I was up really late Thursday night because I guess I had more to do in terms of packing and getting ready than I thought. Right when I thought I might be able to get a few hours of sleep, I got a phone call from American Airlines at 3am telling me that my flight to Chicago would be delayed until 1pm. My flight from Chicago to Korea was at noon so that obviously wasn't going to work. American Airlines didn't have any seats on an earlier flight. Luckily Mike and my dad were there. Mike quickly found a flight on Delta and my dad paid for it. Crisis avoided. Also, once we got to the airport, my dad explained what had happened and the lady who checked my baggage arranged to have it sent all the way to Incheon so I wouldn't have to go get it and re-check it.
The flight to Chicago was really short and uneventful, as usual. Once I got to O'Hare I had about four hours until my flight to Incheon. During that time I met up with the girl who was going to be my hotel-mate for the first night in Korea. It was pretty nice to have someone to travel with for that first day. The flight started boarding at 11:30am and the plane was beautiful! The airline was called Asiana. They played elevator music while we were boarding and each seat had a pillow and blanked already on it. I felt like I was at a hotel Also, the flight attendants were really friendly and well put together. They were all Korean women with their hair pulled back in tight buns, and they spoke Korean and English. I guess I'm just not used to international flights but I thought the food was great too. We got two full meals and two snacks. For both of the meals there was a Korean option and a more Western option. I chose the Korean option both times. The first was bibimbap with rice, kimchi, fruit and soup. The second was octopus with rice, fruit and salad. I was expecting the flight to seem like the longest thing I've ever done in my life but it actually wasn't that bad. I was able to sleep a little bit on and off and I brought a lot of stuff to do during the flight. They didn't let us keep the windows open because it didn't get dark outside during the flight. It was kind of nice having a low amount of light on the plane.
When we finally got there, it was pretty easy to get around the airport and figure things out. My hotel-mate was missing one of her bags when we got there which really sucked but they ended up finding it and she should have it by tomorrow. So at the airport, I picked up my phone that I ordered from the Arrival Store. It works great and I can use WhatsApp to talk to most of my friends from home which is really cool. From the airport we went to a hotel where we met up with some other teachers from the EPIK program and when out for dinner. It was a lot of fun, the waitress just kept bringing us food, we didn't have to order anything.
The next morning we went back to the airport and met more EPIK teachers and then finally boarded buses to the orientation. The bus ride was cool because it was almost 3 hours long so we got to see a lot of Korea along the way. When we got to Jeonju University, we checked in and got our room assignments, along with some goodies like an EPIK t-shirt, towel, a Jeonju mug. I met another girl from Minnesota, named Daad, at the airport and we decided to be roommates for orientation. The first day was pretty much free. We met up with some other girls and went to a small restaurant and bakery. Knowing the Korean alphabet came in handy because I was able to find bibimbap and bulgoggi on the menu. It was also kind of funny because at one point I asked the waiter what something was in Korean and that must have given him the idea that I spoke Korean because then he tried to continue to talk to me.
View from our room at Jeonju University
After we got ice cream we pretty much just came back to the residence halls and went to bed early. I have some pictures I wanted to post but the system is being really slow right now so I might try to add them later!
Artist: Wonder Girls
Song: Like This
Album: Wonder Party
Released: June 2012
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