Return to the U.S.A.

So I made it back safely to Bloomington, IL, start class tomorrow and am already missing Korea like crazy. I've pretty much confined myself to my room blasting the K-pop I got in Seoul, munching on Korean candy and have been running through pictures for the past few hours. Coming home from abroad is always the worst experience and I miss everyone so much :(

But anyways, I promised you guys updates of my last few days back in Seoul and failed miserably to supply those, but I do promise that I will write up a summary and add the pictures on here soon! And to make up for the late posts, I threw together a video tonight of a bunch of short clips of things we did throughout the tour. I had never made a video before this and put it together in just an hour while teaching myself how to use Windows Movie Maker, so I hope you don't mind the poorer quality. This was the trip of a lifetime and I absolutely cannot wait to hit the road again!

Kicking butt & taking names.

I feel rather repetitive with some of my blogs seeing as the general concluding theme is South Korea is amazing, everything I've experienced is incredible and I'm exhausted. Which is basically how I'm feeling today. Just thought I'd post a brief update seeing as I might not have access to internet for the next 2 days because we're about to head on an excursion out of Seoul and into a more remote mountain village.

Today was filled with more interesting lectures on US/Korea relations, plus some cool time bonding with Yonsei University students. Here were two of my groups' Korean volunteers posing with us below at the college:

Also this evening, after a full day of classes, I had the best time of my life at a Taekwondo class taught by a local Korean Grand Master. All 75 of us were packed into one huge gymnasium and were taught the basics of this martial art. I actually studied Taekwondo for 2 or so years around the age of 13 and got up to green belt status, so I had more experience than almost everyone there. This experience actually came in really handy and funny enough, even won me a cute souvenir gold medal that the Grand Master gave to the top 5 students he observed. I won it at a front jump kick competition and then even got interviewed afterwards for the CIEE video, it was pretty bomb.

Unfortunately there aren't too many pictures of today because we were running around so much, there was so little time. Our evening consisted of some yummy street food, Korean raspberry wine and another relaxed evening in. I'm just finishing packing up my bags for tomorrow and then I'm off to Yongin! I'll be back with a massive load of stories and pictures for you guys in a few days! An-nyeong-hi-ga-se-yo!

Chilling in Communist North Korea, no big deal.

I don't think there are quite enough words in the world to describe the experience I had at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone - the border between N. & S. Korea and the most heavily militarized border in the world) today but I promise you I will do my best. This was hands down one of the most unique and fascinating experiences of my life and looking back on it a few hours later, I know it's going to take some time to really process how amazing and important everything I saw today was.

We began around 8 in the morning and headed out of Seoul for the first time since we arrived. It was really shocking after being surrounded by one of the most massive, progressive cities I've ever seen to suddenly start seeing a bunch of rice paddies appear all around, less cars and really suddenly, an abundance of barbed wire, military station posts, video cameras and weaponry. After about a 45 minute drive we arrived at the first station of the DMZ and were greated by our escort who would be touring us around for the rest of the day:


He was a really friendly guy and made us feel pretty secure despite the hundreds of marching soldiers and military tanks surrounding us. He checked our passports and then gave us a debriefing on the rules of the zone, when to take pictures and when it was forbidden and basically how not to do something stupid enough that would risk provoking World War III.

Our first stop was the coolest by far, which was the JSA (Joint Security Area) where we stood on one side, which was South Korea's territory, and could literally look across about 30 feet and see North Korean territory with their soldiers staring straight back at us. And in the center of both sides was the Joint Security Conference room, which was a building we were allowed to walk in half of which was in South Korea and half in the North and is the only place where we are able to cross the border into the North.

And so for your viewing pleasure, here is me setting foot in communist North Korea:


(Sorry, couldn't resist)

We were warned that North Korea knew that 50+ U.S. University students would be arriving today and that they might have more guards on duty watching us and to make extra sure that we avoided all contact with them. We did however, definitely see them lurking around many different corners, watching us intently through binoculars, tracking our every move.

