Gil and CMU! :D

As I may have told some of you, my boyfriend was trying to apply to be an exchange student at Central Michigan University for the spring semester when I go back to America. It is difficult to be accepted into CMU, because there is only one spot available for all of the Korean students who want to go to compete for. Therefore, there was a lot of pressure in trying to get my boyfriend prepared for winning that one spot! The first step we had to go through in the process was taking a very difficult and a very expensive test called the TOEFL, which is used to test students on their understanding and knowledge of the English language. So my boyfriend studied very hard during the summer in order to get a good score! We were very relieved when his test scores came back with a very impressive score that many Koreans wish for! However, that was only the first part of trying to study abroad at CMU. The second step required him to send in an application answering questions like "What kinds of classes he planned to take" and "Why he wanted to study abroad as an exchange student" and of course he needed to send in his TOEFL score to show he was qualified to apply to Central. Once his application was accepted, we were able to move on to the final step of the process which was an interview conducted in English with four judges that would decide his fate on whether or not he would be the one person going to CMU in the spring. We studied very long and very hard for the interview. We did not know the exact questions that would be asked during the interview but we tried thinking of some basic questions that most interviews would use for studying abroad such as "Why did you choose to apply to CMU for exchange student?" and "How would you introduce Korean culture to foreign students while abroad?". Gil put so much effort into studying to go abroad to America and I am proud of him for trying his best. He had his interview this past Monday on September 2nd and then we had to wait until Wednesday September 4th to find out the final results. When the interview was over he told me that he tried his very best and left no regrets and it made me so proud of him! He worked so hard and guess what!?!?!?! His hard work paid off!! Gil is the one Korea University student that will be going to America to study at Central Michigan University for the 2014 spring semester!! I am so happy and so proud of him!! I cannot wait until you can all meet him!! He is so amazing and will be flying in with me when I return to America!!:)

Thank you for reading about my exciting news!! I love and miss you all and am excited to introduce you to my boyfriend!! I am so proud of him!! 

Back at Korea University!

I am back in Jochiwon and ready to start classes on Monday. I am taking more North Koreanology classes and a few public policy classes that I hope will count towards my International Relations degree. I am sure this semester will be just as fun as last semester!

Study Abroad Fall 2013!

For those who do not know already, I have extended my semester long study abroad to a full year study abroad in Korea at Korea University. I would have come back to America on August 6th if I was only staying for a semester and the summer, but now I will not be coming back to America until December 29th! I miss you all and hope to see you all then!

Yum!

I just wanted to post some yummy looking treats! 

A stick of butter!! Just kidding! It is a stick of cheesecake! It was delicious!!

This one is a mixed berry tart from a local coffee shop in Hongdae which is a district of Seoul! It was very nice to have fruit! I do not think I have ever craved fruit as much as I do now! So yummy!! 

Fun in Busan!!

I went to Busan on the weekend of Gil's birthday with a bunch of our friends after celebrating his birthday on May 16th. It was a a great weekend, filled with many activities and many different foods that Busan is most famous for. They were for the most part noodle dishes. Two of them were cold noodle dishes and the other was a warm noodle dish. We also went to a fish market and ate raw flounder fish and some eel! It was a really cool place because they had all of the fish down on the first level to pick what you want to eat because all of the fish were in their tanks to look at and then the next floor above was a restaurant where they cook the fish for you! I did not get a picture, but I will next time I go because I definitely want to go to Busan again before I leave to come back to America! It is a nice city!

Here is a picture of the group of friends I went to Busan with outside of Busan Station! 

Here is another picture of everybody!!! Such a great group of friends!

A picture of me hugging Gil in front of Busan Station!

Busan is famous for its beach which is the main reason we went to Busan! The beach is called Haeundae beach and is a very popular destination spot for people in Korea as well as tourists so it is always full of people and close to the city as you can see from all of the buildings in the background. Also, I apologize for the lack of consistency with formatting in this post. My blog does not want to cooperate today I guess.

At a coffee shop in Busan drinking a mocha ice blend! 

