Jillian J. Quinn

Monday May 11. 2009

We got into the airport at about three forty.  It was the longest flight of my life!! I did not enjoy the flight and did not feel well after getting off the plane.  We then went through customs and collected our bags.  After we met our adviser we had to sit in the airport for another two hours to wait until the other group of students arrived.  After everyone landed we left the airport around seven thirty, and then boarded our bus to make our way to our hotel.  Our bus ride was about an hour and a half and once we all got to our rooms we pretty much passed out.  That night I did not sleep well at all due to the jet lag.  I woke up thinking I was done sleeping at one  thirty in the morning Korean time, but I decided that I needed to try to go back to sleep.  I fell back asleep until around four in the morning where I then proceeded to get on facebook to kill some time before breakfast in the morning which was at eight fifteen in the morning.

Tuesday May 12, 2009

Today is our first day of school and while a little tired I was really excited.  We met down in the restaurant for breakfast at eight fifteen sharp.  As we sat down and food was being brought to us, it was not your normal American breakfast.  We were served bigolgi, which is a spiced beef served on rice.  It was very good but we got a huge portion!  This was a lot of food for breakfast and especially for eight in the morning.  We then finished up breakfast and were off to HungLee University for school.  We had to get on a subway which was about a ten minute ride.  The subways are one of the most common and popular way for people to get around in seoul. They are very crowded, but very quiet at the same time.  It seems that most all Koreans are in a big rush constantly.  They subway was packed when we got on but not a lot of people are talking on the subways.  People are very quiet and pretty much keep to themselves.  We then got onto a bus from the subway that they call a Kimchi bus because supposedly it smells like kimchi.  The bus ride was also very crowded and hot, but our ride was very short approx five minutes.  We then got to campus and it was a very pretty campus.  There were a lot of flowers and trees but more specifically a lot of art.  Our first class was basically an introduction and our professesor.  He is very knowledgeable but is not very good at teaching.  After we were in class for two hours we went to go have some lunch.  We had lunch at a small bakery on campus, it was pretty good.  I had a tuna sandwich and a pig in a blanket per say.  After lunch we were in a hurry to go up to one of the classrooms and meet our Korean buddies.  This was exciting to be able to communicate with some Koreans and ask some questions and learn about them a little more.  After meeting the four Korean buddies we had we exchanged information so that we could meet up with them later and go have a drink together.  After we met our buddies we went to have  a quick bite to eat at McDonalds before our show Nanta began.  Nanta is a show similar to stomp, but instead of garbage they made music with cooking supplies.  The show was very fun and entertaining, and Ian from our group actually got picked to go up on stage and be a part of the show which was really neat.  After the show we walked home to go get ready to go to the bar and have some drink with our new Korean friends.  We went to WABAR as we were getting there the streets were filled with policeman.  We asked but the policeman were not telling us much of what was going on.  After a few drinks and hanging out getting to know our new friends we then found out that the policeman were all over because the president of South Korea’s son was in the building next to us.   That was a wrap on our first full day of Korea and it couldn’t have went any better!  We all came back and were pretty tired considering we had to wake up early so we all headed to bed to wake up early for breakfast for yet another day.

Wednesday May 13, 2009

Today we woke up and had shrimp fried rice for breakfast, and it was pretty good.  We then headed to class for another three hour lecture.  After lecture we went out for lunch and then took the subway for Nooblo a Korean chain restaurant.  It was a pretty long way away and took about thirty minutes to get there.  We sat down and was brought an array of food.  There was a platter of meat and then you put it in lettuce wraps.  I did not really enjoy it.  On our way back we then saw an exercise park.  We played on these machines for awhile before heading back to the hotel.  After we got back to the hotel we were all pretty exhausted still.

Thursday May 14, 2009

We woke up and got to have an American breakfast.  It consisted of two eggs over easy, spam, toast, and fries.  It was pretty good but still not as good as a normal breakfast.  Today at school instead of going to our regular class we had our first Korean language class.  The teacher was really nice and it was fun.  The Korean language is really hard though.  It was very tough for me, I had to be able to hear someone say it before I could say it, it was hard for me to read words and pronounce it.  After Korean class we then went to lunch and ate some pretty good Korean food.

Friday May 15, 2009

Went to the National Museum

Class with Mason

Saturday May 16, 2009

Today, I was real tired because we didn’t get home till three in the morning.  Instead of having breakfast at eight fifteen in the morning we got to have it at ten.  After we had breakfast we headed out to go shopping at a shopping strip.  It was real close and we had to take the subway but only took us about ten minutes to get there.  As we got there the streets were lined with shops.  They were souvenir shops, lots of shops that sold tea pots and little knick knacks.  I bought a tea set, a scroll for my mom, some Korean candy, and a really pretty card holder.  We then headed to have lunch and for desert we had a waffle dessert.  It was pretty good but very filling.  It was very much like a doughnut with powder sugar on it.

