Arriving in Korea was truly an interesting experience. Going through customs and getting our bags was very easy. We met our Asia Institute guide Y.J. and Korea tour guide Rob with his assistant Min who greeted us outside of the terminal. The bus ride to the hotel was long, but relaxing as we passed many fascinating sites like agricultural farms and large apartment complexes on our way to the Center Mark Hotel in Insadong, Seoul. The tour guide Rob spewed out numerous facts about Korea on the bus ride, including that the population of the greater Seoul area was 25 million people. I gave major props to our bus driver somehow managing to drive our large bus throughout the extremely narrow streets of the city.

When we arrived, figuring out all of the new technology in our hotel room seemed to be the biggest challenge of the trip so far. Getting the lights on in the room was difficult until we figured out that we had to insert our room key into a slot by the door to turn on all of the electricity in the room. The bathroom was also hard to understand due to the fact that the toilet, which had electronic features, was all written in Korean and also the shower head stood very low when it sprayed. My roommate John Kerris and I ended up figuring everything out so we can stay comfortably.

The restaurant we visited for our first meal of the trip was a delicious Korean restaurant just a short walk from the hotel at the Korean Performing Arts Center. There were large statues in a plaza located outside of the Performing Arts Center of the famous ancient Korean General Yi Sun-Shin and beloved emperor of Korea Sejong the Great. After dinner, a few friends and I decided to go exploring and stumbled upon an upbeat street filled with bars, restaurants, and many bright lights. We spent some time there and wandered back to the hotel to turn in for the night and prepare for the day of visiting popular tourist sites ahead of us.