"We Will, We Will, Rock You!"

What a day in Jochiwon! Yesterday (Wednesday, Feb. 6th) was such a HUGE day in my being here. My eyes were really opened to how things are here and how they will be as my life progresses. 

We started the day off in such an incredible way. We had our first lecturer, Hyunwoo Sun. He was INCREDIBLE! We learned all about the History of Korea, N. and S. Korean Relations, Korean and Japanese Relations, and about Koreans in general. I cannot believe the vast history this wonderful place has. It has an incredible story. If you want to check out his website, it is hyunwoosun.com. He also teaches Korean at talktomeinKorean.com, a website I plan to personally use while I am here. I really could go on and on about it and him, but I'll just show you a photo and move on. 

Hyunwoo Sun was going to be such a hard act to follow. Turns out, he was a hard act to follow. We sat in a lecture hall for the next eight hours on lectures over Culture Shock, Our Classes vs. Regular Curriculum English Classes, and Ladership. Granted, it was all SUCH useful information. It is just so hard to stay in the same place for that long. However, I am grateful the TaLK Team brings in speakers so we know what we will be dealing with in our placements. I am so thankful for the information. 

After all of those lecturers, I experienced a slight bout of culture shock. Why am I here? What in the world am I doing? Why can't I just have a cheeseburger and fries for dinner? Sadly, I let this defeat me. I went so S25 (much like OnCue or QT) and bought chocolate ice cream and Pringles to eat for dinner. Was I embarrassed? Yes. Was I happy? DEFINITELY. 

As the evening progressed, we had such a fun time trying to re-write the day. Not as a day of the sadness and the emotional defeat I slightly felt but as a new day of great things, and new experiences. I know, you may not think that things like Pringles and Chocolate Ice Cream can change a day but when I got to the bottom of my ice cream, I realized something that will be crucial to my time here. That is: Go With The Flow. 

This is a principle I try and live my life by. That is, my American life. 

Funny thing is, my life principles can't change just because my situation has. It's funny how the small things in life seem to remind us of what matters most. This, in my case, was the bottom of my ice cream. See that chocolate goodness in the above photo? Yeah, that was pretty much the end of it. What is underneath the goodness? A white, sugar-water ice cream that honestly tasted like a flavorless Flavor-Ice. After seeing this, I just laughed and remembered, always go with the flow. See the Flavor-Ice below. Tempting, huh?

After this reminder, the day was automatically better. Virginia and Lizzie, some of the UCO clan, knew how rough I was taking the day. Well, mostly the lectures. Being the sweet friends that they are came into the caf, "Kiyana! We have something so great for your blog!!" I almost cried. This blog is my baby. To me, it is how I am keeping up with some many friends and family that I love and miss so much. We ran outside and they showed me, they had built a snowman out of all the snow here and put it perfectly in front of the TaLK sign for the perfect photo op! Great friends or what?! 

Lizzie has also begun calling me Chaquita Banana because of... well I am not so sure why. Just to be funny, I think. Haha! She actually drew a photo of me as Chaquita Banana. Something I will NEVER forget. 

After this, I thought the day couldn't get any better with my friends. Oh, how wrong I was. Two of my friends in my small group came up and asked if we wanted to go out tonight. After the day of lectures, I knew we all needed a break. "YES" was my immediate response. Drinking is such a large part of the Korean culture. Personally, I don't drink. However, we are in a foreign country. When something is that big part of the culture, it's like KimChi. You just do it and enjoy it. 

We decided to meet at 8:00, knowing that our curfew is 11:00. Here is our photo before going out. From the left you have Lizzie (who didn't end up going out but we still needed her in the photo!), Virginia, Brittney, Kyla, Laura, Emilee, Alex (our friend from VA and the BEST Nicki Minaj impersonator I know), and Me! 

We left the school around 8:30. (Don't worry mom, my group tripled this size and had many many more males and females, haha). We ended up walking to the city part of Jochiwon, about a 20 minute walk. For me and the rest of the UCO group, no one had been to the city yet. It was stunning!! I loved the city! Imagine the lights of Times Square, but not as many people. Things in Korea are so bright. It makes you just want to walk around for hours on end. We then walked up to this quiet little place that wouldn't be quiet for much longer. 

I think the sign reads like this: Oh-Lee Doh-Lee but I am not too positive what that means either. Haha. 

We went in and our friend Daniel just ordered a few pitchers of beer and a few bottles of SoJu (it's romanized term) which is much like a Vodka in the U.S. We had so much fun! We ended up turning this quiet bar into basically a Karaoke Bar with so many American songs. (Party in South K, We Will Rock You, and anything T Swift). The poor owners. We profusely apologized and thanked them before leaving. We had such a fun and unique experience. I am so grateful we had the opportunity to go out and see a new, but important part of Korean culture. Granted, I had to take a few Tylenol before bed last night to ensure I'd wake up okay... but I am so glad we had that time with our new friends! Here are some photos. P.S. The beer is my hand? Total Prop. My friend, Jonathon drank that. I just wanted a bar photo to show my mom and grandma. 

Jonathon, Me, and Mel 

Kyla and Emilee

Me (Reminder, just a prop)

From the Top, Left: Laura, Me, Mel, Virgina

Bottom Left: Waugh, Brittney, Kyla, Emilee

Thanks so much for reading today!! If you have any questions about Korea or about my adventure here, please message me on Facebook or shoot me an email by commenting! If you don't have an account and have to leave an anonymous comment, please write your name at the bottom of the comment so I know who to write back too! 

Thank you all so much! Love you! Happy Wednesday Night! 

Kiyana In Korea