Video Projects,

There are so many things differentiating my home university Arcada in Finland from Kyung Hee University in Seoul South Korea. One things is the amount of projects and the tasks included in the projects. KHU and especially the tourism department, encourages their students to create short videos, which is something the students really enjoys. It's a great way to earn extra points, and to make all the other teams look like they didn't do enough.

So I have one projects, where we have to do a movie, and another project, where we decided to make a short video, just to earn extra credits and get a better final grade. The first one, about Bowling, is a video I did with my teammates for Introduction to Leisure class. Lame as it looks, but we have to explain where you can do bowling in Seoul, how to get there, how to play and how much it costs.
The second video, is a project about an area in Seoul. Our team chose Seochon. The area is not as popular as Bockhon and Insadong, which are located nearby. Here are the videos, enjoy! :)

"Sopoong",

Yesterday was a long, but an amazing day. It started at main gate where we gathered with our team we had been able to chose, depending on what we wanted to do this saturday. I chose team D, since most of my friends from IFCC was there. We took a group photo in front of main building, before the teams separated, so that we could enjoy a nice saturday together. Team D headed to the Hanriver. We started our afternoon with traditional korean games. After, we went for a bicycle ride, and I managed to try the tandem bike for the first time ever, and it was so much fun. When we returned, it was time for dinner, drinks and drinking games. Hangju, with his guitar and amazing voice, sand for all of us. Me and him, practiced some songs that we sang together. He is just an amazing singer, huge talent singing in korean but also in english. Our night went on and I ended up being home at 5am, which is kind of normal here in Seoul. This day, was probably the best day of this semester and one of the days I will remember forever. Look at the pics, yes, we had an awesome time!

A video from our awesome picnic!

Jeju Island,

South Korea has been shown in the news a lot these past weeks. The Sewol Cruise ship was on its way to the romantic korean island, Jeju Island. Unfortunately, that day didn't go as expected and the ferry sank. Since then, Koreans have been afraid of even putting their feet on a ship, and it will probably stay like that for a while. Even speaking about ferry, cruise or anything that has to do with that, makes people terrified. This might be a reason, why there is not as many tourists on Jeju Island as usually these days. 

Jeju Island, is an island what Koreans are very proud of. Jeju Island is a volcanic island dominated by the Hallasan Mountain, a volcano which is 1950m high. Mt. Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea. The island itself is 73km from east to west, and 40km from north to south. When traveling around Jeju Island, you will be exposed to the most traditional and cultural aspects of the island. Examples of those are "dol hareubang (stone godfather). These can be seen in logos, but also sculptures around the island. Another example are the small, round towers made our of stones (Bangsatap). Jeju is also famous for the "sea women", which refers to the strong Jeju women who are diving and providing the food for the family. 

The weather in Jeju is mostly warm, even in the winter. That's what shocked me the most. South Korea has its own characteristics, but on the Island, you will see palm trees, sandy beaches and high mountains. The island is extremely famous for their tangerine or mandarine plantations. In every shop, you will find fresh juice, chocolate, basically anything that has a taste of Jejus tangerines. 

So, we arrived to Jeju Island Thursday morning. Me, my roommate Marita and our friend Nubdi decided to spend a long weekend on the island together. There are very affordable flights going from Gimpo Airport in Seoul all the way to the island, in just one hour. When we arrived to the airport, there were a lot of tourist information booths, with broschurs, which made it easy for us to find accommodation and activities for the whole weekend. The first day was spent in Jeju-Si, Jeju City, which is basically the "capital" of the island. We walked around the city, the harbor and the first evening was spent by celebrating Maritas birthday. Next morning, was a different story. It was the time to walk all the way up to Mt. Hallasan. We were all super excited, and we knew it would be a hard but lovely day. We ended up exhausted and with a lot of pain. Our goal was to go all the way up and down, so it felt great when it was over. In the mountains, we got some new friends, also from Seoul. They suggested a nice guesthouse for us, where we stayed the following night. We also visited Hallim Park, or the area located around. We paid a visit to the famous Sex&Health Museum. This is a strange attraction. Since talking, mentioning, watching or having sex is a little "taboo" or a sensitive topic in South Korea, exposing it all in a museum is kind of cool. We had many good laughs. Our last day was spent on the beach and we walked up the Seongsan Ilchulbong. The boys drew us to our guesthouse, where we also slept the first night. Tomorrow, we will fly back to Seoul, which means back to business and reality. 

Pohang, Busan & Gyeongju,

The vacation was mostly spent in Pohang, where Nahee´s parents live. Our journey got its start on friday afternoon, when we took the bus from Seoul to Pohang. The trip took us approximately 5-6 hours. When we arrived we were all tired and hungry, so we decided to have some Chinese food with Nahee´s parents. They were so curious about us, since it was their first time meeting Europeans and especially having europeans as guests. Her parents owns a furniture shop, called Iloom. The shop has two floors, and the third floor is the family's apartment. The crazy and most unique thing, was that we were all sleeping in the furniture shop. Once in a lifetime-experience, for sure! Every morning we got a huge and healthy breakfast and Nahee's mother cooked homemade bulgogi for us, which was the best dinner I have had for a long time. 

Pohang was beautiful. It was a mixture of a big city, located nearby the beach. I can imagine that the city would be lovely on a hot summer day. Our last day, which was Buddhas birthday, was spent in the mountains. We went hiking with Nahee's parents and their friends. The weather was great and the view aswell. When we were done with our hiking, we visited a temple, where they were serving bibimbap for free, honoring Buddha. The temple was beautiful, and the food delicious. Later that evening, it was time to say goodbye. All of us got our little gift from her parents. 

We spent one day in Busan, which was not enough. Would have been nice to stay there longer and explore it more. We managed to visit the most popular restaurant there, UN MemorialAPEC Nurimaru, the Haeundae Beach and our day ended with a nice dinner and a good night sleep in a jjimjilbang (sauna). I have been to a jjimjilbang a couple of times, but never slept there. It was more comfy than I expected and so relaxing. 

In Gyeongju, we only visited a traditional village called Yangdong Historic Village, which is an UNESCO Heritage Site. There is actually people living there, and the village is just remarkable. So cosy, and beautiful. It was a great holiday, and here follows some pictures from the weekend.