Sunday May 17, 2009

We met for breakfast ten thirty because we were planning on going to visit the palace today.  We went and checked out the palace where we saw everything, including the guard exchange, and the royal family walk.  After seeing that we had lunch at the palace and it was gross.  We then got back around three and it was free time for us.  One group of people went to the baseball game while another group of us went back to the shopping center where we went Saturday.

Monday May 18, 2009

Today, we had breakfast at normal eight fifteen.  We then had our Korean language class today.  It went from nine until eleven thirty.  Korean class was fun as usual and then we headed to lunch.  We were going in search of Italian food today.  We ate at a place and it was pretty decent food for once.  After we ate we had to go back to our hotel and get ready in business formal attire to tour W hotel today.  We got to W hotel which is also owned by Sheraton and it was AMAZING.  The hotel was beautiful, and very futuristic.  After we got a tour of the hotel we had dinner at the hotel.  We had soup and steak which was okay.  After dinner we went to a show called Gypsy Moon.  The show was very different and weird.  There were boobs and nasty ones at that.  But the magician they had was pretty cool and motorcycles in a cage which was really cool!

Tuesday May 19, 2009

Instead of having professor Mason three days in a row we got to switch today’s class with Korean language class so that started the morning off on the right foot!  Bugolgi Brothers was our trip for the day.  We got to tour their kitchen and see a slideshow of how their company has grown.  We then got to eat and it was the most amazing dinner we have had yet.  It is a Korean BBQ and I couldn’t stop eating because it was soooo good.

Wednesday May 20, 2009

We went to tour the Seoul National University today, which is the top university in South Korea.  It is a very big campus and really pretty.  They are always expanding and building new buildings the girl informed us which reminds me of Pullman.  When we first arrived we got to see the first ever cloned dog and it was the ugliest dog I have seen in my life and it peed everywhere!  After the tour of the campus we had dinner at the university with a few of the students.  We had ribs and they were alright.  After we left half of the group went home and half of us went to a hoff and for the first time ever we had dragon shots.  We had a few too many but it was okay because it made for a good subway ride home.

Thursday May 21, 2009

Today was a very exciting day because it was the last class ever we had to have with Professor Mason.  Three of the girls got to sleep in because they were not enrolled in the class.  Class was actually the most interesting it has been the whole time.  We got our quiz back which was interesting because we did not do so hot on them, but oh well.  After we finished up we got to have Korean Chinese food.  It was very different from American Chinese food, but it was still very good!!  We then headed back to the hotel to pick up three of the girls that didn’t have to go to class.

Friday May 22, 2009

We got to have a late breakfast today because we finished up class and all we had to do was watch some destination videos.  We had American breakfast again and then we headed to school to watch the videos.  We watched two videos of an hour long and then took a test on the videos.  Halfway through the movies we had a light lunch at the café on campus.  We didn’t want to have a late lunch because today we were headed to tour the Seoul National University.  When we first arrived we got to see the first ever cloned dog.  It was a huge afghan and was probably the ugliest dog I have ever seen.  It peed twice while we were there so that was pretty funny.  We then got a half tour by bus and half by walking.  The campus was huge and very pretty.  There were tones of mopeds and motorcycles which are the main way people get to campus.  After the campus tour we were invited to a dinner they prepared for us.  We had Korean short ribs and they were really good.

Saturday May 23, 2009

We got to have a late breakfast today at ten thirty.  After we got done with breakfast we went back upstairs and got ready for the day.  It was overcast out but still humid.  First we got on the subway to go to downtown Seoul.  We first went to a cathedral downtown it was really pretty from the outside but we didn’t get to go inside.  There was actually a wedding going on which was pretty cool.  There was lots of women dressed up in hanboks.  After we left the cathedral we headed to the Lotte mall.  It was a very upscale expensive mall.  There were all the name brands Prada, Coach, Gucchi, LV, and Chanel.  We got some lunch down in the food court, which had a variety of Korean foods to choose from.  After lunch we were a little behind and quickly went back to the subway to go to another palace to watch a kung fu performance.  The performance was fun watching a lot of board breaking.  We then randomly met this guy that was head of the tae kwon do facilities.  It was where all the kids trained so they could be chosen for the Olympics.  It was fun we got to learn to kick a little and watch all of the kids.

