노래방/Noraebang & KU GSIS MT

Just got back today from KU GSIS MT! I was exhausted. So much yelling and singing. The night before MT, a few of the international students got together to eat shabu shabu, drink 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine, and go to 노래방/noraebang/karaoke:

Shabu shabu has 3 steps: 1. meat 2. noodles 3. fried rice

After dinner, we went to this rasta bar, which had the wrong flag. They were trying to be Jamaican, but put up the flag of Libya instead.

We went to this very popular 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine place in 안암/Anam. 

노래방/noraebang/karaoke was a lot of fun and very emotional!

Reena, Shiloh, and I! 

The next day, we went on MT at 남이섬/Nami Island. One of my best friend's name is Nami, so this was so funny that the island was name after her. ;)

남이섬/Nami Island considers itself its own republic. You need your passport and everything for the ferry ride onto the island. Overall, the island is very quirky, as you will see:

Super yummy peace iced tea.

Super fluffy bunny!

And an ostrich. 

Some of the people on my team: Joe, Taro, and Alex.

Strangest sculpture ever...

I'm not sure if you can see, but there is a spiderweb.

Chipmunk!

Very traditional way to make rice and other food. 

남이섬/Nami Island is very famous because of this drama called Winter Sonata. It's a classic!

Cute snowmen.

Pretty lily flowers.

On 남이섬/Nami Island, there is a lot of arts and crafts with used soju bottles. 

Here are recycled 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine bottles.

This guy was jammin' on his sax all day long. 

Soju bottle tree :)

Being a tourist :)

The trees on the island are beautiful!

Front gate.

This is my friend, Sunny! :)

Hahaha. I don't know who that girl is, but she is in my program. 

The island is known for its peculiar animals. After exploring the island, everyone stayed at a "pension." It's basically a house with a big area for activities and kitchens, then men's and women's sleeping quarters. We ate so much 삼겹살/samgyupsal/thick bacon without any salt. It was delicious. 

Then, we had a few bonding activities inside the main area. Each team introduced themselves with a traditional KU introduction called FM (apparently it stands for Field Manual). Although we are in graduate school, it was still an interesting introduction to our school life together. After the FM, each team member drank a bowl of 막걸리/makkoli/rice wine while everyone else sang the 막걸리/makkoli song. I found out that we are all terrible singers. You were also supposed to put the bowl on your head upside down after you were done to verify that you drank the whole bowl. Here's a video of one team: 

Interesting welcome to KU :)

First Few Days at KU

The first few days at school have been uneventful. Classes don't really start until next week because of the add/drop period. I think many students don't even come to class this week. Classes have been about 15-30 minutes each, where the professors only introduce themselves and their syllabus. Some professors don't even come to the first class. I'm pretty happy with my schedule. The classes seem interesting, but not too difficult at all. We'll see as the semester progresses...

As I walked onto campus, I met up with my fellow AU-KU friend, Shiloh. We were basically twins today ㅋㅋㅋ:

I think I'm adjusting pretty well to life in Seoul. However, there are still many things that I don't understand. For example, this bell in the bathroom stalls:

What is it? What is it for? I don't get it...Let me know if you do!

After class, a few of the international students in GSIS hung out at Serendipity cafe right across the street from the KU main gate. The cafe is very neat. It has 3 floors and window seats with a wonderful view. I like studying here, but we didn't get much reading done today because we kept getting distracted.

Shiloh and I also went to E-Mart. It's actually quite convenient when I take the 144 bus. The bus system in Seoul is awesome. The buses come every few minutes and they go everywhere. The 144 bus goes directly from the 안암오거리/Anam Circle to the 성가복지병원/sung-ga-bok-jee hospital, where there is an E-mart right by the bus stop. Seoul transportation is absolutely phenomenal compared to the nightmare that the DC metro is. I wish I could switch the transportation systems when I go back to the US, but unfortunately, it'll take more than a miracle to make the DC metro improve.

To end this post on a sweeter note, here is a picture I forgot to post of gelato 빙수/bingsoo/shaved ice with 떡/dduk/rice cake and sweet red beans:

Yum :)