HELLO SEOUL

I have arrived in Seoul - yay! I am also really tired and feel like a loner because I don't know anyone and I am still yet to see the face of my room mate.  Her luggage is in the room, but nothing has been unpacked which is kind of weird.  Anyway, this post is just a short update of what's been happening in Korea.

This morning I met my buddy, Jooyoung, at the airport.  She and another CAU student were waiting for me and Michael, the other UniSA exchange student, so we ended up taking the subway and taxi back to CAU together.  It must have looked kind of strange to other people, because our suitcases were actually really, really big.  After we parted our ways to separate dormitories, Jooyoung and I went up to my room.  I unpacked all the immediate stuff that I needed, and then we went to go eat brunch.  We were both so hungry since neither of us had eaten breakfast this morning and it was already the middle of the day.  We ate at this little shop called Momochi - no photos because I forgot my camera and my iPod (and my passport....) - where we had the Korean/Japanese fusion curry.  The little restaurant had no one else in it and the shop owners came to talk to us for a little bit.  I could understand a little bit of what they were saying but didn't really get the gist of the conversation, so I just sat there eating.  The owners were so nice though.  On a part of the wall near the door they had all these loyalty cards for different people - if you eat there, you get a stamp on the card.  It's similar to what we have in Adelaide, except they keep the card for you.

When we finished eating lunch, Jooyoung took me around the area to buy all the things that I needed.  I bought blankets, a pillow, a hair-dryer and shampoo/conditioner.  The walk back up to the dormitory was intense.  CAU is built upon a big hill so there are steps and steep roads everywhere.  I guess I'm used to climbing stairs and hills (thanks to Cambodia and my mum), but Jooyoung was really puffed out by the time we arrived back at the dormitory.  She had to leave for a meeting afterwards so I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking all my clothes and other stuff.  I now have everything packed away in it's rightful position, and although my desk doesn't look clean, it's really not that messy either.  

Tonight I went downstairs to eat my first ever canteen meal.  It was SO GOOD.  The main meal was fish, but I saw someone mixing the side dishes (kimchi and bean sprouts) into the bowl of rice so I copied them.  There was 고추장 gochujang (hot pepper paste) in a big bowl as well as seaweed, so I mixed them all in together as well and ta da! I had 비빔밥 bibimbap minus the vegetables, beef and egg.  

That's pretty much what happened during my first day in Seoul.  There's still a lot of other stuff which needs to be done like renting my phone, opening my bank account, getting my alien registration and figuring out how to use their transport system.  It's kind of overwhelming when I put it all together, but I have to keep reminding myself that today is only my first day, and there are still lots and lots more days to come!