Sunday May 24, 2009

Today we went on a boat cruise.  It was the most boring thing of life.  We went on the HanRiver and got on a boat and floated down it for thirty minutes and then went back up.  We saw nothing exciting and it was really uneventful.  It was really really hott out though.  After the boat ride we went to eat at TGI Fridays.  It was good to not have Korean food for once and I had a really good chicken burger.  After dinner we split up into two groups.  One group went shopping and the other group including myself went to a baseball game.  The baseball game was a lot of fun.  It was the LG Twins versus the Eagles.  When we got there Shawna and myself got Twins jerseys so that was a fun experience.  Baseball games are nothing like they are in the states they are way more intense.  Koreans love their baseball and go really wild.  They have tons of cheers for almost every player.  We drank beer and it went on twelve innings with a score of one to one.  They do not play more than that regardless.

Monday May 25, 2009

Today we had a full day planned for us.  We were on our way to Everland.  Everland is basically a Korean version of Disneyland.  It is owned by Samsung, and before we got in the park and let free we had to sit through a presentation of the park.  We left at nine in the morning and we were scheduled to stay till six at night.  They also had the largest wooden roller coaster and it was huge!!  I don’t like roller coasters so I stayed in the group that didn’t like rides.  We went on a safari rides and it was a lot of fun.  We got to see the animals.  We also went on some of the kiddie rides and it was fun.

Tuesday May 26, 2009

We got up early today because we were on our way to the DMZ tour.  We had our last breakfast at our hotel and then we were on our way.  At the DMZ we stopped at three places the 3^rd tunnel, the observation area, and then the train station.  The 3^rd tunnel was a really cool experience, but it was such a hike.  We walked down this tunnel forever and got to walk through the tunnel underground.  The worst part was walking back up it was really long and the upgrade was intense.  The observation area we got to see into North Korea.  It looked very uninhabited and looked as though no one lived there.  Looking through the view finders we saw no people mainly just buildings and a few trees.  After that we went to the train station that they hope one day will go to the North Korean capital.  The DMZ was a pretty cool trip overall.  We finally got back to our hotel and we had some free time but everyone was pretty exhausted after a long day so we just hung out together.  It was also our last night in our hotel.

Wednesday May 27, 2009

We went to see the Korean Folk Village today.  It was pretty cool to see how the Koreans lived in the old days.  We got to see what village life was like and what had changed and how they did things today.  We then got on the bus for a three to four hour bus ride to Kungju. After we had a long bus ride we finally got to our hotel.  This hotel was different from Dongdamun because it was more out in the country and not in the city.  The hotel was very pretty and there were lots of things to do.  They had a soccer field and a golf course.  We went out and played a little game of soccer which was really fun.  It was good to actually get some good exercise for once.  After we got in we were all sweaty and tired so we all jumped in the shower and got ready for the Karaoke bar at night.  The karaoke was in our hotel and you rent a room for your group.  It was a lot of fun.

Thursday May 28, 2009

We went sightseeing in Kyungju.  We saw the tomb, we went ANOTHER museum, and went to a park.  It was really fun because all these places were very crowded by little kids because there were lots of tours going on.  The kids love to practice their English and say hi to the whole group but me.  It is funny because they know a few basic sayings and we know basically all the same sayings in Korean.  Then after all the stops we had an hour bus ride to Busan.  We finally arrived at our hotel called the Sea Cloud and this hotel was top of the line and nicer than our last hotel!  It was so nice, it was a five star hotel.  After we got settled in we went out to eat at Chinese.

Friday May 29, 2009

Today, we woke up and had to get ready early and check out of our amazing hotel.  We checked out at nine and were headed to the observation tower of Busan. It took us about an hour to get there.  When we got there it was not as tall as Seoul tower but it was still pretty tall.  When we got up there I thought that it was sooo much prettier than Seoul.  I thought it looked more like a city and I really enjoyed the harbor.  I like the water and the beach.  After we left the tower we were on our way to KFC.  We saw the cutest little boy there where he gave us some candy.  Then everyone headed for the temple and Tiffany Doo Hee and I stayed at a hotel.  We checked in took a nap and then watched a movie.  After watching a movie we ordered dinner to the hotel.

Saturday May 30, 2009

We got to sleep in for the time for this whole trip and it was amazing!!  We woke up and then got ready to check out of our hotel.  We had to be back to our other hotel by two to meet the rest of the group.  So we dropped off our bags and headed to lunch.  We went to a Korean barbecue and it was delicious!!  We then headed back to the hotel where the rest of the group had just gotten back.  The hotel is a lot nicer than the first hotel we stayed in Seoul so that is nice.  After we got all settled in we just hung out in our rooms and relaxed a little.

