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The last few days have been pretty busy. I’ve been getting really familiar with the subway system. My cellphone is awesome in that it has a subway map on it, I can set a starting point from a subway station and an ending point. It will tell me where I need to make a transfer and approximately how long the trip will take. It is very handy.

The map on the phone is all in Korean, luckily I can read though. I prefer that really because when I hear the stations being called on the subway I understand the Korean name of the subway station. Sometimes the English translations are pretty different from the Korean sound.

Friday I met up with a friend of mine and did a little shopping. I bought a pair of Adidas pants for working out and such. Then we went to eat some Korean bbq. I then met up with my roommate and some other people at the movie theater and we saw Watchmen which was just released that week.

It’s the american movie that is also being released at theaters in the states around the same time. I twas alright, a little long, but some good fight scenes. I was surprised at how graphic and disturbing some parts were, it has an R rating for a reason so definitely not a family movie.

We then went to a bar nearby that is more of a western style bar. It was very strange I ran into a guy from the University of Washington in Seattle who I had at least one class with. He sat next to me in one of my classes a couple years ago. He is going to Yonsei University on an entirely different program and is headed back home in a couple weeks. So it was very random to run into him at a bar halfway around the world.

Saturday I got up early to go play American football. It was really a little lame. We had a small tiny muddy field to play on, a really bad football and there was a couple guys that were good but several that were terrible. Monday we play again but I think it’s supposed to be different, we’ll get to play with more of the real football players that play for the university. Those guys didn’t come Saturday. Someone also made away with my zip up sweater… so I had to walk back to the dorm in like 37 degree weather in a sleeveless shirt. I think someone picked it up by accident so maybe they’ll bring it back next time, no big loss though.

My roommate and Phong were playing soccer right near our football game. I was playing football along with Mike the guy from New York. The four of us got ready after playing sports and went to Dongdaemun Stadium on the subway. There they have a big shopping district, although it was somewhat disappointing. We had an enormous lunch though. We didn’t quite know how much we were ordering until it arrived. We had too many dishes on our table we had to use another table to place our dishes on. It was great tasting food and only cost each of us like $7.

It was funny in one of the shopping malls we were riding the escalator up to the men’s clothing. There’s a person who works at every little small department at the store. One guy shouted to me “Oh you handsome man! Cool sunglasses!” My friends laughed at me. We walked down the aisle and around a corner and then again, another Korean guy shouted “Oh handsome man! High five!” he stood there with his hand in the air waiting for me to give him a high five, meanwhile I was thinking about how weird this was, why are these guys saying this to me? Are they weird, is a it a Korean thing? or is their English just not so good? He still stood there with a big smile on his face and his hand in the air, I didn’t want to leave him hanging so I gave him a little high five. Again my friends laughed at me. And now its a running joke, in sort of a Borat voice “You a handsome man! A high five!”.  Why do the guys say this and not the girls?

My friend called and asked what we were all up to so she came and met us there. We decided we’d go out for some drinks and to a club. So we headed back to the dorm room got changed and the group of us went to eat. This time it was terrible food. Never going there again. Then we went to a bar had a couple drinks and headed to the club. We left at about 1:30 or so, cabbed back to the dorm and went to sleep.

Today for breakfast(lunch) we tried a new place that’s close to campus. They have french toast! I was so happy. It tasted good. It also came with a warm banana dipped in a cinnamon sauce, bacon, and some greens.

Now. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I kind of want to replace my sweater. The black zip up was a staple piece to the clothes I brought. I can wear it with just about anything and its comfortable and a good layer to have in the cold weather.

I apologize the pictures and such have been light lately. It has been very cold out so I haven’t really been out taking pictures or anything. This week looks to be like it is warming up.

After being here for 1o days and eating only Korean food I was longing for something that tastes and feels like home. Yesterday I ran a few errands, I signed up for the gym here on campus. Purchased my reader book for one of my classes. Then I took the subway to meet up with a friend of mine that I met here locally. We walked around a part of town I haven’t been to yet. We then went to the movies, we saw The International with Clive Owen. The movie is in English, with Korean subtitles.

I liked the movie. It was pretty suspenseful the whole way through. It definitely had a good shoot out scene toward the end.

Then we went to eat at Bennigan’s where I ordered a mushroom grilled steak, chicken quesadilla, potato wedges, green beans and it came with a little loaf of bread… I ate till I just possibly couldn’t go on. We would sit there, take a little break, and then keep eating again.

So I felt pretty spoiled yesterday.

Today I had my first day of classes. My Korean language class does not start until the beginning of April because it is an intensive course so it will meet for I think two or three hours every day. So right now I just have half a load of courses, which is two additional classes.

My first class is Korean Unification Policies. We have about 40 or so students in the class, as of right now I am the only white person. However many of the people in the class could be international students. The class sounds pretty interesting. We will analyze other unification policies that have taken place such as in Germany. We watched an insane video on a performance put on by North Korea at a celebration of Kim Il-Sung’s birthday (Kim Jung-Il’s father). It is incredible. At the same time you can’t help but imagine what these people go through for this, especially the kids that do acrobatics that I don’t think they should be able to do.

