Saying Goodbye

As the time of my study abroad at Ewha Woman's University draws to a close, I have found that the hardest part of this experience is saying goodbye. It sounds very cliché, but it's the truth. The countdown began a month ago, and time seems to have sped up for me and my friends during this final month together. As it became less than a week, the tears came and realization was hitting. Hard.

I couldn't believe that all of my time for the past 4 months were spent in Seoul, where I needed to adjust to the lifestyle, culture, education system, and living accommodations. Not only is it hard to say goodbye to the country, but it's the hardest to part from friends. The friends I've made here were the biggest factors in making the experience what it was--the best time of my life. They were there to experience all of my first times: living away from home, living with a roommate, going on spontaneous adventures in the middle of the night, first birthday away from family and first Thanksgiving away from home. I cry hard knowing that we are all separated from each other and not knowing when the next time we are going to see each other. These connections became so strong in such a short period of time, and the emotional investments for these relationships show how far we have come these past few days. Crying and feeling depressed about the ending is something that I wasn't prepared for or even thought might happen to me, but it did. I'm not sure how to deal with it, but I find that talking about your experiences and keeping busy really helps.

I've also learned a few lessons that I'd like to share with you as you prepare for your study abroad :)

1. Keep a Study Abroad Journal and document EVERY SINGLE DAY of your time abroad. This little project may seem very tedious, but you will be so grateful to have done it at the end. I brought a journal with me and wrote everything I did and felt every single day. Reading back on it, I can remember small and big details from any day that I was abroad. When we remember our memories, we tend to just generalize the most important details. But with your journal, you can remember the small moments that may have touched your heart--like a bake sale or the time you randomly went to McDonald's at midnight with a friend and had the most heart-to-heart conversation you ever had in your life. But if writing's not your thing, you can try taking pictures everyday to remember your time abroad :)

2. Even if you feel sad (towards the end), push through and have fun with your friends. Time went by so fast and you don't want to remember a depressing ending. Make the most of your time with your friends having fun and creating more memories to look back on.

3. One of the things I wish I had done more was travel to other countries. If it's possible, go and visit other neighboring countries. I didn't because of my class schedules and tight money budget. Who says when you study abroad you only have to be in one country? :) But if money's tight and it doesn't look like it would work out, then explore and make the most of your time in your host country.

Those are the most important things I wanted to finish off with, and I hope you find this helpful! :)

-Kula

A Spontaneous Weekend in Busan

I took a spontaneous weekend trip to Busan right before my midterms.

It was a great idea.

Okay, so the timing wasn't the best. But I still passed my midterm with an A :) For any other time, if you're interested in travelling around South Korea, Busan is a great location to check out for a weekend trip with friends!

The main things that are the most important in planning the trip is researching how you will get to Busan and where you will stay. For me, I went with 7 other of my best friends (all girls and yes, we are ALL crazy) and all of us contributed in planning this trip. We stayed at Kimchee Guesthouse (how Korean lol) and it cost 24,000 won (less than $24 for me to stay two nights) and our bus tickets cost 23,000 won one way (46,000 won = approx. less than $46). So in total, I paid about $70 to get from Seoul to Busan and living accomodations.

Not bad at all.

We booked our reservations for the guesthouse online, and in order to do so, you will need a Korean credit card and phone number. In our case, two people had one of each so that was really helpful. You can also book bus tickets online as well, but we ran into issues with the credit card so we all bought our tickets at the Express Bus Terminal.

To get to Busan, you can take a bus or the train. It was cheaper for us to take a bus (about $46 roundtrip) than the train ($60 one way/ $120 roundtrip). The bus does take about 4-5 hours to get from Seoul to Busan and vice versa, but the train takes about 2.5 hours. If you're not in a rush, I would recommend taking the bus since it's cheaper. But if you're on a time crunch, then it would be a better idea to take the train.

I remember so much happening on the day we left. The feelings of excitement and some anxiety (because of my midterm on the Monday morning) and just wondering if I had made a bad decision by going on a spontaneous weekend trip. But going on this trip with all my friends--they comforted and supported me from all my worries. They took care of me, and I felt safe.

We left Seoul around 8pm, and arrived in Busan at midnight. The night lights of a new city sparked curiosity and the adventurous streak in me. Midterms? What midterm? Two of our friends were already at the guesthouse waiting for us, and we had to catch two taxis in order to reach our guesthouse.

That taxi ride was the craziest ride of my life.

Immediately, we noticed an accent from our taxi driver and it was adorable! He was basically speeding (he went over 160 kmh / 99 mph), and two of my friends and I are sitting in the back without our seatbelts (bad idea, but there was no room with all our things). I was sitting in the middle, and the thought going through my mind was, "If we get into a car accident, guess who's going to be the first out of the car?" Luckily, despite his speeding, he drove us safely to our destination.

Busan reminded quite a bit of Hawaii, and I don't mean just the beaches. The weather was fairly warm, and the pace was much slower compared to Seoul. People here are so friendly and helpful. It was nice to have a little reminder of home.

We got to take a ferry tour around along the coast for 7,000 won (less than $7) and it was sooooooo worth it!! My friends were amazed at how clear and beautiful the ocean was (another reminder of Hawai'i) and it felt invigorating to be back on a boat on the ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day, but really windy.

My friends will kill me for this picture, but that's how windy it was.

We also explored an old village called Bukchon Village, and the colors of the houses are bright and vibrant. It was such a beautiful place to visit, but the hills there killed my legs.

Our day didn't end there, although it was night. We pushed through our tiredness and were determined to visit the International Film Festival in Busan. Since it was late at night, we didn't get to see any films; however, there was like an outside shopping market where we were able to see different types of fish and seafood, and street foods being sold around. It reminded us of a less crowded version of Myeongdong (a famous shopping area in Seoul).

My friend and I left earlier than the rest of the group on Sunday, since I needed to study for my midterm that was the next day. Overall, the trip was a wonderful experience and one of the best spontaneous decisions I ever made during my time abroad. It was time well spent with great friends and gave me the opportunity to explore somewhere outside of Seoul.

If you want to explore outside of Seoul, Busan should definitely be on your list. And take risks! Sometimes the best experiences come out of the most spontaneous decisions :)

-Kula