The First Few Days

I should begin by saying that the plane ride here went very smoothly. I had my first few Korean meals (bebimbap and fried fish for breakfast) on the airplane, and although I didn't sleep very well, I managed to get a few winks. I was sitting next to another girl from St. Louis on the plane, and once we arrived the entire group of us threw our luggage onto the free trolleys and met our Orientation Team Coordinators, who gave us nametags and our first week's stipend. We loaded ourselves onto two giant buses (there are 88 of us) and drove to Gosean in about three hours.
After some time to settle in, we jumped right into an information session. We also took a tour of the campus, but our Korean student guides didn't speak any English, and all of us we completely exhausted at that point, so it didn't really sink in. The campus is just beautiful, all marble and rolling hills in the background.

 The Jungwon University campus

 A bit of the giant swimming pool, complete with kayaks

There was even a welcome banner for us!

On the fourth of July (still the third in the United States), we took a language placement test. I couldn't write the asked-for paragraph about myself, so I just wrote 'Hello' and 'Thank you,' but 3/4 of us don't speak any Korean. I began intensive language training today. We have Korean for four hours each weekday, so I'll have about a semester's worth of language classes in 7 weeks.
We also met yesterday for a workshop on the history of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, but it was all a ruse to organize us into groups for a scavenger hunt around the city.

 Doing pushups in front of the norebang

 Eating dried squid

 Even the police officers flash the peace sign!

 An awjuma (old Korean lady) wearing a visor

Not on the scavenger hunt list, but supposedly very Korean nonetheless

I'm getting much better with chopsticks, even though the metal kind is more difficult. The food in the cafeteria is pretty good, although I'm constantly eating things I don't recognize. One of the better things I tried was a chewy squid salad, and the meal always includes soup, rice, and some sort of salad, often with a really sweet dressing.   
I have signed up for several activities, including GLEE club, which is a place to meet Korean students who want to practice their English.  I'm also scheduled to take a Korean cooking class and a tea ceremony class, in addition to a weekly hanji class, which is Korean paper folding.  I'm not sure if it's like origami, but it sounded like a fun way to make some souvenirs.
After a mixer with some Korean students in the evening, complete with a fireworks show for the holiday, a few of the Korean and American students trekked back into town to spend some time in the norebang, the Korean equivalent of karaoke. It's an intense experience, with lots of lights, dramatic videos in the background, and even a score after you finish your song! But we all had a wonderful time singing some of the many English songs, even if the Korean students were much better singers.  As you can see from the video, however, my friend Christopher does a pretty great Louis Armstrong impression.

 

 Sparklers for the fourth of July

The best norebang in Goesan, according to our Korean friends