Meeting the Crew

On Thursday, the 18th, Dad took me back to Incheon Airport (after we spent the morning and afternoon together- see previous post) where I met my CIEE program providers and other participating students! It was strange navigating the airport and making eye contact with other foreigners and wondering if they were part of the program too. I finally arrived at the designated meeting area and began introducing myself to people as they showed up. Everyone else meeting at the airport had arrived that day, so they were pretty exhausted. The first group of us left the airport by bus around 5 and traveled to The Center Mark Hotel, in seoul.

It's always odd being surrounded by a big group of people and yet all being in the same lonely boat. You try to make friends with everyone, never knowing who could potentially be your next great friend. But while you're putting equal energy into meeting everyone, you're not really getting to know anyone especially well at all. Tiring. However, everyone was nice and interesting and we all banded together to seek out food (typical).

We found a Korean bbq place nearby in Insadong and got excited to be eating in a place that required us to take our shoes off and sit on cushions on the floor. It was delicious! I also tried soju for the first time, which is a traditional and very popular Korean alcohol. A couple of girls got bottles and passed them around, I only had a sip and I've gotta say- I wasn't a fan.

Grilling the meat...and getting splattered by grease in the process. Ouch!

Eating with new stranger-friends.

Ran into my bias from Big Bang- T.O.P. :) K-pop idols are used in advertising for literally everything.

After dinner we walked around Insadong which is an area known for its traditional atmosphere. There's a mix of both traditional and modern buildings and it feels very quaint. 

I went to bed exhausted but excited to see what the next few days of orientation held!