melb-sg-seoul and orientation

Can you believe it - it's been ONE WEEK since I touched down in Seoul???????????? Actually, to be honest, it feels like I've already been here for more than a week LOL. I think it's because I was always out doing something every day. But anyway!! Time to blog in full detail about o-week in Seoul.

21/08 - Flying off :( :( :(
Man, I reckon this would be the toughest part of this entire journey. Not being able to see my family and friends for five months... It's a tough gig. I felt so homesick when I was in the plane....

Idk why GoPro switches to fish-eye effect in camera mode??????

Anyway, touched down in Singapore at around 12.15am local time and checked into Aerotel. Aerotel is one of the two transit hotels available at Changi Airport. Even though it was only for a few hours, I had a good experience - quick check-in, extremely comfortable and cosy room, shared bathroom was in perfect condition. And apparently they have a swimming pool too!!!! I didn't check it out because all I wanted to do was to crash into a comfy bed and sleep LOL.

22/08 - On route to Seoul
My flight from Singapore to Seoul was at 7am local time, and it took roughly 6 hours to get to Seoul. At this point, the homesickness went away and I was super excited for what's to come. Reached Seoul at around 3.50pm and headed straight to KU's airport pick-up service. I was originally supposed to catch the 4pm bus, buuuuut was held up at baggage pick-up because it legit took 30 minutes for my luggages to come out >:(

The KU airport pick-up service was pretty easy to find, because there was literally a huge group of exchange/visiting students from different universities across Korea... and all I had to do was to find the KU group. While waiting for the bus, I met a few people from all over the world at the airport - Canada, China, Singapore, US.

Bus ride from the airport to my dorm took roughly two hours (inclusive of traffic). Reached my dorm at about 8.40pm, and all I wanted to do was to sleeeeeep. Skipped dinner and off to snoozeland I went.

23/08 - ORIENTATION DAY ONE!
All exchange/visiting students to Korea University had to gather at Inchon Memorial Hall at 9am for orientation. From my dorm, it was a 10 min walk (downhill) to the hall.

Pretty cool, huh?

They covered a lot of things during the orientation talk - from academics to safety. It took about an hour and a half for all the speakers to finish their speeches. One of the speeches, in particular, was about KUBA (Korea University Buddy Assistants). KUBA is a group of dedicated individuals who will be helping exchange/visiting students to adjust to Korea. In addition, KUBA holds events for all exchange/visiting students throughout the semester. For my batch (i.e Fall 2016 students), there are eight KUBA groups in total, and within each group, there are several buddies. And every exchange student will be assigned to a buddy.

Soooo after the orientation talk was over, I finally met my KUBA buddy!!! Her name is Yena, and I found out afterwards that she's actually younger than me. I feel so old :'(((((( I also met Jacelin, who was from Singapore, and she also has the same buddy as me :D Anywaaaayyy, after everyone met up with their buddies, my group went to have lunch at the cafeteria....... and honestly...... the food was meh. :\

After lunch, we went to a computer lab to get our KU portal ID sorted. The portal ID is for students to communicate with the university and staff via email/announcements/resources etc. Thankfully, for me, I've already sorted it out before arriving in Seoul, so this session was a breeze.

Following the KU portal ID session, we all went into an empty room and all the buddies in my group introduced themselves. One of the buddies studied in Australia for exchange, which I found pretty cool, considering that all the other buddies either studied in the US or have never studied anywhere else. It was also pretty cool to know that two of the buddies are majoring in Spanish. Like duuuude how cool?!!!????

Anyway, after the introduction session, I headed off to Dongwon Leadership Hall where I paid my ticket for the Seoul City Tour that KU organised. I also met a bunch of Singaporeans there as well. It was a nice feeling... Knowing that there are people who you're familiar with, even though you've never met them. I don't know if I made any sense LOL but anyway moving on....

Afterwards, I went out to Daiso to get my daily essentials and had dinner with my two new friends - Atirah, of whom I met via Li Ying, a friend I made at the hall, and Kelvin, of whom I met at the airport. We found a halal Indian place nearby my dorm. Do you know how happy I was??????? Like finally, meat???? After what seems like a long time?????? T_________T (Actually I lied, it's only been 2 days)

Finally, a halal outlet near my dorm. Couldn't contain my happiness. ^_^

Anyway, the food was okay-ish. The curry didn't taste like a real, genuine Indian curry, but managed to finish all the food because I was that hungry LOL.....

24/08 - ORIENTATION DAY TWO!
Day two of orientation arrived, and it was a reaaalllly long morning. We had to fill in pages and pages of forms for our student ID card/bank card, which will only arrive in four weeks' time zzzzzzzzz. So for the meantime, we'll have to use a temporary ID card, which I must say, is verrrrryyy flimsy.

After that meh experience at the cafeteria yesterday, I decided to join Jacelin for lunch to have.... SASHIMI!!!!!! We had like a plate of 24 salmon pieces for 9,000 won. 9,000 WON OKAYYYY. HOW CHEAP CAN SASHIMI GET??????? And in addition, we had a tuna sashimi bibimbap, which was also super delicious. Sorry, forgot to take photos :((((((((

After lunch, we headed off to Dongwon Leadership Hall againnnn to get our temporary student ID. This hall is the worst place to be, because it's always filled with people. I actually felt like I was in a moshpit for a concert lol. Anyway, after getting my temporary student ID, I bought my certificate of enrollment, which is a document needed for my Alien Registration Card application.

Lastlyyyyy, I went to a workshop about "Life in Seoul". It was meh, because they pretty much outlined what to expect with the Korean culture, which I've already established from Korean dramas ehehehehehehe. I met Atirah and Li Ying here as well, so it was nice to see familiar faces.

In the evening, all the KUBA groups went out to have 치맥 (read: chimaek stands for chicken + maekju. Maekju is beer in Korean) for dinner. Due to the fact I was super tired/can't eat the chicken/don't drink, I decided not to go to the dinner. Buuuut it's okay, at least I managed to catch up on sleep and finally unpack my luggages.

And that concludes the two-day orientation!!!!! I'll blog more about the Seoul City Tour and my dorm very soon ^______^