Placement and Seoul Exploration

Hey everyone.  Thanks for following my blog. Where did I leave off…? I was just arriving at the university, not much interesting happened there. I checked in, got a room, met my roommate (who was a little intimidating at first) and went to bed. I guess the one thing to mention is that when my roommate John (who is actually pretty awesome) saw I only had the blanket and pillow I had stolen from the airline (having been misled to believe that bedding would be provided) he graciously offered one of his own blankets which I shamelessly accepted without hesitation. This was the first of many kindnesses he has shown an apparently useless foreigner (me!).

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 and lay awake for an hour in bed until breakfast. I went down to the cafeteria which each morning serves both a Korean option and a "western" one. Thinking myself worldly I headed straight for the Korean table and served up some of the strangest breakfast items I have ever seen. It was actually quite good. Koreans believe in spice for every meal, so it's lucky I prefer spicy food. I then had a decision to make. Where to sit… I scoped out the room and targeted two nice enough seeming students, one giant white kid and a vaguely Asian-looking well dressed fellow. I (completely out of character) confidently strode up and asked if I could sit down. I was well received and had an enjoyable breakfast getting to know my first friends in the program.

Next it was on to my language placement test. I once again found myself lost and inadequately prepared lacking a notebook and writing utensil (when did I become such a pudd?) but I found a nice looking group of students traveling the same direction and together we found the right building. One even let me borrow a pencil. The test was moderately difficult but very long and two hours left me half way finished (as seemed the case with everyone else so I wasn't too worried). My oral interview went alright. I could understand everything I was asked, but I unfortunately take too long to process speech, so the interviewer may have gotten the impression that I didn't understand her at all. Also, I over think all my answers so I failed to exhibit my superior understanding the Korean language ㅋㅋㅋ(lol).

I ended up being placed in the third level (of five) which was lower than I had hoped, but my new Australian friend Sandy was in the same level so I wasn't too upset. That afternoon we had our first field-study class. Our teacher 구은미 (Eunmi Gu) was really fun and gave a short intro to the class and then had a Sogang student take us on a tour around campus. There's nothing too special about Sogang. It's a pretty small university without any spectacular scenery or architecture. Then it was back to the dorm. I ran into my roommate who was going out with some of the other guys I had met and invited me along.

Away we went exploring the college district of Seoul. The five of us ended up being literally pulled by the hand into a korean style BBQ restaurant by a 4 foot insistent 아줌마 (old woman). The food was delicious and very cheap. We got to know each other over a few bottles of soju and then went to a nearby bar where we had a few more beers and watched the North Korea vs Portugal game. We were back to the dorm before the midnight curfew and I was quickly asleep.

The next day I had my first Korean language classes. The first two hours of morning classes are grammar where we went over patterns I had learned last year. The second two hours were reading and writing which was surprising more difficult. Our two teachers are pretty awesome though, and all of the other students are pretty fun to be around. There are surprisingly few nerdy-anime freak-"I have a Korean girlfriend" kids to be found (that isn't to say there aren't a few). Afternoon classes were more of the same. We learned how to give and receive directions to each other and practiced using a map of the nearby area (which has been very useful in finding my way around). That night, I planned on working out, eating dinner, doing my copious amounts of homework and then sneaking out with the other students after curfew to watch the South Korean match against Nigeria. Unfortunately I passed out at 4:30pm and failed to wake up until 5:00am the next day at which point I had to hurriedly complete all of my homework before breakfast and class. Epic fail!

The second day of morning classes was more of the same. Studying the same grammar patterns and then cooking instructions, but for afternoon classes we went on a field trip to the city center to see the city offices and 한옥 (traditional korean houses). We also saw the Blue House where the President lives and the Prime Minister's residence. It was really interesting and we are giving presentations about it on Friday. After dinner, John and I went on a subway adventure to 명동 (Myeongdong) where we went shopping and watched a show where they pulled random girls on stage and, much to their embarrassment, made them dance in front of of hundreds of people. We took some good pictures and found a Forever 21 where I got some cheap clothes.

Korean citizen's office

한옥

Gate to the Blue House

Well that's it for now. Oh yeah, John's sister is competing in the Miss Korea pageant coming up in the next few weeks and he invited me along to see. That should be fun. Here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy.

My roommate John and I

This one's for you Ally...