Week 1 Festivities! 따봉(Thumbs Up!)

Our first day stared out with lunch and orientation. We spent time with introductions, ground rules, and welcome. Later we had a welcoming ceremony and champagne popping :) After dinner I left with a group of new found friends on an adventure. We got on the Seoul Subway system - which is VERY clean (more on the subject of social responsibility and cleanliness later), and headed away to another part of the city. We arrived at a little restaurant with the traditional short tables (where you sit cross legged on the floor), and found ourselves enjoying Korean Pizza and squid and Dong dong ju (Rice based alcoholic beverage). Pictured with me enjoying Dong Dong Ju (and Coca-Cola) are from left Yuna and Heidi. We stayed and chatted there for a while until heading out again! We had to be back by 11 o'clock, and after a few hours at the restaurant it was time to return. What a wonderful way to wind down my first day!

Tuesday was our first day of "lectures." We had a famous South Korean reporter from CNN international talk with us about current issues, and I enjoyed her perspective and listening to the current issues of Korea! We had lectures until lunch, and rested until 1:30 (Lunch at 12, so about half an hour to relax). For our afternoon activities we had an ice breaking event. We had multiple activities involving all members of our little group, including some chop stick races and human word games :)

Dinner was at 6, and I spent the evening watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Hae Rim and Minsun. We then played some Jenga and a Korean card game to finish off the evening.

I found myself waking up at 6:30 Wednesday morning, and instead of sleeping I decided to jog about the neighborhood. I ran for about 15 minutes and saw a nice little neighborhood around the University. That morning we had a lecture on the history of Korea, and in the afternoon we headed to Changdeok Palace, a famous palace way way back in the day! We toured the immaculate palace for a couple of hours, and that evening went out to eat. We had a quick Korean Pizza and Soju, and went to eat fried chicken which was an experience. Because people are "clean," we ate our chicken with gloves on. I didn't mind, because the chicken was hot and cheap! I find that food is rather cheap here in Korea. You can easily eat your fill of food and drink for $5, or 5000 won. We then headed for an ice-love restaurant, where you eat shaved ice with ice cream and fruit pieces. Interesting concept, but it was good. Another interesting place was the DVD room. Basically anyone can rent a dvd room and watch a movie in a lounge style room. I was told it was more of a "couples" thing, but nonetheless sounded like a good idea. We ended up the night by returning to base pretty exhausted.

More to come later, and as always thanks for reading! 벤