SEPTEMBER 2-8I'm sorry for being so late with my weekly blog posts! I guess my life in Korea has been more hectic than I thought it would be :P This whole week we decided on our classes for the term, while also getting the chance to know the campus (and get all our logistical things done like Student Card and Alien Registration Card). The best part about this week was that we got to celebrate Chuseok Holidays with our wonderful Group 8 Leader, who planned a whole weekend trip for us! |
DAY 15: Second day of classes
My second day of classes was very relaxing as I'd only registered for four courses. The normal course-load in Canada is typically 5 but I signed up for 2 Graduate level classes just to see if I could take them here. The class today focused on modernization of Korean culture so I hope that it will continue to be interesting and enlightening. Courses at SNU are based on purely teacher preferences, but it seemed to me that the undergraduate level and graduate level of courses had a huge difference in terms of quality and content! I guess we'll see how these classes go! | |
DAY 16: korean class, caf food & chuseok event
| My original plan was actually to skip taking Korean class and instead just learn how to speak Korean on my own, but I found as I spent more time here that it was getting increasingly difficult to speak Korean and also to keep my discipline of studying on my own :/ As a result, I tried to get into the Learning Centre Korean Class offered at SNU, however the deadline for the classes ended in August so I ended up getting into the Korean class offered by SNU-Elementary Korean! Even though we'd just started classes this week, we ended up with the Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) Holiday on the Second Week of school. To celebrate this, the Environmental Engineering department hosted a traditional SongPyeon making on the beautiful rooftop on SNU campus! |
DAY 17: baguettes & INTERNATIONAL OPENING PARTY
As part of the SNU Buddy program we had an International Opening Party for the Exchange Students at that night. To start the day off right I went to one of the many bakeries in Seoul near SNU Subway station and grabbed some wonderful bread! Typical in Korean night life is the eating of noodles before going out (we had Nengmyeon) and then going out for Chicken and Beer following the event! Another thing I really noticed about Korean culture is how much they LOVE to drink beer! Its so cheap and literally with ALL dinners! | |
DAY 18: INWANGSAN HIKE & YEUIDO ISLAND
| Due to some amazing scheduling I managed to get my Fridays off! For my first 'free' Friday Buddy Group 7 invited me to go on another Hike! So far, I've loved being able to enjoy the many mountains in Seoul whether it be hiking or going to school on one of them! This hike went up the walls that surround the Ancient Main Palace of Seoul. The path of this hike is mostly paved, but the view is absolutely breathtaking! Moreover, the view is so precious that we weren't allowed to take photos in particular directions because of a nearby Military Base and the direct overlooking view of the Blue House (Korean President's House). |
So to finish off the day I decided to go to Yeuido Island! The Island is in the middle of the Han River (which divides the North and South sides of Seoul). Even though its technically an Island, its highly accessible to the public via Subway! The area was absolutely beautiful, and home to both the financial district and a really nice walk/biking path.
DAY 19: BUKHANSAN HIKE & KBBQ
Even though I went on a hike the day before, I was crazy enough to join in on a Hike to the tallest point in Seoul! This mountain was actually a 8 hour hike in total (up and down) but the view was even more breathtaking than the view from Inwansan! Each and every step burned with the regret of going on a hike the day before, HOWEVER, when we reached the top I was so relieved and felt so amazing to have actually accomplished such a hike. The day was exhausting but we got to see some of the craziest cliffs on the mountain--part of me was really scared because at some points we even scaled the rock formations and free climbed the rocks on some very steep parts! | |
DAY 20: WOLMI PARK & INCHEON
| For day #1 of the Chuseok Tour we went to Incheon (a city maybe an hour's train ride away). In Incheon we went to Wolmi Park and got to try on Traditional Korean Hanbok Clothing, walk around old Korean Palace style grounds, and see the view from the tower and all the ports at the seaside of Incheon. Incheon might be familiar to you if you've been to Korea because the Airport is here! We had a chance to try/make traditional Korean Pancake for lunch. Then we made our way to a Noodle shop where we had seafood noodles (in a huge bowl!) that were famously from the Incheon area for dinner! To end the night we went to the theme park and got on some pretty crazy rides :D |
DAY 21: CHUSEOK GAMES & THE HAN RIVER BY MOONLIGHT
Day #2 of the Chuseok weekend tour started out with a sushi lunch, followed by some traditional Korean games and snacks. Following the games, we went to the local Zoo and saw some Lions and Elephants (for free!). Then headed over to a Korean BBQ restaurant for samguypsal (pork) on a really cool Turtle Shell grill. And even though we'd just finished our meal, on Chuseok it is quite common for families to go to the Han Riverside to pray to the moon, so as it got darker, we headed to the river, and ordered delivery of Chicken and Beer to the area which we were sitting and had a nice chicken and beer snack while we played the game 'Mafia' or 'Werewolf' by moonlight! | |