Sunday, August 2, 2009

This morning my roommate and I walked around the neighborhood outside of Yonsei to get some breakfast. We ate at a chain cafe chain that we've seen in a few places around here and we both had pastries with sweet fillings in them. Mine had a bright green colored filling - maybe a rice paste? Kate's had a raspberry creamcheese type of filling. Both were quite good. We then walked all the way back up the hill and then back down a little later to meet up with the rest of the group. A few of us decided to go to the Korean National Museum so we took the subway over there. The nearest subway stop is only about a 5 minute walk from the university gate, but about 20 minutes from our dorm.

The National Museum is free and has exhibits on Korean history and art. There were a ton of people there. More than any museum I've seen in the USA. I looked around for about 1 1/2 hrs and then got some melon ice cream from a vendor outside. There's also an ice cream shop right near the main campus gate so I'll have to try that too. I wanted to get a new pillow so I took the subway back to the university and walked up the road to the women's college that is next to Yonsei. The street outside the woman's college is packed with stores that sell shoes, make-up and clothes. I will definitely go back again to check out the shoes. I managed to find a home goods store and got a fluffy pillow and nice case. No more sleeping on plastic. After doing some exploring today I have to say that it's very easy to get around Seoul because everything is in Korean and English and there is a ton of sinage. So far I've felt totally comfortable riding the subway and walking around.

At 6:00 we had a dinner with the Korean students who will be in our class. We ate at a restaurant just a couple minutes from the campus. It was traditonally Korean style so we sat on the floor and had various vegetable side dishes and some spicy pork. It was all really good and actually a lot like all the Korean food I've had in Boston. The Korean students are all nice. I'm sure I'll learn more about them when I start class tomorrow.

So now I'm going to skim some readings for class and then go to sleep. Our first class is tomorrow from 9 to 1 and then we're visiting the Korean National Library in the afternoon.