* When in Korea, I picked up the habit of journaling to keep track of my mental health and overall my thoughts on things i've encountered and typically how I felt after a "normal" day as someone studying abroad in Korea. With that being said, this blog entry will showcase initial feelings of me during quarantine and my first steps out into the wide city that is Seoul!
Today is officially my first day? In Korea and it honestly felt amazing to just be able to be able to say that I finally made it here. From the long taxi ride from Incheon --> to my quarantine Airbnb, I felt as though I was about to be on an adventure of a lifetime and it would be an understatement if I said I was excited. (The photo to the right is the picture I took of my walk to the health center). After 3 days of being stuck in my temporary home, I was excited to be able to independently walk to get my first covid test of three. (Little did I know I chose an Airbnb right across the street from my university where the health center was). Taking a look back on today, I was so happy to be able to take a step into the world as someone studying abroad. Even though it was extremely cold outside this morning and I was frightened at the idea of anything happening, however I was able to safely walk to my location and overcome the language barrier of being a foreigner trying to get a covid test! stressful but happy day - 1 Point!
--> Transitioning to initial thoughts and moments when freed from quarantine
One of the first thoughts I had today was "will I be able to make friends" while moving into my dorm and "how was I going assimilate into being a college student abroad all alone". However, what a lot of people don't tell you is that almost everyone is thinking the same thing you're thinking. Unless these are people that are traveling from the same university, everyone is operating the same and is just as new as you are. So what does that mean? Don't be so hard on yourself!
Shortly after moving in, the exchange student group chat on Kakao was buzzing full of people wanting to meet for dinner and plan trips around South Korea before the semester! And guess what happen, you met people and now you are going to the National Seoul Museum (Picture to the right). And you are going to skiing for the first time ever! Also, you met your international exchange buddy and his friend! (turns out these will be two of the funniest people that you have ever met). They've both been to Hawaii and are extremely cool and diligent people, I am actually extremely lucky to be paired up with him because we are actually very compatible!
Overall, although these last couple of days have been mixed with meeting a lot of different people from a lot of different places, these are the moments that are truly going to set the precedent for the rest of my time abroad!
--> Transitioning out of my journal entry (Here are some pictures from the beginning of the semester that have many memories attached to them!)
The story behind this picture is actually really interesting, when preparing for our ski trip we took a very long bus ride to a resort and it was a totally empty and really eerie! Thankfully one of my friend's had knew someone nearby and was able to drive us to a different ski resort!
(Here we are on the lift and I am honestly trying too hard to be cool because I was extremely scared and thought I was going to get hurt. ALSO******** Snowboarding is way harder than skiing, however snowboarding is way cooler looking hehehehe)
One thing I did enjoy a lot about dining in Korea (with the fact that all food is good food) is that there are a ton of rooftop diners! Here is a group picture for a friend's birthday at a burger restaurant and the view was beautiful!
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