Sunday May 31, 2009

We got to sleep in for the second time and it felt amazing, especially after a long night of drinking!  We woke up late and then got McDonalds delivered to us for lunch.  After we ate lunch we all got ready and headed to the beach.  We laid out and swam in the ocean, it was really fun.  It was also very crowded at the beach because it was the last day of the sand festival.  After we left the beach we took showers and Jenny ordered pizza for dinner.  Then I took a nap and we went to get some late night dinner.  We went and walked on the beach and hangout, then we ran into a fair in the middle of the city.  They made me ride the stupid ship ride and I hated it!!  Now it is time for bed because tomorrow is our first day of school!

Monday June 1, 2009

Today was our first day of school.  We took the subway and then the bus and it probably took us about thirty to forty five minutes to get to our new campus.  The campus is really pretty and pretty big.  We met our new Korean buddies today and they are so much fun.  They are really interested and want to hangout with us a lot, which makes it a lot more enjoyable.  After school we went back to the hotel and took a nap.  We met our Korean buddies for dinner at Korean bbq.  It was really good and we all had a good time.  We then went to the beach and drank with our buddies.  We shared drinking games and had a good time.

Tuesday June 2, 2009

For breakfast we had breakfast buffet and it was not very good.  Then we were on our way to school again and the bus was packed!  We got to school and Jenny taught and I slept through class today because I was real tired.  After class we went and had lunch at this little restaurant close to campus and it was really good.  Our buddies also came with us to lunch and then took us to the fish market.  The fish market was okay it was really stinky.  We also did a little shopping but Busan is a lot more expensive than Seoul.  Then we went to have dinner with our Korean buddies.  After we had a good dinner together we went to a hoff near by and drank a lot and hung out.

Wednesday June 3, 2009

This morning I woke up early for breakfast but it turned out we didn’t have to go to school because we weren’t taking the class.  I didn’t sleep well that night and I don’t know why.  It is really hott in our room at night and I hate sleeping in hot rooms.  Since everyone went to class we had free time.  I did some laundry and watched some television.  We went to McDonalds for lunch and then about two hours later everyone else came back from lunch.  We had a free day after school so we got to just sit and relax for once.  It was not very nice out today though so that kind of blew because we couldn’t go to the beach.

Thursday June 4, 2009

I was very excited this morning because we I didn’t have to go to class because Michael, Ian, and I were not taking the class and today they were taking a test.  We got to sleep in while they took their test, for lunch we got some McDonalds and it was nothing too exciting.  After they finished their test we got to go to a movie in the Lotte department store, which happens to be the largest department store in the world.  We went and saw Angels and Demons, and it was in English with Korean subtitles.  I think it is odd that they have English movies, but whatever they want to do is up to them.  Also another weird thing about their movie theaters is that you get an assigned seat.  This method has its advantages and disadvantages but I like the idea.  The theater was very nice and big.

Friday June 5, 2009

Today we didn’t have class because we were going to the fish village.  We got on a chartered bus and it took two hours to get to the fish village we were going to.  I was not that excited because I was really hung over and tired from the night before.  I was doing good until Shawna was puking next to me because she was hung over and car sick.  I just listened to my ipod with Katie though so I was alright.  We got to the first place and it was a barge that we were going to go fishing on.  It was very interesting to say the least we went out to nets they had previously set up and then went and got the fish.  They killed the fish right there and sliced it up and they began to eat it.  I tried some trout and some squid it was okay but not something I would choose to eat.  After the fishing we went to our next destination where we were going to go clam digging and learn how to make rice cakes.  Clam digging was a lot more fun than the fishing!  After it all everyone was real tired and mainly slept on the bus, the bus ride was a lot longer on the way back because of the traffic.  We finally made it back at about eight at night and decided to go get some pizza.  After pizza we all took showers and got ready then got ready to go out and drink with the Korean buddies.  This was different though because we were going to go to Club Maktum tonight.  This time though the Korean buddies went with us and it was a ton of fun.  Most of them had never been to a dance club before so it was fun to get to experience that with them.

Saturday June 6, 2009

After a long night we had to wake up early.  We had to be downstairs early because we were going on a hike today.  We went to a Korean buffet first for lunch with a few of our Korean buddies and it was really good.  There was a ton of food to choose from it was very hard to choose.  After lunch we met up with the rest of our Korean buddies and got on the bus to go up to the mountain.  The hike was so intense and not flat at all but very steep.  I tried to run up it but it was very steep and it was very hot outside.  Then after a long ass hot hike we came home took a nap and took a shower.  We were all ready to go out after the hike, but since we were pretty tired we went to Thursday Party instead of a club.  The bar was really fun we played foosball and darts.