If you look closely there's one of the N. Korean soldiers staring back at us from his checkpoint as we were at one of the viewing points:
There were so many crazy sites to see and stories to hear about different incidents within this area that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface of it. However, the two things that I found most interesting were the fact that as we passed one of the checkpoints called the Bridge of No Return, on the North Korean side just 20 feet away from us there were 3 dead, white dogs lying perfectly lined up in the middle of the bridge. It was horrifying and the soldiers said they had been lying there for about 3 weeks as it was meant to symbolise Americans (because propaganda there often refer to us as dogs) and that if we dare cross we'd be as dead as the corpses of those poor animals. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it's one of the realities of the kind of things that go on there on a regular basis.

On a slightly lighter note was the ridiculousness of the flag war that seems to be waging between N. and S. Korea. It all begin when North Korea hoisted a massive flag from it's border line large enough so it could be seen all across the border to taunt the South. And of course, maturely, the South decided to hoist their one too but insisted that it be raised a few feet higher than the North and ended up building the largest flag/flag pole known to that day. However, the North simply couldn't have that and reminiscent of our preschool days in terms of one upping each other, North Korea constructed the largest flag display on the face of the earth, with a 600 pound flag that takes 40+ men to hoist and is raised many feet higher than the South Korean one. Almost laughable at how stupid of a competition this is, but here is a view of the North Korean's flag from many miles away that we viewed on our way out:


All in all, it was serious stuff, but we had a great time too, Far too many Kim Jung-Il jokes were tossed around than were probably healthy for that location and we all left agreeing this was the best part of our tour so far. We stopped in a souvenir store afterwards and being the tourist I am, I purchased an actual piece of the original wire fence from the DMZ removed on the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. It's framed and put together on a placque and you can call me a geek but I'm ridiculously excited to hang it on my wall as one of the neatest artificats I've collected thus far. (I also bought a really cheap, framed copy of North Korean currency to commemorate my minute or so spent on the North side.)

Our day continued as we got to climb through one of the discovered tunnels that was dug by the North Koreans across the DMZ into South Korea as a sneak attack plan. It was like a really cool cave walk but unfortunately I don't have any pictures seeing as it was dark and dreary and technically cameras weren't allowed, (knowing me though) I of course snuck one along and I have some video footage that I'll post later so you guys can get a look at it.

(Christian in the museum: maturity at its finest)

The whole military tour took up most of the day, but after a very intense DMZ education, we returned back to Seoul and were given free range to wander about the city. Some friends & I attempted to subway system for the first time (I wouldn't have made it without them... most confusing system I've ever laid eyes on - although it's probably because 98% of the instructions were in Korean). We walked down one of the largest tourist streets in the area, ate some delicious fried pastries, I bought a beautiful new scarf for only 4,000 won and we just hung out and had a good time. I've only now just returned but as usual, I'm desperately in need of sleep after a long day and the fact that I have classes in the morning. I hope I didn't bore you all with so much writing, there was just so much to say and there's so much left un-said too, so just ask me questions and I'll be happy to spill multiple more stories for you all :)

Anyways, I should really take off. Hope you guys are having a wonderful day wherever in the world you might be. Until next time!

Seoul never sleeps...

But unfortunately I have to so this will be short. Today consisted of a lonngg day at the University with a crash course in Korean, history lessons on the Korean War & US/Korea relations, plus a tour of the MASSIVE Yonsei University. It is so ridiculously high tech and more progressive then anything I've ever seen I was so in awe the whole time.

Most of the day was spent in the above hallway where all of our speakers presented and we had a huge, delicious lunch, but wandering around the campus for awhile was a really neat experience too. I love that we're actually considered official exchange students here and have our own Yonsei photo ID (in all Korean) to gain access to the library and what not, it makes me feel pretty legit. We'll be back on campus in a few days for more lectures and a closer look at student life, but as for tomorrow we're off to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) which is one of the things I've been most looking forward to all trip and I can't wait to share with you!

Anna & Daniel looking out at the city on one of the Yonsei rooftops:

We had dinner downtown in a Korean BBQ place and it was probably one of the best meals I've had yet, I can't remember exactly what kind of beef they said it was, but combined with sesame sauce, sprouts, onions, more kimchi - and other pickled goods, I thought I had died and gone to heaven it was SO delicious.

