We're finally able to put some stuff on here after being here for two weeks. I'm not much of a writer so I'll just post random thoughts and videos.
1. Seoul is HUGE. It's bigger than New York and takes about an hour and a half just to cross it. Jami only lives about 10 miles away, but by bus it takes about 45 min. to an hour to get to her place.
2. The first week here we had training. I was dreading training before we got here based on what I had heard about it, but it wasn't too difficult, just time consuming. Actually my roommate didn't pass, so it wasn't a piece of cake. They sent him home and he had been in the same situation as us, which was waiting to go for months. So that cost him thousands of dollars.
3. My hours are from 4-10 at night, which would be 1am-7am Central time, I think, too lazy to look it up right now.
4. We haven't really gotten to explore Seoul yet because we just needed to settle in. We did go to Yongsang Station, which is a subway train station. Doesn't sound interesting, but it has a mall inside with about 7 stories, which 4 of them are for electronics. We also went to the COEX mall, which is the largest underground mall in the world I think, but how many underground malls are there really? Nonetheless, it's still about 3 times larger than Westroads.
5. When I first went to my apartment, I was thinking it wasn't all that good, but compared to Jami's it's pretty nice. Our layout is the same, but hers is just dumpy. She doesn't have a tub or shower doors, so she has to shower right in the middle of the bathroom. Every indoors place has heated floors so that's nice. We don't have dryer's, but I have yet to wash my clothes, so we'll see how that goes. The location of my place is nice. I'm right next to a store called Home Plus. It's like a Kohl's and Wal-Mart in one and has 5 floors I think. Being close to stuff like that is about the only good thing living in a city. I'll try and get a video of my place up some time.
6. Generally, Korea stinks. There's all sorts of Korean food stands on the streets and it just makes some parts stink like fish and fried food. Speaking of food, they have cereal and milk, so I'm good to go there. But for the most part, it's not too appealing to me. It'll be a struggle to find a decent/healthy meal for at least a few more weeks.
Before we got to Korea, we went to Portland and Hawaii. Besides being car sink and rainy, Portland was fun and relaxing. We were only in Hawaii for a night so we didn't get to experience how great Hawaii can be. The beach we went to wasn't exactly how I imagined a tropical beach to look so we'll have to go back again. I don't have any videos of Korea yet, I feel too much like a tourist, but that'll change. Here's some videos of our plane take-off and landing in Phoenix (mostly for Cory I guess, to see what flying is like) and some of Portland and Hawaii. The Phoenix landing video is kind of long, but it's pretty cool because I got great shots of the entire city.
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8 comments:
"Seoul is HUGE. It's bigger than New York..."
NYC probably isn't a good place to compare Seoul because NYC itself isn't big at all. Manhattan is only like 3 miles wide by 7 miles long. We pretty much walked across it in a couple of hours.
"Generally, Korea stinks." That's just how big cities are, lots of food and people so there are lots of odors. Paris is like that, New York is like that...., especially in China town because there was a food stand every few feet that had some sort of fish.
You don't have to post only videos, take some pictures and post them, it's a little bit easier.
Hey Cole! I thought you did a great job of narrating your trip so far! I can't wait to keep up with you and Jami's adventures on here.
I like the Hawaii beach....it is crazy how different the two beaches can be. Obviously Hawaii is much warmer and more enjoyable, but just the waves were different and the whole feel of it.
It will probably take you a little while to become accustomed to branching out and discovering new parts of the city...but you have a whole year to do it so that is awesome.
I am glad they have cereal and milk there. Is it crazy brands and flavors or do they have some Western Cereal there too? I hope you can find at least a go-to meal, it would be hard to find a decent/healthy meal, but you will.
I am glad to hear that it is a direct bus ride between your place and Jami's. That is the frustrating part of public transit...having multiple connections. As you know, going only a 10 minute drive in a car can be much, much longer on bus. But you two will get used to it and find time to read and just think and people watch. Don't forget my most important advice though....Keep ear phones on you at all times to close yourself off from the crazies!
Well, glad you made it safe, glad the blog is up and running. We can't wait to see more pictures and here more stories. We'll be thinking of you tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving! Although you guys are half a world away, I am thankful that you have finally started your traveling journey!
Brandon, I don't have a camera, just video camera. It can take pictures but it's only 4 megapixels. I'll leave the picture taking for Jami and I'll do the video recording. The cereal is usually a Western style, but it's in Korean, Jami will have to put up her pictures of a typical grocery store.
the video of the take off made me a little more nervous about flying for some reason.
The take-off is the "scariest" part of the flight, but yet it's the coolest if you get a window seat and see the ground go from normal to model-like in seconds. Did you see Phoenix's skyline?
Landing is by far the scariest part for me.
The take off is the coolest part but the landing is the scariest. The take off was pretty awesome, very awesome actually.
Haha, Cole, you're funny. It's going to be nice to hear your perspective on this trip. You are like Andrew: Cereal + Milk = Good to Go =)