My journey started on Thursday at 11am from my home in the outskirts of Philly to Pittsburgh. I stayed with a friend that night and then checked into Nordenburg Hall on Pitt campus around lunch time on Friday. Our entire group was scheduled to meet in the lobby at 3:30 to eat at Korean Garden; I had a delicious sesame chicken bento box! After other announcements, some Fuku Tea, and a small nap, we were on the bus by 4am to head to the airport.Â
After checking into American Airlines, going through security, and a quick bagel from Brugger’s, we were on our way to a 3 hour flight to Dallas for a layover. The flight was fine and we all slept the whole way, but everyone was anxious about the 14 hour flight to Seoul 😬. The flight did feel really long, but the abundance of movies and food helped stray us away from boredom. I ended up watching 3 1/2 movies, with The Intern and Whiplash being my favorite, and two episodes from a TV show. The food was alright.. typical airplane food. Really digged the caramel ice cream and some cinnamon churro through. Also slept a lot which came with the typical back and neck discomfort. But all the exhaustion and cramps were forgotten once we landed in Incheon International Aiport.Â
I’ve been abroad multiple times so I ended up comparing my first impression of Seoul to places like Malaysia, California, and Bangalore in India. It’s a very clean and huge metropolitan area with tons of high rise apartments, easy transportation, unique set of mountains and greenery. The drive from the airport to our hotel was really scenic and I instantly fell in love with the city.Â
Once we checked into the hotel, we went out to our welcome dinner at a restaurant called Seoul Gaon and had a variety of gourmet Korean food. My favorite was probably the last thing that was served, which was the cinnamon tea AKA simeonggwa. And then we had the opportunity to walk around and witness the Lotus Lantern Festival for Budda’s birthday today! It was quite beautiful and exciting to walk around in the evening, but its time to rest up after a long journey!
