It begin with me moving from the beautiful hotel to the female dorms. I am surrounded by people I don't know, again. Also, my key card does not work to let me in the dorms. That's right, I live here and can't get in. Upon my arrival, I promptly forgot how to get into my room. All of these things though are really minor compared to my first day......
I have no idea where I am compared to the rest of campus. Beyond that, I don't even know what my office building is called. It may not have a name. Also, I don't know what my dorm is called. And I didn't know my room number. All of these things are important to getting into an area that is locked to you. Also, I did not know my mentor's name. But, I had a cell phone, given to me on Wednesday. No charger. Up until Thursday night this worked.
Friday morning my phone died. This in and of itself is not terrible, but add to it my need to take a bus to work when there are at least 10 different buses. And the bus routes are in Korean. Not terrible if you're going by numbers. I was looking for a specific one. I was supposed to be at work by 8a. That bus route doesn't begin at the stop I was at until 8am. A little bit of a problem, but not so bad for a first day. I thought if I got into work by 8:15a I'd be okay. Especially since I was new and everything is in Korean and I was doing it alone. By 8:06a the bus had still not shown up. Also, I was supposed to get a call from my mentor at 7:30a, so this was getting a little worrisome. I was off the grid for all I knew.
I returned to the dorms, through security, to ask for my mentor's contact info so I could try getting in touch with her through other means. By 9a I thought I should attempt the bus again. With a mentor or not. Back through security. Arriving back at the Bus stop, a only had to wait a minute before my bus arrived. Seeing the right bus number, I got on. Immediately I knew I'd made the wrong choice. Ten minutes later we arrived at a neighboring campus. Everyone got off the bus. I still hoped the bus would continue going until it got back to my campus. Not so. The bus driver got up. And gestering widely at me, made an x cross his chest. This is the one gesture that translates very well. "End of the line". I got off the bus. B this time I was nearing hysterics. Not only was a horribly late, disconnected.... I was lost with no way to return. At least none in English. Knowing I had to stay close to this area otherwise I'd really be lost, I looked across the street. There was another bus with my bus number. Yay! I thought as I went up to the bus driver, dripping tears. Maybe this was the right bus?
But it will have to wait, bc I have to go
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Help!
When I say, "everything is in Korean" that includes this website. How do I put it back into english? Thanks!
Arrival
Just got in to KOREA!!! I don't think I slept at all on the plane. It was cramped and felt like torture, but surprisingly it was over quicker than I was prepared for. I think I screwed up my customs form and made everything more complicated than it needed to be. Even with that, I am here earlier than I expected. The airport (Seuol) was very streamlined. I felt like a little American fish in a river of people who knew what they were doing. We would queue for a bus and then run off it to the next line. The baggage was a bit of a struggle, but not so bad. I feel like I may have over packed.
The bus to Suwon was also insanely straightforward. There were a lot of buses; all with two or three stops. If I got on the wrong one, I would have been screwed. Even out here in the boonies (compared to Seuol) things are very metropolitan. The airport staff were very helpful. I kind of just followed the military people (US) around until I had to find my bus.
So, the airport is on an island about 20km off the shore of Korea. I think we spent about 30mins driving on a bridge from the island to the peninsula. Surrounded by an all encompassing haze that prevented me from seeing much of anything. Seoul is surrounded by tall hills (you may call them mountains.... they're not really). The country-side remains me a lot of Tanzania. Red earth covered in green with some rock faces. The highway does not, it was huge and straight. My seat partner on the bus was very well dressed (purple sweater) and is also staying here. I think he's Australian and in some way related to Samsung. I assume most foreigners in Suwon are. He, naturally, did not say a word to me the entire trip (only an hour, so I'll cut him some slack). I have yet to see Seoul.
On my approach to Suwon I considered doing some sight-seeing. It looked approachable enough. However, the closer we got to the hotel the more I began to question my sight-seeing initiative. I am more than a little out of it. I think it's Friday? I am on the 7th floor and there are 11 above me. I am not in the tallest building in my area. The view from my room is green until it is blocked by the wall of high rise buildings. I do not have water. There is a message about maintenance.... I do have a bidet. At least my dairear can become clean. No roommate yet. I feel a little bad going to sleep when she may accidentally wake me. I saw her name, so I think she is Chinese, Korean, etc.... There were some other Americans on the plane over (I think one was getting up the nerve to talk to me while we chatted before the flight). I don't know if they're part of this program though. If they are, they did not take the very nice bus. They were both wearing college/tech t-shirts, but I don't know how promising that is. I got a look at the list of participates who are staying here and it looks like mainly grad students. I feel a tad out classed.
It's very hazy here. I wonder if that is the pollution or the monsoons coming in?
The bus to Suwon was also insanely straightforward. There were a lot of buses; all with two or three stops. If I got on the wrong one, I would have been screwed. Even out here in the boonies (compared to Seuol) things are very metropolitan. The airport staff were very helpful. I kind of just followed the military people (US) around until I had to find my bus.
So, the airport is on an island about 20km off the shore of Korea. I think we spent about 30mins driving on a bridge from the island to the peninsula. Surrounded by an all encompassing haze that prevented me from seeing much of anything. Seoul is surrounded by tall hills (you may call them mountains.... they're not really). The country-side remains me a lot of Tanzania. Red earth covered in green with some rock faces. The highway does not, it was huge and straight. My seat partner on the bus was very well dressed (purple sweater) and is also staying here. I think he's Australian and in some way related to Samsung. I assume most foreigners in Suwon are. He, naturally, did not say a word to me the entire trip (only an hour, so I'll cut him some slack). I have yet to see Seoul.
On my approach to Suwon I considered doing some sight-seeing. It looked approachable enough. However, the closer we got to the hotel the more I began to question my sight-seeing initiative. I am more than a little out of it. I think it's Friday? I am on the 7th floor and there are 11 above me. I am not in the tallest building in my area. The view from my room is green until it is blocked by the wall of high rise buildings. I do not have water. There is a message about maintenance.... I do have a bidet. At least my dairear can become clean. No roommate yet. I feel a little bad going to sleep when she may accidentally wake me. I saw her name, so I think she is Chinese, Korean, etc.... There were some other Americans on the plane over (I think one was getting up the nerve to talk to me while we chatted before the flight). I don't know if they're part of this program though. If they are, they did not take the very nice bus. They were both wearing college/tech t-shirts, but I don't know how promising that is. I got a look at the list of participates who are staying here and it looks like mainly grad students. I feel a tad out classed.
It's very hazy here. I wonder if that is the pollution or the monsoons coming in?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Preping for trip
It is the mark of the modern era that in order to prepare for my trip, I must first begin a blog. In the next week I hope to learn and understand the blog writing process.
But where am I going and why should you care?
I have landed an internship with a tech firm in Korea. I will head there in June for a four month internship. The longest I have been outside the US was for two weeks four years ago in Tanzania. While there, I managed to get and recover from Malaria (hence the name). I hope this trip will be exciting but for different reasons. At this point, I hope this trip happens. I am waiting on a Visa....
I welcome your comments and intend to say more in the coming weeks.
But where am I going and why should you care?
I have landed an internship with a tech firm in Korea. I will head there in June for a four month internship. The longest I have been outside the US was for two weeks four years ago in Tanzania. While there, I managed to get and recover from Malaria (hence the name). I hope this trip will be exciting but for different reasons. At this point, I hope this trip happens. I am waiting on a Visa....
I welcome your comments and intend to say more in the coming weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)