Go forth in joy. In peace return.
Posts about living and studying at Yonsei University in South Korea, August through December 2018.
On Saturday evening I had the opportunity to visit the Deoksugung Palace in downtown Seoul with many of the students and mentors in my program. Deoksugung, along with Gyeongbokgung (which I visited in late August) is one of the “Five Grand Palaces” in Seoul and was also built during the Joseon Dynasty. During the Japanese invasion in the late-16th century, Deoksugung became the primary royal residence after the other Joseon palaces had been burned down.
On Friday night I went to the Seoul Bamdokkaebi Night Market on the Han River. We left early in the afternoon because the trip required walking, two subway rides, and then more walking (but it was absolutely worth it). The market is in the Yeongdeungpo district of Seoul in Banpo Hangang Park beneath the Banpo Bridge. As soon as the sun sets, the perimeter of the park is lined with dozens of food trucks, while the park itself contains countless vendors selling their handcrafted goods from tents.
This weekend I visited the Seoul neighborhood of Hongdae, one of the central hubs for restaurants, bars, night clubs, and shopping. Hongdae is adjacent to the Sinchon neighborhood (where I live), and is only one subway stop away. Since coming to Korea, I have experienced a fair amount of crowdedness on buses, subways, trains, and sidewalks, but I have never been in a place more densely packed with people than Hongdae on a Saturday night. The streets are filled with artists, performers, and mesmerized audiences. The buildings rise up 5 to 6 stories on either side of the street, each floor with a different store or venue. Packs of young people fill the bars and restaurants before a night of going to the club. This social scene is a big part of life for college students in South Korea. After working relentlessly throughout their middle and high school years to be accepted to a top university like Yonsei or Seoul National, the college years are finally a time to let loose and enjoy social activities like staying out all night at the bars and nightclubs with friends.
My interesting experience this week was navigating life as a “normal” college student. The week itself was relatively uneventful, but the beginning of classes brought with it a new set of experiences and challenges. Being a student at a civilian university in South Korea is vastly different from being a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. At Yonsei University, there is no morning quarters or noon meal formation; meals here can be eaten whenever one chooses at any number of cafeterias, or in downtown Seoul; there is no mandatory sports or study period, you must manage your fitness and studies on your own time; classes take place in large lecture halls or classrooms and do not begin and end with “attention on deck;” there is no prescribed uniform of the day, people wear whatever they’d like to; there are no room inspections, you can live in your own filth if you wish; freshman aren’t chopping down the halls and sounding off, they blend in with the rest of us; there is no taps or EOL, you just need to make sure you get to class on time. I have been given many freedoms to which I am unaccustomed after two years at USNA and, to be completely honest, I actually miss the discipline and routine.
This past week was full of activity and new experiences, but the most interesting was my two-day excursion to Yeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do in central Korea. After a three-hour trip by bus to the “cradle of Korean Confucianism,” I found myself surrounded by a lush, green landscape framed by enormous, sprawling mountain ranges.
I arrived at Incheon International Airport on the evening of Thursday, August 23. I was greeted by strong wind and rain as Typhoon Soulik threatened to make landfall in the greater Seoul area. Fortunately, there were no travel delays or issues with making my way to Yonsei University in the Sodaemun district of downtown Seoul. In fact, everything seemed to carry on as normal in spite of the impending weather.