part of my international business presentation on Netflix! I know, really exciting stuff!

Yesterday (Saturday), Colby and I ventured out to Dongdaemun again. We had spiral potatoes on a stick that were fried and covered in chile powder. It was heaven. We followed this up with desert in the History and Culture Park. Colby got some kind of chocolate milkshake and I got dark chocolate soft serve, which was amazing.

You could walk out on top of the roof of the museum. It was covered in grass and was a makeshift park.

art

We walked around for an hour or two and then met with Martin and Huyen. We went to Curry House and ate some curry (who would have thought?!) We went and watched the new X-Men movie after that. I don't really follow the franchise, but I found it pretty enjoyable. We rushed to the subway since it was getting late. The trains stop around midnight, and it was 11:30. We didn't want to be stuck taking a cab. We made it back with plenty of time to spare though.

This was the curry. It is a fried pork cutlet with a rice omelette. Delicious!

Today was a boring day. It has been very cloudy for a few days now, but it just started raining this afternoon. Colby did some homework with our friend Min while I sat around relaxing. I should probably be reading some cases for my international business class or working on my paper for trade theory. Maybe tomorrow...

Anyway, less than a month until we get back. Finals week is June 16-20, but a few of our classes are having guest lecturers or student presentations for the two weeks before finals. It's hard telling how much actual class time we have left, but it's definitely not much! We also got some good news that our investments professor forgot about our term paper. Instead of reweighing everything, he said it was his mistake and gave us all a 100% on it. Considering it is the hardest class I am taking, that was a big relief. That paper was worth 10% of the grade and attendance counts for 10%, so maybe I will do ok. I just need to pass!

City Lights, Fun Nights, & Being Afraid of Heights

Another successful week in Korea has come to and end. For those of you following along with our journey, there are only 6 weeks left so enjoy these blog posts while you can! This week was short since the holiday last Monday and Tuesday. That meant we only had class Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't mind that one bit!

One evening we went to see Namsan Tower, which is a giant needle-shaped structure built on top of a hill. Getting there was half of the fright... I mean FUN!! (But really, anyone who knows me well knows that I am terribly afraid of heights.) Anyway, we decided to ride the cable car to the top instead of hiking up. At this point I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see the tower or not, but onward I went to what I was certain would be my impending doom.

I kept my hand on the rail the entire trip up and just kept looking into the far distance. I knew for certain that if I looked down we would all surely die. Thankfully, we made it to the top and had a beautiful view of the sunset and the city! We arrived at the perfect time. We walked around and saw all there was at the tower and watched as the glow of the city below intensified before us. It was a beautiful site and reminded me a lot of the views I had in Quito, Ecuador. Then we rode the car down and splurged at a California Pizza Kitchen in Myeongdong. A genuinely authentic Korean experience, I know.

Our next adventure took place on Saturday. The weather was nice, so we took a stroll through Itaewon to see the shops and all that touristy stuff. It was a grand. We then headed back to Myeongdong to get a haircut.

If there is one piece of wisdom that I have learned in my time in Korea, it is that a smile, a nod, and a laugh will get you very far in this world. I had no clue what the ladies at the salon were saying, but just nodded my head, smiled, laughed, and let them get to work. They told one of my friends with me that I was very cute. I said, "Tell me somethin' I don't know!" Anyway, they gave me the 5-star treatment. Drinks while I was waiting, a scalp massage, and a robe to wear! Paula is gonna have to step up her game back home! (Just kidding Paula! They didn't make me look as good as you do! Don't scalp me next time!!)

This is pretty much what I ended up looking like at the end of my haircut.

After that we walked around looking for a Japanese Curry place and got down to business looking and feeling like a million bucks! It was a fun evening and the end to another excellent week in Korea. Many laughs were shared and great times were had by all. These next six weeks are going to fly by. Then I've got finals to look forward to dreading and stories to look forward to sharing with everyone back home!

Long Weekend!

Hey guys, it's been a while! This week we celebrated Buddha's birthday, so we had Monday and Tuesday off. I thought it would be best to postpone the blog update.

Let's start off from last Monday since something strange happened. Colby and I walked into our 9AM Trade Theory class and noticed there were many people who were absent. Even stranger, it seemed to be only guys who were missing that day. It turns out that last Monday was a mandatory military exercise for Korea's reserves. I don't know if we mentioned it or not, but every male must serve Korea's military for a certain amount of time (I think it is somewhere around 2 years.) From what I gathered, even those who had finished their duty were required to participate in this exercise. I'm not too familiar with how any of this works though, so let's move on to the holiday weekend!

We tried to go to the Han River on Friday to rent some bikes. We headed out and I told Colby it looked like rain and we had better turn around to get our umbrellas. He said he looked on the internet and they were giving a 0% chance of rain. Let's just say you can't always rely on technology. The rain did stop eventually, but the bike rental never opened back up, so we just headed back.

