Our first interaction with the Korean society began with a very important aspect which is a study of their historical relics and cultural norms. Day 1 of the Plus 3 Program began with breakfast at the Sejong hotel which started at about 7 am, and by 8:45 am, all four teams were gathered at the lobby ready to accomplish our daily mission. Our first introduction to the Korean lifestyle was the most popular and convenient means of public transportation, which is the subway. It was very similar yet very different from subway systems in the United States. Firstly, each time the subway would arrive, a particular melody would play, announcing its arrival. Each melody was different, and varied depending the line you would take. Secondly, seats reserved for pregnant women and the elderly were not occupied by younger people despite the seats being empty, the stood up. This highlights the respect given to the older generation in the Korean economy.
Our first stop was at the Gyeongbuk Palace, which is the first and largest of the royal Palaces built during the Joseon Dynasty. The entrance to the Palace is surrounded by 6 ministries and home to government offices. The main features of this palace are; the throne hall, the reception hall, the queen’s living chambers and the king’s living quarters. The architectural structure of this palace is very unique because it looks like a building with two different floors whereas it just has one very high ceiling. At the entrance of the Gyeongbuk palace, we witnessed the changing of the guard ceremony, which is held everyday except on Tuesdays. This ceremony is a very critical part of the Korean history because it involves passing on the authority to the next guard, which involves trust, loyalty, confidence and bravery to protect the Korean people. The guards wore jeogori and baji while the women who were present wore hanbok ( korean traditional attire). The ceremony was very majestic, the guards marched uniformly, their attires were very bright and colorful, and the drum played at different frequencies to announce both the start and end of the ceremony.
Our next stop was the blue house(former presidential residence). After hearing its name, I expected a building painted completely bright blue, but on our arrival, I was marveled to see it painted white with a blue roof. The blue roof is the most noticeable component of the building which consists of approximately 30,000 blue tiles. The scenery at the blue house is magnificent, because it is found behind the Bugaksan Mountain, aligns perfectly with the symmetry of the building, making it almost seem like they are both on the same imaginary line. As we walked around the blue house, I really enjoyed the trees and beautiful gardens located at different sections. At one of the sections, we saw trees planted by all the former 19 presidents, with the tallest believed to be planted by the first Korean president.
After our tour, it was lunch time, We separated into different lunch groups based on our food preferences. My group and I followed Ms Kay, who served as our guide through the historical monuments. She took us to her favorite restaurant around the area, where I tried Korean pancake, and beef dumpling. The food was absolutely delicious and we had a great time.
Our final stops were at a Buddhist temple called the Jogyesa Temple. The temple was beautifully decorated with lanterns of different colors, as buddha’s birthday approached. The main colors were pink, red and white. Lastly, we stopped at Namdaemun market, which is a mixture of underground and street market. I got a few souvenirs at very reasonable prices and some of the vendors were open to bargaining the price, which I found very fun.
Overall, day 1 was a very good day, and I am very excited to explore more of Seoul!