7/18-7/21

The past few days have been crazy as our time here in South Korea is coming to an end. We have been trying to experience as much of Korea as possible before we head back to the US. Thursday evening after classes, a few of us headed over to Wangsimni station to the Jimjibang located above the train station. This traditional Korean bath house was a very interesting experience. We started in the fully clothed co-ed sections of the jimjibang where they have saunas, sleeping rooms, an oxygen room, and a snack bar. There were 2 different hot saunas with temperatures of around 60 and 80 degrees Celsius and a cold room much like a freezer with the walls lined with ice. After an hour or so moving from room to room as we sweat like crazy, we decided to head off to the baths. The bath area had 4  pools of different temperatures, three warm with one being located outside on the roof of the building and another at a chilly 19 degrees Celsius. Along with the pools were two more saunas, one wet and one dry. Our trip to the bath house was a wonderful experience and very relaxing. Friday after class we headed off on another adventure, this time to the site of the 1988 Olympics, or at least the main venue. We were able to walk inside of the stadium that houses the track and was the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the games. Walking down onto the track and seeing the stands as an athlete would have all those years ago was amazing. I decided to run a lap on the track before we headed out looking for the swimming pool and gymnasium also located in the same general area. We found the pool however, I wasn't allowed to actually get in and swim, not sure why since there were prices on the wall behind the front desk and there were obviously people going in to swim but the front desk people didn't really speak any English so I didn't push the issue. The night came to a close with a stop at a local bar to try fruit soju which turned out to be pretty good even though normal soju has a horrible after taste. Saturday morning started out early since we had to meet in front of the Hanyang gymnasium by 8 am to leave for the last Hanyang sponsored field trip, the overnight trip to the Boryeong mud festival located about 3 hours from Seoul. The festival was lots of fun but very crowded and located right along the Yellow Sea so when one got tired of being muddy they could simply walk into the waves and get washed off. There were mud slides, pits, and even a mud prison. We spent our day here until we met again with the group to head off for our location for the night. The buses drove us out to a summer camp location where we spent the night, with no beds or hot water. It was a fun night with music playing, a bonfire, and lots of students everywhere having a good time. Sunday morning was not as much fun when they woke us up over the intercom at 8:20 am to announce it was breakfast, a very Korean breakfast of rice, some sort of eggs, and other dishes that I would not associate as breakfast food. We then started the long drive back to Seoul on very quiet buses as everyone slept even though we didn't leave for Seoul until 11 am. Tomorrow starts the last week of classes and our last week to explore Seoul so we hope to get in a very busy week of adventures.