So...Korea?! Article published in the TTU Study Abroad Newsletter

   “So, you’re a SPANISH major, and you went to KOREA?!”

Me with some of my
freshman friends at the
Kyeongju Water Palace.

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that question.

   The simple answer? “YES!”

   After spending the majority of my freshman year with Korean exchange students, I promised them that I would come visit their country. So I did. 

   I didn’t know any Korean, and the curriculum had nothing to do with either of my majors, and Korean will not likely help me at all in my pursuit of a PhD. But this experience was far from worthless.

Figure 2 Our suite, D502, at Sooncheon Traditional Village.

   Upon arrival all I knew was that I would be living in a suite with Korean students, and I would be participating in an internship focused on increasing Korean students’ fluency in English. I knew that as a blond American I would instantly stand out everywhere I went. And I knew that I would have difficulty communicating with everyone I met for 4 months

   All of those were indeed true. My suitemates included a Mexican, a Chinese, and 9 Koreans. The internship consisted of talking, in English, for 5-10 hours a week. Hoping that my Korean conversation partners would somehow learn something.  And more talking…with my friends from Korea, Mexico, China, Japan, and Finland, I got to practice speaking slowly and understanding broken English in many varied “accents.” Invaluable skills.

Guinsa Temple Stay:
modeling the required garb
in front of one of the
Four Guardian Kings found at
every Korean Buddhist Temple.

   The university I attended, Soonchunhyang, sits a couple hours south of Seoul. From there, I was able to travel with my friends – new and old – to almost every corner of Korea. I experienced historical graves and temples, a traditional village, the beach in Busan, an evangelical church and a weekend Buddhist Temple Stay, a cross-country bus ride, sleepless nights in Seoul hostels, Chuseok and Christmas, and good old-fashioned Korean home-made hospitality. I met friends from all over the world, ate an octopus that had been alive 3 minutes ago, taught a country line dance, learned to make Korean dumplings, introduced myself in Korean, performed 108 prostrations, attended my Grandfather’s funeral on Skype, hiked a sacred mountain, broke a board with my hand, wrote epic blog posts, found out that Swastikas are NOT synonymous with Nazis.

   One Spanish major. One semester in Korea. Do it.

Yes, I really was there.

So many photographic moments; so little time.

Well this is how my weekend in Gyeong-ju started. Sunrise over my little town as I took the short walk - about 1.5 kilometers, I think - to the station. I was really quite proud of the fact that I rode the KTX and then transferred to the Mugungwha, two different public train systems, by myself, without getting lost. That from someone who gets lost every, single time I drive anywhere for the first time. Public transit in Korea is really not too difficult as long as there is a little English, and you can read Korean. It's quite straight-forward.

After 4 hours of travel, I met with Aeri and Injae at the coffee shop where I had my first Korean Americano. My research focus while here is Buddhism - past and present. So after catching up over coffee we hit the road to the Bulguksa Temple which is an ancient temple, but also a tourist attraction. With lots of stairs. (I'm finding that to be a common trend all over Korea: stairs, lots of stairs.)

The main stairway up to the main temple. As it is the original staircase, we couldn't walk on it, but we did get to go up by a different path, and wander around at the top...

The view looking left from the stairs.

And directly to the right
of the stairway.
I hope you can tell what these are.
If not, well, look closer.

Above left: the arch below the stairs. Above right: a shrine at the top. Below: Injae, and even more stairs.

 Here we have more of the Temple grounds including, of course, more stairs. The stairs on the right are some of the most intense stairs I have ever climbed: nearly a foot high, with a depth of about 7".

Here is the main temple. I got to watch people take off their shoes, bow - usually multiple times - and then back out.
Below: good example of the intricate work displayed even in the roofs and eves of a traditional structure.

 The official bell that can still be heard at modern Buddhist temples. And the stones are for prayers. Stacks and stacks of them wrapped around the entire temple, and people were making more.

The sign explains that Buddha has 1000 hands and each hand has an eye. In this way, Buddha can look out for and protect his followers all over the world. This depiction shows all the hands and eyes, unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough for a more clear picture.

This is obviously an ancient fence, however, the tree seems to have little respect for it...

Peace was pervasive. Even as the crowds spilled over ever path, and merged in and out of each building, the overall feeling was still on of calm and even solitude. The saying "You are only as alone as you feel." took on a new poignancy. 

From the Bulguksa Temple we headed up the hill to the Seokguram Grotto - home to the largest underground temple in the world. Pictures were forbidden inside, but I got some photos of the surroundings.

This is the view from the top.  And the road we took to get there. That is less than half a mile on the screen. More than once we nearly went off the road or deep into the other lane. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it in spite of the inevitable car sickness...

 This is the top of the Grotto and the top of the mountain behind it. In the bottom, left corner you can see the doorway that lead inside.

 A bit further down the mountain there was a souvenir shop with a tiled roof. On each tile there was a note. And then there were piles of tiles all around the building. I saw tiles from nearly every Asian country, as well as Finland, England, Norway, Iceland, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy Morocco, and America. (Not to mention all the ones I don't remember...) I was proud to be able to read not only the English tiles, but also the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Korean. Dreams coming true over here - I'm telling you! On the right is yours truly of course. In my hands I am holding a roof **wink*wink** made of lanterns, each containing wishes from previous visitors.

 Naturally, food was next. Green onion pancake and spicy tofu soup. With a lot of amazing sides. In the picture to the right you can see dried fish strips, boiled fish, salad, kimchi, potato, jalapeno, more green onion, and rice in the shiny silver bowl in the back right corner: just a traditional meal in Korea!

After eating we went and took a walk along a lake. It was getting to sundown, to one direction looked colorful and bright, the other was full of sunshine and silhouettes. Thoroughly beautiful. After fighting traffic we got to the traditional guesthouse where we would stay that night - and I completely forgot to take any pictures... After resting and showering and watching some Korean TV, we took a walk and saw the astronomical observatory of the ancient Silla kingdom. Not to mention the countless enormous tombs of the kings and officials. No big deal.

 Typical sight as Gyeong-ju is surrounded by mountains.

 The next day we met up with Jiseong and Ryan and ate some spicy lunch. It was delicious and fun. As the day progressed the fun continued. We went to the Anapji Pond, which was the pleasure area of the Silla kings. It was really beautiful. In spite of Jiseong nearly pushing me over the edge of the waterfall I was attempting to photograph, and the water fight that Ryan started. And then when we left we walked past a vendor selling Gyeon-ju Bbong (bread) from a stand shaped like a Silla die. This die was used as a drinking game. Each of the 14 sides contained some type of imperative - such as singing a song or standing on one leg. Drinking game haven't changed much in the last 2 millenia...

 We finally headed to another coffee shop where I ordered the other Korean favorite - Caramel Machiatto. I know why it is a favorite. Good grief! So much sugary goodness in one pretty cup! And this is where we invented my true Korean name: Bae Seon Hui. Overall, I captured about about one fifth of the memories we made on camera. And now you can share them with us!