Our Year Abroad !

It has been a while since we've updated this blog and a lot has happened since then. Let's just say our experience in Korea definitely influenced our future goals and now we're on a mission to get back! We're making this post because we finally summed up our year abroad in about 4 minutes. Our follow on project for the Gilman scholarship was running this blog for the duration of our stay in Korea  and showing students the ups and downs of living in a foreign country as well as being informative to potential study abroad students and finally creating a video of our whole journey. We would have loved to have added more footage, but we tried to include as much as possible and we really liked the result. This video not only features our experience, but the experiences of some of our peers as well. Making the decision to study abroad can open a world of possibilities and we hope that our blog and this video encourage other students to make that important decision to change their lives just like we did. We hope you enjoy it! ^-^

Volunteering Opportunities in Korea

A great thing about our exchange program was that they had internships and volunteering opportunities for students. One of the opportunities that we've mentioned in a previous post was volunteering to teach English at a middle school. Initially we had planned to only teach for a semester, but we loved it so much that we decided to do it for the year. Although it was intimidating at first, but by the end of the year we became a lot more confident and we learned a lot from our students. This was definitely one of our most favorite times in Korea. We taught English to a 3rd year class and most of them were already fluent in English so our goal was to challenge them and encourage them to improve their speaking skills. Since it was our first year teaching we did a lot of trial and error and we spent a lot of time preparing lesson plans. Rather than making them learn from a book we challenged them with a variety of activities that kept them engaged such as spelling bees, critical thinking games, speaking games and so on. Overall it was one of the most rewarding experiences and we really recommend other students studying abroad to volunteer and take advantage of opportunities offered to them. This opportunity made us want to possibly pursue a teaching career in the future and having obtained a year experience under our belt will really benefit us in the future.

Some of our students playing a Jenga english game that consisted of  various challenges on the blocks! 

Pizza party on the last day of class ! 

The DMZ

It is hard to imagine that with everything going on at this moment between North and South Korea it be possible to take a trip to the JSA and to be honest who would ?! The answer might be surprising, but many people would and that includes us! As I discussed in my previous post, life in South Korea has not been affected by the North's threats, not even the DMZ. We found ourselves on an hour long bus ride to the JSA on the very day that North Korea declared a state of war on South Korea. (Take note that tours of the JSA and DMZ are scheduled days in advance.) At that time we had not heard of this until our tour guide informed us that there was a 5% chance that our tour might be cancelled, yes only a 5% chance. He informed us that it was common for tours to be cancelled, but that on this day the chances were a little higher. Before coming to South Korea one of the things we looked forward to the most was going to the DMZ or the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The experience is hard to describe, but we can say that there were a mix of feelings. It was definitely an exciting experience, and at the same time it was serious, but most of all it was fascinating. Throughout the tour we were closely monitored by the soldiers assisting the tour and there were many rules that included things you were not allowed to wear to how to act during the tour. It actually took a long time for us to make it to the actual demilitarized zone because there were so many check points that consisted of soldiers stopping the bus to check your passport and make sure you were wearing appropriate attire for your visit. Also during the tour we were only allowed to take pictures in certain areas and only when they said it was okay to, they are so strict that breaking a rule resulted in the cancellation of the whole tour! Aside from that the tour was an unforgettable experience.

It felt surreal when we finally reached the 38th parallel. There were no North Korean soldiers in sight that day, except one who kept looking at us with his binoculars.

Inside there were two South Korean soldiers and they were like life sizes dolls who did not move whatsoever. While inside we got the opportunity to stand in North Korea for a few minutes! It was awesome!! 

This is known as The Bridge of No Return. At the end of the Korean War,  Koreans were given the opportunity to cross the bridge to which ever side they wanted, but once they did they were never allowed to cross back. 

At the JSA gift shop you can find North Korean money !  

North Korea

Recently the situation between North and South Korea has been escalating and this has caused everybody back home to worry for those of currently abroad in Korea. We've received many emails from family, friends, professors, our study abroad department and so on, and so we thought it was important to create a post regarding the situation at the moment.

We've noticed that the news back home has been bombarding everyone with overly exaggerated stories of the situation. On a daily basis we receive emails from many people with these news stories written in a way that make the situation seem worse than it actually is! In South Korea life is going on as usual and it seems that South Koreans are immune to North Korea's recent actions and statements. Many of our Korean friends and professors have been very open about their feelings towards the current situation and have admitted that they are not worried whatsoever. This is due to the fact that this is nothing new to the Korean peninsula and both Korea's have been in dispute since the end of the Korean war (which has never technically been over.) As a result the majority of us foreigners residing in Korea at the moment feel the same way and we're going about our days normally, but we do want to mention that even though we feel safe we are taking precautions in case anything is to occur and we have not completely dismissed the situation. 

