I made it!
After some fiasco at the airport where my carry-on ended up getting checked (costing me $65) and a weird flight in between a 40 year old man and what I can only assume was his mother, I made it off the plane, through customs, and to the university with all my things. I even got to watch some 4th of July fireworks shows from the plane, which was really cool.
Kangwon National University (KNU) is huge. After a lunch of curry (what?) and some business matters, some of the orientation leaders held a Hangul review. I skipped it and opted for the campus tour that was being given by members of the campus English club called Kangwon English Yard (Key Club).
One of my small group's guides was David, whose English was very good and was extremely enthusiastic about showing us around the massive campus. I'm excited to see him again tomorrow when the Key Club hosts a mixer for its members and the other F*bright scholars.
While in Chuncheon studying Korean and English teaching at KNU, I'm living in the dorms. It's not so bad. The rooms are smaller than the ones at PSU (the double I'm sharing is about the size of a Simmons single, for you Staters that understand the reference). The rooms are alternating boys-with-girls, and almost all the F*bright ETAs are living on the same floor. The bathroom situation is strange, which brings me to Uncomfortable Cultural Adjustment #1: Not flushing toilet paper. In Korea, apparently it's more common to just throw it away in a small trash bin placed in the stall rather than flushing it.
After dinner (fried squid), some of the ETAs went to explore the downtown area, which is pretty awesome. It's clearly a college town, as the entire downtown strip running along the campus is filled with bars, restaurants, PC rooms, and convenience stores. Our little group found Ice Cool, the hang-out of choice recommended to us by the previous ETAs. There, we got a couple bowls of mixed fruit patbingsu (shaved ice with fresh fruit, ice cream, and red bean on top). It was fantastic after a day of sweating through every article of clothing possible.
Pictures and video to follow as soon as I adjust to the 13 hour time difference.
2009/07/05
Arrival Day
Labels: orientation
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
yay! u arrived in one piece! i guess the rooms r smaller cuz asians r smaller... hahaha. can't wait to read more of ur life. btw, i had a fiasco here w/ pete's parents over july 4th wkend. i'll message u later abt it or smth
Didja get picked up at the airport and taken to the university? Anyways, glad you made it safe. Can't wait to see the video. <3
@Karlie
Do tell about the 4th. I'll try to be on AIM from now on!
@Sarah
Thanks! We all got picked up at the airport and taken to KNU by buses. There were trucks there to take our baggage, so the bus ride was relaxing compared to the cramped room and recycled air we dealt with for the previous 12.5 hours. I just got my text books for Korean class... all I can say is that it is definitely not like Sogang. oof.
Post a Comment