My final day of orientation!! Today's schedule was a sightseeing trip to Seoul city. We were first brought to the National Folk Museum of Korea, which is in this huge space with ancient buildings, like the one seen underneath.
The weather was damn cold! For the previous 2 days, the weather was actually warming up, so I wore less for the trip, and I was so so wrong! It was totally freezing that I could not bear to stand in the outdoors at all! In fact, most of the exchange people there were feeling so cold that everyone was rushing to get into the museum so as to escape the cold.
The amazing thing was, however, the Korea University girls. My OGL, in particular, wore only a tee-shirt and jacket with super mini shorts and socks. I have no idea how she could actually stand the cold with her bare legs, when I myself was freezing with jeans and thermal wear inside. Apparently, I was told that the Korean girls would rather look pretty in nice clothes and bear with the chill. Also, all the university girls wear make-up. And it's really the full makeup, with mascara and foundation and lipstick etc. It's really amazing how they can wake up early to perm their hair and put on make-up every single day, when I am complaining about wearing so much clothes in the morning when I wake up.
The weather was damn cold! For the previous 2 days, the weather was actually warming up, so I wore less for the trip, and I was so so wrong! It was totally freezing that I could not bear to stand in the outdoors at all! In fact, most of the exchange people there were feeling so cold that everyone was rushing to get into the museum so as to escape the cold.
The amazing thing was, however, the Korea University girls. My OGL, in particular, wore only a tee-shirt and jacket with super mini shorts and socks. I have no idea how she could actually stand the cold with her bare legs, when I myself was freezing with jeans and thermal wear inside. Apparently, I was told that the Korean girls would rather look pretty in nice clothes and bear with the chill. Also, all the university girls wear make-up. And it's really the full makeup, with mascara and foundation and lipstick etc. It's really amazing how they can wake up early to perm their hair and put on make-up every single day, when I am complaining about wearing so much clothes in the morning when I wake up.
Singaporeans gathering at a Korean pagoda.
The folk museum is really quite cool, and it's free entry! There are a lot of stuff to look at, and the museum uses quite a bit of new technology inside, so there are 3D images, and falling plum blossoms and moving images everywhere. It's like visiting the science centre, but in a historical manner.
Stephenie and me with 3 Japanese that we met on the exchange program.
Surprisingly, there are quite a number of Japanese that are here on exchange. I thought most people would travel further on exchange, but I see Japanese everywhere in school. And they are super fluent in Korean language and are quite competent in English language as well. Really cool.
A Turkish ice-cream stall. The man is actually playing tricks on the students by snatching the ice-cream away and preventing the students from taking it.
Our meal at a tea-house. And as always, the side dishes are all free. The bill came up to 10,000 won, which translates to less than SGD$11.
After the trip to the National Folk Museum, we were given time to shop at a nearby neighbourhood, Insa-dong. Here, there are many streets selling handicrafts, art pieces and quirky clothing. Many galleries are located here, many of which are free to enter.
Me with my buddy, Jang-ho. He has been helping me with a lot of administrative matters since day 1 of orientation and is really friendly, except that he speaks very little English, which means that I basically cannot converse with him at all. Example of our language barrier: On day 1, I asked him where he stays, and he didn't understand what I meant. And he is a student at a top university. Imagine the shop vendors on the streets; it's even worse!!
Here's a group picture with some promotors with Shinhan Bank. They are all dressed up in traditional Korean hanboks, and were going around asking people to write their wishes on the post-its. The girl with blonde hair behind is a Masters student from Sweden. Before this, she was actually stopped by a group of high school girls to take picture. At first, she thought that they wanted her to take pictures for them, but in actual fact, they wanted to take pictures with her because she was very pretty! According to the guidebook I was reading, Koreans seldom get to see caucasians, and like to approach them when they see one because they think caucasians are very good looking and speak very fluent English, unlike them.
The Korean words here means Starbucks Cafe. According to another buddy, Koreans love Starbucks, because it connects them to American culture. Korean guys love to bring their dates to Starbucks, because it shows that they are rich enough to bring them to expensive coffee joints. The special thing about this particular Starbucks is that this is the only joint in the entire South Korea that uses hangeul (traditional form of Korean writing) in their shop sign. All other Starbucks in Korea are written in their original English language.
We ended off the tour with a special viewing of Jump at a theatre. Jump is a martial arts comedy that combines martial arts with light-hearted comedic antics and is very popular amongst Koreans. I actually didn't have a very good impression of the show, as I have seen snippets of it on this Channel 8 show hosted by Belinda Lee as she goes around the world to learn new dances. I though that Jump would be really boring, but I really enjoyed myself during the show. If given a chance, everyone should watch it. And because dialogue is minimal, and does not play a crucial part in the story plot, there is no worry over communication problems. Meanwhile, here's a snippet I found on Youtube for everyone to view.
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