The very first day, at the airport, there was a singer or some famous person coming out of the same gate as me at the same time, so I could not find the person who told me that he would be there to pick me up. I was calm enough to go to the information desk and ask to announce his name and to come meet me in front of the gate. Finally, I found the person and the driver. The person who came to pick me up (one of the mentors who I will explain later) and I talked for about 3 hours in a car until we arrived at a dormitory in Hallym University. When I got into my room, there was no one but stuff so I could tell that I had a roommate. But it would've been really helpful if I had someone who I could ask questions near me... Luckily, I asked for WI-FI password so I was not bored or afraid to be alone!
The second day was the orientation day for the summer program students. There were people from United States, Australia, Austria, Malaysia, China, Spain, and Japan (only me). And here I knew about the existence of Korean mentors. They are Hallym University students and they joined the program to help international students who do not know about school or any other things they need help with. I thought it was such a good idea because they took us international students to their favourite restaurants, singing rooms, shopping, and helped us to get to know each other and have fun as much as possible during the stay in Korea. They were very friendly and kind!! So at the orientation, we learnt some rules about school and dorm, and listened to a brief explanation of this course, and took a test to divide us into beginner and intermediate groups. For dinner, we went to eat Korean BBQ and papingsu which is a shaved ice dessert usually served with ice-cream, fruits, rice cakes, or sweet red bean paste. I loved the papingsu very much so I ate it so many time during this stay!!
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| Fruits papingsu and cereal papingsu! Yummy!!! |
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| Our Korean class teacher in the middle! |
After the Korean language class, we had an hour lecture about Korean history and we took a bus to Chuncheon museum. There we saw many historical and valuable things from the Joson era.
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| Turtle shaped stamps for the king |
On the first week, we had Korean language classes in the morning. After lunch, we had a lecture about Korean families on Wednesday, a K-pop dance lesson on Thursday. The K-pop dance ("Oppa Oppa" by Super junior) was taught by Hallym University students who are in a school dance club and they were very funny and keen to teach us how to dance!! It was a lot of fun and we were divided in small groups and had competitions!
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| Our dance teachers! |
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| My dance group members + teachers!! |
After the Seorak mountain, we visited an old house of Ynagban which means a person who's in a higher status in Jeson era. There were many old things like traditional clothes, shoes, plates, and books.
For that night, we stayed in a hotel and played some fun games together. The east beach was really close to the hotel so we walked down to the beach to hang out there too. It was a magnificently exciting day!!
On the next day we visited a place where a Korean drama "Sik Gaek" was filmed. This was were we could experience a big bowl of Bibimbap which is a Korean traditional food made of rice and vegetables mixed all together. We also tried different Korean traditional dishes there and they were all very tasty!! Also they had hundreds of Kimchi pots outside for them to get ready to be eaten.
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| Making Bibimbap with lots of vegetables! |
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| Mix it all up!!! |
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| So many of Kimchi pots! |
The roofs of each buildings are painted neatly and beautifully like this! The very next day was one of the participants' birthdays, so we celebrated right at midnight and surprised her.
On Sundays, we had a day off from the school and we could go anywhere we want to go (but we had to come back before 12:30) so I made appointments with my friends in Seoul and met them there. There were other students who wanted to go to Seoul so we took a KTX which is a Korean high-speed train. It was not too long to sit on the KTX train from Chuncheon to Seoul and the seat was pretty comfortable!
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| At a Korean(?) Italian restaurant and the dishes were fantastic!! |
On Monday after school, we went to an island called Nami Island where the well-known Korean drama "Winter Sonata" was filmed. We went there late so the entry ticket was very cheap and there were not so many people so it was actually a great idea to go there late! But if going there, I recommend to bring a bug spray! haha
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| View from the ferry to Nami Island |
On Tuesday this week, we went to a Korean noodle museum and we learnt about and made Makguksu which is a Chuncheon's traditional food and made of buckwheat. We mixed the buckwheat and water together to made the dough and knead it until it got hard enough to made noodles. Then we put the dough into a noodle-making machine and pushed it as hard as possible and the noodles came out from the bottom into the hot water. In the hot water, the noodles got cooked and we washed them in cold water. After the noodles are into bowls, we put soup with ice, seaweed, red pepper paste, and sesame oil as we liked.
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| Makguksu making machine! |
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| My Makguksu!!! |
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| One spot in the palace's secret garden |
Then we had a free time to shop where we could buy Korean traditional souvenirs. I got really beautiful bookmarks, bracelet, and a lipstick (which is not traditional one...).
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| A street full of Korean traditional souvenirs |
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| Us with the actors and actresses in the play! |
On Thursday, after the Korean language class, we had a Taekwondo class. Students in the Hallym Taekondo club taught us the basic movements but we were not so good at it... However we were separated in small groups and had a competition. And our group won the first place!!! Also we tried to break a wooden plate by punch, kick or head-butt! It was really fun and was a unique experience!!
After the Teakondo class, I went to downtown with some of my friends we did shopping. I bought so many things but everything was very cheap! I love shopping in Korea so much!! haha We also took a sticker pictures which is a small picture taking machine and we go inside to take pictures and after that we can write messages or put stamps on it.
