Thankfully my roommate was feeling better today and was able to go with us on our tour! Today we started out the day with breakfast at the hotel again. They said we weren’t eating lunch until 3 pm. There was rice cake soup, apples, blueberries, etc. We got on the bus to go to the DMZ and our tour guide used the English name Katie. She was really sweet and taught us how to say “thank you,” “hello/goodbye,” and “I love you” in Korean.

On the bus ride over she explained the history behind the De-Militarized zone and how the Korean War has not officially ended. Because I wasn’t prepared to go to Korea, this was a good history refresher and she talked about the historical significance of going to this area. I think a lot of tours can be superficial and use war tourism as a means of just gaining more capital, but she and the TEAN people really wanted us to understand that where we were going was a place of pain for a lot of people.

Because the actual DMZ was closed because of African Swine Flu, we went to a few different observatories and museums. There were many photos of families split up because of the war, art created by citizens hoping for reunification, and lots of historical artifacts about Korean history. Korea’s history is so much longer than the US’s I still have a lot to learn about this country.

Lunch was good as well. I had bibimbap and soondubu jigae and then we went back to the hotel. I had an hour to wait until the next activity, so I went to my room and took a quick nap. Afterwards, we went to speak to a North Korean defector. Her name is Eunhee Park and she was very vulnerable in her talk with us. She told us about her family and the difficulties she had coming to South Korea. Many North Korean refugees have to go through Chinese brokers to defect to South Korea and it’s a long and dangerous process. If anyone is interested in learning more, I would highly recommend watching her videos, linked above.

After the talk, I went and got Korean fried chicken for the first time with the other girls from the cancelled TEAN China trip and a few guys. It was good, but there was so much food. 3 baskets of chicken was around 34,000 won. Low-key kind of angry that one of the guys didn’t pay me back, but he said he would get cash later. We split it between 6 people, so it wasn’t that bad. Then, I took a shower and here I am writing my blog.I miss being able to message my friends and family back home. The only times that work are early morning to late afternoon and late at night here. I wish I could call them more often, but I don’t want to disturb my roommate. Right now, the best I can do is send pictures and photos for them to wake up to.

My flight was at midnight on the 20th and I was so anxious the whole day. Talking to my mom and having my sister to drop me off really kept me sane. Whenever I leave a place knowing I won’t be back for a while, I get so nostalgic and sad. This happens even if I know where I’m going will be exciting. It’s hard for me to balance between the two before I’m actually in a new space, but once I’ve established a routine I’m okay.

I cried at the airport. I kept asking myself why I was going to Korea and if this was worth it. The privilege I have to travel and go to such a renowned school is immense, but my heart was just not in it. And I still don’t know how I’ll feel once school actually starts. But I called a few of my friends and my sister. Knowing that I have people who care about me and who are willing to check in reassures me that I’ll be okay.

The layover in Taiwan was really short, but I was also shocked at how few people were there. In general, there are a lot less people out and about from what I’ve seen because of Covid 19. Apparently, some woman at a religious gathering spread the disease to others and now South Korea has the highest number of infected people next to China.

I was surprised when people spoke to me in Mandarin and felt so under-prepared. I obviously would’ve spoken Chinese if I went to China, but the experience of people assuming I know the language was nice, but made me feel inadequate.

I didn’t sleep well on the plane at all, but I watched a lot of movies. I arrived at the airport 6 hours before the TEAN people were picking us up. I cried a little more and wandered around. I got confused with the immigration line, but thankfully the TEAN program managers were really helpful.

I was so surprised at how beautiful the airport was. There were actually stores and cute restaurants all around the pickup area. I withdrew some won and then just listened to audiobooks, called my sister again, and waited. The tour guide and Allison actually found me before I saw them and I waited for 3 more hours while people came. We bonded over how tired we were and how badly we wanted to shower. Once we finally got on the bus and headed back I felt like my soul had left my body. I had gotten to the point where life didn’t feel real because I was so fatigued.

I slept for maybe 10 minutes out of the hour ride and then we hurriedly checked into the hotel, went to a restaurant, and then I went back and fell asleep after my shower.

Orientation Day 1

My roommate wasn’t feeling well, so I went to breakfast alone. I sat with other TEAN students, but I was pretty quiet and just relaxed. At one point the staff came over and told the girls next to me to be a little quieter. It is true that Americans tend to be louder, I think.

Once breakfast (which consisted of fried rice and pollock soup!) was done, orientation started. We set up our Alien Registration Card appointments, installed our new SIM cards, and learned a little bit more about each other’s hometowns/countries. Unfortunately I had trouble unlocking my phone, so I installed the SIM card later with the help of my mom and the Xfinity person. The Alien Registration online appointment also was weird on my phone, so Sandra, the RD, helped me make an appointment.

My roommate ended up throwing up, so she missed the day. We went to eat lunch, then tried on hanboks. I still have mixed feelings about that experience, but the program manager talked about cultural appropriation/appreciation and I think they were coming from a good place. Apparently tourists trying on hanboks and walking around is very common in the area we were in.

It was so cold and windy, but we went to a palace and took a lot of photos. There was a Korean student in our group, so he led us around and we also went to a cute bookstore just to warm up. I realized I desperately need to layer up tomorrow. It’s a lot windier than I expected.

I’ve made friends with a group of girls who were also supposed to go to China. They’re all really nice and I hope that we continue to hang out through the semester. Two of them are Chinese Americans, one is from Italy, and the other is Filipinx American.

Once we got back to the hanbok photography place we changed and then went to dinner. We had dalkgalbi for dinner, but my stomach hurt so much after. I think I’m still adjusting to the food here. It was really good though. I came back to my room and bought my roommate some saltines, since she’s still not feeling well. I’m tired and it’s only 8 pm, but I’m gonna call it a night.