Sierra in South Korea

Summer 2015

[sierrainkorea]

some of the best of Korean clothing

teehee

sorry for the expletives ~

forgot that I didn’t post these yet! 

[sierrainkorea]

drinks & food in Okinawa!

sushi bowl and raw horse meat - a very popular dish there. I tried a piece but eating raw meat is not my thing. Only three days til I move back to school and officially resume vegetarianism

[sierrainkorea]

Okinawa, day 1

I arrived at Naha, and Nick and his new girlfriend Yumeno picked me up at the airport. I hadn’t seen him in a little over three years, and he looked a lot older haha but he said that I looked the same. We drove around and I saw where he went to high school, where he works, and the bar that he co-owns. We went to a bunch of bars that he frequents and he knew people at every place, just hanging out at 3 pm. Everyone talked about what a great darts player he is - one of the best on the island. I was given a “welcome tequila shot” and a huge fruity drink that they were testing out for the weekend crowd at one of the bars haha wheeeeeee welcome to the Okinawa life, mon. All of the bars were right next to the beach! We checked me into the hotel - I thought I was going to stay with Nick but he doesn't have room in his tiny apartment haha so one of his friends was able to get me a room for free at this hotel. Then we went to eat SUSHI and yum it was so good. We went back to one of the bars and I had awamori with shekwasha! (traditional Okinawan drink) then we explored the “American village” nearby the hotel (because he lives really close to the American army/navy/air force bases on the island), played conggi, and that was day one!

[sierrainkorea]

1. view from the ferry!

2. free coffee & tea at hostel :)

3. Canal City Hakata shopping complex

4. Japanese toilets. The white noise that they make while you’re doing your business is genius. I don’t get self-conscious but I have friends who would SO appreciate it.

[sierrainkorea]

Fukuoka

I was surprised to see how small the ferry was! It took 2-something hours and it wasn’t even close to full, so I had a whole row to myself. I slept most of the time until we approached Japan, the islands were really beautiful so I took a lot of photos that don’t do it justice. I give the ferry a thumbs-up. Since the security & check-in process were much shorter than when flying, it probably took about the same amount of time as a flight. Also, I definitely should have been charged extra because my baggage was over the weight limit but they didn’t even say anything! I think it was because the flight wasn’t full. 

I got my Japan stamp at customs :):) grabbed a map of Fukuoka in the ferry port and walked to my hostel. It was about a 45 minute walk and quite tiring with my two suitcases, but not too bad.  The big suitcase started to come apart and continually got worse throughout my trip home – the entire top is ripped, the handle doesn’t extend the whole way, one of the wheels is dangerously close to breaking off, and there is probably no way it could make it on another trip. On my flight back from Okinawa the airline literally taped the top together haha. I found the hostel, checked in – cool place! It was right in the middle of a covered shopping arcade, and I went exploring later that night and found that it was right around the corner from Canal City Hakata, a GIANT shopping complex complete with fountains and dinosaur exhibits and live performances. I wandered around there and ate some pasta at a café that night. I wanted to eat authentic Japanese food, buuuut I didn’t know what to get and I didn’t want to eat in a restaurant alone cuz awkward :/ But never fear, I had some amazing food in Okinawa! I also tried some bubble tea – weird! It was just your standard milk tea with black tapioca bubbles that I always get at Bubble Island, but I can’t even describe how the flavor was different. 

Some initial observations about Japan:

people riding bikes everywhere! Cool.

lots of guys with long hair. I thought of Hiro immediately lolz (Japanese friend from high school with long hair)

they drive on the left side of the street (Korea is the right)

SO CLEAN. No piles of trash on the streets like you see in Korea!

once again, smokers everywhere on the streets. However, I saw quite a few women smoking, unlike Korea

the clothes in the shops, at least the ones in the shopping arcade where my hostel was located, were so ugly!! Hahaha Korea’s fashion is much better.

I know there were definitely more initial observations but I am very delayed in writing this post so some are lost in my mind :( In the morning I packed up, showered, and took the subway to the airport. Maybe I make this sound easy but in reality just taking the subway was a struggle, like practically every time I try to take public transportation on this trip has been. I realize I sound like a smooth and collective traveler but that is such a lie – I cannot even tell you how many times I have been laughed at (yes, people literally laugh right in front of me) the past two months. I couldn’t locate an elevator or escalator to get down to the station so I was trying to lug my bags down the two flights. A man came up, shook his head and grabbed the big one for me, scolding me at the bottom in Japanese, probably for not finding the elevator. And then it took me a good 10 minutes of pressing buttons to figure out how to get a one-way subway ticket to the airport…yeah. But I made it, got some red bean buns and rice with raw mackerel – not your typical breakfast but it was all I recognized in the Fukuoka airport haha. Actually, that was the worst airport I think I’ve been to on this trip – ugly and sparse on the food options. Once again, I should have been charged for oversize baggage based on the weight limits but I didn't get charged! Score.