The second class is History of Korea-US Relations. There is only 8 people in the class, not only am I the only white person in this class, but I also know that I am the only American. The professor went over the course and I know it will be quite interesting because at times there can be strong emotions of contempt for American policies, and part of the course covers anti-Americanism.

Today I also got my cell phone, finally! Now my roommate and other international students in the house we’ve befriended can finally be connected! It’s been such a huge pain not being able to get a hold of anyone unless you see them face to face. I am also able to now call my friend that I met who’s a local and has been helping me buy a few things. The other day she helped me go buy a hair blow dryer, a hand mirror and some flip flops. The city is so crowded its hard to find places that sell stuff like mirrors and hair blow dryers.

My cell phone seems pretty cool. It doesn’t have T9 on it, which is strange. Maybe Korean’s don’t use T9, I don’t know. Its a Korean phone but it can be changed to English text, however there’s still some Korean in parts of the menu system.

My Korean cell number is 010.8050.0390

Yesterday was Bojan’s last day with us in Korea. He stayed for a week in our dorm room after being on an exchange in Japan for two weeks and came by on his way home to Holland. We decided we’d go have a relaxing day at the spa. Myself, my roommate Yu-Tien and Bojan, and another friend in the house Mike.

We walked to the subway station and road down to the part of town where we heard there was a good spa.

When we arrived we went in and they gave us a pair of shorts and a shirt. We went to the men’s locker room and… well, nearly every single man in there is in the nude. I’ve never been in a bath house before so I didn’t know what to expect, but I figured that people would be at least wearing some form of shorts or something, but no.

We were a little shy I guess and were wandering around trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do and where everything is. There are several floors in the bath house with different things on each floor. After the four of us wandered around aimlessly in our shorts and shirts we finally came to the realization of what we had to do. At this point, Bojan said “When in Rome.” So we stripped down to nothing.

You don’t even walk around with a towel on. We went to the shower area, then sat in a hot tub that was about 104 degrees. We then went to another tub and sat in that one for a little while. We then went into the sauna, it was extremely hot. Then they had these different baths, one was greenish color and it was called “energy”. Another was a really hot tub, it was at about 110 degrees. I sat it in for about 30 seconds. We showered again then went back to the locker room, threw on our shorts and shirts and went up to the mixed floor. There they have a big room where people lie down on the hard floor, there’s also an ice room which is like a giant refrigerator. We went to the massage room and got a one hour massage. They lay towels on top of you and work your body with their elbows. It was great. We then went to another floor where they had a room full of computers, playstations etc… we played a little starcraft. They also had a cinema playing Hellboy, and of course a room for karaoke.

We went back to the locker, stripped down and went in a couple tubs again, sauna, then did a body scrub. We left after spending probably six hours or so in the bath house. I think we all looked about four years younger.

Left to Right: Yu-Tien, Mike, Bojan, Me

We then took the subway back to Sinchon station near the U and stopped by a place for dinner. We ate a lot of food, duck, octopus, pork ribs, kim chi, fish, some soup with clam… all kinds of stuff.

After that we went back to the dorm room and Bojan packed, we got ready to go to a club for a girls birthday party. The club was great, it was nice. It was a techno trance club and the DJ’s were incredible. The club was not so different from what you’d see in a nice place in the states, but the DJ’s really made the place, I haven’t heard DJ’s that good from the places I’ve been in Seattle, Portland and Vegas. We left a little after 4am I believe and the place was still hopping. We took a cab back to the dorm and went to sleep. (I think Bojan’s camera has pictures on it from the club, so when he gets them up online I’ll post them).

In the end, after spending a chunk of the day in the nude, I think we all felt a little closer.

It’s going to be weird now only having one roommate.
For the past week this is what the bed next to me has looked like.

Today I went with my roommate Yu-Tien and the 3rd guy who’s staying in our dorm room until Sunday Bojan. We went to check out the Samsung library on campus. It has a lot of interactive technologies. Things you’d see in futuristic movies. We played this game on a touch screen table, it looks like tetris, but the object is to place as many pieces on the table as you can but they can only connect at the corners. You get to place one piece per turn.

We then got on the bus for a Seoul city tour. The school has prepared 3 tours, each day is different. This tour we were going to the soccer stadium in Seoul where they held the World Cup in 2002.

A few of the guys wearing jerseys.

Then we headed to this technology place, I’m still unsure as to what it is called. I think it was something like Soft World.

They had all sorts of cool things. Windows that turn into screens for movies or backgrounds. Interactive mirrors, a virtual doctor, a lot of real advanced touch technologies.

Here we went into a movie room where the movie is in 4D? I think its 4D. Maybe 5D? I don’t know how they measure it but anyway, its in 3D but the floor shakes, your seat shakes, and there’s the large tufts of air that spray you right in the face or at your feet.

For instance there was this one scene where this lion pops up and roars and your seat vibrates and this quick burst of air hits you right in the face and through your hair. It was quite a surprise, I don’t think anyone was expecting it.

