Arriving in Seoul

Hello!

My name is Jade Law, and I recently finished my freshman year at the University of Texas at Austin. I’m majoring in Plan II (an interdisciplinary liberal arts honors major) and following a pre-medical track.

Studying abroad has been a longtime goal of mine, and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad in Seoul this summer. I’m studying at Korea University (KU) and taking a beginning Korean language course, a modern Korean history course, and a pre-modern Korean history course. Studying the country’s history while residing in Seoul will no doubt be a memorable and enriching experience.

I arrived in Seoul five days ago after about 17 hours of flying. Although I felt a bit tired (the person sitting next to me on the plane from Houston to Japan was talking to me for 9 hours, so I didn’t get much sleep), my excitement about finally arriving in Seoul countered most of my drowsiness.

Riding inside a taxi from the airport to Korea University~

The very next morning, I had the chance to visit Myeong-dong (명동) and Dongdaemun (동대문) with a group of new friends I met at KU. The cacophony of sights and smells that greeted me at these shopping districts made me even more excited to explore the bustling area. Outside of every shop, where popular Kpop songs were playing, store workers were actively bouncing around trying to attract customers. I ended up visiting many of the famous Korean cosmetic stores (Missha, Etude House, and Skinfood). Many of the employees here spoke to me in Mandarin, even though I was speaking to my friends in English! I realized that particularly in popular tourist places such as Myeong-dong, employees learned Mandarin or Japanese to attract more foreign customers.

One of the large shopping malls at Dongdaemun~

Anyways, I have to get ready for my Korean language class soon. 안녕~ (Annyeong!)