Later we finally had some free time and I also finally managed to find a money exchange to gather about 60,000 won (1,500 won = $1). I went out shopping with Ryan from my school and roomie Anna and decided that I had a fondness for all of the ridiculous, butchered English slogans on their t-shirts and had to buy one. I found my all-time favorite one in a store called Uni Qlo, which was basically just a shirt with penguins on it and the text underneath said:

"These is penguins (I think Magellan penguins but am not sure) on an ice shelf in Argentinean Antarctica. Running away from me."

Literally. That was a direct quote.
I'm kind of in love with it and hope to wear it everywhere and get awkward questions about it many times in the future just for a good laugh. Pretty fabulous indeed.

That's about all I have for you right now though, I'm about to crash. However I leave you with this other glorious runner-up shirt:

"Friendship of Girl: There are big ship and small ship but best ship of all is FRIEDSHIP."

Oh how I love this country.

I just can't get enough of this city.

At Gyeongbokgung Palace!

Hey again everyone! So I better make this quick seeing as I have only a few minutes before I take off for Yonsei University, orientation and classes starts today and I am beyond pumped! Our days are absolutely jam packed and by the end of each evening I'm absolutely exhausted. Around 10 o'clock last night a few friends and I were gathered in our room and we were just hanging around the room laughing at the bad Korean soap operas on TV and sampling Korean rice wine (note to self: you get what you pay for, 3500 won - aka $3 wine = not even worth it, even the store clerk laughed at us). Needless to say though, after only a short time together we were all nearly keeling over from exhaustion so we all crashed pretty early.

Yesterday was amazing, we had a really delicious lunch in downtown Seoul eating some type of chicken soup. I did my best to conquer it with metal chopsticks and had a great time just hanging with friends: that's Mihir and Anna (my roommate!) below having a toast with what they tried to pass off as "Korean Wine" but was definitely vodka.

Our meal below:The rest of the day we saw the beautiful Gyeongbokgung Palace (as pictured above), had a quick visit to the Korean War Memorial, which is actually the biggest war memorial in the world with over 9,000 artifacts. We wandered around at a market for awhile, which sadly I still haven't found a place to exchange my US bills, so me and my friend Sara (below) just sauntered around. It was here that we were approached by some Korean middle school girls in ridiculously awesome outfits who were apparently running for Student Body President. They asked us to be in a promotion video they were filming, then gave us free candy and took a picture with us, it pretty much made my day.

Dinner at an offical Korean restaurant later that evening was delicious, we removed our shoes and tossed them into a pile of 75 others (causing chaos while trying to find them later), sat on the floor in the traditional style and ate lots of kimchi, bulgogi and rice. Oh and hey! I'm even getting better at chopsticks! Below is Chris, Ben and myself.

I should probably wrap this up right about now seeing as I'm about to take off, the weather is a little miserable over here, cold and wet and it doesn't look like it's going to improve, but that doesn't keep us all from having the time of our lives. If I don't fall dead into bed right away tonight like I did last night I'll try my hardest to update you again before the day is done!

안녕하세요!

Hey Everyone! So as you can see from our little travel tracker on the plane screen above, we safely arrived in Seoul last night at about 7 PM! The flight was a long 12 or so hours but I comfortably managed to snore my way through almost every minute of it. It's around 8:20 AM now and I just came from breakfast in our lovely hotel called CasaVille (What? South Korea? CasaVille? Okay...) Everything seems so unreal so far, we're smackdab in the middle of downtown and just one look out of our window gives us this view:

Incredible right?

We start getting our first official tour in a few hours today seeing things like the Changdeokgung Palace, a War Memorial and the N Seoul Tower and I can't wait to finally be getting taught some official culture points and start being able to fully understand all the new sights that I've been taking in. This is so unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life and I don't think I've ever felt like a bigger tourist but I guess that's why I'm here to learn.

I went wandering with a new friend Sara from Colorado (whom I met on the plane) just browsing the streets around our hotel and we managed to make acquintance with a friendly store manager as I was trying to take her picture and he ran across the street waving and motioning that he wanted to take our picture together and most importantly in front of his beautiful fish store. So we were happy to help him advertise and spend 10 or so minutes in sign language trying to motion on how to use my SLR after he struggled for the longest time, refusing my help, until he realized that it was switched to 'off.' We had a good laugh, said a big thank you and good night to him and headed off on our way, it was fairly late at the time and we both decided to head back after only 45 minutes or so seeing as the 15 hour (eek!) time difference was wearing us down and we thought it best to get some rest.