We believe that for anyone studying abroad there are always many risks that we must be prepared for and in our case at the moment it's political unrest. There are many ways of taking precautions and you can do this way before you leave to your destination!
 The first thing we did was sign up to Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). It is a free service for U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad and by entering information about your trip it allows the State Department to be of greater assistance in case of an emergency as well as providing you with information sent by email and other sources from your nearest embassy. For us this has been the best thing we did before coming!  Receiving daily emails about the situation has really kept us informed of how the situation is developing or if there are any precautions we should take.
Here is a link to the website: https://step.state.gov/step/
The next thing we did was create an account with International SOS which provide medical assistance,  international insurance and security services. We created this account because our university has a membership with them, so it would be good to find out if your university does  too or look for similar options!
Thirdly, once you are in the country it is always a good idea to make copies of all your paperwork and this includes passport, visa, insurance, any legal document of importance that could be used in case an accident occurs as well as giving your friends and family an address, and number where they can contact you at all times.
Lastly, KNOW WHERE YOUR NEAREST EMBASSY IS LOCATED. It is so important to know where your embassy is located because if something does occur the first thing you want to do is go to your embassy!  

Aside from this, with everything going on we managed to take a trip to the JSA !  I will definitely post about it later.

Weekend Outing

This weekend we explored the streets of Hongdae and Gangnam. We spent our Friday exploring Hongdae with our friend Lucy who introduced us to her favorite restaurants, cafes, and stores and many other things. This time we visited Hongdae at night and boy does Hongdae come alive at night. Night time is definitely the best time to visit Hongdae, especially during the spring and summer ! It was so much fun we spent the whole day together and ended our outing at of course you guessed it, Karaoke a.k.a. noraebang!

Our friend Lucy took us to this restaurant so we could try Tteokboki and she also informed us that the restaurant's name is  Hongdae Gangsters!   

                         

This is the Tteokbokki from the Hongdae Gangsters and while it was spicy it was delicious. We also had pig stomach and pig intestines that are on the right. She was worried we wouldn't like it, but we informed her we ate this back home too. We also tried other dishes and overall the meal was delicious and we definitely plan to go back. 

Shopping in Hongdae is a dream. There are so many shops and most items are really cheap ! We stopped by Stylenanda a very popular online store. This one in Hongdae is there main one and we even had the opportunity to see the models!   The store has three floors, but there is not a lot of variety and everything that is sold here is one size and they only have certain items. The plus side is that the clothes is cheaper here than online especially for international buyers. The store was definitely an experience and we left with jackets we wear almost everyday. 

Our favorite part of the trip was the Hello Kitty Cafe ! Everything is pink and the whole place just looks amazing . While we loved what we saw the reason why we loved it the most can be explained by the picture below. THEY HAVE DR. PEPPER!! Dr. Pepper is rare in Korea! Lucy told us that this is because it is not very popular or well known in Korea. The only soft drinks you'll find are Coke, Sprite, and Mt. Dew. Some convenience stores carry Dr. Pepper, but only very fewand the other option is to travel a long distance to Costco. We were so happy to find it here. Also the dessert was delicious especially the frosting! 

Finally we ended up at a photo sticker shop! You'll find many of these throughout Korea, but they can be sort of expensive. A set of pictures will cost you around 6,000 to 8,000 won depending on the machine you choose.  

Take a Little Time

This is one of the noraebang we have been going to in 건대.

 

The first two weeks of being in Seoul were thrilling, breathtaking, and very much enjoyable. It was a mix of wonderful feelings and now we are half way into the third week and these feelings have subsided. Somedays if not everyday we feel frustrated, homesick, depressed and long for home. We miss our family, we miss the familiarity and ease of being back home. These feelings arise from the various frustrations we have been experiencing since the first day; the difference is that these have gotten more difficult such as communicating, overwhelming changes, the stress of classes, and daily small challenges that would not be a challenge back home. Communicating with others I believe has to be the most frustrating issue for us. While there are many tourists in Seoul and there is a great amount of English around most of the time you will have to communicate with people using hand gestures and so on. Communicating with professors and other classmates has also been frustrating. Finding the packets and books we need for class has become an issue because most of the time the people who sell them do not understand a word of English and this leads to considerable frustration as well as having no idea where some of the places where they sell our books are located. Our professors while they speak English have difficulty at times expressing themselves and we are often lost during class trying to figure out what is going on. Sometimes buying things or trying to get things becomes difficult, but it isn't all too bad because people are always willing to help! For instance one time a lady used her phone to translate what she was trying to ask us and other times we'll say it in Korean and they will try to say it in English and somehow we always (well most of the time) we manage to get somewhere maybe not always where we wanted to get to, but we get somewhere and learn what not to do next time.

