Final Update

I want to say thank you again to everyone I've met in Korea, as well as everyone who has helped me get there. I had an amazing time, and I know I'll be back soon. Everybody, please wait for me!~

So I've been home for a week now, and I thought I'd just say that I'm done with this blog, but I'm thinking about starting a new one. I think I might write about my everyday life...I don't know who will want to read about it, but I kind of like writing this. Also, I will definitely have a blog next summer when I go to Thailand, so you can look forward to that. Well, if I decide to write an everyday blog, I'll post the link on here; until then, bye!

Bruised and Sore

So, I got some bruises while carrying one of my bags last night. Before carrying my bag, I had one bruise, and after carrying it, I have about 5 or 6 bruises. Two of which are so large that they actually merged together.

This is what my arms looked like at about 5am.

This is how they look now. Can you say painful? I bet a lot of people think I got beat up or something.

I don't even want to know how beat up my shoulders look. Judging from the way they feel, along with my back, and brusied arms, I'm say I'm in pretty rough shape. To make matters worse, I haven't slept a wink in 31 hours. Fun fun. I think I'm doing pretty well though.



Leaving...

So we're packing up our stuff, because we're leaving Dong-A in a couple of hours. Yesterday we had our final presentations, got our completion certificates, and wrote something about everyone. Last night we had a farewell party and went to karaoke. We had a too quick walk to the bus stop where we said goodbye. Unfortunately, we didn't get to say bye to everyone, and when we got on the bus, half of us were crying. I didn't cry, but since we're leaving today, and seeing our buddies for the last time, I think it's going to be very hard not to. I feel mixed emotions right now. I want to stay here so badly, but I know it's time to go home. I'm just glad that I've met so many new people, and made new friends. I've had an awesome time in Korea, and I don't want to say goodbye. I know I'll be back soon, so hopefully I'll be able to see everyone again.

Class, Nampodong, and Seomyeon

The title pretty much says it all, but basically we had class and then we went on a field trip to Nampodong. We saw part of the fish market, and walked down some of the paths we had never seen before. After that we went to Seomyeon where I bought some gifts, and we had porridge for dinner. Tomorrow is pretty simple; we're having our last class and working on our final presentations.

Slowly winding down

The last few days have been very slow and easy. Friday we went to Keoje Island where we saw a windmill, some goats, and went to the largest shipbuilding place in the world. Of course, we couldn't look at anything because it's only for those who buy a ship. We definitely can't buy one, because the "cheapest" one is $100,000,000. You also couldn't take any pictures, besides this one little spot, where you could barely see anything through the trees. After that we went to the POW Camp, which was kind of weird, because everything was pretty much fake. Basically, there are no remains of the actual camp, so it's filed with props so you can imagine what it was like. We left and headed for our house, which was hard to get to, and we turned around twice. The house was amazing; it was right on the water, and it was huge! We had a barbecue party for dinner, and let's just say everyone else wasn't feeling too well the next morning. Well, I felt pretty good; although I didn't sleep well, and there was no running water, electricity, or food when I woke up. We went on a ferry to one of the islands, which was nice. When we left, we headed back and I spent the rest of the night relaxing. Sunday a group of us went to Haeundae Beach to the largest department store in the world. It was nothin' special to me; I hate looking at a load of stuff that's extremely overpriced. After that, we went to Nampodong and had some street food, which was so, so good. Today we had class and went to Tejongdae, which has a really nice view of the ocean. We just got back a couple hours ago, and I plan on spending my time relaxing until tomorrow morning.

For those who are interested, I'm going to post all of my pictures from this trip on facebook. 



Nothin' much

The past couple of days have been pretty laid back, and we haven't done much. We've had class and yesterday we made kimchi and saw Harry Potter. Tomorrow we're going to Keoje Island for two days. Sorry that there's not much to update you on, but the program's winding down, so we're not as busy. Actually, the highlight of yesterday was finally getting money after not having any for two weeks.

Our Intense Temple Stay

So we just got back from our one night, two day temple stay at PyoChoongSa Temple in Miryang. Like the title of this says, it was intense indeed. We got to the temple where we were shown to our rooms, and given outfits which consisted of long pants and quarter length sleeves...I was not a happy camper. Although, I was happy that they were baggy, because it helped with air flow. After changing, we took a tour around the temple, and man was I glad it was breezy. Next, we meditated, had dinner, and meditated some more. When dinner was over, we had some free time, so we walked around the temple grounds. We found a rabbit, which I befriended; I fed him/her clovers, and I even got to stroke his/her head. After that we had tea and rice cakes, and went to bed at nine. We got up at 3am and meditated, had breakfast, and went for a hike. This is where it got brutal; we started at 7am and we wound up finishing after 10am. A lot of things happened during that three hour period; enough to make it seem like the longest day of our lives. We were all thinking, "Hike? No problem, it'll be short. We'll get a little sweaty, but it'll be fine." Wrong. It was very long, and we got a lot sweaty...we encountered various problems. I almost passed out three times due to my own body heat; while crossing a stream, I fell, completely soaking my socks, shoes, and pants; and George fell about six feet off the side of the mountain. I thought my problems were bad, but George had it worse. I'm telling you, we can't go anywhere without someone getting hurt. Anyways, George fell and sprained his ankle, and so the guys had to take turns carrying him up the steep, steep mountain. At the same time, he was blacking out, and to tell the truth, the only reason why I didn't faint myself was because of all the breaks we had to take for George to rest. In a nut shell, we were miserable. When we finally made it to the top, where there was a road, we sent George off and waited for our own ride. When our ride came, with food (yay), eleven of us squeezed into one van, and rode along the mountain back to civilization. That ride was scary; the driver went too fast, and the road was the most narrow road I've ever seen. To make matters worse, the road is one way, and of course, the other van came at us head on...yeah, I had a great time. You don't even know how happy I was to finally get on the bus to go back to Dong-A. Well, I have learned a few things about our hike: I never want to walk again; I will never, ever complain about climbing the 93 steps up to the dorm; and I will never go hiking up a huge mountain again.