Yesterday, I finally made it to Seoul, Korea, but first, I want to talk about my 15+ hour plane trip and start before my first exciting day of the trip.

To start, to be honest, the flight to Korea wasn’t that bad; it was nice that it started at midnight so most of the plane ride I was asleep. Because I am 6 feet 5 inches, I had little leg room and did feel uncomfortable for most of the plane ride. For the times I was awake, I spent my time playing video games, listening to music, and watching one movie, Mickey 17. Moreover, the food on the plane was great. It all tasted good, and we had a great amount of service; however, the portions were a little small.

Our group landed in Incheon around 4:00 AM Korean time or 3 PM Pittsburgh time to start our first day, and I was excited. First, we had breakfast at our hotel, which was a necessity because I was starving for more food to eat. After that, our group took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace, where we took our first ride.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is a large area where royalty lived during the Joseon dynasty period of Korea. It was so interesting to see this type of architecture and history. The palace was massive, having tons of buildings like the picture above, each serving a different purpose. I find this very interesting because I learned that most Koreans live in small apartments. After all, the population is large compared to the small size of the country, and then this palace is massive and has so many extra rooms.

After the palace, we travelled to many different places, sightseeing more of Seoul. We went to a popular tourist street where there were lots of food stalls, restaurants, and stores everywhere for the eye to see. We had an hour to find lunch in this place, and so with a few group members, we picked a random stairwell that went down to a restaurant where we didn’t even know what was on the menu.

I ordered a ramen soup and dumplings, which were surprisingly large since I only spent 22,000 Won or just about $15 USD. This was the first official Korean food I had on the trip, and it was great.

After a few other destinations, we arrived in an area that only had street food. I didn’t order anything here since I was so full, but Dr Yun. ordered something for us. At a few stalls, they had an aquarium of live octopus, and they took one out and cut it right in front of us while it was still alive. I had one of this octopus’s tentacles, and while I was eating it, I could feel it moving in my mouth; some of its suction cups even stuck to me. It was very cruncy because it was all entirely muscle. It was ok, but I don’t know if I would eat it again.

This wraps up my first blog, actually in Korea. It was a great first day, and I can’t wait to see more of Korea.