First Week in Korea

   I have had a very busy week so far. On Wednesday I toured the town surrounding the university and one a few train stops away.  Thursday we got up early to take a bus to Seoul for a welcoming ceremony in Jamsil Stadium, built for the 1988 Summer Olympics.  Today (Friday) we had a proper orientation with the filling out of many documents, a film about Korea, and a campus tour.

   I met my suite-mate, Jay, my first night here.  He's from Melbourne, Australia and is majoring in Asian Studies and International Culture Studies.  He took some time off of school traveling all over Asia working, so he has plenty of experience being in new places.  This is his first time in Korea though, so he doesn't know any more than I do about getting around.

Wednesday
   The next morning we were both up around 7:30 and after finishing up unpacking we decided to walk around the small town the next to the university.  We went to a Family Mart, a popular chain of convenience stores, for breakfast.  The town is fairly small and we walked the major streets, noting restaurants that looked good and stopping in several more convenience stores searching for Ethernet cables and plug adapters for electronics.  We toured town for about two hours and met up with Hugo at 11:00 as agreed.  The three of us walked around the university for about an hour.  At noon we came back to the Global Village dorm and met up with some other students, a couple of whom had been here in past semesters.  They showed us where we could buy plug adapters and Ethernet cable.  I picked up a cable already for 2000 won (about 2$ for 6 feet) but bought a couple of adapters for 600 won each.

   A brief side note on currency values, 1$ is roughly equivalent to 1000 Korean Won, so put a decimal where you would normally see a comma to get the approximate price of goods.  Won is abbreviated with a capital "W" with a horizontal line through the middle, but I'll have to just use a "W."

   After having lunch Jay and I went to Cheonon, a nearby city, with Emmanuel (Manny) another first time student.  Our rail station is an easy 20 minute walk from campus and the end of the passenger line.  Manny's group had taken the train in from the airport and he was able to show us how to get rail pass, which save 100W a trip over buying a ticket.  You buy a pass for 2500W and then put money on it at an automated machine that will interface in a variety of languages (including English).  Both tickets and rail cards are the same size as a credit card and can be returned to receive a small safety deposit when you are through with them, although I'll be keeping mine until June.

   There is an area on top of sets of turnstiles that you pass your card over to gain access to the platforms.  With a rail pass an entry swipe is only 900W.  When you disembark at your destination you swipe your card again and an amount of money is deducted based on how far you have traveled.  We also discovered that the machine could read the card through a small amount of material, making it convenient to keep it inside your wallet while scanning!

   In Cheonon we wandered out of the train station under the vague suggestion that we "turn left after getting off the train" and explored an underground mall.  The mall didn't have much to offer, mostly clothing stores and a couple of phone stores.  Jay, not being used to the cold, was on a quest for jackets as well as a cell phone so he could avoid roaming charges.  After a few hours of wandering we found a local market laid out along a street with a permanent covering over the top.  There were clothing vendors on either side of the street and food vendors selling fried foods, fresh fruits, beans, and spices.  Jay drug us into all the shops looking for coats and bought three or four.  We didn't notice it getting dark, so when we came to the end of the mall we were ready to head home.  We met Chris, the proprietor of a secondhand clothing store, who spoke very good English and gave us directions back to the train station.

Small gardens next to the street are common.

Wildlife

Entrance to the marketplace

Thursday
   That night DAnimal and Maiday, two of the returning students, threw a party in their suite and I didn't get to bed until quite late.  The next morning we woke up early for a bus ride trip into Seoul for the university's Opening Ceremony at Jamsil Stadium, which was used for the Olypmics here in 1986.  The Ceremony was kind of boring, I assume the speakers were inspirational and motivational, but there aren't any subtitles in real life.  After the speakers there was an imitation of a Korean game show, and I'm told the winner went home with 1,000,000W!  Then there was a lot of waiting, a dance group, and finally the main event, 21.  21 is a very popular K-pop girls group.  When they walked in the crowd in chairs on the floor surged forward.  I wish I'd been prepared to get it on video.  All in all we spent more time on the bus than at the ceremony.  I came home and went right to sleep after.  I didn't even bother with dinner I was so tired.