[sierrainkorea]

60 days so far

I have been out of the United States. Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow I go to Seoul. Thursday I fly out. Friday I will be home!

[sierrainkorea]

1. Final noraebang

2. Cake from labmates :’)

3. UNIST library, because I don’t think I’ve posted a photo yet!

4. Final Ulsan dinner  - fish, octopus, pork, etc etc - so amazing. Min is the bomb

5. cheesecake and honeydew melon bingsu (sorry Carina)

6. The BEST and cutest bubble tea place in Ulsan

[sierrainkorea]

안녕히 가세요.

*disclaimer, again: I will never share this blog with anyone on my study abroad program. I think it’s important to post about the negative aspects of my experience and not just the sunshine and rainbows…and along with this unfortunately comes less-than-great opinions of some people*

There are a lot of SPIKE people I will miss. I think that if I were Korean and went to UNIST, I could potentially be good friends with Min, Sojin, Minjoo, Seung-hwan, Alvin, Dahyun, Soohyun, Jooyoung, Minjeong, Sungeun, among others.

It’s funny because Lukas, Sarah, Christena and I are probably the most random combination of four Michigan students you could possibly put together. We are all awkward in our own ways, and have completely different interests (drums, dancing, squirrels, water polo) and polar opposite senses of humor, styles, etc… I think that in a way it’s kind of cool that we’re all so different (with the exception of an interest in Korean culture and engineering) and I plan to get together with them this school year. I feel like Christena and I could be good friends, but again our lives at Michigan are so different, I don’t know.

I will miss Prudence - we learned a lot about each other during the 8 weeks and I seriously appreciate her for being so honest with me not judging me at all for my background as a privileged white girl haha. I will miss Owen - he was definitely one of the people I consistently had great conversations with, both serious and funny. I will miss Laura - because she was probably the person that I found to be most similar to myself out of anyone. I will miss Novi - her sense of humor, and mostly how she just GOT my own sense of humor. I will miss Carina - even though she drove me crazy shoving her opinions down my throat we had many fun times (our Danish-English Disney duets that probably made Laura and Owen want to pretend we were strangers) and I learned a lot from her, she’s four years older than me so I feel like she was something of a big sister. I feel strange saying I’ll miss Arthur - we had some fun times the first week of SPIKE until he got snatched up by others who didn’t want to share him…but he had such an awesome enthusiasm for life that I admired. When he left he promised me that we’d hang out when he visits Michigan, which I hope happens!

I will not miss the exclusivity that unfortunately happened the last few weeks  - the “you can’t sit with us” mentality of a few people that annoyed the heck out of me. I really liked some of these people individually, but yeah… I will not miss the constant grumbling, complaining, and moping of a certain person from a certain European nation…so glad I never have to deal with that ever again. Truly, this program made me more cognizant of what kind of people I should surround myself with to be the BEST version of myself (sorry for the extreme cheese haha) Some people brought me down, but the ones who built me up are the ones that made this summer unforgettable.

I received adorable goodbye letters/gifts from Jooyoung, Sunhye, Carina, and Min <3 And a lot of winky face and heart-filled emoticons and sentimental goodbye messages from a certain guy HAHA but trust me, no romance there.

I didn’t cry… until I read a Facebook message from Dahyun this morning on the train.

“Hope to see you again, world is small!”

I’m not exactly sure what it was about it, but I immediately broke down in tears on the KTX. Maybe it was because I know that the world is small, but it’s also really damn huge and I think it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. And I don’t have the money or the resources to travel the world at my pleasure, so seeing my friends again is really going to be left totally up to chance.

I will never forget this summer.