Everyday is a new learning experience. The food has also not sat well with us and often we have trouble finding something to eat that won't make us feel sick, but we try everyday. While we have only been here for three weeks we have already learned so much and learned to appreciate the little things from back home. Everyday is going to be a challenge, but the real challenge is how we handle it and learn to cope and adapt to the situations we find ourselves in. We know it's going to get better as soon as we get the jist of things, but for now we have relied on karaoke known as 'noraebang' in Korean as a way to release the stress we feel. I think we have relied on it too much because we've been there already more than 4 times since we arrived.

                                           Got a perfect score on one of the songs we sang !

The first week of school

The first week of school is over and all we can say is that it did not go as smoothly as we wanted the week to go, but isn't that the best part of living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language? Making mistakes is probably something we will keep doing especially since our skills in Korean are not great, but learning from them is the important part. We started school on Monday and my sister and I along with two other girls missed our first class ! We found ourselves waiting in the wrong classroom for about 45 minutes until we called our program manager who informed us we had missed the class. Long story short our program manager Jaehoon told us we had gone to the wrong part of the building because apparently there is a new building and old and took us to the right building. Our class was located in the old building while we accidentally ended up in the new building, but the rest of the week went well! We did not miss any more classes and our classes were actually great. Our major here is Political Science because they do not have our major from back home which happens to be Chicano Studies or (Mexican American studies). Many people asked us why we chose South Korea since our major had nothing to do with Korea, but to our surprise the classes we are taking definitely correlate with our major well! I will have to elaborate on another post, but for now we also happened to go to the cafeteria for dinner a couple times. The food isn't bad, it's okay, but I think it's gonna take a while for our stomachs to get accustomed to the change.We haven't had the chance to try breakfast, but we will soon. Here are a few of the meals we've had so far.

Every Friday the school cafeteria brings out the Western Food option. This Friday morning the Western breakfast  featured included 2 slices of white bread, french fries, cereal and a small side salad. That's a pretty creative breakfast! Though it was tempting we ended up going with the Korean breakfast which was some kind of vegetable soup, steamed rice, kimchi and some other side dishes. 

Gyeongbok Palace

The last few posts have focused on certain aspects of living as a foreigner in Korea, but I want to focus this post on the different areas I have had the opportunity to visit in the past 10 days that I have been here. I honestly don't think I would have been to these many places if it hadn't been for my program. My sister Kai and I did however visit Hongdae on our own thanks to the help of our friend S who happens to be Korean !

Gyeongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace was such a beautiful place and it was huge! This is where I learned about 'ondol' or the floor heating system. The guards at the entrance were so serious and many people took pictures with them. They barely even blinked it was seriously an amazing place to visit. We also learned that the Gyeongbok Palace is  the largest and main palace out of the five palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty. It's one thing to learn about this through books, but to see it is something else. 

E-MART

     Since we arrived we have probably gone to E-mart about 10 times, maybe more. Somehow we always need something else. It's a good thing E-mart and other shops are of walking distance from the dorms. On the first day our program managers took us to E-mart and gave us half an hour to buy anything we needed such as bedding, shampoo and all the things we did not bring with us. We were told E-mart was the Walmart of Korea and it definitely seems that way. At first it was overwhelming and half an hour was not enough time to buy everything we needed. This is because we did not know where anything was and we had a hard time finding things. Now we navigate the store with such ease, but that first day was a blur. It was definitely a good idea for us to buy our own bedding at home because it's so expensive here! The only things we did buy concerning our beds were blankets and pillows which were relatively cheap. One thing I noticed is that there are different sales people located in the different sections of E-mart, something I hadn't seen before. The shampoo section, lotion, kitchen cleaning supplies, you name it, each all have their own sales person who try to get you to buy certain items on sale or are just simply there to help. This one lady even opened different shampoo bottles for us so we could smell them! After finding some of the things we need it we headed for the cashiers and though we didn't know what to expect that first day at E-mart we definitely learned a lot. After paying we noticed that they did not give us any grocery bags and were puzzled by this. We found ourselves carrying our items all the way back that night. Grabbing a shopping cart was also something else; you have to insert a 100 won coin to use it which we did not know. Had it not been for one of the girls we met in the program who told us this goes on back home in her state as well we would of been lost.
        First, in Korea if you want  grocery bags you have to pay for it! Many of the people shopping there did not have any shopping bags instead there's this section where you can pack your things into recycled boxes. We have yet to figure out how this works. Korea is big on recycling ! This might be a reason to why they sell the grocery bags, but I will elaborate about recycling in Korea in another post. We returned to Emart the next day on our own in search for hair dryers, straightners and adapters/ converters for our electronics. From previous research we learned that it was better to buy hair dryers and straightners in Korea than bringing them from home. This is because even if you use a converter it will not work the same, they are pretty much useless. We had trouble finding these items because we thought we could find them in the hair section like back home, but it turns out they're all in the electronics section! The hair dryer and straightner were not expensive at all and work really well. We also had trouble finding the converters, but once we did we even had a more difficult time deciding which to take since everything is written in Korean and though we can read it we don't actually understand all of it. We decided to just risk it and chose one, thankfully it was the right one !

