Osaek, is known for its hot springs, and our motel had one. Actually it's a glorified public bath with the natural water from the springs pumped into it. It was definitely a new experience bathing with a bunch of other ladies. Talk about getting out of my comfort zone! After we checked into our 40,000 Won motel, which had mats to sleep on, a heated floor and a bathroom with old tile with a semi-functional western-style toilet, we left to go to the beach! A pen-pal of mine told me that the East Sea has the best beach, so I was really excited to go, even if it's the middle of Autumn. We figured out we had to take bus #9 we got to the stop about 5 minutes late. Luckily a persistent taxi driver offered us a ride to Naksan for 10,000won, so since it's usually about 20,000 we took the ride.
The beach was beautiful, and even though it was cold three of us decided to just give in and swim. We definitely played the foreigner card on this move. It wasn't long before we realized the jacket-clad Koreans on the beach had their eyes on us for being so crazy. As I walked to the bathrooms to change a large group of older people stopped me for a short conversation on how the water was. They were fun. I love people. We sat on the beach in our sweatshirts and jeans for a while taking pictures and joking around. I think I left all of my cares there. 
Saturday a few park rangers at Osaek came to us to give us some information, and take our photos for some reason. They convinced us to visit a temple and waterfalls in Osaek before traveling to the main part of the part in the north.
The hiking was very easy, maybe too easy. The leaves were beautiful colors and the mountains were amazing. In the more popular part of the park the leaves were mostly green still, so I'm really thankful we went there first. I'm not very good at describing so I'll just include a few more pictures. 
The weekend was great, even though a few times our girl-fight instinct almost came through. Two of the girls are vegetarians so the whole weekend was a fight to find a pizza hut...which we successfully did! It's definitely not your familiar pan-pizza here, there's actually no real difference between pizza places for those of you interested, except the crazy toppings like potatoes and shrimp. I'm hungry now.
I just returned from my first Midterm Exam! PHEW. it's over. Yesterday reminded me of Waynesburg and normal college days. I wore sweat pants all day for the first time, and relaxed around the dorm studying and visiting people. Haddie, my roommate from freshman year, mailed me stuff to make s'mores (necessary because no one here heard of them) so we had a mini party in the kitchenette on the 2nd floor. I showed them how to make s'mores in the microwave, then we got adventurous and used the toaster oven. It soon turned into Asian marshmallows when instead of a stick, someone picked their marshmallow up with a chopstick.
I stayed up late and then studied 3 more hours today...minus a few times I checked facebook and uploaded pictures. The test turned out to be three short answers and an essay on studying comparative politics. I just hope I did alright. Next exam is for Korean language. dun.dun.dun. OH! Just remembered, I have a dinner appointment with my tutor! Food and study help is always good.
Thanks for reading, annyeong!
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