First Full Day in Korea

Greetings from Korea! I got to Korea on Thursday, June 16th at about 3:45pm. Ugh, that flight from home was KILLER. It took approximately 24 hours for the whole trip, most of it spent on a plane. I didn't get much sleep on the plane, but luckily, on my longest flight, I had a really cool person sitting next to me and we chatted for most of the flight. This guy was recently retired in the Air Force and he spent 2 years in Kwangju. He was going to go on a tour in China for a week and spend the rest of his month in Asia backpacking around Korea. Sounds fun, right? I wish him the best of luck.

I was so glad to be off the plane. After I got my rental phone and stuff at the airport, I boarded the airport bus to Ehwa University Station. The bus ride wasn't as bad as I thought...last time, I almost got car sick, but I was fine this time. It took no time to find my hostel and I checked in at about 5 pm or so. The hostel that I'm staying at is pretty new. I've got a private room with a separate bathroom, and it's pretty nice. I wasn't very tired when I got here, so I went for a walk around the area to get rid of the rest of my energy. When I returned to my room, I was ready for some rest.

The next day, Friday, I woke up at around 5:30am. I hung around my room for a few hours and I watched my drama that I missed while I was flying. At around 8, I left my room and headed to Yonsei University, about a 20 minute walk. I heard that I might be able to open a bank account on campus, so I headed there first. The bank didn't open until 9:30, so I had to wait for a little while. While waiting, I got some kimbap from the convenience store for breakfast. When the bank opened, I found out that I at least had to have a passport and a student ID to get a bank account, so I'd have to wait. I changed some money anyway and then headed toward the KLI. Last time I was there, there was a lot of construction because they were building a new dorm, and now it's finished.

After stopping by Yonsei, I figured I had better start looking for a place to stay for the rest of my time in Korea. I had done some Internet research on several places, and called one of my first choices. The guy said that they did have rooms available and I could go see them, so I walked through Ehwa University from their rear gate to their main gate and found it pretty easily. It's only about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the KLI and maybe a 5 minute walk from where I'm staying now. The rooms were super small by American standards, but there is a private bathroom, bed, Internet, cable TV, air conditioning and some storage in the room and they provide free rice, kimchi, coffee and laundry facilities. I know I shouldn't pick the first place I look at, and I planned to look around at other places, but this seemed like a good place, so I paid the guy a small deposit and I move in on Sunday.

I went back to my hostel afterwards and dropped off some stuff before heading out again to Gwanghwamun. One of the places I was looking forward to seeing when I got to Seoul was the newly-renovated main gate to Gyeongbokgung, the largest palace in Seoul. The area around Gwanghwamun is the heart of old Seoul, and Gwanghwamun is the center of it all. Gwanghwamun Square, right in front of the palace, opened in 2009, almost right after I left. People were playing in the fountain in front of the statue of General Yi Sun Shin and it was generally a really nice area.

I then headed toward Bukchon, a neighborhood with a high concentration of hanok, traditional Korean houses. The streets there are very, very narrow, but it's a really nice place for a stroll. I would have stayed longer, but my camera's battery was dying. I will definitely have to go back there. On the way back to my hostel, I stopped in Insadong for dinner. Insadong is a traditional area with a lot of shops that sell traditional crafts. It's probably one of my favorite places to shop.

I don't know what I'm going to do today yet. There's so much to see and do, it's sometimes overwhelming.