Monday, September 29, 2014

Korea Study Tour KHU Day 1 -Part 2

And yes, I am back again... I believe I forgot to mention about my lunch in the previous post... My first meal in Korea.. in Kyung Hee's school cafeteria.. Their cafeteria is super cool!! but i will leave this to a later post because the photos are not in my first day folder..

behold.. my lunch!! also my first meal in Korea.. not counting the Nasi Lemak I had in the cloud above some country I am not sure where, maybe China..


Naengmeon냉면!! My ultimate favourite food!! I am not sure if I mentioned this before but I really don't enjoy boiling hot food and I tend to eat very slow when my food is hot because my tongue can't tolerate heat.. some people calls it the cat's tongue... In case you don't know, naengmeon is translated as cold noodles.. that's why i enjoy it so much.. because it's cold, so I could just eat it straight away without blowing or airing and all those nuisance.. hehehe.. I am missing it now.. Mul Naengmeon 물냉면!!

Ok, back to the campus tour... after the museum, we head to the library.. and boy it was huge!!!



Even the frontdesk part of the library is cool!!!




The exterior is super cool too!!






Then, it's the main building.. that you will usually see in KHU brochures... you see for yourself and insert your own adjective because besides the word cool.. I can't really think of another adjective to describe buildings...





If you have been following my blog, the girl beside me was my Dowoomi and this is the only time you'll be seeing her.. coz she MIA-ed after our first day.. and if you remember my Singapore Rush post... she's the korean chingu I mentioned in that post... anyway.. more photos!!





And then we move to the Auditorium.. It's called Palace of the Peace, I think... If anybody reading this happens to be a Kyung Hee University student, please correct me if I am wrong...



It's a steep road towards it but the view is totally worth it!!





And then, some other random places around KHU campus~~



Kids getting off school at the Kyung Hee elementary school, it beside the university..



And that sums up my first day in Kyung Hee University.. There is still one more post for the first day... after I finally checked into the school hostel.. and I will save that for the next post..



Signing off for now..
Toodles!


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Korea Study Tour KHU Day 1 -Part 1

Here's another travel post that has been delayed for 2 years~~ I am so so so sorry if anyone, even one person is or was anticipating my study tour post in Korea 2 years ago.. 

I am joining another study tour to Korea in November which means I really have to rush to complete this, which I doubt that I will have it done in time.. We'll see how it goes.. 

So, just rewind your time back to May 2012... The time when I first step foot in Korea..


Most of my photos will have this little panda, his name is Doudou.. The reason behind this is because I thought I will be spending most of my time alone during this trip. Although it's a study tour, which means there will be a group but I am not familiar with anyone of them. Being someone who finds it hard to make new friends, I have already planned my whole trip as a loner and hence I brought along Doudou to be in photos because I will not be able to be in my photos as you know how bad I am in selfies. So Doudou represents me, since it's Panda's Space after all.. It just all fits...

Anyway, back to my trip... My flight was a night flight.. my first time taking a night flight and my first time flying alone~~ Was pretty excited since I have always longed to travel alone.. There was a member from the study tour -- Chae Kun, who was on the same flight as me but we didn't met until like 30 minutes before boarding.. So after saying goodbye to my parents and head into the boarding area, I was alone with Doudou to entertain myself..


And then it's time to board the plane... Schedule is pretty tight because I booked the flight to arrive on the first day of the study tour.. so it's be like an Amazing Race rushout when I touch down Incheon... My first class starts at 9am, and I was scheduled to reach seoul at 6.20am... although it seems I would have ample time to get to the university.. the journey to Seoul from Incheon itself need approximately 1 hour.. So to avoid starving myself, I bought an in-flight meal... just in case (which really turn out to be) I have no time for breakfast...

I basically slept throughout the flight, the seat beside me was initially empty but an ajumma behind me, (note, she really is Korean) decided to take the seat and leave her daughter and grandchild more space during the flight... SIgh... So much for hoping for a more comfortable flight... anyway, the baby fidgeted A LOT during the flight.. but luckily, I am quite good at ignoring so I manage to get the sleep I needed during the flight..

30 minutes before landing, I head to the washroom to wash myself and brush my teeth, since I will have to be meeting people after this.. The kid behind me was still fidgeting which started to annoy me since I was awake already at that time..

After landing.. Chae Kun and I gathered for the second time.. first being at the airport and head off to the customs which was a nightmare... the queue was terrifyingly long and I think the officer working on my line had a really bad day.. she was sulking so hard and working so slow that I had to resist the urge of taking her place and do the work for her..

Then, it's rush-time!! by the time we  got out from the customs, it was already pass 7am.. then we had to work our way to get to Seoul.. We head straight to the information counter because there's no room for mistakes or wrong turns... What we didn't notice was the counters were arranged based on language, we spoke English to the officer who was in charge of Chinese speaker... Oopss... 

We were led to the airport shuttle bus which cost 10,000won per trip.. We took the one heading towards Cheongryangri 청량리, which was the last stop of that shuttle...


It was drizzling and then the traffic was also kinda heavy... When we reached Cheongryangri, it was already passed 9am... Oh dear... 
At Cheongryangri, we took a taxi straight to Kyung Hee University, where our classes will be held.. The ajusshi was super kind, took us there in a flash and even drove us right up to the IIE (Institute of International Education) building, saving us from walking uphill dragging our luggage (note again, yes, we have not checked in anywhere so our luggage are still with us).. We dropped our luggage at the office and rushed off to our class room, which was at the 6th FLOOR!!!! thanks to the taxi ajusshi, he saved us a mile (literally) by letting us off at the IIE office, saving us from walking 4 floors worth of stairs... The building structure I shall leave it for another time.. So just bear with the confusion, ok??

We burst into the classroom and saw everyone seated for class... The teacher looked at us and the first thing she said wasn't Ahnnyonghaseyo안녕하세요(Hello)~~ Instead she looked at us and asked Kuenchanna괜잖아(Are you ok?).. I must have looked like a zombie that time..

We found our seats and class started...



 After a round of basic introductions of ourselves and the course, we had to go for a briefing with the Principal of the University..





And then we were introduced to our Dowoomi도우미(something like a learning partner), and they brought us to tour around the campus..
 This post has been wordy enough.. Behold, photos... of Kyung Hee University, Seoul Campus...


It's so cool that they even have their own museum!! It's my first time on a REAL university campus though so please bear with my excitement... My university was just a factory lot in a factory area... so much for campus life...











Alright... I shall pause here... There will be more coming up.. I promise it will be up soon..

As for now... Signing off
Toodles!