This last weekend the twenty-some of us exchangers from my district packed up a bus and headed to Seoul (only really about 45 min away). We started off meeting at a train station a few towns away from where I live. About 1/3 of us met there and got on the bus for the drove into Seoul. The rest of the group took the subway all the way in (because of the locations of their "hometowns") and had no idea where to go... but we all made it safe and sound. Once we met up as a big group we were given our schedule for the weekend.
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| View from bottom of the tower |
Upon first glance we were all super excited! We were going to go to the Blue House (SK's White House), Some palaces, museums, shopping districts, Namsan Tower, and a temple. Unfortunately we were not able to actually go inside the Blue House and Namsan was too crowded to make it to the top that night. But I did have a great time hanging out with everyone and spent ALL of my monthly allowance. We got glimpses of some fireworks going off around Seoul from the oh-so-crowded Namsan tour area and saw a few female monks while tasting some of the best tea I have ever had. My host parents promised to take me to Namsan Tower soon so I can see what Seoul looks like from the top.
My favorite place on this "tour" was The buddhist temple we visited. It was located somewhere in Gangnam across from a huge mall/ conference center called COEX. For being in the center of a bustling city it was one of the most peaceful places I have been to in a long time. The building were gorgeous and it seemed like the perfect escape. There were people praying in the various temples that scattered confined area and a huge Buddha statue stood towards the back of the whole temple area. There was a tea booth set up with three types of teas. I tried two of the three and they were both amazingingly fresh. It had never crossed my mind before that a female could be a monk but apparently so! All I have ever seen or heard of about monks has been from books of movies and they have never depicted them as women. It makes me feel like women are stepping up in the world even more!
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I finally stayed in my first hotel in Korea and had my first experience of eating fast food hamburgers for breakfast from Lotteria (think McD's but a little worse). I cease to be amazed at the things I come across here. It was a short three days and I was already back at school today. My legs are still a little sore from all the wandering around markets and malls and I look forward to the 6 day weekend coming. Mid terms are amongst the students of my school and I swear I can feel the pressure in the air. Next week is a festival to celebrate being done with mid-terms and the school wants us to perform something... we decided to elect two of the six of us to represent the exchange students. I will let you know how that goes! Also, This coming weekend I am going to the mountains and I am super excited!!
Here are some pictures from The weekend!
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| Namsan Tower |
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| COEX, Smaller than MOA but still a pretty big |
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| Dongdaemun Market |
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| Dongdaemun, take this x10 and you have how many hats there were. |
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| My fellow American Natalie |
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| Buddhist temple |
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| 연꽃차 Lotus Tea |
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| lantern convered ceiling at temple |
Until next time!!
This last weekend the twenty-some of us exchangers from my district packed up a bus and headed to Seoul (only really about 45 min away). We started off meeting at a train station a few towns away from where I live. About 1/3 of us met there and got on the bus for the drove into Seoul. The rest of the group took the subway all the way in (because of the locations of their "hometowns") and had no idea where to go... but we all made it safe and sound. Once we met up as a big group we were given our schedule for the weekend.
My favorite place on this "tour" was The buddhist temple we visited. It was located somewhere in Gangnam across from a huge mall/ conference center called COEX. For being in the center of a bustling city it was one of the most peaceful places I have been to in a long time. The building were gorgeous and it seemed like the perfect escape. There were people praying in the various temples that scattered confined area and a huge Buddha statue stood towards the back of the whole temple area. There was a tea booth set up with three types of teas. I tried two of the three and they were both amazingingly fresh. It had never crossed my mind before that a female could be a monk but apparently so! All I have ever seen or heard of about monks has been from books of movies and they have never depicted them as women. It makes me feel like women are stepping up in the world even more!
I love how your English is showing signs of a bit of Korean showing thru!
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