Taking pictures in a sky park on top of a huge mall to look all around Busan from up above!! 

At the end of the weekend before heading back to School, in front of the fountains in front of Busan station which was having a light show to music! It was quite nice!!

CNBLUE CONCERT~~!!! :)

On May 25th, I went to the CNBlue concert at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul. It was a lot of fun and I got to go with some pretty awesome people! I went with Gil, Charles, and Tara! Their opening song for the concert was amazing and we had standing floor tickets so we were pretty close to the stage! They even did an encore which was also very nice!! They are very talented musicians and it was an amazing opportunity to be able to go to their concert and see them live! I wish you could have been there with me, Lauren! I know you love them!! It was a fun day in Seoul and then afterwards I went to Suwon to hang out with Gil and his best friend! I love CNBlue but maybe next time I will be able to see my most favorite group, B.A.P (Best Absolute Perfect) perform live!!

Yeah! They are awesome!! :)

Breaking News: DMZ excitement!!

I get to go to the DMZ this Friday for my last culture class trip of this semester! I am so excited since it was the number one thing on my Korean bucket list!! I will leave another blog post after Friday so I can talk about my experience in more detail later! Thank you for keeping an interest in my travels around Korea and reading my blog!! :)

Open House at Korea University!

May 20th-22nd was Open House at Korea University. It was kind of like a mini festival on campus. Let me explain the fact that the dorm life here at Korea University is very different than dorm life at Central Michigan University. Here in Korea the dorms are not co-ed, they are split so there is a boy side and then a girl side and the opposite sex is not allowed on the other sides. Also, if you live off campus you are not allowed in the dorms, because we are not allowed to have visitors. In addition to these differences, we have a curfew at midnight which is really annoying. Therefore, it is safe to say that living on Korea University's campus is way more restrictive than living on the campus of Central Michigan University and definitely hard to adjust to. I am actually still trying to adjust to it and I have been here for just over 3 months.

Therefore, this relates to the Open House and all of the festivities connected to it, because on the first day it really was like an open house. Everyone who lives in the dorms could go anywhere they wanted to in any of the dorms to see the differences between all of the dorms and it even gave people the opportunity to play tricks on other people. Semi-Classic was not successful, thanks to a nice warning I received from a good friend of mine that heard about the schemes of the Semi-Classic members. However, I had class the entire time so I was not able to participate in playing tricks on anyone.

Later that night they brought in a DJ and it was like a club on campus for everyone to just dance and have a good time. This event helped extend our curfew until 1am. It was fun but tiring.

On the next two days there were more booths to look at and games to play to win fun prizes. During the night there was a concert with some Korea University bands and then a professional group called Dynamic Duo. They were pretty good and we were even given money from the ITS office for food and drinks so we had a party for free. Then there were the awesome Korea University cheerleaders that led us in Korean cheers. And Korean cheer leading is also different from American cheer leading in terms of Korean cheer leading is not just chanting, it is more like them leading the school in cheer songs about how awesome Korea University is in comparison to Yonsei University. One of my really good Korean friends is actually a Korea University Cheer Captain!! Here are some pictures to follow up this long blog post.

B.J. my cheer leading captain friend!!

Another picture of Captain B.J.

Rehearsal for the Cheer leading of Korea University!

Dynamic Duo! 

While Dynamic Duo was performing! 

All of the members of ITS that participated in Open House!

Hiking in Seoul!

On the weekend of May 4th, I went to Seoul with my Korean friend May. She had to volunteer for a children's festival so I figured that I would tag along and just go exploring in Seoul while she was volunteering! Across the river from the festival I found some nice trails to hike and do some exploring in the Korean wilderness! It was nice and relaxing! The flowers were all in bloom, even the Tulips, which are my favorite flowers!

The path to cross the river!

The beginning of the hiking trails lined with beautiful flowers!

My lovely Tulips!

The waterfall I found while exploring! 

My friend May volunteering to teach children about the importance of water conservation! 

The 2013 Lotus Lantern Festival!!

