Saturday, May 18 – Sunday, May 19
It’s 3:17 am local time and jet lag is hard. I should be asleep, but I’m not, so no time like the present to document the first 24(?) or so hours of my Korean adventure.
I’m in Korea! Surprise if you didn’t already know. As part of my masters program at Loyola, I am required to take one class overseas in order to graduate (which is set to happen this December and I will walk next May). The global strategic communication program picks up our class and we move over seas for a bit. I have chosen to take a course in Seoul, South Korea for the rest of this month. While here I will be visiting PR agencies, ad agencies, and tv stations. I’ll see a real-life K-pop show, and probably do a lot of shopping.
Day 1 has been a long one. It started with an early morning in Chicago filled with adding last minute things to my luggage (still managing to forget my raincoat…) a quick car drop off in the suburbs (our neighborhood’s streets are ALL torn up) and then a sad goodbye at the airport – thanks to Matt for driving me and for being the strong one in all this reminding me I will have fun.
I got to the airport three hours early, as they say is the norm for international flights. Within 25 minutes of arriving, I was seated in a comfy chair in the international terminal with an adjacent outlet. O’Hare security is typically not awesome, AM flights on a Sunday going international is a breeze!
After killing a few hours, it was time to board. I usually don’t like lining up for flights with assigned seats, but the rest of the class I was traveling with wanted to get on the plane to secure overhead space. Korean Air does it right, while first class has priority, they encourage people in the back of the plane to get on first!
I snuggled into my window seat and started up a movie and off we were. I chose a direct flight to Seoul which has advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
-More likely my bag would get to Seoul when I do
-Don’t need to run through another airport to catch a flight
Disadvantages
-Same seat for FOURTEEN hours
I figured at some point on the flight I would get up to walk around and use the facilities. I figured wrong. We flew out of Chicago ahead of a storm and it was pretty turbulent for most of the ride to Seoul. The crew kept the seat belt fastened sign illuminated for a lot of it. The small Korean grandma sitting next to me seemed like a veteran of this flight. Unless there was food being served, she was fast asleep! I was impressed.
Fourteen hours is a long time. My plan going in was to watch a movie then take a one hour nap then repeat. That way, when I get to Seoul at 4:30 pm, I wouldn’t be wide awake and would hopefully sleep through the night…
I ended up kind of following the plan but there were a few long naps on the flight. The crew and lighting does a great job of making you forget you were following the sun and naturally fall asleep.
A ranking of my three in flight movies
–Aquaman: it was okay. A decent superhero movie. Some of the “underwater” effects were funny. All in all not bad.
–Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2: I feel like I should have watched the first again before hand as a refresh. Parts of the story were lost on me, and I will need to watch it again.
–Dumplin’: A Jennifer Aniston movie about pageants with some Dolly Parton thrown in. Average. Fell asleep during it. A feel good film I guess. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend.
The food on the flight was very good. We were served two meals and one snack. For lunch I picked bibimbap – a traditional Korean dish of rice and beef. I have had this in Chicago before and figured what the heck, when in Rome. This was served to me deconstructed, which was fine. I was having a good time spooning some rice into the bowl and eating it with the toppings, but small Korean grandma was very concerned. Apparently I should have dumped all the rice into the bowl, added the hot chili paste and sesame oil (which was hiding on my tray) and mixed it all together. She was SO concerned that she called over a flight attendant to explain what I was doing wrong in English haha. To be fair, my way would have gotten me fed, but her way was better.
I returned the favor by being very understanding when she somehow managed to fling (that’s a strong word) her water all over me and my tray during the second meal. This picture was taken just minutes before hand. The only thing that wasn’t salvageable was the roll. Oh well, it’s just water and I didn’t need the carbs anyway 🙂
Getting though customs in Korea was pretty easy. I have traveled internationally before, but I don’t think I have ever been finger printed upon my arrival. They only took my index fingers which I though was strange. But all in all a very smooth process.
We were greeted in Seoul by our driver, rain and fog. He got us all loaded up and on our way to the airport. I tried to watch out the window but the weather made it hard to see. I know at one point we crossed a bridge, the Pokemon app tells me so.
I promised some folks back home that I would bring back a Pokemon in the game that is only available in Asia. Don’t worry, I won’t spend this whole trip with my nose in my phone.
We got to Ewha Women’s University around 7, checked into our rooms, unpacked, and went to bed. Tomorrow starts our actual class. More adventure to come!!