Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What it takes to get to Korea

Oh my gosh we are in Korea~!

But we had to go through hell and back getting here ><

Let's start with the flight into New York. Everything went smoothly, Akira and I met at the airport, boarded on time and landed early! Then we went to find our shuttle where we met two other girl's on the program. The shuttle was parked in front of us and we were just waiting on the driver. Not 5 minutes later, said driver dashes out of the airport and into the shuttle before prompting starting it and driving off.

Turns out that wasn't our shuttle. Turns out we didn't have one. So being handy, resourceful people, we called our own shuttle! And waited about 2 hours at the airport ><

Almost 4 hours after Akira and I landed, we arrived at Columbia. Later we met Emma and all that jazz. My roommate was a super nice girl named Alexia. We got along really well. However, that night we decided to sleep with the aircon (mostly because we couldn't figure out how to turn it off) and I caught a cold. ><

The next bit of horrible travel expierence pops up on the 28th. The shuttles taking us from Columbia to the airport were 45 minutes late. So late, that I think they ended up just calling a tour bus to take half of us. Said tour bus then dropped us off at the wrong spot. So we had to raom around JFK until we got to our gate. We all had to check in there because none of us had internet access in the dorms. Between signing in and checking our bags, we added at least another hour to our time. They rushed us all through security and we barely made our plane.

the 13-15 hours to Narita sucked. Being sick and flying is the worse. Luckily, it didn't get too bad until the last few hours. The food was. . . let's just say I stopped eating it after awhile. Emma and Akira sat with me and we talked and messed around. Emma let me play her Pokemon game *.*

When we finally landed in Narita, I was sooooo happy, and then suddenly felt so awful. I spent most of the time sitting or curled up on the ground. However, I did manage to buy Pocari Sweat, milk tea, and Jagariko. However, since I wasn't feeling well, they have become comfort food and are being stored in my bag now >>

Over all, my most awaited return to the Land of the Rising Sun was pretty bad >< I hate flying when I'm sick.

Then we got on the plane to Incheon. I already had plans to get as close to sleep as I could, but I never seemed to actually get there. A nice Korean man sat next to me on that ride. He was coming back from visiting his daughter who lived in America. He would encourage us to use Korean and was really nice! I just wish I wasn't so brain dead by that time.

When we finally landed, it was like 10:00PM(22:00) and we were soooo freaking tired. The customs people were kind and we got through it fast. I hardly remember the ride to Seoul.

It was raining. We got to the hostel and eventually made it to our rooms. About 2 hours were spent so everyone could get a shower in. Clean and exhausted we all went to bed. The beds are actually really nice xD

This morning, they brought us breakfast of bananas, tomatoes, and bread. I had red bean paste of course~

They also have goodie bags for us. I have a stamp with my Korean name on it, nice chopsticks and a matching spoon, and a pretty pen case (that's too small and too pretty for me to actually use >>)

Today we tour Seoul and go to the embassy. Saturday we meet our host families.
Anyways, I'm going to stop hogging my friend Sophie's computer. Any questions? Shoot!

2 comments:

  1. I didn't realize the blogging was on. Love the new look and can't wait until you post some pics.

    Daisy and Sakuranbo who?

    Love,
    Mom

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  2. I'm so sorry you got sick! I hope the rest of your stay goes well, though. I'm still very jealous. I hope you have lots and lots and lots of fun! Miss you! <3 HWAITING!

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