As for now, some interesting cultural/travel points thus far:

There are swastikas everywhere... At first we were all a bit concerned and asked around as to why they were flying from every corner around the city, but some googling eased my mind as I realized that in Asian popular culture they're actually used to denote Buddhist temples and are a much older symbol then when Nazi Germany picked it up. Still a bit of a shocker to get used to, but thought it was interesting the different perspective this culture has on what we view as such a horrific symbol.

Also, travel point for ladies (and some guys I guess) this is just from my general experience with traveling as a whole, but beginning right now, start learning to love your natural hair. Yup, get used to it. Because no matter what transformer or adapter plug you purchase and no matter what country you are visiting, I have never been able to successfully use a US hair straightener or blow dryer while abroad. Plug it in, it works for about 5 minutes and then short circuits. HOWEVER, if you think it's worth it to visit a market and purchase a local appliance from a store that might be your only hope, but if you're never really planning on being in that country again, 15 bucks on a straightener just for 10 days might be cash that you could have used to purchase much cooler things.

Anyways, so I could write for hours, but I am just itching to get back into downtown and start my adventure. I'll update everyone again as soon as possible and will hope to have some interesting new stories when I return :)

Llamas, Ladybugs & Zoé, Oh My!

It's 4 AM in Seoul right now.

6 Days until I take off at 3 AM for O'Hare enroute to San Francisco and then to South Korea!! I can hardly wait to leave behind this dull dorm cubicle and head out into the world. Sometimes the blandness of Illinois just makes me feel like I'm suffocating due to lack of interesting culture and atmosphere. It's like my oxygen; I live and breathe travel and need to replenish my supply as often as possible in order to stay sane.

In other news, this week has been eventful: exams, singing tests, the weather got absolutely beautiful! Butttt going off that, the ladybugs have also returned, so there has been a mass genocide occurring within my dorm. I tried out Bloomington's public transport system the other day which was a bit shoddy but I guess I've seen worse. I went to the mall to gather some stuff for my trip and ended up purchasing the coolest sweater of my life & became BFFs with the shop owner who was from Ecuador. The sweater has llamas on it, it completes me:

Oh ho hum, what else? I'm applying for a scholarship to IWLS to go backpacking around Kenya & Tanzania and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in June 2011. Take a look, the trip looks absolutely amazing:
http://www.iwls.com/courses/africa/backpack_africa.html

Aside from that, I think it's about time I clean my room and start getting organized for my trip as well as my last week of school before break sets in! Ciao bellas!

P.S. My cleaning music that I just began blasting, take a listen. Beautiful music video too :)
Zoé - Poli

Spandex City & Northwoods Shenanigans.

Howdy friends :)
So I have just returned from a glorious weekend in Hayward, WI to watch my dad complete his 20th Birkebeiner (34 mile ski race) and I had an amazing time in a beautiful cabin out in the Wisconsin boonies crammed in with 9 other people and 5 hyper-active dogs. I gave handouts at the halfway point of the race to all the skiers in my cabin and then spent a night of celebration with them out on the frozen lake. It was just the amazing, relaxing weekend I needed after mid-terms and even though my dad is really displeased with his score seeing as he hardly trained this year, I'm very proud to say he was 121st out of 1,434. (And for a man nearly in his 60's racing against Olympian and elite skiers, that's pretty damn good.)

The early morning was pretty frigid but so much fun, motivational too actually. Despite my dad's elite racing status, I've actually never been a skier. But seeing this race in person as an adult really motivated me to want to learn. So I do believe this upcoming winter I will try on a pair of skate skis and flop around until I can hold my own and see if in a few years I can try my hand at a few of the amateur races just for fun. In the meantime it was great fun to watch him cross the finish line (in blue in the below picture) and I hope I can be there next year for when he's back in top form to blow everyone out of the water :)


Oh anndd... 10 DAYS UNTIL SOUTH KOREA!!
I absolutely cannot wait to be on the road and living out of my suitcase again.