사진!

City street in 강남:

Me near the 강남 subway station:

Cool Einstein graffiti in the streets of 홍대:

안 피곤해!

Day 2 in Korea!

Shockingly, I went to bed at a normal hour and woke up rested this morning - I think I might actually not be jet lagged! I'm shocked.

In the morning I woke up and lazed around a bit, just unpacking a little and getting settled. For a late lunch I had seafood udon with sushi, and then hopped onto the subway for a long trip to 강남 to meet up with my friends Heekyong and Eunkyo! Dinner was Donkatsu 부대찌개 (Don-pot-stew was the pun they made up for it) which is a Korean dish that came after the Korean war where citizens would take scraps of the American rations and throw them all into a pot to boil. It has ham, mushrooms, hot dogs, kimchi, ramyun, onions, and all sorts of other food just tossed together and cooked at the table. Ours had donkatsu in it, though, which made it especially delicious. I was so excited (I love donkatsu, in case you didn't notice yet).

After that I headed back to Hongdae, helped carry a recently-purchased futon/couch about half a mile to the apartment, and went to sleep. It was a really nice day. I keep on realizing over and over again that I'm in Korea - it's so weird!! I had some interesting run-ins with people on the subway (I keep on forgetting to say "죄송해요" instead of "sorry!" when I bump into a person.)

I have gotten good at asking where the restroom is, though!!

Anyways, today I'm going to make my bank account! So excited!

Ttyl,

Janet

왔어!

I made it to Korea!!

The plane ride was long, but I took Tylenol PM and some melatonin and so I think I don't have very bad jet lag. I had 비빔밥 on the plane and spoke Korean with the old lady next to me. Unfortunately, I have airplane cankles, but hopefully those will disappear soon!

I love this place already. I saw the breakdancing boy band that Stephanie saw right outside of the airport!

I went out and made new friends last night in the clubbing district right near where I'm staying. A few of my new friends got into a fight with some Koreans from Australia and things got crazy, but no one got caught by the police, so it was alright. It was so much fun! I had 냉면 for dinner, which is basically chilled spicy noodles, and it was delicious! I'm so happy to be here! I'm already having an awesome time. Today I'm going shopping and meeting up with my friend Heekyong.

My posts will hopefully get longer as I get to do a variety of things. I'm so excited!

It's SO humid and hot here, by the way, I feel like such a typical "sweaty foreigner," haha.

Anyways, having a great time. I'll write again soon!

사랑,

Janet

안녕히계세요!

I'll be getting on the plane in 5 hours. Goodbye, America! I'll miss you!

The next great adventure :))

가자!!

피곤하고있어

I have gotten so little sleep lately that I think I'm going to throw up - but even if I'd had the time to sleep lately, I don't know if I could. I'm so restless and excited! I feel like I'm going crazy.

My place at SK Global House - the newest dorm on campus - was confirmed yesterday. I also spent a few hours switching things into my brother's biggest suitcase, so now I'm taking two huge bags along with my personal bag and carryon. Hopefully the new suitcase is also under 50 lbs, or I'm gonna have to take a few things out, which I REALLY do not want to do. I want to take some of my shoes with me!

I'm up really early to take Stephanie to the airport - she's going to Ulsan for a week, Busan for a week, and, finally, Seoul for a week, along with her besties Maddi and Sun. I'm going to meet up with them when they're in Seoul, so that should be fun.

Today's To Do List:

• Go to bank
• Ask about any incurring international charges (using Visa in an emergency situation)
• Photocopy important documents, ID information, medical cards, etc. (and preferably scan them into my computer)
• Print ticket confirmation
• Sign up for Stephanie's classes for her (since her course planning period takes place while she's on her flight)

Take computer to the apple store for diagnostic/footpad replacement

...

Wow...I just realized...how very much...I have to do....

I might take Danny with me to run errands, since he's always entertaining.

Wish me luck!

언제 잘래? T_T

비행기

Just bought my plane ticket!

I'm heading out from CLE on July 22nd, arriving at ICN on July 23rd local. I am so. Friggin. Stoked.

비자

시카고 오피스 미워요. Ugh. 진짜 frustrating. 394723894 things wrong with my forms, apparently? Need an address? I don't KNOW where I'll be living! All I know is that I got into SK Global house (hopefully they send Wesleyan the invoice soon and I'll be able to actually live there when they pay the bill?) 연세 study abroad office 이매일 아직도 안받았어 (yet again) about anything I've asked about, so that's lovely. At least my visa is finally coming. I'll get word of my 학교 finances maybe some day soon? In any case, I've set my travel date for 7월 31일 for now. I doubt it's going to shift at all (although it would be more convenient for me to leave 7월 24일, honestly) but I don't know how flexible the visa is. Ohh well. God it's such a hassel. 너무 어려워요. I better learn a staggering amount of Korean. Straight up.