We were concerned about how we were going to communicate with others since we can't speak Korean well especially when it came to paying for our items, but our fears subsided once we actually went through it. At least at E-mart all you have to do is look at the screen for the total and if you want a bag they'll either offer it or you can ask for it by pointing or just saying bag. One thing I do have to mention is that even though it's Seoul you shouldn't expect anyone to speak or understand English. So far we have met very few people who can actually speak it and most of the time they will speak to you in Korean, but not to worry because they will definitely try to help you in anyway they can. People have been so helpful to us it's been great. This first week has definitely come with a lot of firsts, and many challenges, but we're excited of everything that is to come!

Looks like we made it.

It is now Sunday March 3rd and we've been in Seoul for almost a week. To sum up this week I would say it has been exhausting, but AMAZING. In just the few days that we have been here we have been to Insadong, Hongdae, Myeong-dong, Gyeongbok Palace, and many other places as well as boring, but necessary places such as the immigration office. There is so much to talk about, but we'll begin with the flight. We flew from Dallas to Seoul and it sounded pretty scary at first, by this I mean flying for so long especially for two girls who have never been on a flight for that long. Despite our fears, while the flight was long it wasn't too bad. The service was great and the flight attendants would pass by offerring drinks and snacks every 2 hours or so! Also each seat came with a pillow, blanket, toothbrush, toothpaste, slippers, and a water bottle which was great ! We flew Korean Air and we received two meals during the flight which I did not expect. We had the choice of Bibimbap, chicken, and fish; our first meal we decided on bibimbap which was delicious especially for airplane food and then we had bulgogi or beef. They were sort of heavy meals so it would be a good idea to skip one. I was starving so I had both, but not without regret afterwards. They had a good collection of movies and shows both American, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese to choose from. I ended up watching 2 movies, and a Friends episode, but we spent most of the flight sleeping. We have no trouble sleeping during flights, but if you plan on flying for a long period of time (ours was 15 hours) I'd recommend you get something to hold on to or can sleep on such as a pillow. I had a middle seat (worst seat you can have) so having something like that was extremely helpful! I also recommend checking in early and lining up ! We were some of the last to board and it was bad! Once we were in, it was almost impossible to find any open bins for our luggage. Our seats were in the 50s and our carry on items ended up being all the way up in bins 29 and 28. Also stand up and walk around as often as you can because it will really help just being able to stretch and move your legs around especially with jetlag. After our flight we went through customs; many had warned us to be prepared to spend at least half an hour, but to our surprise we went by in just a few minutes! They took our finger prints looked at our passports and took a picture.  We then picked up our luggage which was not hard to find at all and then went on to find our program manager. He recognized us right away and then we looked for an ATM to get some won. We carried some money with us on the plane, but we did not exchange it. We used it for anything we needed while in the Dallas airport which came handy and once we arrived to Korea we withdrew about 300,000 won each about  $276.00 on an ATM. It was a lot cheaper than exchanging money prior to our departure which we learned about after research. We arrived about 4:30pm and since we were going to Seoul from Incheon it took approximately a little over an hour to arrive to our campus. Transportation was provided by our program which happens to be ISA and 4 of us took a cab. From what we saw the fee was about 100,000 won or $90.00 more or less from the airport to Konkuk University. After this we went to Emart to buy any essentials which I will have to make a separate post for because there is so much we learned on our first day in Seoul.
  

Packing

We’re down to 4 days before our departure and as the date gets closer we have no time to waste. The past few days have been hectic and they have all involved last minute preparations. We have a bad habit of procrastinating so we still have a lot to do. One thing is for sure, all our documentation is finally done and in order so all that is left to worry about is the little things such as PACKING. We don’t want to over pack but is it really possible not to? Last night we went shopping for essential items, but everything we saw all of a sudden we need it. Although we were on a ‘buy everything mode’ we managed to avoid throwing everything insight into the shopping cart and focused on the items that were on our list with the help of our beloved sister who kept us in check. (*Thank you Daigoro!*) When traveling to a foreign country it is important to check for items that your destination might not have, are hard to obtain, and/ or can be very costly. It is also important to check what is allowed and prohibited by your airlines to avoid any mishaps at the airport.

