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점핑 예 점핑 예

Text log 90418

Day three of classes !

Feeling: -_- and =D

Actually kinda intimidating right now, since all of my classes are reading/writing based and I’m of IST/engineering background. A few assumptions/notes I made to cheer me up about it:

1. My classes are in English, and thankfully, NOT KOREAN

2. Over half of my classmates are not native-english speakers — Expect readings to be at a lower level

3. Over half of my classmates are not native-english speakers — Expect professors to give a bearable amount of workload to the class.

4. Classmates are of all majors — Expect material to be for English Literature majors equally to Mathematics majors

Now, about the campus. The student body is third of that of University Park, but the campus is maybe sixth of the size. However, the buildings can go between 8 and maybe 15 stories. A lot of foreigners are obviously used to this size of campus. LOTS of French students here (sixty) compared to the Americans (thirty). There’re some cafeterias which have terrible hours (4 hours / day) and some decent restaurants on campus at a fair price. Of course, Seoul is full of fun stuff to do, so I could easily go out to eat.

Okay, and about my time in Daejeon ! ㅅ_ㅅ

To the right is a shopping district — note the Hello Kitty Cafe (=ㅇㅅㅇ=)

Daejeon is in the middle of South Korea and is the fifth largest metropolis in the country. How to describe it… maybe… Cleveland Ohio mixed with downtown Latrobe (my hometown in PA). So far, at least where I stayed, Daejeon has more old people and almost no foreigners compared to the other cities I’ve been to — MEANING — less people to ask for help in English.

Don’t get me wrong, I had an awesome time visiting my friend there. xD

Pictured below is O-World, an amusement park we went to on a very hot day. This is one of the nature-y attractions in the park. Not to be confused with E-World in Daegu.

And say hello to the lovely 이다혜 aka “Eve” ~~ Thanks for the time in Daejeon xD

Two more things:

If some of you have been waiting to see what the food’s like here, I’ll tease you with some homemade breakfast from Byungjae’s house — a lot better than I thought.

And next,

The most viral single in Korea right now — I hear it everywhere

! 크레용 팝 Crayon Pop !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZC7yA1Cymc

Oh btw, I saw them live last Friday LOL

More on annoying KPOP music and local food another time

Later ! ~~ Maybe write a comment or mail me Mac & Cheese !

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 대 “Dae”

and

크라운 산도’s Strawberry-cream cookies

Location: Sogang University Dorm

First entry with ‘’x’’x’’x’’ PICTURES ‘’x’’x’’x’’

Text log 82814

I just arrived in Seoul after 5 days of visiting other cities and avoiding the most interesting city. Right now, I came to Sogang University to drop off my massive luggage (I’m sweating hardcore from carrying that yacht around) so that I can continue to see the city until Friday — moving day.

So this post will be dedicated to pictures from the my last blogs to prove to you that I’m not all-talk about this whole Trip to Korea thing.

To the left is my view from the plane arriving in Incheon.

