안녕 한국! (Hello Korea!)

I'm in KOREA!Where do I begin? So many thoughts, so many excitements! There is no way to write everything that I've thought and experienced over the last few days, so I thought it would be easier to write a few random initial thoughts below and include a few photos to show you about my life here.

Clara, Susanna, Stephanie and I (all from UNC) at the Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea.

Coming into my dorm room at 9 pm Monday with keys and a nametag in hand. Excited! :)

• Our orientation leader is about as TCK as someone can get. He shared "where he was from" today for us and it probably took about 2 minutes for him to explain every country he has lived in and where he grew up. He did 8th through 11th grade in Ankara, Turkey, so that is exciting! We have spoken some Turkish together. It is nice to have a TCK friend around who also doesn't know quite where they are from, and who has ended up in Korea over the years.
  
• Laughing and smiling (which are the same word in Turkish) is a universal language. My roommates and I haven't talked much, but we have definitely smiled at each other. One is shy in her English and my conversational Korean is close to zero, but smiling is one thing we are both good at! The other one and I have laughed together a lot and talked more. I'm so excited to get to know them both over the next few months!

With my roommate Se Young at the International Student Welcome Dinner (It was freezing, but the food was delicious!)

• You know you're in Asia when you buy a men's foot brace and it's barely large enough, and when taking showers is a knee work-out. ;)

• My Korean reading skills are quickly getting better and better. I've been learning random Korean words every hour it seems. I remember about half of them 10 minutes after I learn them, and half of that half I remember the next day. Lots of repetition, repetition, repetition! I've been coming up with helpful little hints to remember each word. For example, it is really cold here, so I learned the word for cold - 추위 - which sounds like "chew, woah!" because when you're shivering, your teeth chatter (like chewing?) Haha. It's silly, but it helps!
  
• Signs on campus are in Korean. Signs around town are in Korean. Staff speak Korean. Restaurant and store owners speak Korean. Most students here only speak Korean. It seems as though I will be learning Korean, and learning it quickly.

A typical restaurant menu. I will be learning how to read Korean foods VERY quickly

• The food is amazing here, but the hardest thing is ordering, as you can see in the photo above. Some things haven't set well with my stomach, but almost everything tastes wonderful. (I'm not so sure about liking the Kimchi yet..) I'm so glad to be living in a rice-eating country! I will be getting very good at chopsticks ASAP. :)

My first meal in Korea (Bulgogi) at the airport.

Eating Kimbap on campus on the first day. :)

• Last but not least, end every sentence with "ah-sim-nee-dah" or "hess-so-yo" and you've basically got Korean down. :)

More blog posts to come! School begins Monday and I am so excited for the adventures to continue! Thank you for your continued prayers as I adjust to a new country, culture, food and friends. :)