Outside Jamsil Stadium

On the inside people don't have arms.

How things looked most of the time.

After the band took the stage.

We found an ad with the band in Cheonon the next day.

Friday
   The next day was orientation.  There were a couple of presentations and a video and I signed up for a resident alien card, bank account, and classes.  I am taking Korean Speaking and Korean Writing, which are required, along with Calligraphy which is one of four choices for a cultural requirement.  My electives are Crime and Accident Case Studies, Global Strategy of Korean Business, and Understanding Contemporary Korean Film.  I've heard good things about each of the classes, and the business class gets to go on a field trip or two to production facilities for places like Hyundai and Samsung. 

    Lunch was on our own, with extra time for those who didn't need to take a placement test for our language classes (this guy).  We had a campus tour, pictures from which are on a separate post.  The University is built on a hillside, so I'll definitely be getting plenty of exercise.  There aren't any leaves yet and the grass is brown, some shady places still have patches of snow.  It'll be really beautiful here once spring starts, we even have some cherry blossom trees!

   Friday night we had what I am choosing to call a "cultural experience" at one of the bars in town.  A few of the Korean students had started to arrive, including one of my suite-mates, while we were on our tour and came with us.  Our new suite-mate, after some thought, gave his English name as Bob.  It was a lot of fun and I'm sure we will plan some more.  DAnimal's birthday is next weekend after all. 

Saturday
   On Saturday a big group of us decided to go to Cheonon.  Bob is from the area and he took us around to a huge indoor shopping center with shops lining the other side of the street.  Jay had hurt his ankle the night before and headed home, but Manny and I took Carlos, Bob, Charlie and John back to the market we had stumbled across the other day.  It took much less time without Jay taking so long to look at coats, but some of the other guys found some that they liked.  Manny bought what must have been two or three pounds of strawberries that we munched on while we shopped and I bought a bag of apples to take home as snacks.

Cool looking but sadly rundown house next to a park

The park had interesting exercise equipment.

An entire street lined (both sides) with the same brand of phone store.

Upscale shopping area.

We found a sculpture garden

This one was made from car axles and differentials.

Charlie attempts to take the bull by the horns

Charlie and Manny with a police officer.

Left to Right: Carlos, Tiger, Charlie, Tiger, John

Sunday
   It has been raining all day today and I have spent most of my time catching up on this blog and reading Cracked articles.  Several more of my suite-mates are here now, although I'm having a hard time remembering names.  My roomate is here now.  He seems nice but a little shy.  Some of us went to lunch together earlier and now I'm starting to think about dinner.

Living Space

Here are some quick photos of my dormitory suite and room and the surrounding area viewed from the windows.  The building is arranged like part of a wagon wheel with four hallways coming out of a circular central lobby.  At the end of each hall is a tower with five floors, each of which holds two suites.  Each suite has six two person rooms, two of which contain a single international student such as myself.

We have two entry ways like this, you have to take your shoes off before stepping up onto the fake wood paneling.

The bathroom is quite small.

Hand shower, luckily there is also a holder for the nozzle.

Shared living quarters.

Part of me wants there to be a fire just so I can repel down the side of the building.

The coat closet didn't come with hangers, but I have some now.

The bedding we received is two quilt-like blankets and a small pillow.

Both "sheets" just lay on top of the bed and are really quite comfortable.  You don't have to worry about anything coming untucked and, surprisingly enough, the bed is long enough for me. My side of the desk has two tall cabinets, three overhead cabinets, several cubbies and a set of drawers.

There isn't a whole lot of extra floor area, I may put a laundry basket under here also

The view from my bedroom window.

Today is orientation day on campus.  This morning I filled out forms for classes, an alien residency card and a bank account.  It has been quite busy, but soon I should have time to write about what I've been doing the past couple of days.  I'm off to take a tour of campus, pictures will follow!

Travel Day

Why is this blog entitled "Adventures in Time and Space?"  For one, it's more interesting than "Wil's Trip to Korea!" but really its because of the temporal shifting that is involved when traveling in the East/West direction at several hundred miles an hour.

