So I have finally made it safely to the Republic of South Korea. It seemed like it took forever, mostly because the flight was like 15 hours long. I wish I was exaggerating haha.
Before I even left the country, though, I got an awesome surprise. My aunt Lora had her baby, Olivia Valee Day, the day before. It was really fun, the family all came in and we waited in the hospital like all day for little Olivia. She was beautiful and my aunt was so proud. Her husband Sam was beaming and it was really a great moment to be able to share with them.
Feb. 22
The whole flight sequence all went really well. The first flight was to Atlanta on Sunday and it only took 40 minutes in the air to get there. The best part of the flight was the guy I was sitting next to. He was pretty much the story master. This guy was 22 years old and had already mastered the art of being your stereotypical southern-bred high school drop out. He looked like he was 40 though, which was kinda cool, to have a gap that huge in how old you are and how old you look. He told me how he had a wife (I think, he kept calling her his old lady) but he was seeing this other girl in Illinois. He said he had been working on a tugboat in Louisiana for 5 years and how he was about to get his pilot's license (boat, not plane). He made bank though, from what he said, he made $77,000 a year. He told me how his boss drove him to the girl-he-is-seeing's house but then abandoned him and how he had to pay some guy $400 to drive him to Nashville. I'm pretty sure he was hammered when he was telling me all this, because he smelled like a brewery so that made listening to all his crazy stories that much more fun. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the guy, but oh well. He told me so many crazy stories I don't even have room for them here. Anyways, the plane landed and I was off to the hotel to stay until my flight in the morning.
I stayed in the Best Western in College Park, which was really nice, but I'm pretty sure I could have got a smaller room. I didn't realize I had booked a king size bed, and I'm pretty sure the cab driver ripped me off. Anyone who takes cabs normally can help me if they know how much they usually cost but I'm pretty sure that an 8 minute ride shouldn't cost $15.00.
Feb. 23-24
Today I got up to a prestigious Best Western Continental breakfast. I ate enough croissants and bananas for a king's army. I went out to the airport afterwards using the hotel shuttle and got checked in with plenty of time before my flight boarded.
The flight itself was great, no turbulence, all smooth. However, 15 hours is a LONG time. At first it was all good because they had like 20 movies to pick from and a whole bunch of tv shows and stuff. I was set. I got to watch pineapple express and flash of genius, an episode of house and an episode of scrubs. Why not watch more you ask? About halfway through the flight, my movie playing capability turned off, but it was limited to me and the guy sitting next to me. We were the only ones on the plane it happened to.
It was ok though, because they had about 60 cds to pick from and a bunch of radio stations. I got to listen to a little bit of the newst coldplay album and a couple songs on the radio before that too cut out. Oh well. The rest of the 8 hours was spent either reading my biography on Einstein book (really really good book about him by the way) or playing games like bejeweled, zuma, insaniquarium, inflight trivia, and inflight poker. The cool thing about the poker and the trivia was that I was playing with passengers all over the airplane.
I somehow made it through the flight and navigated my way through baggage claim and back to check in to my final flight to Daegu. Some Korean professional soccer team was on the same flight and the flight was pretty empty. I was pretty oblivious to the flight itself, because I was asleep like the whole time. I was incredibly exhausted. The plane landed and I stumbled out to meet the chauffeur who was supposed to take me to Daegu University.
I slept the whole way there to and we made it to my dormitory. When I got there, a chinese guy was waiting for me who helped bring me up to my room. However, there was no:toilet paper, towels. I went down to the front desk and they gave me a handful of toilet paper but no towel, so a shower was out (thank god I took one before I left Atlanta). When I went back up to my room and started feeling dreadful about how the trip was going to go it was like I got a sign that said, "don't worry," because some people showed up who helped me get my internet set up and gave me an alarm clock (I didn't have any way to tell the time except my computer lol). They were so nice to me, and as an RA we never did that stuff for our international students, so I am eternally grateful for that ray of sunshine they brought into my life.
Being an international student is incredibly different than being a visitor or a traveller or a two-week-program student, and even more different than a native student. The language barrier so far is like the great wall of China. Before I left I studied the Rosetta Stone and some other ways to learn Korean, but I never really talked to anyone face to face. What no one tells you is, NOONE TALKS LIKE THAT lol. People still mumble, stutter, talk too fast (even for other koreans), don't pronounce words, and don't use correct grammar, just like we do. I know exactly how international students in America must feel though, because I know that the things I see aren't unique to Korea.
Feb. 25
Today I woke up on time without my alarm clock (looks like instead of the not enough sleep type of jet lag, my body thinks it has way too much sleep and I naturally am only sleeping like 5 hours) and got ready to meet my international student help people. I met Mr. Kang, my best help, and Mr. Lee, my "dean", and Patrick Travers, the international teacher's leader. They were all really super nice and gave me a ton of info and helpful advice.
Fun Daegu facts:
It was the first university in Korea
It is considered the best university around for education and special education type majors
It's the lead university in many government education programs
It has a braille museum and braille library (
I went to Costco today and spent way too much money ha ha. Apparently Korean Costco is just as addictive as American Costco. I did buy a bunch of stuff which would keep me well nourished and everything while I'm here. Don't forget lots of Korean junk food too. I have such a sweet tooth. We made it back safely and that brings me to where I am now, sitting here blogging and jammin out.
Today wasn't all just enjoying the traveling and shopping, though, I got to have some real insights. I learned what a major international university values in its facilities and course offerings. I learned some things about the Korean people that I was previously unaware of. I learned they don't really like American people, mainly because of our military presence here. Apparently some things have happened (in a drunken stupor) which have really soured perceptions of Americans.
Also, Koreans have incredible disregard for safety on the road, so far as I have seen it. I've already seen a ton of drunk drivers, cab drivers disregarding all road rules, a lack of road police, and scooters EVERYWHERE. The worst part about the scooters is, though, that they seem to be the most dangerous. they go extremely fast on sidewalks and even the wrong way on regular streets. Korean roads are scarily dangerous.
I have met many many people already and have yet to meet a person at the university who wasn't polite and wanted to help me in some way. I don't know how many of you have been to a college in America, but that's a nice change.
Much to my liking, there are two other American students here (Phillip and Kayla). Phillip has already been here a semester and apparently knows like 6 languages, but I don't know any more than that because he is in Jordan for this week. Kayla is from Pennsylvania, is Catholic, is in a serious relationship, and is an international business major. She's really nice and it's her first time in Korea. She will only be here for 11 weeks, so for about half of this trip I will only have one other American friend.
There are many other english speaking people here, though, they just happen to be teachers. Two of them drove me and Kayla to Costco. They're a riot, and definitely offer a different perspective on Korean life: the foreigner trying to make a living.
Just so any interested peoples know, my official address is:
Aron Huckaba
International House (Room Number. #. 1503)
Daegu University
Jillyang, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 712-714, South Korea
I won't be in room 1503 after March 12, so after then you can send stuff to room number 1702.
Well, don't know what else to say, and I'm sure it will hit me right as I sign off.
For now,
Aron Huckaba, International Vagabond
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