Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Guess, where I am?

I know... I haven't posted in ages. Why? Well... Pretty much a few days after my birthday I went to a place called Seoul.
For those of you who don't know where that is, it's the capital of South Korea.
I am staying here for the summer, so all in all for about 5 weeks to study Korean.
Since I haven't blogged at all, I will just sum up what happened here so far.

Arrival
Well... First things first, Lufthansa said I was only allowed to bring one suitcase. So far so good... It was supposed to be 23 Kg. It was 25 Kg. Means I already got here with a way too heavy suitcase.
The flight was pretty uneventful and when I arrived, I just wanted to sleep, because I couldn't sleep at all on the flight.
I rented a phone at the airport (looking back, it wasn't such a clever thing to do, because everyone is getting phones now and yeah...) called people and told them that I arrived safely.
Then, when I went outside, a taxi driver came up to me and asked me where I wanted to go. I told him my University and where the dorm was and asked how much it was. He said 80,000 Won. I said "No way! In the description from school it says 50,000!"
He was quite stunned, I guess, but agreed to let me pay 50,000 plus tollgate fees... I paid 60,000 in total. Later I figured out that he made a loss.. He had a Luxury cab, not a regular one. Anyways...
He let me off on campus, so I had to walk all the way to my dorm, which is off campus, since I didn't get to live in the new one, but in the old shabby dormitory. I didn't care that day. I basically just went there, checked in, took a shower and then finally slept.
Later that evening I knocked at the room next door, since I heard somebody over there after a while. The girl was quite nice. We watched some TV together later that evening and decided to eat breakfast together the next day.

First days.
On Saturday, I ate breakfast with my next door friend, Morgan. Later we went to do some shopping. I got some Etude Lipstick and some Innisfree masks. Also some BBcream.
We went to Myungdeong and Hongdae (we also obtaiend T-Money cards on the way) which are fun places to hang out and do shopping at. We also got to a cat cafe. Which is one of the most awesome places I've ever been to!
When we returned, my roommate had arrived. Turned out she was a pretty awesome girl named Charlotte. Morgan's roommate was also there, a girl from Britain. We got dinner together and then went out to Noraebang. It was quite epic! :D Noraebang in the second night that I got to Seoul. I had tons of fun.
The next day I spent going to the airport. I went through Incheon station, which wasn't a great idea, because taking a bus from Seoul is much quicker. But oh well. We all make mistakes, don't we? I had to get my phone unlocked though, that I locked by accident... Anyways. At Incheon station some Drama was filmed. It wasn't too funny and nothing fabulous.. But whatever, I saw a Drama filming site.
Besides that, I think I didn't do much.

The first day at Univeristy.
So, on monday we got up early, to take that test that determined in which class we would be. It took me quite a while and still only got into the 1B class. But oh well. The class fits me quite well, I think.
Besides the test, there was also an Interview... Which was quite hilarious, because I had to lie... since I didn't really know how to reply to some questions... But I really wanted to make conversation...
They also had a big presentation about the whole program and stuff. So that filled our morning and afternoon. We had our first culture class as well. It was okay. Nothing big going on there.
In the evening, Charlotte and I went to explore Seoul a little. We went to Hongdae and ended up in some creepy little mall. But when we finally found our way out, we walked around a little more and found the Luxury Noraebang! I was so excited~! We didn't want to pay for such a special room with only the two of us though, so we went to a smaller Noraebang across the street, to celebrate the taken exam and the beginning of the program. x3
We went home pretty soon after.
Classes.
So far, I like all my teachers. My class is alright as well. That tuesday, we spent introducing ourselves and doing reviews about stuff we should now. Turned out, some people were not in the right level, so they left after that day or wednesday.
I also got a small cold, that got worse and better randomly doing the day. Which was quite annoying.
I figured out quite fast, that my least favorite class would be writing... Because that's where I'm the worst at.
Anyways... On Wednesday, we decided to go out with one of Charlotte's classmate (she's two levels up from my class) and Morgan also went along. We met one of his friends somewhere around Myungdeong and went to eat Samgyeopsal. It was so delicious~!
Initially, we planned to go back to Sinchon, find some bar to hang out at and then go back to the dorm, since we had to be in before 12.30 (curfews aren't fun!) but everything came differently...
We met some guys who were randomly strolling around in Sinchon, but who we knew through the program. One of them was in my class, but moved up recently. So they went to a place called Chicken and Beer with us. Which was interesting. Korean beer is... I don't know.... Not my thing.
Anyways, we had some beer and some Soju... It was nice. Some Korean and Korean American people joined us... And after a while, we just felt lik staying out all night.
Long story short, we didn't make the curfew and stayed out all night, going to some club and some Noraebang nearby. In the end, we got to our room at 5 am and just slept until 8 am. When I got up, I didn't feel good (part hungover, part the cold) and I decided, that I would better stay home that day.
I woke up for the writing class, attended it, since I still suck at writing, and went back to the dorm, to sleep some more.
In the evening, I took a walk with Charlotte, just to the station, and we went to some second hand CD and Bookstore. Book Off. They mainly have Japanese stuff, but I also found the third G.O.D. album and Son Hoyoung's Album, which I bought~! Afterwards we went to a stationary store, but that was mostly it. Didn't do much more.
I just realized that I got some stuff mixed up, because at some point, I also went to a cafe with Morgan and Charlotte. I think it was on sunday. but whatever.

