By Madeline Lau
Partially for school credit and partially for fulfilling my own long-desired pilgrimage to Asia, I decided to study in Seoul, South Korea this summer to soak up the culture and learn the incredibly funky language. Here are some excerpts from my travels thus far in one of the most fascinating, friendly and beautiful countries I’ve ever been to.
Hi all!
I arrived today, after leaving my beloved Korean host family of two days, the Kwons, at Sogang University in Shinchon district of Seoul. It was hard to leave the Kwons because they cooked lots of tasty treats and brought me to beautiful parks and showed me the enormous Han River that makes Paris’ Seine look like a trickle.
They treated me to the best Korean hospitality (which is legendary) and being on my own now is kind of a bummer! I miss them – however, it gives me a chance to see the city sans-Korean escort which is a completely different experience, both interesting and confusing.
My first and favorite friend I’ve made here is a Muslim girl from Malaysia named Izyan who I bonded with over religious dietary laws and a shared curiosity over the TV show “Jersey Shore” (how they get that show in Malaysia is beyond me). While we walked through the city together to get towels and soap for our dorm rooms people stared at the two of us, her with a traditional hijab on her head (not common in Korea) and me, a large-ish unwieldy white girl sweating profusely in Korean humidity and leaping about the streets excitedly.
We make a good pair. Aside from Izyan there are some other girls from Malaysia, a small bunch of Australians and one Brit, who are all wickedly funny, and a SEA of Korean and Korean-American kids everywhere I look. I know it should be obvious, but it still blows my mind that everyone is Asian, all the signs are in Korean, and I am the complete minority. First time for that experience and I highly recommend it.
Very, very eye-opening.
Tomorrow is my first day of class for which I am nervous and semi-ill-prepared, ill-prepared meaning all the other people I’ve met in the Korean language immersion program are Korean, sooooo this will be a lot like learning Arabic with a bunch of Arabs (you all remember that); trying and tumultuous but generally good for the academic spirit. We shall see.
The week of my birthday we mysteriously have off for holiday so I might go somewhere or maybe just say hi to the Kwons :).
There are a lot of rules at my school and it is confusing to know what we can and can’t do so I have to pay better attention. But don‘t worry! If we mess up they let us know ASAP.
So far my favorite part of being here is waking up at my odd jet-laggishly early hours to witness the PERFECT stillness of the pre-sunrise hours.
In Korea they call the country “the land of morning calm” and their waking hours are unlike any other sedate morning you’ve experienced. Here it is hazy, still, crisp and ancient like a zen garden shrouded in moss with old people power walking and hardworking businesspeople slowly stirring to start another 80-hour week.
Needless to say I really like it. I have yet to experience the nightlife here but am making it my goal to get on this wacky TV show that features women from all over the world speaking Korean to Korean comedians. It sounds weird and it is but it can be a great launching point to do a lot of cool stuff in Korea. Here’s hoping they’ll pick me!