On May 11th I went to Seoul to experience the 2013 Lotus Lantern Festival, which is a celebration that takes place the weekend before Buddha's birthday! This year Buddha's birthday was on Friday, May 17th so the festival took place May 10th-12th. Here is a link to read more about the different events that took place at this year's Lotus Lantern Festival. I went to the Lotus Lantern Parade and it was awesome to watch. The light up dragon was my favorite part. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

My favorite picture!! :) 

Blog Apology

I apologize that I have not been able to blog in a while. I had a big presentation to prepare for but hopefully I can get everything updated by the end of the night or by morning for everyone in America! Have a wonderful day!! I love you all!! :)

Happy Suwon!!! :)

A question that I get from a lot of my friends back home in America is "What is your favorite part of/and or place in Korea?" Well I would like to answer that question now! Most people would probably assume that Seoul is my favorite city since it has so much to offer, but my favorite place in Korea is actually a city called Suwon, which is about 30 minutes by train south of Seoul. This also ties into one of my favorite experiences in Korea, which was going to Hwaseong Fortress, which is located in Suwon! I also spend a lot of time in Suwon and occasionally get to experience a homestay with a lovely and very kind Korean family!  I took a day trip to Suwon during midterm exams on April 24th, with one of my closest friends here, Charlotte, but I call her Charles :) and we went exploring around the city and throughout Hwaseong Fortress. We found a nice spot in Hwaseong Fortress, to sit and talk about life. It was wonderful because we were surrounded by the wonders of Korean nature with the sun shining nice and bright and the flowers in full bloom. It was a beautiful sight and we even got some yummy Suwon strawberries! Suwon is a great place and if you ever come to Korea, I definitely recommend that you visit Hwaseong Fortress as well as the city of Suwon!! 

It is Happy Suwon!! Where Gil is from! And it is happier than Seoul!! :)

Here is a picture of part of Suwon from Hwaseong Fortress! 

 Here is a building within the walls of Hwaseong Fortress! It is pretty!

My picture with Charles!! We were at Suwon station waiting for the train to go to Jochiwon!

Culture class Friday: Buddhist Temple Visit!

This past Friday we went on another trip for culture class! This time we went to 속리산면, which is a Korean National Park that has a Buddhist temple and a few trails to hike. Camping is also an option there! It was very peaceful living the life of contemplation. I had a lot of deep and meaningful thoughts. We even saw a few Monks and one of them waved when he walked past us. It was really interesting looking around and seeing all of the Buddha statues and all of the Buddhists that came to practice their religion. It was a really pretty location too!

This is the giant Buddha and then there are a lot of little Buddhas within the buildings.

Here is one of the buildings with the little Buddhas. I would have taken a picture of the inside but picture taking was strictly prohibited, so here is the pretty outside of the building!

Here is the beautiful view of the mountains! I bet it is really pretty during the fall! 

Everland!!

This past weekend, I met up with Gil in Suwon and then we went to Everland together! Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea and is considered by many to be the Korean equivalent to Disney World.  It was a lot of fun!! Not only was it a beautiful day outside thanks to the sunshiny weather, but we went during the Tulip festival, which was awesome because they are my favorite flower!!

My favorite ride was called the T Express and Gil actually recorded me during the entire ride. It was the biggest and fastest ride there, which is why the wait was so long. We stood in line for two hours but the wait was definitely worth it!!  The T Express can be seen in the distance of the photo below. It is the wooden roller coaster with the really steep drop at the very beginning.

