Today was a bit of a later start, 8:45 AM. I decided to finally try the glass noodles at breakfast today and that was undeniably the best decision I’ve ever made. I am obsessed. After breakfast, we met up and took the subway for the first time. I couldn’t really understand what was going on because most of the maps were solely in Korean, but that’s okay because Kay lead us. We made it to a small studio where we had a Taekwondo class. We were taught a brief history of it, learning how the mountains in Korea encouraged Koreans to prioritize lower body strength. Our teacher also emphasised how taekwondo is multi-disciplinary. Tae for foot, Kwon for hand, Do for mind. It is not just a fighting style, it is a way to diffuse and protect when needed while promoting the body to be prepared for the demands of the land. We were encouraged to recite a Taekwondo pledge to always do the right thing and performed several exercises. One of which gave us the opportunity to cut a board in half!
Afterwards we walked over to a very large outdoor reading area in front of City Hall where we broke off for lunch. I had to try the ramen here and I was so satisfied when I did! I ate every noodle and drank all the soup. After lunch, we regrouped and entered City Hall. We were given a little bit of free time and I used it to experience the virtual reality infographics. I found myself in a digital immersive world learning about traditional Korean weaponry and even got caught amist a war!
A nice old man in a red suit eventually appeared, he would be a tour guide for the official tour. He was very intelligent and took us through many details of traditional Korean civilization. We learned about the traditional housing style, dressing style, the heated floors, etc. I took many pictures of artifacts from the past such as old utensils and hair combs. I find these kind of things very interesting because you get to compare and contrast modern day civilization to the former ones.
Following the tour, all the group leaders were called up and told to pick a photo. We were told that we were hosting a scavenger hunt and we were looking for whatever was in the picture our group picked. Despite how high spirits, my group unfortunately lost due to the distance. However, the journey there was definitely memorable! We rounded back up to the hotel where Kay and Dr. Yun waited for us to take us to Amiso. The beef there was so good!
Afterwards, I used my free time to meet up with some friends and head to the skin store of my dreams! I’m honored to have my photo up on the wall!
-Therese
