Our first day in Seoul has been great. Although the orientation itself has been really stupid, meeting people from all over the world has been really cool. I was talking with some really nice people from Britain a couple hours ago, and later tonight I'm going out for drinks with a guy from New Zealand (along with some other American people I met).
Seoul is an overwhelming city. Its metropolitan area, which includes the city of Incheon, home to the country's major airport and where I flew in, is the second largest in the world. According to wikipedia, the area houses around 23 million people. That's roughly half of South Korea's entire population. Seoul reminds me of Chicago because there is a large river inlet that runs through a large part of Seoul, and hotels and other skyscrapers line the river edge for miles. While traditional metropolitan cities have one large area that holds the bulk of the skyscrapers, Seoul seems to have half a dozen. It's really incredible. There is a complex network of bridges and highways that crisscross both the river and the other freeways. Korea's mountainous geography also intrudes into Seoul's jurisdiction, but the Koreans see this as just another place to put their buildings; there are several jumbles of very Asian-looking structures built into the sides of large hills. There are some really nice restaurants on some of the streets, but there are also some tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants in which customers sit on the floor, rather than at a table. There are plenty of western stores, such as Outback Steakhouse, 7-11, Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins. For some reason, small printing shops seem to be all the rage here, those and small hardware shops. I can't imagine how these places stay in business with so much competition. My roommate and I must have walked a quarter mile earlier on some random Seoul street and saw half a dozen print shops. It's pretty strange.
The University that we are staying at is pretty nice. There is a small lake in the middle of campus and all the buildings circle around it. The campus is right smack in the middle of downtown, and it's really easy to leave campus and experience the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. Everyone here has a roommate, and I was lucky enough not to get stuck with some overweight middle-aged guy. Normally I wouldn't be so discriminate, but there are a few of them here and they are all rather strange. I was talking with one of the people I am going out for drinks with tonight and he told me that one of these weird guys sat next to him during their arrival last night and presented him with a business card which claimed the man's profession was "Gospel Science Fiction Writer". Apparently this guy is some creepy cross between Johnathan Edwards and Isaac Asimov.
Tomorrow (I think) we are supposed to be visiting a Korean Folk Village. I am not exactly sure what this is going to be like, but I have heard mixed reviews.
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5 comments:
Nathan,
It's good to hear that you have made it safe and sound to Korea. Now I can sleep at night! How was the long flight over there? I can't wait to hear more about the city and people in Korea. Has communication been okay? Did you learn much Korean on the flight?
Have you met anyone else yet that will be residing in your same city? I'm glad to hear you have a decent roommate. How's the food been over there so far? Have they been feeding you well?
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love Mom
The long flight was fine. I sat next to a middle-aged man who was not very talkative but nice. I think he was a pediatrician. He had a couple of coupons for a free alcoholic beverage, so he offered one to me. He got some wine, so I did the same, and he toasted me to a year in Korea =)
The plane went up along the west coast of the U.S., Canada, Alaska, across the Bering Sea, then down along the coast of Russia and over to Korea. The Boeing 777 is a MASSIVE aircraft. There were 9 in-flight movies to choose from, and each person had their own screen. Also, there was XM radio, and a really cool map feature where you could see real-time GPS positioning of the plane, as well as time traveled, air speed, outside air temperature, etc.
I'm not really sure what you mean by communication, but I guess it's been fine. I learned maybe 4 phrases during the plane ride then swiftly forgot them all while worrying about getting from the airport to the University.
I have met many people that are going to be living in Daegu, including my roommate, and a 48-year-old man from Quebec. This is really really great because he's fluent in French. I was talking to him today in French and let him know that I would really enjoy having someone to speak French with and help me in Daegu and he seemed enthusiastic.
The food has been fine. It's all Korean of course, but it's been pretty good. Tonight there was a special "opening ceremony" followed by a buffet dinner which was all Korean food and really high quality. It was an absurd amount of food for the number of people they had to feed, but I'm not complaining.
Creepy gospel sci fi writers always capture my imagination. Good to hear you made it safely to Korea man. Take it easy and put in a good word for me with Jesus Asimov.
Can you post pics on this site?
Yeah I think so
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