At the end of the night right before Everland closed, we watched the fireworks display together. They were so pretty and it was a great way to end the night! I had a lot of fun!! Thank you Gil for planning such a fun day to spend with me!! It was amazing!! : )

North Korea Continued

The threats of North Korea are growing worse and I am sure that the U.S. media is not making things better for anyone wondering about my safety while in South Korea, which is why I would like to post another message on the current situation. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul has been keeping all of the American citizens signed up with the state departments S.T.E.P. program updated on the current situation between North and South Korea. I have been notified that with all of the threats coming from North Korea, I am not in any imminent danger, but to be prepared in the case of an emergency. All of the exchange students at Korea University have been notified and told what to do in the case of an attack, so you can feel a little bit more relaxed at the idea that we do have a plan if the times call for it. However, I can assure you that from my first hand experience of living in South Korea, I still feel safe. I am constantly keeping up with the current events happening in North Korea under the Kim regime and I can tell you that it is a very exciting and interesting time to be a North Koreanology major in South Korea. However, I just want to remind everyone that I am safe and still having fun while in Korea! Thank you for all of your concerns! Love you all!! :)

Membership Training!

This past weekend, I had a wonderful adventure with all of my Semi-Classic friends! We went to MT, which is Membership Training for Semi-Classic. MT for Semi-Classic took place on an Island called 안면도, which is on the west coast of Korea. Most of the weekend was rainy so we did not spend very much time outdoors but we were able to visit the beach for a little while even though it was freezing cold!! However, the purpose of Membership Training is to create friendships within the Semi-Classic club by getting to know everyone better! We played many Korean games which were a lot of fun even if they were challenging due to the fact that they were all in Korean. However, our teammates were very nice and helpful when it came to translating the rules for us foreigners. We ate and drank to follow the Korean cultural customs and traditions and I even got to experience leading my first FM!! FM is an introduction cheer that is led by one person and all in Korean and it was so much fun!! I just have to memorize it now!! I wish I had pictures to post but maybe I can get some sent to me to post later. I ended up growing closer to a lot of amazing people and had a ton of fun! I am ready for the next practice to come to see them all again!

North Korea

Many of you know the news about North Korea and South Korea and are very concerned about my safety here. All I ask is that you try not to worry too much. I understand that it is human nature to worry about things but I do not feel threatened at the moment. I receive updates from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on the current events occurring right now so I will know what to do if the time calls for it. I have also put Aunt Cathy down as my emergency contact with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, so she will receive updates in case of an emergency to keep everyone updated. I will also try and stay in contact with everyone more often so you all know that I am doing well. However, I am still very busy, so the key words are I will try. In addition to not worrying, I ask that you will pray for peace between North and South Korea. If you have any questions or concerns talk to me on Facebook, by email, by Kakaotalk if you have it, or just leave a comment and I will respond as soon as I can! I hope you all have a lovely Easter! And do not forget to pray for peace please!! Thank you!! :)

Gyeongbokgung Palace!

Here is a picture of Gyeongbokgung Palace! It is an interesting location in Seoul because I would have pictured it to be in the middle of a more rural area, but it is surrounded by the busy city life of Seoul. I have not had the chance to go inside yet though. We arrived too late and did not realize that you have to buy your ticket an hour before the palace closes. It was sad but we ended up having fun in Insadong with shopping and eating Poop bread. I will be going back soon though! Hopefully with my roommates!! :)

That is my friend Lauren from Central eating Poop bread in Insadong!! It is not really poop, Aunt Donna!!!! :) It is bread that is filled with a red bean paste and the bread is in the shape of poop! 

White Day!

White Day is a holiday in Korea that is celebrated on March 14th, which is exactly one month after Valentine's Day. In Korea it is traditional for the girls to buy the boys chocolates on Valentine's Day and then on White Day it is the boys turn to buy candy for the girls. I was not here on Valentine's Day so I had nobody to buy chocolate for but I was here for White Day and got candy from some of my friends! They are  so nice!! :)

Blogging

I would like to apologize for not updating my blog. I have been very busy and the University has given me more tasks than I was originally told about when deciding to study abroad here. Therefore, there may be times when I am unable to update for certain periods of time, so all I am asking for is for everyone to please stay patient. Thank you.

Bulgogi!

My next picture is of Bulgogi! There are a few different ways Bulgogi which is beef and there are a few different ways it can be served. The first picture is of Bulgogi Jjigae which is like a beef stew in a broth. It was pretty good! It was also served with rice and of course, what is a Korean dish without a little bit of Kimchi on the side!? Kimchi is served with every dish in Korea! The people here are very proud of there Kimchi!!