[sierrainkorea]

last two days in Ulsan

Thursday: went to lab, didn’t do a whole lot of work haha because there wasn’t much to do besides prepare my final power points to send to my professor. For dinner, a whole bunch of us went to eat 감자탕 (pork bone soup) and I wasn’t expecting to like it but it was actually really good! We also drank makgeolli. Then some of us got bingsu, and then we split into a couple of groups for one final round of noraebang. Then a bunch of people went out to drink but I didn’t because I’m practically an old lady idk haha. We said goodbye to Owen which was really sad wahh :(

Friday: final day in lab! My labmates bought a cake and lit a candle and then I gave an awkward 2-line “thank you, this has been an awesome experience” speech before blowing it out lolz. Then I pretended I liked the cake (I’m super picky with sweets and don’t like most cakes) but it was no problem at all because the guys downed it. I gave them the little succulent plant I bought for the lab. I told them they had better keep it alive, because the other plant in the lab is so long dead. I got one that you don’t need to water often, so I think they can do it. Seongwoo and Eunjong seemed to like it! I really wish I could have gotten to know Eunjong a bit more, although I don’t think his English isn’t that strong, because he seems like a guy that I could get along really well with. He is almost always smiling, and I can see that he is the type of person who finds humor in unfortunate situations and always is able to see the bright side of things.

I had a final cafeteria lunch with Sojin and Jieun and some others, then left lab early and went to Seongnam with Laura, Caitlyn, and Prudence. We looked in some stores, then met Min, Carina, Hyoju, and Thessa for dinner. Min picked out a place and we had stir fried pork, fish, and octopus, veggies, purple rice, lettuce wraps, and lots of side dishes. It was SO GOOD! One of my favorite dinners. Then we had melon and cheesecake bingsu. Laura, Carina, Thessa and I went into a few more stores and did a lot of laughing at silly English t-shirts. Thennnn back to UNIST to pack the night away! I was able to meet up with Dahyun to say goodbye, and tried to meet up with Alvin but he had already left. Also said goodbye to Prudence and I would have totally cried but she is not a sentimental person so I held it in.

Saturday: Finished packing, got some breakfast (bean manju and smoked eggs) from the convenience store to use up some of my coins, then said goodbye to Carina and Laura, sad :( Min called a taxi for Novi and me. Said goodbye to Min, Caitlyn, and Hyoju, the Novi and I headed to the KTX station. Got coffee, said goodbye to Novi, then took the train to Busan, where I walked to the international ferry terminal from Busan Station. It was a 20-minute or so walk, and a random elderly man grabbed my big suitcase and rolled it along for much of the walk! Gosh Koreans are the best. Then I checked in, waited a bit, and boarded the JR Beetle. And this is the point where I leave Korea and continue with my Japanese adventure in the next post!

[sierrainkorea]

-second-to-last night, second-to-last bingsu date

-Laura, Carina and I had way too much fun in this store haha

-UEE interns :) Laura, Thessa, Novi, me (and GO BLUEEE!)

-Jieun, Novi, Prudence, Owen, Thessa - saying goodbye to Owen. That was really sad.

[sierrainkorea]

QUICKLY,

currently on the train to Busan so that I can take the Beetle ferry to Fukuoka, Japan!!! what is my life

My last day and a half in Ulsan included:

-cake with labmates

-two freaking delicious dinners with friends

-four bowls of bingsu: cheesecake, melon, blueberry, AND mango

-the most spectacular coconut bubble tea

-a stomachache from all of the above food tehee 

-shopping

-photos

-packing

-goodbyes

I will update later, maybe tonight!

[sierrainkorea]

shoppin’

Thank you finding--freedom for reminding me to post about shopping, which I promised some time back on this blog! 

So, story time: in Busan after staying at the jjimjilbang we decided to do some shopping. We wandered into a little boutique that had some great sales going on. I found a t-shirt and a dress that were each equivalent to like $4-5 US dollars and I really wanted to try them on. I then found out that the place only accepted cash, and at that point in time I had completely run out of cash because it was a couple days before we got our internship payments. So I put them back. Carina and Sora also found some things they liked. All of a sudden we look to the back of the store and Sora has a pair of pants on. The only worker there was a guy, so I guess she just told him to avert his eyes and stripped her skirt off and put the pants on right in the middle of the store LOL. We learned that the store does not have dressing rooms. And now I know that a lot of stores have no dressing rooms. This is partly because (and this is only what I have been told, don’t know if it’s totally accurate) Korean girls typically wear so much makeup. So you can try pants on, but not dresses or tops - because when you put things over your head makeup can rub off on the clothes. Another reason is that in many boutique stores, all of the clothes only come in one size. Shirts, sweaters, dresses, even pants - although sometimes pants will come in S, M, and L. So I guess the idea is that if it only comes in one size, why do you need to try it on? Koreans don’t wear a lot of tight-fitting clothing. Most of it is very loose. The vast majority of girls are quite thin, and there is not nearly as much variation in height as I am used to in the US. Most girls are around my size (but thinner!) which is 164 cm. So clothes are designed for this typical body type. These reasons all contribute to the lack of fitting rooms. 

