The wait is finally over. We landed in Seoul at 4 in the morning, arriving at Incheon Airport. We quickly met up with Esther, our local travel guide here in Korea. We then left for the hotel (we all desperately needed a shower at this point) by bus.

As we rode on the bus, it dawned on me that I was actually in a different country. I could almost trick myself into thinking we were still in the USA. But when I saw all the text in Hangul, I realized we were finally here in Korea. After resting up and taking a long-awaited shower, we embarked on our first activity during the trip. We went to Gyeongbokgung, the royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Travelling by metro was much easier and less crowded than I expected. We were able to check out the premises, highlighting the dichotomy between the modern smart city of Seoul and the former palace of antiquity. Afterwards, we were able to be there while the changing of the guards ceremony occurred, though I personally couldn’t see much of anything behind several people.

Next, we walked along the Cheonggyecheon, which had quite a bit of water from the rain that had happened just before we arrived. went to a tourist area called Insadong to eat lunch and explore. Despite following a large group of 10 or so to a dead-end and past every place, 3 of us, including me, Ben, and Jake, managed to find a place to eat. I shared noodle gimbap with Ben, which was very delicious.

We then continued our excursion into Bukchon Hanok Village. The entire residential area was flooded with tourists. I definitely feel bad about being there and taking photos, as it is more akin to going to some cul-de-sac and taking photos of somebody’s house. After splitting off, the 3 of us went to a malcha tea shop and also had fresh pineapple juice (depicted in the featured image).

The incident started off with getting slightly lost. After drinking our juice, we decided to head back to the entrance to regroup with the others. One wrong turn led us to having to go the long way around all the way back up to the top before we could retrace our steps back down. But, surprisingly, on the way up, we ran into Emma and Vee, who themselves were lost as a security guard had closes off access to the residential area, blocking our path. We struggled for upwards of 10 minutes before we were able to reunite with the group (and our missing 6th member of Team C, Jacqi)

Finally, our last sanctioned outing of the day was another street market (Kwangjang Market, I think). There, I got to eat the live octopus, which was fine enough until it suctioned to my tongue, which was unpleasant to say the least. Overall, not bad though.

Rather than eat there, we took the metro back to the hotel (after some questionable map navigation) and ordered food at a nearby convenience store. Though we did make a stop at the Big 12 floor department store, nothing there was worth buying.

Great first day and here’s to many more!