Bulgogi Jjigae:

Bulgogi:

Here is more Bulgogi (pictured above), but it is spicy Bulgogi. In the center of the dish is a pepper sauce to mix in with the beef and the vegetables on top! You can mix in a little bit or a lot depending on how spicy you like it! This dish is my favorite thing that I have eaten in Korea so far. Once it was all mixed up I took a piece of lettace and put some of that Bulgogi and vegetable mixture in the middle with some rice and rolled it up like a lettace wrap. It was so yummy!

Side dishes:

When you go to a restaurant in Korea you have a main dish and rice but you always get side dishes as well! These are all side dishes that were served with the Bulgogi! Bottom left was jellyfish, which was an awkward texture, above the jellyfish are vegetables, above the vegetables were vegetable pancakes, then there were anchovies to the right of the pancakes, underneath the anchovies, we had pickled radish, some type of  sauce, raw garlic, and then the famous Kimchi that is served with everything!

Ham...my worst nightmare

They eat a lot of ham here... I tried Korean Oreos and banana milk though! They were great!

Korean Toast!

So everyone has been waiting to see some pictures of my adventures in Korea so I am going to start by posting some pictures of the many different types of food that I have been eating for the past week. So, here is my first food posting!

Korean Toast:

The above picture is of Korean toast! I went out to lunch with my roommates to the Issac for some toast! Now when they said we were going to get toast I thought of toasted bread with butter, because that is how I like to eat it in America! Korean toast is more like a sandwich with toasted bread. The toast that I ate was actually called Pizza Toast, which had pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and pickles on it. It was so tasty! The pickles part might sound weird but Koreans always eat pickles with pizza and other foods that have a lot of cheese on it, because they eat cheese so infrequently that they actually have a harder time digesting it than Americans do since Americans eat cheese all of the time. It was an interesting fact to learn! So if you ever go to a pizza place in Korea, your pizza will most likely be served with a side of pickles, but if you do not like them you do not have to eat them!

My new roommates!

Late last night I got to meet my new Korean roommates as they moved in! They are both very nice but a little bit shy. I am sure we will be great friends! They are both from Seoul and they both asked me if I like Kpop so we began talking about B.A.P! They know of B.A.P which is awesome and one of them even said she would like to take me to a B.A.P concert sometime! They are big fans of Big Bang and B2st as well so we might go to concerts for them if we get the chance! One is an English major that is trying to study abroad at CMU, so hopefully I can help make her hopes of coming to CMU a reality! My other roommate is a business administration major. They both like to share stories with me about their culture which is amazing! I really like learning about their culture!

Korea University!

The name of the University I am attending is Korea University, Sejong campus in Jochiwon. My major is North Koreanology to go along side my studies at Central Michigan University as an International Relations major. I have not met my roommates yet, but they should be moved in by Thursday and I am very excited to meet them!! All of the Korean students that I have met so far have been so nice and incredibly helpful with my transition to being in another country and trying to find my way around campus and the city of Jochiwon! I have orientation for the next three days and am already learning a lot! I am even starting to learn a little bit of Korean! I can only imagine how much Korean I will be able to learn from my roommates! I am also here to help teach them English, so hopefully I will be able to help them a lot! I am very excited to meet them!! :)

1st day and night in Korea!

Yesterday was a big day! I left for my journey to Korea and it has been quite an adventure already!! I arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 3:30pm KST which was about 1:30am EST! After dropping everything off at the hotel, it was adventure time!! I went exploring around the hotel on the same island the airport was located on with my friend Lauren, which I am very thankful that we flew into Korea together! We had our first experience buying snacks at a little market! I accidentally bought steak flavored Cheetos...but it was cool looking at everything written in Korean! Now it is currently 11:00am KST which is about 9:00pm EST and we are at the airport again watching President Park Geun-Hye (the first female president of The Republic of Korea) take office today as we wait to meet up with our representative from the school!