Wake Up:            3:30 Monday
Leave the house:  4:15 Monday
First Flight:          6:51 Monday
Land in Korea:    17:25 Tuesday

Personal Elapsed Time:  23 Hours
Actual Elapsed Time:     38 Hours

2/21/2011
   I woke up at 3:45 to head down to Kansas City and catch my first plane of the day.  There was a bit of trouble with my visa at check in, but I can't remember what it was if they actually told me.  Something about the number I think.  I was told that I wouldn't have any trouble when it came time to enter the country.   My bags were underweight by a few pounds each, thanks to extensive weighing the night before.

   After boarding the captian informed the passengers that the aircraft was too heavy and they needed some volunteers to travel through LA in exchange for a 400$ travel voucher.  One woman moved on the deal immediately, but some coaxing was required before anyone else came forward.  I found that strange since we were informed that some of the passengers had a final destination of LA.  I would think that they would jump at the chance to avoid the extra stop in San Francisco regardless of the voucher.  In the end, I think that the problem was rectified by moving smaller luggage from the hold below the aircraft to the overhead bins.  I found this to be slightly alarming since the reason we were overweight was because we had to take on extra fuel in case San Francisco was too foggy to land.  If I remember my physics correctly, the 15 foot difference in altitude does not change the weight of luggage in any significant way.

   "Banking around after takeoff allowed an impressive, albeit drab, view of the countryside surrounding the airport.  Grey skies and brown fields don't do much to lessen my interest in watching cars shrink and subdivisions reveal their labyrinthine streets.  A double row of bright yellow school buses, parked for the day, lend a splash of color to the landscape.

   I feel a bit sad, thinking that this is the last of the Midwest I'll be seeing for several months.  As we climb through the clouds my view fades to grey and is suddenly, brilliantly replaced by sunlight.  The change of scenery lifts my mood somewhat and we leave the clouds behind in favor of river streaked plains and snowcapped mountains."  -The last two paragraphs were written while half asleep on the plane.

   Despite the FAA's irrational fears about fog being present in The City by the Bay we landed safely in San Francisco only one hour later than scheduled.  I easily found my way to the international departures terminal with about 20 minutes to spare.  It would be too much to ask to avoid a delay on a flight that already lasts twelve and a half hours, so we trundled off towards a runway only to have the wind shift and have to taxi around to the other side, adding about 30 minutes to the the time spent in cramped seats.

Large plane, itty bitty living space

I had an aisle seat and my neighbor wasn't particularly talkative.  I gathered that he was in the National Guard, retired from Federal law enforcement, and had traveled the world quite extensively.  He had one story about being in a village in Afghanistan and having to deal with one tribe trying to convince them that another was Taliban to increase their amount of grazing land.  He was a pretty tight lipped guy and my assumption is that he is some sort of special agent.  I did learn one helpful bit of information from him, which was that all of the train stations here have a unique number.  This wound up being helpful knowledge later.

I spent my time on the flight alternately reading, dozing and watching Megamind and The Social Network, minus the first 20 minutes of so of each. 
 
Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean...
2/22/2011

The last movie was Wall Street, which made the decision to go to sleep for a good three hours an easy one.  I imagine the conversation went something like this:
"Steve, how can we make a transcontinental flight worse?"
"How about we show a movie about high finance with lots of big numbers and important dialogue that are imperative to the plot that they won't be able to hear over the engines!"
"I think you've got something there, I'll notify corporate."

   Upon landing I got through customs and got my luggage without event, although I was a little nervous due to the problem I had before taking off.  I found the university representative who had been sent to meet us easily and made a couple of friends with those in my cohort.  Hugo from France and Amanda from Texas were as travel weary as I was.  We took two buses and a taxi to our final destination, finally arriving at 10:30 PM local time.  I decided to unpack despite my weariness and the late hour and had a shower before falling asleep and into bed.

Sorry I didn't get this up sooner, I've been pretty busy.  I should be able to get another post up soon describing the last couple of days since I have some free time this afternoon.  I imagine most of you won't see that one till "tomorrow," as abstract as that idea seems to me now.