I also speculate that maybe store owners are worried about foreigners trying to steal things. When I walked up to a shop that sold cute socks in Seongnam last weekend, the older lady working there made a beeline for me and stood about three feet away from me the entire time I was browsing, not taking her eyes off of me for even a fraction of a second. It was so uncomfortable, wow. That was severe, but I’ve experienced hovering employees in several other stores as well.

There was another clothing store in Seongnam that did have dressing rooms, so I walked in with a couple of items. A few minutes later I heard a stream of rapid angry Korean outside of the room, and I figured out by foot gestures that I was supposed to take my shoes off. I guess you leave your shoes outside of the door so that people know the room is occupied? Kind of smart. 

Shopping at the malls that run underneath the streets in both Busan and Seoul was quite an experience! The stores are tiny, the hallways are narrow and super crowded, and the malls seem to be endlessly long. The underground shopping center in Gangnam was my favorite because everything was so cheap! I was expecting Gangnam to be fancy and expensive because ya know, Gangnam Style...but there were a lot of places that sold wholesale clothing. I got the dress that I’m wearing in this photo: 

for less than $10 US dollars. I picked it up off the rack and handed it to the cashier, who then grabbed the dress packaged in a flat plastic bag off a towering pile of identical dresses. And then the next day, no surprise, I saw a girl on the street wearing the exact same one. I will not have this problem back home!! Also, that day someone random asked Novi and me if we were from Turkey. Never gotten that country before haha, do I have any characteristics that make me look Turkish?!

[sierrainkorea]

1. Owen, Thessa, Carina, Laura, me ---> backseat of the bus

2. Temple-esqe Starbucks haha

3. View from the Lotte wheel

4. Seongnam-dong shopping on Ulsan Youth Street. Really cool place!

[sierrainkorea]

hey wassup hello!

finally got our transcripts, 4 weeks later! They write A0 instead of just A here. The classes were not difficult and I think foreigners get off even easier, so nothing to be especially proud of here...although I really should have studied more and gotten an A0 in Korean Language :P In September, I’m going to my advisor to see if I can persuade the CEE department to count the globalization & economy class as an Econ credit, instead of a general elective credit, so that I don’t have to retake econ second semester (because I am an idiot ugh) 

Tonight... P@RTY T!M3 4 $P!K3 :~)

[sierrainkorea]

MORE FOOD!

1. Yesterday’s dinner: two types of chicken with fries, and it came with sides of popcorn, radishes, and a cabbage salad that to cut out of the picture. Yum!

2. Yesterday’s late-night snack which I did not eat because I was still so full of chicken, but watched my friends eat. Three types of chicken with green onions. Then we all played Go-Stop! 

3. Today’s teacher’s buffet lunch: purple rice, kimchi, salad, fried pollack fish, unknown green veggie with carrots and sesame seeds, some sort of squishy egg dish (little slice in middle of plate) and been and bean sprout soup! Ever since we discovered this place we’ve been frequenting it...because it has much better food than the student union cafeteria.

[sierrainkorea]

yesterday’s Instagram post - food collage! (some of these have already appeared on this blog individually sorry you get to see ‘em again)

삼계탕 (samgyetang: ginseng chicken soup)

cheesy smiley-face potatoes with onions and spices

bibimbap in Gyeongju last weekend

and Americano & green tea gelato on a homemade waffle.

I had never even tried an Americano before coming to Korea LOL but now I have drunk (?) so many. Drip coffee is not typically a thing here.

[sierrainkorea]

doneeee

-had my final meeting with my research advisor yesterday, because he is leaving to go visit a nuclear research facility in Washington state today! He apologized for not being around very much, and not giving me exciting lab work to do. He told me to send him all of the presentations I have been working on, so tomorrow and Friday I will add scripts to the ppt’s I have made so that he can understand the information I have compiled without a verbal presentation. Sooooo yeah, only saw my professor four times total in the four weeks I worked here lolz but it sounds like he is especially busy at this time. I hope that I have found useful information on electro-kinetic decontamination techniques. Personally I think that I have...but hopefully I can communicate this well enough through my presentations.

-spent today finishing up the last chapter of physics, then emailed the advisors to schedule the final exam! FINALLY!

-going out to eat chicken with Alvin tonight :D first night in quite a while I don’t have to go to the library to do physics after dinner haha

-last night my professor treated us all to samgyetang! So delicious.