Loyola in my Dreams

This is Loyola Library, the central studying place for Sogang University undergraduates. Wait, did I say study?


(I don't know this guy)

This is a typical scene I witness at the glorious Loyola. One wall is set entirely in glass windows that reach three stories high to let in the afternoon sun. The library gets completely crowded with students intending to finish homework by dinner. But surrounded by warm, studious bodies and peaceful books shelves, its almost like being cast under the 2pm spell of irresistable sleep.

In my scavenge for the best study spots in Shinchon, I've discovered the Loyola library is the number one place to grab a nap after class and wake up to find everyone else also struggling to wipe their drool off their notebooks and get back to work.
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The Plastics Phenomenon

In Korea, boyfriends buy their girlfriends plastic surgery. According to my teacher here at Sogang, it's a common sunmul (gift) between loved ones and family. When applying for jobs, Koreans are required to post a picture of themselves on the application, and especially with customer service positions, how beautiful your face is an important determining factor.

But what determines beauty?

In Korea the perceptions of a beautiful face for both men and women are bigger eyes, rounded foreheads, round skulls, taller noses, and tiny jaws. In other words, they want to look more 'white'. To me, the Westernization of Korea's beauty standards is a painful transition to witness. All this investment in surgery feels like they are cutting away the perfect, natural features of a Asian face. Blethoarphy is the most popular of the surgeries, where starting at $200, an scar is incisioned in the eyelid to form a bigger eye. Others popular procedures inject fat under the eyes for a puffy effect, or insert plates behind the skull for a more ovular head.

I asked my Korean sonbe (elder) about what he thought of plastic surgery. He told me that as a manager of Korea's grand opening for Taco Bell in Seoul, he wants to go under the knife so people feel happier working under a handsome boss. And to my shock, he bet that after five years of living in Korea, I too will desire plastics because my eyes are too small.

It's definitely uncomfortable to be judged so bluntly about the 'flaws' of my face. I grew up in New York surburbia where healthclass taught girls they should love the way they're born. But in Korea, all the women are beautiful and on TV they all look the same.

The pressures of physical presentation in Seoul is nothing I've ever experienced before. All theses advertisements in the fashion mags, these ubiquitous mirrors that loom in school hallways, subway stations, shopping malls, and elevators, it's making me so self conscious.

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How to Celebrate World Cup Soccor Games in Korea

1. BUY A RED SHIRT. even better if you wear red devil horns and know how to shout korean curse words.
2. Grab a group of friends and find a suljib (bar) or chingu (friend) with a TV

3. Stalk up on Korean munchies: tonight's choices are fresh watermelon, stuffed pig intestines, BBQ chips, and juice or mekju (beer)

4. Get ready to shout and cry and jump up out of your seat every time a foul is called. Be sure to throw your arms up in the air when a goal is scored. Clap often.


5. Once Korea creams the other team's butt, finish the hour with a standing ovation and bask in the tremendous energy of this nation-loving country

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I See Seoul! and more pictures to come... :D

Sogang University Campus = my life for the next three months





Shinchon by Daylight






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Life at the Hasukjib

Before I came to Seoul, I knew I wanted to live in a hasukjib. Not only did I crave the home cooked Korean meals provided by the Ajumma. I desired, more than anything, to befriend Korean speakers so I can practice my oral skills.





A Hasukjib is a traditional Korean boarding house, popular amongst college students for their cheap monthly rent. Hasukjibs are ubiquitous in Shinchon, and mine happens to be tucked way up the Love Motel hill(which explains the jazzy lights and naked-girls playing cards strewn on the street). Each hasukjib is run by an Ajumma (middle-aged women) and sometimes an Ajushi(the Ajumma's husband) who become the ruling parents during your stay.

For 400,000 won (~390 US dollars) a month I got a small, windowless bedroom equipped with a make-shift desk, bookshelf, cable TV, a small refrigerator, and free internet. I have just enough room to lie on the floor in pencil position and wonder what the weather is like beyond my four-cornered cave.

But that's as bad as it gets. The Ajumma is super friendly and her sister rocks at cooking! I am yet to wake up in the morning and find the breakfast table set with anything less than five types of ban-chan (Korean appetizers) .

And my dream came true:D I've shared meals in Korean with my newbie hasuk buddies, which surprisingly, only one had been a native Korean student. My international friends and neighbors include 4 Austrian girls, 3 Japanese boys, 2 kids from Princeton University, and a guy who can't chew with his mouth closed, from Bangladesh.



PS. check out the bathroom photo! i love the challenge of showering in Korea. you basically lean over a sink or drain in the floor and use cold water from a hand-held shower head.




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Sogang International Language Program

After eating a motivational breakfast of kimchi, black beans, pickled sprouts, and rice, I walked to my first class at Sogang University. The international Korean language program at Sogang is said to be one of the best in Korea. Classes are 5 days a week, from 9am to 1pm taught by three teachers specializing in Writing, Speaking, and Reading. Class sizes are no bigger than 12 students.

My Speaking instructor, Cheng Sunsengnim, split the class up into two teams and we battled to remember the Korean vocab that's rusted since the spring finals. I'm already way behind in my level three class because my american university teaches (a freakin' whole semester) slower than Sogang. I cost my Kimchi team a five point loss and now we owe the other half of the class espresso and chocolate milk. Miyan-heyo! (I'm sorry!)

Last night the homework took me till 1pm.

This weekend is gonna put the "study" into study abroad.


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airline shopping: kim (seaweed) filled chocolate

airplane meal: looks artificial, tastes shingo-woyo (like absolutely nothing)
airplane luggage: best thing i packed was american toothpaste
wish i'd brought a japanese futon
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Welcome to Seoul

Hello World! It's day three in Seoul and already my heart has swung into a love song with Shinchon - my little college town of Korea.

Shinchon is the cutest hubbub of posh cafes and waffle shops in the morning, and a hypnotic showbiz by twilight. Like the Starbucks of NYC, the green Family Mart convenient store sign hangs over every block. Men wearing black T's and close shaved heads pop of bars to invite you in, and deep fried seafood stands fill the blocks with smoke. The food here is satisfyingly cheap: McDonald's vanilla icecream = 400 won (less than 40 cents in US). And the people? Well, let's just say even the 50 year old ajumma (menopausal woman) can rock a pair of kitten heels. Their sense of fashion is urban and pristine.

As rumors say, Kimchi is indeed the staple at every Korean meal. I've eaten red-hot, fermented cabbage as banchan (side dish) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner since day one. My mother warned me that when non-Koreans arrive by plane, passengers reel because of the kimchi stink that covers the entire land. Though I don't think I've had issues with my respiration, I do warn that after you eat kimchi, your lips dye to the shade of tangerine and your breath smells awesome* for several hours.

For those who fear traveling to East Asia, forget it. If you thought (like me) that at the point of arrival you will starve at the airport terminal because you don't know how to say words beyond Sarang-heyo (I love you) and Hwajangsil-E-odiyeyo? (Where's the bathroom), be comforted that EVERYONE speaks English. (Or at least they understand a bit and offer a polite "Hello!") I've tried many times to practice Korean grammar on the street, but once the waitress, store keeper, street vendor, aircraft hostess, and fruit market cashier recognized my accent, they eagerly drop the conversation and practice their English on me! Jeez, Korea. Way to throw me off.

It feels like I've never left all of America behind :)

*kimchi breath is said to end relationships in Korea
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