We then went to the National Assembly, which is where the Korean government meets. However there was some special event going on, they were in session so we couldn’t go in. I plan on going back later when I can go in.

Last night my roommate and I along with a buddy of his went out for some dinner and stopped by a couple places for drinks. When I first arrived to my dorm room my roommate asked me if I wouldn’t mind his buddy staying in the dorm for a few days as he was passing through after a two week exchange in Japan. I said ok. I was slightly confused to how it was going to work in such a small room, but I didn’t really care because we don’t start school till next week, so no big deal.

So Bojan showed up yesterday and we went out. We had some Korean BBQ where you have the grill in the middle of your table. It was pretty difficult to order because the Holland guys don’t know any Korean and I only know a little.

It was a lot of fun having the three of us there. All three of us were new to Korea of course, they are from Holland, I am from the U.S. and Bojan just finished a two week exchange in Japan so we had plenty of things to talk about. He is a hilarious guy we laughed a lot last night.

It is amazing how alive the area becomes at night. There’s neon lights everywhere throughout this huge network of alley ways. There’s games outside like throwing darts at balloons and such. There must be thousands of bars and Karaoke rooms. Most of the buildings are several stories tall and have different businesses in each floor, including sometimes several floors into the basements. I will try and get some more pictures of it, it’s quite an amazing.

I almost forgot to mention, this is funny. So you’ve seen the pictures of the dorm room in an earlier post. You maybe wondering, “how the hell can you fit another person in there?” We didn’t have any air mattress or anything like that either. I fell asleep before I knew what the arrangements were and I woke up in the middle of the night and looked over and I saw my roommate’s head and Bojan’s feet. They were sharing the twin size bed sleeping oppositely head to toe. It was a hilarious sight.
Here’s a couple photos from last night.

My roommate is the guy on the left. He is from Holland and speaks Dutch and English.

Bojan with a random Korean guy at the bar.

Today after the presentation ands orientations they did a bit on some of the Yonsei cheer songs. There’s a lot, atleast 10 or so. One thing you may notice about some asian cultures like Japan and Korea is that they are very animated people. Combine that with Korean’s being so proud of their country and then also school pride. The songs and dance are a lot of energy, entertaining and very funny. There’s some event in March or May, I forget… where everyone goes to the large ampitheater and they have popular music groups come and they all wear school colors and just dance and cheer all day long.

Here’s a little taste of what the songs are like. Check out this short video, its only 1:45.

Yonsei University Cheer Songs from Josh Dill on Vimeo.

I tried the coffee at Dunkin Donuts this morning since it was directly across the street from my hotel, I don’t know if it’s Dunkin Donuts, or if it’s just Korean Dunkin Donuts but the coffee was terrible. I had to walk around and finally found a Starbucks (which had a picture of Seattle in it) and sure enough, that coffee tasted just like home. All of their pastries in there are wrapped individually in a sealed bag. Doesn’t look appetizing that way.

The dorm rooms are nothing to brag about… at all. But I guess it will do. It’s pretty small.

I have a roommate and he is from Holland. He’s 24 and I’m 25 so that is good.

We spent most of the day together trying to figure a few things out. We couldn’t get internet at first, we were  told to buy a network cable so we went to go buy a network cable. Before that we stopped at ???? which is Woori Bank. The teller didn’t speak a single bit of english, but after about 30 minutes of strange confusion we finally realized we needed some form of a immigration residence card or something like that in order to open an account.

We then went to buy our network cable and some cleaning wipes since the dorm room shelves were pretty dusty.

Then we went to eat at Pizza Hut. We were both curious to see how different it would be from the U.S. and Holland. It was very different. There is no pepperoni pizza, cheese pizza, canadian bacon and pineapple or any of that. The closest thing they had that I recognized as pizza was BBQ chicken. It was good, but Pizza Hut good which isn’t really that good. They did have seafood pizza… no thank you.

I’ve found it very beneficial that I can read Korean. I cannot translate everything but I know common things, and many things are english written out in Korean so you just have to sound it out. I’m starting to remember more words too.

Tomorrow is more class registration and orientation. I should know what my full class schedule will be tomorrow.

So it is about 9am Monday morning here in Seoul right now. It is about 2pm Sunday in Seattle. I woke up at 7:30am local time here and have just been making a couple calls letting everyone know I’m alive and well. The flight was nice. Total air time was a little over 14 hours. I got to the airport, checked in with immigration and picked up my bag which thankfully made it through with no issues. I got on the bus that went directly to my hotel in downtown Seoul. I am going to check out of here today and head to the University to check in and get a dorm room assignment. Right now I’m going to hop in the shower and head over to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and breakfast.

Also, I setup a Skype account and I purchased an online phone number. My cell phone does not work here. I forwarded my cell phone to my Skype number, which is a local Seattle number. So I believe if you were to call my cell phone it should ring me here on the computer and if I’m not on it will go to my voicemail here.

Here’s a picture from my hotel window. I’m up on the 10th floor. I have absolutely no idea where I’m at in downtown. But I think I’m in a cab distance from the University.

Join me, my friends, family and co-workers for a going away party. I hope to see you there.

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