As is quickly becoming our custom here in Seoul, we started our morning off with our hike up and down the hills towards the metro station Wangsimni (I actually remembered that without looking it up so all this Korean is starting to stick with me). We jumped on the train towards Incheon International Airport in search of a beach located just a short bus ride from the airport along the Yellow Sea. Over two hours after we left campus we finally made it to the airport, grabbed some food, recharged our T-money cards, and hopped on bus 306 like our directions told us. However, we jumped on the wrong 306 and found ourselves heading into downtown Incheon instead of in the other direction towards the beach. After we had already reached downtown Incheon a nice Korean lady asked us where we were heading as we looked very out of place on this bus. She laughed and knew enough English to explain to us that we had taken the wrong bus and had wanted to take bus 306 from the 3rd floor and not the 1st floor. By this time we had been traveling for over 4 hours and decided to simply explore downtown Incheon and make our way back to Hanyang instead of making another attempt at finding the beach. In Incheon we saw some interesting sights such as a traditional Korean dress store, a large church, and a few other distinct Korean architectures and made our way back to Hanyang via the metro, which we had coincidentally found nearby instead of having to take the bus back to Incheon International. Before too long we found ourselves back at Hanyang after getting off at a new metro station and exploring other new areas of Seoul along the way. After a quick hour in the air conditioning to cool back off, it was extremely hot and muggy out today, we set off in search of dinner across the river that runs near our dorms to the section of Seoul on the other side. We found a very traditional small restaurant and with the help of a very kindly old man-he was 78 and eating by himself and not looking 78-we ordered a very wonderful and surprisingly inexpensive meal. Tomorrow begins our first day of school related activities with a welcome ceremony followed by orientation and school tours.

traditional Korean dress store

Lights above the street across the river

stepping stones between the two walking/biking paths on either side of the river

Today started off with another trip on the subway and we went on our way to Myeongdong, another large shopping area in Seoul. We spent most of the morning walking around, enjoying the scenery, and a little bargain hunting. We found a few good deals but mostly just enjoyed our submersion into the Korean culture and found some street food for lunch. After a few more hours of shopping we made our way back to Hanyang for some relaxation and nap time before we headed out towards Seoul City hall in search of a light show. Along the way we passed a protest and the Canadian Festival, both side by side on the same street with police everywhere just in case. We passed by the Festival and made our way to a really interesting river in the middle of the city and spent almost an hour simply enjoying the sights and sounds around us. As dusk began to settle in we headed down river towards the light show and found a great place on a bridge to sit and watch the lasers creating interesting and complex shapes, even human beings more than once. The colors were amazing and the shapes impressive as the lasers were directed through mist creating a very distinct show.

This morning we meet at 10 to start off on our first day of Korean adventures. We decided that Gangnam would be our destination of the day and went in search of the nearest subway station with a detour to purchase T-money cards that allow for easy payment on the subway. We made our way to Gangnam and soon split up to explore the many stores up and down a stretch at least a mile long. Once at the end of the stores we began looking for food instead of deals. Somehow we managed to find the only burger place nearby and decided to order since we were really hungry. A good grilled chicken and french fries tasted great and we quickly moved on to continue our shopping. We made our way back down the street and stopped at a store with a pharmacy inside. It was strange in the way that the pharmacy was set up. All drugs were kept behind the counter and have to be asked for from the pharmacist. Our next stop was the famous Gangnam sign for a picture opportunity and a little dancing and then on to the Co-ex mall. A shopping center with 250 stores, an aquarium, and a movie theater but everything was really expensive even with the supposedly great deals that were going on. One shop we entered had huge markdowns-up to 90% off but the reduced prices were still above $50. We finished off our shopping for the day and headed to find some food. We found this great place that served huge plates and ordered 3 different plates for the nine of us to enjoy. This was the first time I had had mussels which were a little fishy tasting but still good plus a huge shrimp pancake, chicken heart teriyaki, and deep fried onions and stuffed peppers. The crew headed back to Hanyang with a short detour to emart-Korea's walmart equivalent for an early night so that we can get back out for some more shopping tomorrow in another section of Seoul.

Good night!

Burger place in Gangnam

pharmacy in a local convenience store

Gangnam!

shrimp pancake

Chicken Heart teriyaki

deep fried onions and stuffed peppers

my empty mussel shell-kinda impressed I actually ate it!

cart escalators in emart

After an early morning, a flight in a tiny plane, a three hour layover, and an extremely long flight that never seemed to end, we arrived in South Korea. We were lucky enough to have three Korean students who will be attending ONU next fall meet us at the airport and bring us to where we needed to check in at Hanyang. There were many beautiful views as we traveled on bus through the city and we found that Seoul has many more hills than Ohio. We got settled into our rooms and headed out for our first meal of Korean fare. Our "tour guides" brought us to a small place where they served Korean BBQ-at least I'm pretty sure that is what they called it, either way it was delicious. We then hit up the emart-which is the Korean Walmart- for a few items and made our way back to our dorms. Although it is only 10 o'clock here in Korea it is already bed time for those of us who have now been up since 3:30 am Ohio time so for 32 hours because lets be honest no one really sleeps on a 14 hour plane ride. 

 We really enjoyed our Korean BBQ and all agreed that it was a meal that could be repeated multiple times before we leave!

Packing-check; flight plans-check; only 5 days till leaving

Hello! As the first post of this blog I guess I should probably explain the reason behind this blog. In five days I will be flying across the world to Seoul, South Korea for a month in a study abroad program with Ohio Northern University. For the past few weeks, I have been working on getting everything together for the trip and have only a few more last minute details to take care of. Just a few moments ago I finished a very good packing job if I do say so myself. I managed to get two weeks worth of clothes plus everything I will need into one large suitcase and fit a duffle bag in my suitcase for bringing home souvenirs. Thank you E-love for the packing tips. They really helped! So back to Korea. In five days I will meet up with Morgan Sperry and Maria Camila Aldana both of whom are from Ohio Northern and we will fly out of Cincinnati-Kentucky airport at 6 am to begin our 19 hour journey to Seoul. Once there I will be taking part in Hanyang University's summer study program which will allow me to take six credit hours while having many opportunities to experience Seoul and surrounding areas. Well that's all for now! Hopefully I will be able to update this blog every few days with our experiences and lots of pictures!! I'll have another blog in about a week after we have landed in Seoul and have settled into the university housing!