SEPTEMBER 6TH: I JUST WANT TO FINISH THIS STUPID POST BECAUSE I HAVE LET IT PILE UP FOR TOO LONG SO ITS GOING TO BE AWFUL AND I APOLOGIZE BUT I JUST WANT TO GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY SO I CAN BLOG ABOUT GOOD THINGS.
DISCLAIMER: This post is going to be very boring and basic because I'm exhausted from our 1-week intensive Korean crash courses. Sorry! There's not a lot of detail, just ~100 pictures.
There's so much to talk about and I don't even know where to begin, so let's just start with excuses! I haven't updated since before New York because of the overwhelming amount of activities with the program and the other NSLI-Y kids. In between sleeping, eating, and exploring, I haven't had ANY time to sit down a write a blog. It's actually a little risky for me to be starting a blog post right now because I should be studying for a Korean quiz tomorrow now that I'm home from Korean class, touring my high school, and buying my uniform. Another thing is that I didn't have an outlet adapter for Korea, so I've really only been using my MacBook as a charger for my phone and didn't want to use it for anything else for the sake of saving batteries.
So I guess we should start from the beginning!
The night before I left, I was surprisingly able to fall asleep around midnight and woke up to get ready for my 9:45am flight at about 6am just to make sure I was all packed up and ready. It wasn't really a sad departure from home or anything and I still don't miss it because my family didn't make my feel guilty or remorseful for leaving. I just gathered my things and we moved to the car with a little photo session with my momma.
The ride to the airport was just like normal, so again it didn't really feel like I was leaving home or anything. Just another car ride with the family. Once we got to the airport, I wheeled my massive luggage into the baggage area. It cost $60 to check two of my bags, which was later reimbursed by the program. The problem was that my debit card had been blocked from a recent transaction, so I had to call in for about 15 minutes and verify that the purchases made were from me. Afterwards, I was sure to let them know that I was going to be staying in NYC and Seoul so I wouldn't get another blockage overseas. I sat with my family for a while because it was still early (7:45am or so) and I didn't have to be at the gate until 9:30am.
Everything went seamlessly at the scanners and everything even though I saw a few people stopped before me and shuffled off to another area. I've always had good luck passing through those things without a problem, thank goodness. It wasn't hard to find my gate and I just took a seat and listened to music until I started noticing the people around me standing up.
I got a window seat for the flight, thankfully. It was a pleasant flight overall. I took a nap for maybe 30 minutes or so and just watched Parks and Recreation which was playing for the remainder of the flight.
Ahhh the flight was finally over and I arrived in New York! It was a pain walking to baggage claim because it was so far away, but needless to say I made it there and my calves were all the more in shape from it! I wheeled my baggage to the front desk and checked in for my shuttle bus to the hotel that we were staying it. It was about 3:15pm and my driver was scheduled at 3:45pm so I just took a seat on the floor and took pictures haha.
They called my number for my bus and the poor guy had to help me lug my baggage with me out to the bus. On the way, he asked me where I was coming from. I told him Texas and he gave me a really confused look and asked, "Is it cold there?" I gave him a really confused look back and replied, "No... It really hot." A few seconds of puzzled looks that I realized I was wearing my huge marshmallow jacket and explained to him that Texas is so hot that the airplane and airport feel chilly and I'm okay in a huge jacket. He just smiled (don't think he spoke much English) and carried my luggage out to the bus. When I opened the door, one of the other kids from the program was on the bus! It was nice to already meet someone heh heh.
I arrived at the hotel, checked in, and went up to my room. The boy who was rooming with me already dropped off his bags and went out so I just threw my stuff down and went back to the lobby. Eventually we all trickled in and introduced ourselves to each other. I will admit that I'm a lot closer the people that I initially thought I wouldn't be when I first met them that day.
After the meet-and-greet, we went out to eat (courtesy of the program) at Big Daddy's. I sat across from our program coordinator and made pleasant conversation. I ordered a key lime pie shake and "Super Bag" burger.
The next morning we had an 8am wake up call to go to the iEARN office for pre-departure orientation. We took the subway with Sohyeon-saem, our program coordinator. I didn't know her very well at the time, but just within a week or so I've gotten to know and appreciate her so much more. I really don't want to go into the details of PDO because it was pretty grueling for me. Basically went through rules, safety, and culture shock with a breakfast and lunch break (provided by the program again).
(Remember this picture for comparison to Korean subways!)
Okay! So we finished orientation and went back to the hotel only to have a 3:30am wake up call for our 6am flight adorned with our spankin new group t-shirts.