 Packing list

1.   Deodorant (deodorant is very expensive in South Korea and comes in smaller sizes so I suggest you stock up on deodorant before traveling to Korea.)  
2.   Toothbrush/ travel size toothpaste
3.   Bed sheets (Western style sheets are impossible to find and can also be expensive, but it is ultimately more of a personal choice.)
4.  Aspirin/ Ibuprofen
5.  Anti-nausea pills (I tend to get motion sickness easily)
6.   Eye drops, contacts, contact solution and glasses
7.    Full size towels (These can be found in Korea, but are a bit pricier.)
8.  Copies of our passport, visa, insurance, university letter and other important documents.
9.    Originals – passport, debit / credit card, print-off of e-ticket, etc.
10. Stock up on make up! Especially if it’s a brand that cannot be found in .   
11.   Birth control. Bring enough to last your stay. Talk to your gynecologist or insurance although it can be easier to get it from your doctor. They can give you sample packs!
12. Other female toiletries (pads, tampons) Tampons are rare in Korea so it's essential to pack your own.
13.    Laptops, cameras and SD cards
14.  English/ Korean dictionary
15.   Bring about $300 in cash for emergencies and things you might need to purchase the first week.     

Clothes

1.       1-2 winter coats

2.       1 Spring jacket

3.       Various shirts  (about 5-7 long sleeve/ short sleeve)

4.       One formal outfit in case of any formal occasions such as school events and dinners etc.

5.       Thermals ! We packed at least 2-3 thermals each.

6.        3 pairs of shoes. Casual, formal, and our boots for the rainy weather

7.       4 pairs of jeans

8.       Sweatshirts, cardigans

9.       Enough underwear to last 2 weeks

1.   2 weeks’ worth of socks

Miscellaneous (Optional)

1.       Favorite movies

2.       Snacks ! (Both salty and sweet. Chances are you might not like the food served on the plane so always bring snacks.)

3.       Favorite books/ magazines

4.       Family pictures

5.       Journal to write about our experiences

6.       Calendar to keep track of our schedule

Since we will be there for half a year and through seasonal changes we’ve decided it be best to buy our clothes as seasons changed.

We will definitely revise this list once our stay in Korea is over and let you know if we over packed or not and what items we missed or did not need.  Overall we spent about $500 dollars for all the necessary things, but remember since it’s two of us it’s double the items and we did stock up on some clothes as well. 

*Other important info: Make sure you call your bank to let them know you will be traveling abroad so you can use your debit/ credit cards without any problems. Also call your phone carrier to learn more about international calling plans. Most likely we will need to get a phone in Korea, but having that international plan can be very useful for the first few days or until we get a phone and prevent any extra charges.*

Ambition

It feels like it was only yesterday that studying abroad in South Korea sparked our interest, fast forward a year and we’re only 7 days away from embarking on what we know will be a life changing experience.  Time has flown by, but the process has not been an easy one, from choosing a study abroad program and/or a university that we felt would suite us the best to obtaining a student visa. Although we somewhat expected study abroad to be a challenging process we never fully realized just all that it entailed. Although it can be an overwhelming process we have come to believe as we get closer to the date that it has all been worth it and we’re positive that we will feel even more strongly about it once we are physically there. We were planning to start this blog once we were in Korea, but we feel that it is important to start it now to provide those who are planning to study abroad in the future or who are already going through the process with some valuable study abroad information. Hopefully this will save others some of the unnecessary stress and headaches that can sometimes come with this whole process.  Always Awake will not only focus on our experience as exchange students in  Korea, but it will also consist of as we previously mentioned important  information, as well as tips, and everything we can think of that will be of interest to others! We have noticed that though there are many blogs of exchange students in Korea many of them are very vague on what the process is actually like and are often more personal than informative. We are aiming at making this blog as HELPFUL as possible to others!  We will try our best to update as often as we can, definitely at least twice a week and post many pictures and possibly short videos. Also, this blog will be based on the experiences of both my sister and I and there will be posts written together and others separately, but we will go into more detail on another post. In the coming days leading up to our flight we will make several posts about the first steps one should take when considering study abroad as well as the scholarships available to students and  the process of obtaining a student visa and also a more personal post about us and who we are!   

★Ro & Kai★