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WOW! I'm here... In Seoul, South Korea. The last 2 days have been very hectic-- I took a 4 hour flight to Vancouver at 7am and then an 11 hour flight to Incheon airport in Korea! My journey started at 5am on the 18th and ended at 7:30pm the next day. RIP...my body was exhausted, however I finally watched the Little Women movie from the 90's with Winona Ryder on the airplane. I love Jo March... Once I landed I had to go through customs, baggage claim, and then met my cousin, Monica at the airport subway to go to Hongdae and then meet up with Onji, my friend from Mount Holyoke.
Side note: I am so grateful to have so many friends and family who have been more than helpful during this transition. I would seriously be so lost, confused, and probably crying if it weren't for my 하라버지 (grandfather), 할머니 (grandmother), 큰삼촌 (uncle), 이모수(aunt Sue),방선생님 (Dr. Bang, my Korean tutor), mom & dad, Onji, and Monica 언니!!
Anyway, after Onji and I made it to our very very cute airbnb, we went to dinner at this little restaurant with heart shaped eggs ;_; then I passed out immediately at 10pm. Goodnight.
In the morning we had breakfast at a Japanese bakery and walked around Hongdae. Onji showed me a three-story Daiso, Skinfood (a skin care store), a crane game store, and an eight story design store called 상상마당, or Sangsang Madong. The store only features Korean artists and I was YELLING because everything was so nice. Support local artists, guys. I hadn't gotten a planner for 2018 because I was planning on getting the perfect one in Seoul. And here, at this store, I found a hard cover 12-month planner with a girl roller skating on the front. Can you believe?? It was made just for me?? Also, on the 3rd-5th floors they were featuring an exhibit on Quentin Blake, the illustrator for Roald Dahl's books. They had original sketches and prints of his work and not one, but TWO sketches of the four grandparents from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sharing that one bed. The exhibit didn't have any Matilda sketches, though. We did a lot of walking around and getting acquainted with the area. One of my favorite things about Seoul is how much Koreans love Moomin and We Bare Bears. Like, specifically those two brands.
Besides the window shopping, there were some logistical errands to be done like figuring out how to use a Korean SIM card, getting a foreigner ID, and registering a Korean bank account. There's lots to do before classes start! Ahhhh!!
I am just now realizing that I sort of committed to doing this study abroad journal but I have no idea how to talk about my day...so uh thank you for reading this post! I think I will try to update once a week, but no promises.
-mary