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| Sticker pictures!! |
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| Our room at the pension |
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| A pretty little cafe at the pension! |
The next day, our host mother took us for breakfast and we ate really really a lot!! The amount of food we ate was like for dinner. She ordered spicy beef with vegetables and of course many side dishes came with it! I felt really full after eating them all! Then she took us to a place called Kukok waterfall. We didn't know that we had to walk up to the waterfall and we were not dressed properly so everyone was looking at us with strange eyes... haha But the waterfall was amazing and it felt so good to be surrounded by nature! And then we went to eat lunch and I think we ate Makguksu and then our host mother took us to a singing room and my roommate and I sang for about 3 hours!! And then we found a little amusement-park-like place and we played an attraction called "Disco Pang Pang". It was so crazy because there was a DJ who has a entire control of the machine and he just swung and wanted us to not be able to hold on... He wanted us to fall so he manipulated the machine to make it difficult for us! But at the same time, it was really fun!! haha
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| The beautiful Kukok Waterfall |
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| The crazy, scary, fun Disco Pang Pang!! |
On this Sunday, my friends and I went to eat at a cake buffet. It cost only about 8 Canadian dollars and we could eat as many cakes as we wanted. I ate too many of them but they were delicious!! After the cake buffet, we separated into 2 groups; one going shopping, the other one going to an island where shrine is on top of a mountain. It was an amazing day for travelling on a ferry and waling up a mountain!!
People's wishes on the lanterns
The third week, the last week of this summer program, we had Korean language classes in the morning and had lectures in the afternoon. But because it was the last week, we had farewell party and a graduation ceremony.
On this Monday, in the Korean class, our teacher brought a script for us to memorise for a video about Hallym University. We started practising our sentences in pairs and my part was about our classroom. In the afternoon, we went to a place where we could learn Korean traditional music instruments. They taught us how to sing "Arirang"which is a Korean folk song and also how to play Korean traditional music instruments such as janggu (a drum which two drums are put together), buk (a small drum), kkwaenggwari (small flat plate-like instrument made of brass), and others (I cannot remember...). We were separated in 4 groups and had a competition of which group can play the best. Our group did not win but I felt that our group payed very well! Also I enjoyed playing so it was good:) For dinner after school, some of us went to eat sundae which is made of cow or pig's intestine filled with blood and grass noodles. It sounds not so appealing, but the taste is very good!! I tried it before without knowing what it was, so I just loved it! But now that I know what it is... I may or may not eat it again... haha
On this Tuesday, we had a lecture about Korean nature and environment after the Korean language class. It was interesting and educative but it was ok because it was a lecture... haha After the lecture, some of us went shopping to buy souvenirs. For almost the first time since I arrived Korea (except the drizzling for like 5 mins), it rained! I always had my umbrella with me except this time!!! It was always easy to catch a cab, but this time we had to wait in the rain and cold weather... I felt that it has been so lucky that we haven't had much rain during this program!
This Wednesday, it was a pretty busy day. In the morning we had a surprise cake for our classmate and we sang "Happy Birthday To You" to him in Korean. And then we started film our video about Hallym university. My turn was the first and we took a long time to get a good one... We practised so many times before the filming, but well, we were so nervous! But we just finished our part with an OK take and others went on. It was really fun to see others being nervous or being filmed and also to act(?) in the film! haha After the film taking, we had a lecture about something... I cannot remember...
And for dinner, I met my friend that I met at Camosun college! He was an exchange student from Hallym university before and he was back in Korea so we made an appointment to meet. He took my Austrian friend and I to Dakgalbi restaurant and then to take sticker pictures, and to a dessert store. The dessert that we called "Injeolmi Solbing" and it was like Papingsu with sweet rice cakes and toasted bean powder. It was not too sweet but just right so it tasted very nice and made me eat more!
On this Thursday, we had the last Korean language class... Our teacher was so nice and kind that he let us spend the last class for making message posters. He brought lots of big colourful paper and we wrote messages to each of our classmates. After that, we watched the video that we filmed the day before. And we took many pictures with each other. We laughed and laughed in this classroom and made many good memories!
For the afternoon, it was a free time because we had a farewell party for the evening. So some of my friends went to have fairly drinks at a cute cafe. The drink was a strawberry milk with cotton candy and a marshmallow on top! It was very cute and really sweet. At the farewell party, we had some of the participants of this program speech, and Korean cuisine buffet. Also my host mother came to see me and even though it was hard to have conversations because of my poor Korean, I was really touched that she came:)
On the Friday, the last day of this program, we had a graduation ceremony and there, they showed the video that we made about Hallym university and the other class made a music video of "Chuncheon Style"!! Everyone laughed and laughed during the ceremony when we were watching these videos. Then every student received a certificate for this summer program and we took a lot of pictures with everyone.
Here are the links for the HIS Presentation (about Hallym university) and Chuncheon Style
After the ceremony, it was time for us to say goodbye. We separated in different ways. It was not goodbye for good because we will meet again in Korea or somewhere!!
I took a highway bus to meet my friend in Cheongju. She let me stay at her house for two nights and we went to many places!
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| Whole watermelon Pingsu!!! Soooo good!! |
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My friend's parents took me to eat a hotpot-like food
which Korean people usually eat in summer!
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| McDonalds in Korea have McDeliveries... You can order hamburgers to your dorm! |
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| These are huge mushrooms that I found in a store in Korea. They must be really huge when they are not dried!!! |
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| Kings in Korea ate this much everyday!! I want to become a king!!! haha |
Much appreciation to Hallym University for this unforgettable experience!!! And I am very grateful for Camosun International to give me this fantastic opportunity! Each day in Korea was just fabulous and I will never forget anyone that I met during this program or any events of this program.
I hope that many people from Camosun College will join this program in the future!
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