One of the rooms woke up late so we didn't actually leave until around 3:40am but we took two separate buses to get to the airport. The ride there was mostly pleasantries and small talk. We grabbed some breakfast (which the program gave us $30 for...) before heading to our gate and sitting for about 20 minutes.
So we got to San Francisco and pretty much just shuffled to our next gate all the way on the other side of the airport. Not much to talk about, but we finally boarded the flight to Incheon! They actually had Iron Man 3 playing and served us lunch, dinner, then breakfast. Of course the food wasn't gourmet but it was definitely edible. I had an empty seat in between me and the lady sitting in the aisle seat, so that was nice. I would say I slept about 5 hours on the 16 hour flight. The thing that weirded me out was that it was never dark outside since we were flying to the other side of the world. We left SFO at 11am but arrived in Korea at 3pm... Weird to process, I know.
Mt. Fuji!
Surprisingly small amount of photos for a 16 hour flight, I know, but there wasn't much to see that I haven't already photographed hahaha. Anyways we were finally in Incheon! But wait! There's no air conditioning! So imaging me with my stuffed backpack and duffel bag carry on trying to scuttle around the aiport. I was sweating like crazy only to find out we had a group photo to commemorate our arrival! Surprisingly, I didn't look so bad though.
We boarded a bus (with air conditioning!) and went to the area where our guesthouse was was located. The ride was sooooo pretty just looking at the ocean, trees, mountains, etc. We didn't get into the city for a while, but it wasn't what I expected. The area we were driving through was mostly small shops that looked a little outdated (or should I say humble?) so don't expect shiny sky scrapers if you ever visit Seoul! Although there are some very beautiful places, some arees are obviously in need of an update. Places like Myeongdong are where you'll find the prettiest buildings.
We got off the bus at the office where we go for Korean classes to drop off our checked luggages (which would be picked up when we moved in with host families). After that, we headed off to our guesthouse with only our carry-ons and backpacks. I have to say, it was a grueling walk to the guesthouse. 20 minutes later in the heat, I was sweatin like mad. When we got the the guesthouse and got our rooms, I immediately cranked the AC, plugged in the fridge, and just sat there while my 3 other room mates took a shower.
Once we all washed up, we were treated to an amazing dinner! As our first group meal together, we were all really curious as to all the side dishes. We learned that the youngest person has to pour water for everyone else (which I thought only applied to soju) because it's bad luck to pour your own drink.
Hmm.. That night we just went back to the hostel after eating. Our program coordinators treated us to a snack for each person at the convenience store first (thanks!) so we could snack on it back at the guesthouse before bed. The next morning, we met at 8am in the lobby for orientation and breakfast. We just had toast with jelly and Pororo cereal that morning.
After orientation, we were given our stipend and lunch money, about $140 total, and were treated to lunch (AGAIN!) by the program.
So we went back to the building and finished up our orientation with guest speakers. They gave us tote bags with a poncho, maps, a pencil pouch, and books. Afterwards they took us out (yes, again) for dinner, this time Korean fried chicken!
Once we finished eating dinner at about 7:45pm, they let us have free time with a 10pm curfew. We wanted to go to noraebang (karaoke), but a lot of the kids from the program just wanted to go back to the guesthouse and sleep, so me and two other girls just decided to go out on our own to the shopping area of Hongdae. I'm honestly so glad that the whole group didn't go because 12 is a little bit too many and it was a lot easier for us to just go out as a group of 3 and do whatever we wanted to do. I'm so happy we went out that night because it's currently the best night I had in Seoul so far. We just went shopping for face wash at first, which I didn't bring so the last time I washed my face was pre-NYC. After wards we wandered around going into different shops, including a really charming glasses shop where I ended up buying a pair of, what Koreans call, fashion glasses. On our way back, we saw one of the most amazing street performers ever and he happened to sing one of my old favorite songs, See Through by Primary.
Next morning was the day that we met our host families. Unfortunately, my host family couldn't host me due to some issues, but they found another host family for me. We went out to get breakfast before we were supposed to meet with the directors.
So afterwards, we all went back to the office where our host families would pick us up. Since my host family switch was so last minute, Sohyeon-saem said she would take me by taxi to my family. It was a pleasant little car ride, mostly her on the phone and me enjoying the scenery. She dropped me off at the building where I met my host parents. They were super accommodating right off the bat and took me inside. I could already tell I was going to love them just from our first meeting (I hope they still feel the same way about me...) The view from their place is AMAZING.
okay now that it's done i can blog about specific things ahhhh enjoy im sorry it was so boring but im so tired of looking at this blog post!
Now Playing: Love Radar by Lee Hyori (ft. Beenzino)