Also, folks, I want you all to meet 이은겸 EunKyum Lee !

~~~~~

(I have a point to this; don’t think I’m creepy)

As a Caucasian in Korea, I get a lot of stares. It’s like I finally know the attention people get for being a beautiful female model, or having a 1-foot radius Afro hairstyle, or having a prosthetic arm (which I’ve always found to be awesome x_x). I got bored on my 15 hour plane right which lead me to entertain myself AND little EunKyum by making faces at him and letting him touch my nose. And it’s not just the baby who I let poke my nose; my friends here sometimes ask to touch it (having a big, pointed Italian nose like me is like having a nose made of gold, apparently). I’m pretty sure I’ve inspired him :3

On my first night, in the city of Kimpo, as I discussed in a previous post, Byungjae took me to this restaurant for my “Welcome to Korea” meal. Here are the associated pictures. Let me see if I can find an audio sample of an angelic choir singing…

Nope, can’t find it.

My trip to E-World in Daegu:

This is my view from a tower in Busan, which is statistically … [checks wikipedia] the FIFTH busiest port in the world !!

Streets of Busan <3

Appreciating Busan and 해운대 Haeundae Beach

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

Next blog I’ll try to talk about my experience after the third day. And please comment if you can ! xD

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 서 “Suh”

and

옛날캔디 Ice cream pops

Location: Sogang University - Seoul

Day 3 – Life in Hangook

Text log 82508

Hangook means “Korea” — just for the record. Kinda like the tires.

Two days have passed and asldkfjalsdfj what an amazing time. I only have internet access in WiFi spots only so it’s been hard to post. Also, right now, I’m on a public computer so I can’t post any pictures yet. -_-

So the plane ride was ~~okay~~ torture — What do I expect ; it was 15 hours ! I got sleep on the plane — maybe ~8 hours, but it was like

1 hour of sleep,

then wake up to a crying baby,

stay up for an hour,

fall back asleep in an awkward sitting position,

repeat.

I was expecting like 4 hours of consecutive sleep, nomnoms break, and 4 more hours.

Let me summarize my trip so far and in other posts I’ll have some discussions:

I arrived at the Incheon airport at 3pm KST on Friday. My friend Byungjae helped me get a bus and we left Incheon into his hometown Gimpo. There, I met his parents and I had one of the best meals eveeeeeeeer~~ It was very stereotypical: Walk in, take off your shoes and let them sit on the floor, find a table (tables’ heights are maybe a foot and a half from the floor), and sit cross-legged on a cushion. The food was heaven… pork barbecued on a grill in the center of the table while the waiters bring out maybe 12 different small plates of sides. [Again, sorry I don’t have pictures today T.T). Pretty typical that you drink some Soju (Korean vodka) with your meal; it’s considered rude if you don’t accept it. Great time it was ^_^

We went from Gimpo to Bucheon (which all of these cities are West of Seoul) to meet his friend downtown. Wow, talk about nightlife~ and I haven’t even been in Seoul yet ! The three of us went to a restaurant downtown in this neon-lit street. The restaurant was interesting — they assign you a small room that has booth seats and a table; pretty small room. On the booth there’s a buzzer that calls the waiter over to you. I thought it was pretty cool. The food, I guess, were slices of cooked ham on a bed of cabbage or lettuce with honey mustard and bbq sauce (I think) drizzled on top. Again, MORE Soju, along with standard Korean drinking games — nothing like America, but I’ll discuss it later… I’m running out of minutes on this public computer.

I spent the night at Byungjae’s apartment and went to Daegu next morning by bus at 7am, where I met Yoonchan, my other friend whom I met at Penn State. We went to E-World, an amusement park (again, pictures… later.). Later that night, we went over to Busan, which in my opinion so far is the Florida of Korea — located on the Southeast part of Korea.

Right now, I’ve been in a jjimjilbang (Korean spas/saunas where many people spend the night — yeah, a bit odd, but it’s about 10 dollars a night, so what the heck) since 9pm last night.. still trying to get over jet lag. I plan on staying in Busan the rest of the day, and tomorrow I’m off to Daejeon in central Korea to meet my friend Dahye.

I’m outta time — gotta split

~Ryan

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 한 “Han”

and

Hankook Tires

Location: Jjimjilbang in Busan

Ermagerd THE NERVES

At the Dallas airport now, boarding the plane in less than an hour. I should arrive at the Incheon airport by 4pm KST (2am EST). It’s here at the waiting room — where I see the screen saying I’m at the right place reading “Seoul – Incheon” — and the seating area two-thirds full of Koreans — that gives me my first dose of adrenaline, knowing I’m going to get myself into a load of … mess. Things I’m looking forward to: – Leaving Incheon airport crossing the Incheon bridge: https://www.google.com/search?q=incheon%20bridge&client=ms-android-att-us&rlz=1Y3JHSK_enUS535US535&espv=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sboxchip=Images&sa=X&ei=jykWUqG8Js_82gXKnICYCA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA&biw=360&bih=251 -Observing myself as a minority by observing the “majority” around me. -Seeing my friend Byungjae who’s greeting me at the airport. (Thanks again, Hyung) So, now what ? Now I gotta get on my plane. Later, folks !! This blog has been brought to you by the letter 다 “Da”~

First post – South Korea

안녕하세요 여러분! Hello everyone! =D

If you don’t know me (and I’m sure none of my fellow Geobloggers do), I’m Ryan. I’m an upcoming senior from Penn State majoring in IST. I’m going to 서강 Sogang University for the Fall semester.

Here’s my story:

My fascination with the culture of Korea started halfway into sophomore year — that means I’ve only been into the culture for less than two years. This usually makes people laugh when I tell them this, but I discovered Korea… through Starcraft II. (0.o)

Yeah, who would have thought that a video game would change someone’s life to the point of living abroad? Starcraft is an american game perfected by the Koreans. By being a bigger fan than I am a gamer, I gained respect by watching pros stream their games from Korea.

It was the Spring break of sophomore year when I decided to sit down and learn basic words, like hello and thank you. From then on, day by day, I learned a little more. :3

I never had plans on travelling to Korea, until January of this year. Amazing how much I’ve changed in a year and a half~~

Yes of course, KPOP (Korean pop music) was also a big discovery for me. I got instant satisfaction when I saw my own progress by hearing a few words that I’ve learned in the song — mostly 사랑해 (‘sa-rang-hae’ = I love you). To this day, most of the music on my playlist is KPOP or Korean Indie. I’ll be talking more about that through Geoblog. ^u^

Anyway, on to my trip. I leave in THREE DAYS! =O

I can’t believe it.

I’ll arrive in the Incheon airport and then travel around the country alone for a week, meeting some Korean friends I met at Penn State. =D Thank you friends!

When the semester starts, I’ll be taking all gen.eds. Finding IST classes at a university with only 30% of the classes taught in English? Yeah right~

In this series of blogs, I plan to inform and entertain. My goals?

-Prove or disprove Asian stereotypes. — Ex: Are Asians really bad drivers?

-How can you survive in the city of Seoul — Staying overnight at 찜질방s (Saunas also used as mini-hotels)

-Providing pictures of the beauty of Korea — Pictures of me Gangnam Style-ing inside the district of Gangnam!

-Sharing what I love about the culture — Why SNSD is my favorite group xD

I’ll try to do some video logs, too. I’ll send out another blog hopefully before I arrive.

Also, today’s blog has been brought to you by the letter 가 “Ga”

~~~

또 만나, 친구들

Until we meet again, friends

~Ryan

https://blogs.psu.edu/mt4/mt.cgi

Location: Greensburg, PA

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