This past weekend I went on the DMZ Tour with the Korean Conflict class. Even though I had already been to North Korea, I thought taking advantage of this opportunity would be educational. We woke up bright and early and left on the 1-hour bus ride to the Joint Security Area (JSA). It was cold and rainy, but over 90 people still showed up to go. At the JSA, both North and South Korean armed forces co-exist in the same work environment. Though it is common to see troops from the North in the JSA, this by no means takes away [View Full Entry]

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Lotus Lantern Festival The city of Seoul and the entire country of Korea has been preparing for Buddha’s Birthday for several months. The streets have been lined with neon colored lanterns that are lit at night, and so are the temples. The festivities started off with a Lotus Lantern Festival that took place the Sunday before Buddha's Birthday, in downtown Seoul near Insadong. Earlier in the day, Jogye-sa (one of the temples in the area) hosted a large lantern-making event for foreigners. The places were quickly filled and since it was the day after Meredith [View Full Entry]

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Over the past weekend, Meredith and I decided to take a spontaneous backpacking tip to Seoraksan National Park, which is said to be Korea’s most prominent geographical region. Over dinner the Tuesday before, we both realized that neither of us had any more exams that week and thought it a great opportunity to take advantage of the long weekend. The weather was finally warming up, and we found ourselves tired and overwhelmed by the consistency of Seoul-life. I borrowed a backpack and packed some heavy cloths anticipation the cold nights on the “Snow Peak Mountain” range ( [View Full Entry]

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The first sign of spring in Korea comes with the overwhelming number of blossoms that line pathways, tower over streets, create walls, and brighten the grey streets of Seoul and stone buildings of the Yonsei campus. At this point, the weather is still cold, despite the fact that the lingering feelings of spring allude to warmth and make you wish you could put on a mesh shirt and a flowy skirt. These beautiful blossoms last a total of about 2-3 weeks. This means that at any given place where over 100 buds can be seen, you are likely to see [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend, I had an opportunity to go to North Korea. The only way anyone is allowed across the boarder is through the Hyundai Tour to Kumgangsan. Kumgangsan is a mountain (san=mountain) that is said to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Korea. The trip was originally designed for students who were in the North and South Korean Conflict class, but it was opened up to all international students. It was a pretty pricy tour, as it lasted for 3 days and 2 nights in five star hotel. As an American Citizen, who is not permitted [View Full Entry]

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Classes started on Thursday the second. The system here is “try before you buy,” giving students a chance to visit the classes before they decide which to take. This works well because it turned out that one I had singed up for was not at all what I had thought it was, and one I wasn’t really excited about looks like it will be the most informative class I will have at Yonsei. Walking into a sea of people the Thursday classes started, jolted me back into a place I had seen before, but I couldn’t quite put my hands on [View Full Entry]

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ON Saturday I had the pleasure of seeing an old friend of mine Ji hyang. She came to Maryville College to study about 2 years ago and graduating Yonsei on Monday. She took me out to sushi and we talked of new times and old ones. It was so good to see her. We walked around and checked out the night life, then had coffee. I saw her again on Tuesday and she took me to some really nice places. We met up at 2 to go down to a more secluded part of the city SamcheongGak. It was origionally [View Full Entry]

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On Monday we went to Alien Registration and then all around Seoul. We visited Samseong, which is the business side of town. Here we went up into the top floor of the World Trade Center (51st Floor). We later on went to one of the largest Buddhist Temples in Seoul. I will let the pictures tell the story this time! [View Full Entry]

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Sunday February 19, 2006 Today we went to the Gyeongbok Palace, which means “The Palace of Shinning Happiness.” This palace is from the Josen Dynasty and was the largest of all the palaces in Korea. It was burnt down in 1592 during the warfare of the Japanese. They began to rebuild it in 1993, but this restoration will not be complete until 2010. We managed to get a tour in English, which took a good hour. The palace was covered with visitors and it was very touristy, though almost everyone there was Korean. Our group was about 40, yet amidst the [View Full Entry]

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Thursday Afternoon: I have just had the most traumatic last few hours. Two to be exact, and they were spent in the Woorie Bank. I first had to exchange the rest of my USA currency. Then I went to go open my account. I gave the teller my money order and she stood up and hurriedly escorted me back to the currency exchange speaking to me in Korean the whole way. This was after she had asked me if I spoke Korean and I told her that I did not. So I waited in line again at the currency exchange (after [View Full Entry]

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