On Sunday, we headed back to Gangnam to walk around a bit. We sat down for dinner and had some wonderful Japanese food. I had some sort of shrimp with rice. It was really good! While we were eating, we looked outside. Rain...again. We didn't pack umbrellas either. We exited the restaurant and ran to a desert cafe where we had shaved ice with ice cream and cheesecake. You pour milk on it, so it's kind of like snow cream. It was also really good. After that we went to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was a pretty good film. It was also in the smallest theater I think I have ever been in.

Not really sure what it is, but it's really curvy!

Definitely the smallest movie theater I have been in!

Yesterday (Tuesday), we headed back to the Han river to try our luck at renting bikes again. It was an absolutely beautiful day! It looked like thousands of people had the same idea we had. That place was crowded! It was really beautiful though. Colby and I got single bikes. Our friends Martin and Huyen were on a tandem bike. I was pretty sure they were going to kill themselves on that thing. They were actually pretty good as long as Huyen wasn't driving! I nearly killed a lady who I didn't realize was trying to pass me up on my left. Oops! After that we went to have some Korean barbecue and some more shaved ice.

A rare sight: a completely empty subway station!

There were a couple of people at the river that day...

RUN!!!

Yeah...just a few people.

It was a pretty nice long weekend. Today's classes are already done, so only one more day of classes this week. Is it sad I already can't wait for the weekend to start?

Anyway, if we keep on posting a blog update every week, that means there are only 5 or 6 more posts. I guess what they say is true, time flies when you are having a good time!

Time Flies When You're Having Midterms

It's hard to believe that we have already been in Korea for two months! Everything seems to move so quickly here. Especially the time. It's been a while since I've last written a blogpost, so let me bring you up to speed.

Last week marked the midterm of the semester. It felt more like finals. I dreaded those exams and am so glad to have them behind me! Luke had four exams and finished Tuesday. I had five and finished on Wednesday. We then had ourselves a nice little break from classes.

On that Wednesday night, I went to dinner with my friend Sardor from Uzbekistan. He's one of the first friends that I made at Korea University. I met him in my Operations Management course on the first day. I've really enjoyed our discussions about Korea and cultural differences between our home countries. I think I might almost have him convinced to study abroad in the US. Other than that it was Indian food and it was pretty good. I didn't take a picture. I devoured it.

On Thursday I went with some friends to see a Korean baseball game. It was a blast! Completely different from a ballgame in the US. Instead of peanuts, popcorn, and cracker jacks (as my grandpa would say), Koreans eat fried chicken during games. I went for a hot dog instead. It tasted like America.

Friday we went to Gangnam! You know, from the song! It was a little different than Psy made it out to be, but I really enjoyed it. We walked down a street lined with trees and shops. It reminded me a lot of Gatlinburg for some reason. Then we turned the corner to have a drink at a cafe. It was all great fun, so we decided to go for dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant that Huyen liked. Just between you and me, it all tastes the same to me, but it was good nonetheless. 10/10 would eat again.

This part of the city did have some really cool looking buildings though!

On our way home that night, the temple near our dorm had lit up a bunch of lanterns. It was beautiful in the dark. It was like the hillside was alive. There was also a friendly cat that was playing with people underneath them. I really wanted to play with it, but the Europeans were hogging it so I let it go. The lanterns are for some kind of festival. I don't really know much about it, but they're pretty cool.

Saturday we went to watch The Amazing Spiderman 2. I didn't take any pictures, but Luke did pick up about 50 Korean posters for it. Don't be surprised if you get one as a souvenir when we get back home. It was an alright movie. Not my favorite, but I'm glad I went. Huyen cried.

We watched it in a special theater with big comfy chairs. They were soft and big enough so that everyone had two armrests. I wish there was a theater like that back home! 10/10 would sit again.

Today I woke up early to go into the countryside to pick strawberries. It was quite an adventure as well as being my first time out of Seoul since my arrival! We took a bus with a spectacularly aggressive driver. Thankfully we survived the trip and I got to see a real Korean farm!

We first sat down inside to make dumplings. I wish they were Chicken & Dumplings, but they were full of spicy stuff and wrapped in some kind of strawberry dough. Surprisingly good though! Mine turned out pretty ugly, but I guess they all taste the same.

Mine is the one that looks like a burrito in the back!

After that, they must've thought we smelled bad, so they had us make some strawberry soap. It was a lot easier to do than the dumplings. Plus it smelled good. The lady giving the instructions also said it was good for your skin, so win-win.

This is the soap cooling.

While the soap cooled, they gave us some cartons and told us to get picking. I won't divulge how many strawberries I ate, but let's just say that I got my money's worth. And quite possibly the entire group's money's worth.

I even brought some back!

That's about it.

It's been a great time thus far in Korea. I hope that the next two months are half as fun and twice as long as the first two! I'll try to write more posts. Thanks for reading!