Sunday June 7, 2009

I was real tired even though we got to sleep in today.  We had to meet downstairs at eleven fifty to meet to go to lunch.  We went to a Korean BBQ restaurant and it was really good.  After we had lunch it was free time for us and everyone kind of split their own ways.  We went to the Lotte department stores again to go see another movie.  Today we were going to see Terminator; it had a ton of action in it and was pretty good.  After the movie we shopped around for a little bit and by the end of shopping we were hungry again and went with our Korean buddy to get some dinner.  After dinner we came back to the hotel and watched TV for a little bit then went to the driving range.  The driving range was a lot of fun and their driving ranges are very high tech.

Monday June 8, 2009

Today, we did not have to wake up early but we did have to go to school because there was an activity planned right after lecture.  So Ian, Michael, and I headed in to school about an hour later.  After an hour of a bus and a subway we finally arrived at school.  Class had just got over and we were headed to learn how to cook some Korean food.  We were learning how to cool bugolgi and chop chey.  The cook demonstrated how to make each dish and then we were on our own.  Tiffany and I were partners and our food turned out pretty good!  After lunch we went back to class where everyone else had to finish up lecture.  Since we were not in the class we had a choice to leave early but we decided just to hang around till class got over.  After about an hour of lecture we were on our way home and back to the hotel.  Jenny bought us some pizza for dinner and it was really good.  I tried not to eat much because we were going to get crab tonight, but it was just too good and I was too hungry.  At seven we had a reservation at the crab place where we met two of our Korean buddies there.  The crab was good but it was a lot of work for not that much meat.  After dinner we went back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the group to go to the amusement park.  While everyone rode rides I watched and played stupid fair games.  I threw some darts to win a stupid heart thingy and shot a gun to win another stuffed heart.

Tuesday June 9, 2009

Once again we didn’t have to go to school today since we are not taking the class.  It is really nice being able to sleep in and not wake up at the crack of dawn to eat some nasty breakfast.  After everyone got back from class we all hung out because we had free time until we had to go to dinner.  We were all really excited for dinner tonight because we got to go to bugolgi brothers again!  We went to eat and once again dinner was very good.  After dinner we headed to the JUMP theater.  JUMP is a comical show that entailed a lot of martial art acts.  It was pretty funny and entertaining.  After the JUMP show everyone headed back to the hotel to work on their presentations.  Michael and I didn’t have to do one because we are not taking the class so we decided we would go to the Paradise Casino.  Koreans are not allowed to gamble so I had to bring my passport to show that I was an American citizen.  The casino was pretty small, there were a lot more tables with a few slot machines.  The slot machines were cool because actual coins came out when you won.  I played blackjack and it was different playing because no one really talked and it was very smoky!  I won fifty thousand won so we decided to leave while we were ahead.  We came back to the hotel where everyone was still working on their homework, so I just watched tv and went on the internet.  After about an hour of that I went to sleep.

Wednesday June 10, 2009

It was almost our last day and I wanted to do everything we could before we had to go home.  We decided tonight we were going to eat crab.  Some chose to go eat dog and that was just not something I wanted to partake in.  The crab was good but it was a lot of work for not that much meat.  I don’t know how they do it but they didn’t have anything on their hands while I was covered in it all.  After dinner we went back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the group.  We then headed out to the carnival for all the people that didn’t get to go to it the first time.  We went in the batting cages this time and jumped on the trampolines.

Thursday June 11, 2009

It was our last day in Korea and it was a sad day.  I was sad I had to leave but at the same time I was ready to be back home.  I was going to miss the new friends I had made, but I was ready to go see my old friends.  I was ready to have my cell phone back, I was ready to be able to drive anywhere I want, and I was ready to be somewhere I knew.  Finally it was nice out and we got to go to the beach for the last time.  It was very windy out though and the waves were huge.  We went swimming for a little but after getting knocked down by the waves a few times I had enough.  I went and laid on the beach and fell asleep and got burnt.  After we were at the beach for a few hours we went home and got ready to go to Home Plus.  Home Plus is a mix between Costco and WalMart.  We picked up some goodies there and then we were in a rush to go to the Busan Aquarium.  The Aquarium was fun!  Straight from the Aquarium we headed to dinner where we were meeting our buddies for a parting dinner.  It was a lot of fun eating talking and drinking.  It was then time to say our goodbyes.  It was very sad but it was such a good experience.  I had a ton of fun, met a ton of new fun people, and learned more than I would have ever imagined.