Happy Independence Day!

^ Heejin and I in hanbok, traditional Korean garb

Hello!

So what I failed to realize when I re-started this blog was that summer school involves, well, just that: school in the summer. As such, the last few days have been filled with the typical summer activities combined with excruciatingly dense schoolwork, tests, and essays (and almost no time to update this blog!). Sorry sorry; I'll try and be better about updating in the future!

^ Sang "studying" for the first exam

Getting away from my cubby hole room, I've been hanging out with a lot of the Korean students, students from Korean universities such as Ewha Woman's University (not "Womens" because they stress the individual), Seoul National, and Seoul University. Whether because the majority of these students attend school while living at home (housing is only given to freshmen, and only freshmen who live a certain distance away from the University), or because the culture is simply so vastly different from America's, these students are some of the nicest and purest students I have ever met.

^ Sleeping on the floor, Hangook style, 10 to a room on our archeological excursion to Iksan. Though we were pretty crammed into our room, the guys had it even worse and ended up spending the night in a sauna, of all places! Apparently this particular sauna that they found had a lounge area... that was then occupied by 13 guys for the night.

From my two week observation, it seems as though Koreans in general are especially EXTREMELY good at creating a fun time. No matter what we do or where we go, there's bound to be some silly game or singing element involved!

^ Playing a version of thumb war in a restuarant in Puyo

^ Don't know if you can see this, but, this is Joo Yeon while karaoking (complete with a mike and sound system) on the bus ride home from Iksan!

These kids always seem to bring a good time with them, and, I'm still shocked at how good Koreans are at singing! It seems like EVERYONE can carry a tune and belt Wonder Girls (gee gee gee gee baby baby baby).

This past weekend, we went on our first archeological excursion that involved travelling to Iksan and viewing a lot of rocks and hills. I mean, we saw other relics as well, but, the majority were torn apart pagoders (explanation later) and grassy hill tombs for kings that may or may not actually still contain kings. Also, it was pretty disappointing to know that a lot of the things we travelled to see were actually replicas and not from 300AD.

We still did get to see some cool stuff though:

^ Buddha's calificied remains from his cremation

^archeology dig

^ archeological find that looks like a gummy bear wearing a cowboy hat


^ One of many "pagoders" as our translator was prone to calling them

It's been a lot busier than I thought it would be, but, I'm enjoying my time here, and, managed to celebrate the 4th by going with friends to view fireworks while cruising down the Han River, and meeting up with some Harvard peeps later in the night.

^ fireworks behind the trump tower on the boat

Now, it's time to study for yet another exam... wish me luck!

-Sara