It's my 5th week in Seoul and this is my first blog post. Some may say it's because I've been having too much fun experiencing South Korea to write, some may say I'm just a procrastinator. Both are true, but I'll push the first excuse. This is my first blog, and now that I'm finally starting maybe I'll get the hang of it even toss in a throw-back stories from these past 5 weeks.
It's 12:15am here tuesday morning October 7. Today (yesterday i guess) I had just had one class - Korean language. I have it every morning 8:30am-11:15. It's 9 credits and really intense. I just finished memorizing some dialogue about meeting a new neighbor. We have tests everyday, and move really quickly. The midterm test is coming and I'm extremely nervous I won't remember everything from the past 7chapters. I didn't study Korean formally before I came, but this program and book was tailored for Ewha University, and I am learning a lot of useful things. Anyway, today was an easy day. I had ramen for lunch (Korean ramen is soooo much better than that Top Ramen you are all stuck with in the US, sorry) and met my Korean tutor for dinner. It was only our second meeting but we're getting along well. We had a spicy rice, chicken and pork dish, and talked about our weekend, travels, families, and boys of course. ㅋㅋ (<-- the Korean cyber laugh "KK"). After we grabbed some sodas from the Family Mart convenience store and went to chat on the roof of my dormitory. I Skyped home, took care of some bills and verified I was registered to vote. I have to work around the 13 hour (ahead) time difference from Pennsylvania.
We have midterms in 2 weeks. Scary! This school is the largest women's University in the world (I'm proud Waynesburg is affiliated with them.) It has a great reputation so I feel some pressure. When I tell someone that I go to Ewha I get to see that raised-eyebrow look of impression. Sometimes I feel I'm not worthy though, especially since I don't know the language, and as mentioned before I've been accused of being a procrastinator.
This past weekend I did my first overnight traveling to a town in the southeast called Andong. There was a Bulgogi (marinated beef-it's in the next picture) festival and International Mask Dance festival.
I went with Pauline from France and stayed 2 nights in a motel for 30,000 won a night (for future reference just assume 1000won = $1.00 US, although the dollar is a little more) but people keep telling me we got cheated. Oh well, it was cheap by US standards.We saw a lot of sights including a Confucian school, a Buddhist temple, a Buddha statue carved into a boulder, pagodas, and countryside. Buddhism is a large part of Korean cultural history, and it still preserved today. Although Protestant Christianity prevalent here. The mask festival was really interesting, we watched dances from Taiwan and Polynesia, and a few other shows.
We ate lots of carnival style food; waffles with flavored whipped cream are a popular dessert anytime. There was a VJ on stage getting the audience to play games, pulling people on stage and such. Long story short: Because we stuck out of the crowd as foreigners we were easily picked to go to the stage and embarrass ourselves in a game of "repeat this Korean phrase." I think they purposely threw difficult grammar and a country accent at us in the end, but it was fun though and we got a free gift. I actually got 2 free gifts that night because later there was a DJ "mask" dance and Pauline pushed me in front of the guy looking for people to dance on stage. I have no problem embarrassing myself sometimes because it leads to great stories. In the end we got pictures with the staff that were dressed up in costumes. Spiderman was the most interesting. 
I love people.I didn't sleep much that night for some reason so on the ride back to Seoul I felt gross. Still, that night I went out to Korean barbecue with a few girls for dinner. Yesterday Pauline and I were in the mood for Italian pasta for lunch, then walked to Hongdae and tried out the Dr. Fish cafe. We bought smoothies and put our feet in water and the little doctor fish ate the dead skin from our feet...I know it sounds disgusting, but it's a really cool way to get a pedicure. Before I left Pennsylvania I read a news article that there was one in Washington D.C., I hope it catches on so I can go when I return home. I finished the weekend by doing laundry, eating rice and tuna in the dorm kitchenette watching a Korean game show. I'll explain that phenomenon later, because it's 1a.m. and although I took a nap today I should study my Korean a little more and go to bed (once my Chinese roommate can control her laughter, over her discovery of the show "Biggest Loser").
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