The fieldtrip.
Friday morning we had to get up waaaay to eraly for my liking. We planned on getting breakfast at the bakery, but they only had stuff from the day before. We still got some and each of us also got one ice cream. Melona~!
Then we went to the maingate, where our buses where already waiting for us. Sadly, I wasn't on the same bus as Charlotte... But I slept most of the time anyways, so it was okay.
We first went to see the tomb of one of Korea's kings during the Choseon dynasty (omg... I might be wrong on that... but duh...) and it was quite interesting. Had to do some walking though. We also had lunch around there. Unspectacular Bibimbap. The Kimchi was good though. I sat with a bunch of people I didn't know... But it worked.
Then the others went Rafting... I honestly was waaay to scared to do so. Looking back, I should have done it... But I can't change it no more, so it's alright. Afterwards we went to some big restaurant, where we had dinner. It was delicious. But we didn't have enough time to finish it all.
One of the assistants sat with us. He was quite nice and funny. And he took pictures the whole time!
After the dinner we finally went to the hotel, which was damn awesome! It had some public pool spa water thing in the basement, as well as Noraebang, a PCbang, a bunch of restaurants and a supermarket.
Our room had a balcony, a kitchenette and a separate room that held a bunch of futons to sleep on. It was a whole palace! We first went to Noraebang for a while and then went to one of the guys rooms to play drinking games. Which turned out impossible, since most people where too drunk to understand the rules. So after a while we left with the teachers assistent (who went to party with us the whole time... lol) and went to bed.
Breakfast was an interesting mix of fries and egg. It was continental, I guess.
The next morning we went to Aquaworld. Which turned out to be more like Aquacity... but it was still nice. Charlotte, Morgan and I went to the Spa part with the whole thermal herb bath thing. It was pretty cool! And quite Korean, I guess.
We went to the other part of the place with slides and stuff. There also small jacuzzis with herb and chocolate water in them. So interesting! :3
We got on the bus again and went to eat. We got Samgyetang... Which is pretty much chicken soup (Meaning a whole chicken in some soup) where you have to mix the broth with spices and garlic and so on yourself. It was a nasty thing to eat.... really...
Afterwards, we went to do some more sightseeing. We had a nice look at a temple and then went to a confucian school. It had replicas of traditional Korean houses and everything. We also made a phone charm there. It was quite neat. Both our guides at those places talked English. Even though it was quite funny.
When we were done making our charms, we got to make rice cake ourselves. Outside, with rice and water and a hammer. Don't even ask. It tasted great though!
We got back on the bus, stopped at some resting place on the highway, where we ate some more Bibimbap and then got back to Seoul quite late. We pretty much went straight to bed and slept quite long...

Language Exchange.
On Sunday I met my language Exchange Partner for the first time. She was such an adorable and nice girl! We had a hard time talking, but it worked after a while. She studies German, but hasn't been learning much until now. So we're gonna work on that!
Afterwards I went out with Charlotte again and we met Morgan and a French girl (whose name I forgot) on the way. We went to Etude and I got some more cosmetics! :3 Then we went back home.

Monday.
Classes were alright... In the afternoon we learned how to text in Korean. That part was fun!
We also signed up for the school activities, such as Everland and SBS Inkigayo~!
Also, Charlotte found out about the fact, that she wasn't able to withdraw money... So we didn't really to much anymore, since she was pretty much bankrupt for then...

Tuesday.
We learned how to type in Korean in culture class. It was great and I feel like I am finally getting better! :3
Besides that, nothing much happened.

Wednesday.
Aaaand... I caught up with ecerything. Today... Mhhh.. I made a fan today. Okay, I didn't make it, but I decorated it. As well, as some sort of... uhm... bowl? I don't know.
We also had some quiz today... Yeah... Next time I'll study harder! I promise...
Anyways, now I'll go to dinner soon and then later go out with Charlotte again to get some snacks and do some coffee shop studying. It's gonna be fun, I hope~!
I'll tryp to keep this up to date from now on and I'll put some crappy, unedited pics on flickr or something later.. :3 Have a good day, everyone! <3

I did not and will not spell check this... However, future posts will be checked and corrected again. <3

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