Today was the first full day in Korea. It started off pretty interesting. We made out way to go to breakfast because our dorm food cards have not been set up yet, so we found a mcdonalds. Yes, a Korean Mcdonalds. We got the normal mcdonalds breakfast that is served in the United states which was kind of releiving because i was not wanting to eat fish or squid my first day off the plane. I know we will be eating alot of it I am just not prepared when i've been traveling with no sleep since the plane and time change drains you substaintally. But anyways we eat and leave and I notice a moped tagged with a deliever set up labeled "McDelivery", first of all, im blown away, delivery mcdonalds? How awesome is that!!! Every1 has craved the 1am nuggets (maybe fish cakes here idk). But it was just cool to see. We continued after breakfast to go to a Health Center Or Hospital as its called in the States to have chest X-rays done to make sure we dont have TB. I guess S.K will not allow you in the country if you have TB as a tourist. So after that was completed (No one has TB, thankfully) We continued on our way to come back to the Seoul Tech university as we had a scheduled tour of it coming up shortly. However, on our way back we passed our very first dog resturant. Yes where they serve dog as entrees. I aswell as the group was a little creeped out by this and just carried on our way back home. Eventually it came time to go on our tour of the university. We were acompanied by two of the Seoul Tech Student Ambassoders who which gave an amazing tour of the campus. The architecture is different than Washington State and very modernized and cool to see. The university itself is over 100 years old but felt like it was just newly built. Something very interesting to me was that their main student building that is similair to the CUB at WSU was built to symbolize a momenutal landmark in Korea that was created after the cease fire was order to stop the war in Korea. The building is one of koreas most noticable landmarks and was really cool to see. Also, the entrance/gate to the university is built in replica to the building. Very cool persectives to see how things were built. After the tour we grabbed some lunch at the cafetiera for the students where i experienced the first dorm food in korea. It was differnet but eatable. We made our way back to the dorms to rest before we were to go to the Dongdeamun Night Market and The DDP or (dream design play monuments)
After about a 2 hour break we went to the DDP. We went by subway, about a 45 minute ride from Seoul Tech Univ. It was cool because it was my very first time on a subway. Korean transportation systems are very easy to use and very quick for getting aroudn such a big city. The DDP is a very well known architecture milestone for S.K. it was completely designed with all aluminum panels, that are all unique to eachother. There is about 550,000 total panels that make up the DDP. It was incredible !! The history behind the monument is what is the coolest part about the place. The DDP was created over an old baseball feild that was used in the 1920's to the 90's. The feild was the home of S.K. professional baseball team. But when the team reloacted they decided to tear down the stadium and build what is now the DDP. Another interesting fact, was when they tore down the staduim they discoverd old stuctures from thousands of years ago that were the foundations of houses many many years ago. The artifacts are well perseved within the DDP and continue to be taken care of daily. The DDP has created a memorial for the old stadium thats within the DDP that holds the history of the staduim and allows for people to see what came of Korean baseball. Also, the Redsox played their in 1948. So it definately was labled as a historcal piece in baseball history. The DDP was designed by a very well known Korean architect, She is the only woman in ALL of S.K to develop monuments for the country. It continues to be recognized daily for its unique architecture and its history that it is known for.
Next was the Dongdeamun Market. The market itself is within walking distance to the DDP. Now this market is said to be the fashion center for Koreans and is solely for clothes/shoes/jewelry etc. At the market you saw all sorts of street vendors and store moving their products outside so people walking the streets would be able to see goods for sale. It was really cool to see all the variety of things that was avaible to you. From knock off watch brands, sunglasses, shoes, you name it, you could find it here. It was very cool to see though being thats how people make a living. They contiously retail goods at ungodly times at night and continue to do it day after day. While borwsing the market we got to find a 7 story building that had a food court type resturants at the top that we could eat at. They offered everything from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, all sorts of variety for you to chose from. I got a basic sweet and sour pork from the chinese place and was amazed at the proportions. Very large proportions of food but very very cheap. I payed 4,000w or $4.00USD for my entire meal. And i still had food left over. Overall the food was very good and allowed me to pick something to eat that i was more comfortable with.
After we ate we continued to shop the market where I was in search of a bath towel. Now korea is a little different in the regards of home goods like towels toiletries etc. I couldnt find a towel anywhere. I looked and looked and couldnt find anything. Finally we found 1 shop that sold towels. Beach towels however. But they would do the job. So i ended up getting a snoopy beach towel that will sufice for my 6 weeks here in S.K. Now Korea does have a store like walmart, its called E-mart. But where we are staying does not have one close by. So we are unable to get to it to buy those goods that we need. But all said and done i am glad i was able to pick up a towel. So i can stop drying my self with hand towels. All in all my first day was very exciting and very long. I was so tired by the end of it i got home and slept with my shoes on.
Until next time.
#CougsinKorea
