I used to think Penn State had the most school spirit in the world, what with our overwhelming school gear, screaming fans at our packed football games, and our ability to never let any “We Are” go unfinished. That is… until I studied Yonsei University for this semester.
Don’t get me wrong, Penn State is Penn State. It’s my #1. Nittany Lion forever. A part of me felt like I was cheating on PSU when I put on my bright blue Yonsei shirt and decided to attend the annual school festival called Akaraka.
Akaraka was something that the school told us about on the very first day at our international student orientation. Our program said it was something we definitely did not want to miss. When the ticket sales began, it was all I ever heard about on campus. The amount of lines I passed of students waiting for tickets was overwhelming. Lots of the international students struggled to find tickets and it was a long drawn out process for many. Luckily I didn’t have to try hard to get tickets, because my drum club got it for us. I had to just pay 11,000 won ($11), give my student ID number, and boom. I was going to Akaraka.
But the thing is… I didn’t even know what Akaraka was. It seemed so hyped up and overrated. A part of me didn’t even really want to go. A school festival? Would it even be fun?
Why did I ever doubt Akaraka. Why do I ever doubt if anything in Korea is going to be fun? The default assumption should always be yes. Yes yes yes.
To begin the festivities, Yonsei had a pre-game for the festival. We’re talking a two day pregame. Koreans go hard, to say the least. The sports stadium was completely overrun by students, performers, booths, everything! And on a Wednesday and Thursday night. Here are some pictures, courtesy of my girl Anne.
(A pop up bar on campus. That’s something you don’t see in America)
Performers, friends, cheap food and drinks. What more could anyone ask for?
On Wednesday during this pre-Akaraka festival, my drum club had our big performance! In classic Korean style, we practiced every. single. day. for a total of three weeks beforehand. The preparation was intense, with the practices lasting three to four hours. My poor feet. Even my blisters had blisters. But it was all worth it in the end! Shoutout of my incredible club members for giving it their all, and for every single one of my friends who came to cheer us on. There’s a part of the performance where audience members come and stick money in our hats, and some of my friends gave me money! :’) That’s when you know the friendship is real. (Also big thanks to them for these great pictures!)
When Friday came around, I was starting to get excited for Akaraka. Although I didn’t fully know what it was, the pregame activities managed to fill me with enough school spirit.
Akaraka ended up going from 2:30 to 10:00 pm. And I stayed for the entire thing, cheering and having the time of my life. For the entire seven and a half hours!!!!! The first hour or so was school cheers (which I can’t exactly explain in words… it’s something that needs to be experienced) There are multiple cheer songs and each one comes with fun moves and dances the crowd does. It was great being with my club because I was surrounded by Yonsei students who all knew every word and every move. When that ended, famous korean celebrities came to perform. Among those was Psy. That’s right, Mr. Gangnam Style himself. He performed for an entire hour and absolutely killed it. I felt like I was at his concert! Some other celebrities were EXO (really popular boy group), Kim Bum Soo, Rainbow, and the rapper duo Leessang 리쌍. Once the performances were over, we finished with another hour and half of cheering!!!
Akaraka totally lived up to the hype. If I could do it all again, I would. Thanks to my drum club for entertaining me throughout the whole thing! From seeing the girls go crazy over the celebrities to having my president practically destroy me during the cheers (I fell over multiple times ㅜㅜ), it was an awesome experience..
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Location: Seoul, South Korea