We’re here!?We arrived Friday evening after a slight delay leaving JFK. The fourteen hour flight on Korean Air was actually pretty great if you leave out the having to sit for so long. The service was wonderful and we had our first introduction to Bibimap which is rice with all sorts of other fun things http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap. They even gave us an instruction sheet for how to eat it.? We all watched many, many movies and tried to sleep for a bit.
When we arrived after taking an hour to get through customs and such we were met by Junjee (may be spelling her name wrong) a Library Science student at Yonsei who was wonderfully helpful and very patient with us. We took a very nice bus into Seoul (about an hour ride) and once we reached the main gate of Yonsei we took a cab around to the North Gate which is where our dorms are. The campus is far larger than Simmons, walking from our dorms at the top of campus to the main gate takes about 30 minutes.? The dorms are pretty traditional, just like what I had in undergrad. Once we dropped off our stuff it was about 10:30pm and we were starving so we set off on our first adventure.
We left campus and walked back to one of the main streets, only 10 minutes or so from our dorms and played the “what do they serve and are they open?” game as we walked past various restaurants. We found a Korean BBQ where we sat outside around a circular table with a grill in the middle. None of us speak Korean (beyond saying “hello” and “thank you” but we have Andrea with her trusty Lonely Planet phrase book. Both Andrea and her LB have proved invaluable already.? The menu was set, all we had to do was pick beef or pork. The lovely woman who served us was very tolerant of our lack of understanding. Her minimal English was far better than our Korean… Andrea and Chris became our grill masters as we consumed a huge plate of beef, lots of vegetables, garlic cloves and kimchi. We ate the beef and veggies and garlic on leaves of Perilla which were like mint but better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla.? We also shared a few Cass beers which were very light and fresh as advertised. There was spicy sauce to dip the meat in and a spicy tofu soup that was brought out still boiling. I’m a big fan of spicy food and found all of this to be delicious although some of it was right at the limit of what my mouth can tolerate. Our host was very helpful and once she figured out that our one vegetarian, Helen, would eat lots of kimchi she brought it out everytime her bowl emptied.? The whole meal cost the six of us 99,000 won ($95 USD) which seemed pretty great considering the service and quanity.
By the time we got back to the dorms it was about 12:30am on Saturday morning. We all did a quick bit of computer time in the internet room (where I am right now) and toddled off to bed. Around 5:30 this morning we were woken by many Korean voices singing outside the dorms for about half an hour. Needless to say none of us were thrilled by this but we’ve since learned that it is not some sort of? traditional morning activity so we shouldn’t have to worry about it in the future.
I’ve just returned from meeting with Jee Yeon Lee, the Chair of Yonesi’s Library Science program. She?and her husband and lovely?7-year-old daughter took Kevin Glick and I to lunch at another?Korean place near the school. We had tasty cold noodles,?mung bean pancakes and dumplings while sitting on pillows on the floor.?It?was the first time I’ve taken my shoes off in a restaurant?and it was rather nice. The servers were worried about Kevin and I finding things too spicy and brought us extra non-spicy broth.??Jee Yeon and her family gave us an extensive tour of Campus and showed us around the liberal arts building where classes will be on Monday. Kevin, Michele (when she arrives on Monday) and I have all been set up with office space and computers and offered whatever assistance we may need.
It is very warm and very humid but not raining and no flooding that we’ve seen. Everyone we’ve met has been very kind and helpful even when none of us know what we’re saying to each other. It always amazes me when I travel what can be conveyed with gestures and facial expressions. The students are off exploring downtown Seoul right now and we’ll meet up for dinner this evening. Tomorrow will be more exploration and then class starts on Monday.? I’m taking lots of pictures and once I have assistance from the wonderful Yonsei students I’ll be able to upload them at the beginning of next week. It’s now 4:30pm on Saturday afternoon and?I’m going to go off and explore a bit myself. More updates tomorrow!
Side street near Yonsei Campus
Yonsei University Campus Map
One of the main admin buildings on campus
Liberal Arts Building (Windgang Hall) where Library Science classes are
Instructions on eating Bibibmap