This is my
first time in South-Korea. In addition, this is the first time I have travelled
all alone to another country. This is also the first time I have moved in a
whole new city from where I can’t visit my family easily. For the first time in
my life I am all on my own.
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| Exploring the surroundings of my hotel |
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| First night's survival kit at the hotel |
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| Ready to move in the dormitory |
I wasn’t
scared about the actual trip. I have never been afraid of flying. I was and I
still am more scared of having forgotten something important not having packed
well enough. For now everything seems fine. Regarding the packaging I was also worried
about the weight limitations. Nevertheless, there weren’t any problems at the
baggage drop-off at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
After the security check I got to try
using a passport machine for passport control for the first time. First I was a
bit nervous about how it would work out but the machine was surprisingly easy
to use. It scanned the passport and then I got through the first gates in front
of a camera. When the camera had identified me next gates were opened and the
check was over.
I flew with Finnair since I wanted to
travel without having to change planes. Stewardesses kindly helped me with the
arrival card and Custom Declaration card. After landing there was passport
control that didn’t cause any troubles for me and was quickly done. They
checked my fingerprints and eyes.
Collecting baggage was easy and quick as
well. In my opinion the signs at the Incheon airport were very clear and easy
to understand but it seemed that not everyone agreed with me as they walked to
the wrong passport control line etc. My tip is to simply read the
English/Korean (also in other languages) signs carefully and follow the signs
or ask the airport staff. At the Incheon some of the staff wore blue vests that
had “INFO” written on them.
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| On the way to the Lotte department store |
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| Anam |
I arrived
in Seoul couple days too early because there were no other more suitable
flights when I booked my flight. The orientation started on 23rd but you could
move in the dormitory on Sunday 21st. Because I knew I would be arriving
earlier than needed I booked myself a hotel room for couple nights near the
university. I have been working the whole summer so I decided to have a
mini-holiday instead of spending the two nights in a hostel.
My flight arrived in Incheon around 8am
and after passport control and baggage collection it was about 9am. I decided
to stay at the airport to kill some time since the check in for the hotel room
started at 2pm. I was not completely sure if there would be a possibility to
leave my baggage to hotel till I could check in my room and I was very tired so
I thought I might as well stay in some cafe in the airport.
I took a taxi to get to my hotel from the
airport because traveling alone with two suitcases and cabin bag using public
transportation would have been impossible. By taxi it took roughly an hour to
get to the hotel located in Dongdaemun-Gu. Traveling by public transportation
it would have costed approximately 10 euros but in this case I paid about 70
euros (distance appr. 70km). The price depends on the taxi and there would have
been cheaper options but I was tired and the price was still cheap compared to
the prices of Finnish taxis.
During the first two days I was too tired
to do nothing but quickly drop in the Lotte department store nearby my hotel. I
had been warned about the hot temperatures of August. Luckily I did bring my
summer clothes. :)
One of my Korean friends helped me on
Sunday 21st to move in the dormitory. She is also a student of Korea
University so she showed me around and helped me to buy some necessary items
like kitchen ware. Lucky me since I got some really useful tips where to find
things as cheap as possible.
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| Surroundings of the dormitory |
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| My room :) |
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| Campus pictures |
The
university held an orientation period for exchange students from August 23rd
to 25th. The orientation consisted of both mandatory and optional
sessions.
Before the very start of the orientation
exchange students were divided into groups that are divided into even smaller
groups. Korea University Buddy Assistants (KUBA) consists of volunteering
students who will help us to get used to living here. For every small group
there is a “buddy” who we can turn to when needed. These certain small groups
form a bigger group. I myself belong to a group 5 that includes at least 100
students including the “buddys” and our group leader who is also a member of
KUBA.
First orientation day started with an
introduction of the university: activities of the university, services provided
for the international students and many other subjects were introduced. Then we
had lunch which was followed by walking around the campus area. Finally we
activated for us KUPID (Korea University Portal to Information Depository) IDs.
With these IDs we can identify to various services provided by the university.
On the second day we filled our
application for the KU student IDs and also opened new Korean bank accounts
which will be linked to our student IDs. Thus the student ID will also act as a
payment card. Afterwards we headed out for lunch and later on the afternoon
there was an optional workshop on life in Seoul. The workshop shortly
introduced Korean culture and also issues regarding daily life in here from
recycling to using public transportation. In the evening we had orientation
party with our group and had some fried chicken and beer. Some did continue
partying till early morning. I personally left the party during the second
round since I had to wake up early next morning. :P
On the third day the orientation ended
with an optional (+paid) Seoul city tour. The tour started with visit to
Cheongwadae Sarangchae exhibition and museum where the exhibitions introduced
Korean culture and traditions, and also past South Korean presidents. After the
exhibition we walked around the Gyeongbukgung palace which is the biggest of
five palaces (more). The weather that day was so hot (about +30~35°C) so
walking outside was really exhausting. I intend to go there again when I have
time (and the weather is not too hot). After lunch we went to see a Nanta performance. It is a performance that mixes comedy, modern music, dancing and
traditional Korean music delivering the story nonverbally. I recommend you to
see the performance if you happen to have chance. I laughed the whole time. :D
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| From Gyeongbukgung |
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| From Gyeongbukgung |
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| From Gyeongbukgung |
Tomorrow
(Sept 1st) the first lectures start so we have had few days to have
a holiday after the orientation period. Some of the exchange students decided
to take the advantage of this holiday by travelling around in Korea. Some,
including myself, decided to simply just chill. Yet I have been busy. One day
we climbed up to the Namsan Tower that is one of the major tourist attractions
in Seoul. The Tower is located on top a small mountain where the view is breath-taking.
Sadly we didn’t have the opportunity to go up to the observation deck in the
tower since the queue was almost an hour long.
Next day I visited Myeongdong which is
famous for its shopping district. The streets were crowded with both tourists
and Koreans. The interesting thing is that the area was full of cosmetic
stores. In addition to that the same stores would appear again and again. Don’t
bother asking how many different Nature Republics ore Etude Houses we saw
walking around.
Last
Monday was also busy because first I had lunch with couple “buddies” and few
other exchange students. After lunch we continued to Han River. Original plan
was to rent bikes and enjoy the view but we weren’t able to rent bikes so the
plans changed. I had to leave the group since I had promised to meet my
friends. When I returned to Anam I stayed for a while in the campus with some
exchange students and “buddies”. We had relaxing night chatting and enjoying
the outdoors.
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| From Namsan Tower |
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| Things I bought in Myeongdong |
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| Han River selfie :P |
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| Food .<3 Left upper corner pajeon (Korean pancake). Above pork bulgogi (fried meat with this certain marinade). Right side a shaved ice dessert with fresh melon. |
It’s a bit
of shame that the classes are starting already because I didn’t have the chance
to enjoy my summer holiday properly. Oh well… Korean harvest festival (known also
as Korean thanksgiving) Chuseok will be here after a bit more than two weeks’
time. We will have a small holiday from Wednesday till Sunday.
This has been a brief introduction to what
I have been up to for the past couple weeks. It is hard to believe that the day
after tomorrow (Sept. 2nd) it has been exactly two weeks since I
arrived in here. Time has passed by way too fast. Next time I will attempt to
write about living in here including getting my Alien Registration Card and
buying a Korean sim-card. And naturally I will update you on how my studies are
going. :)
Till next
time!
xxx
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