General Happenings: First Days in Korea!

Like I promised in my last post about Music Core, I am now writing a post about how Korea in general has been to me so far. My plane was scheduled to leave Narita Airport in Japan at 9:25 am, so I had to be at the airport by around 7:30. I had to leave my hotel at around 4:30 in the morning. The night before I was able to turn in my key and get the deposit back so that was no problem. I took the regular trains (which were still mostly down except for a few train lines due to the typhoon) which were packed since most of the lines were down. Even at 5 the platforms and trains were nearly full.

Music Core 110924

So, I will get to a more proper post about where I am Korea, what I'm up to, and things like that at another point. What I will say is that the gosiwon (boarding house) that I'm staying in is small but amazing. Some downsides are that we're in a very crowded/popular area, so it's very loud and bright at night (especially this week, because a huge school festival/competition thing is going on), but I would be having to deal with that anywhere within walking distance to school so it's not like it would be different somewhere else, and the smallness. The majority of the other people staying here are Japanese! And the ahjumma ("old lady", but not in a bad way) who runs the gosiwon is extremely nice and friendly. I just got done with her kidnapping me from my room and making me eat dinner, since I haven't eaten really since coming here.

But! For today, I will tell you of my fangirling adventure to 쇼! 음악중심 (otherwise known as Music Core), one of Korea's four main music programs. It's the easiest of the four weekly programs to get in to because the venue is so huge. Why is it so huge? It's out in the middle of nowhere. All four of these weekly shows are absolutely free, you just have to show up and line up with a certain group's fans. You have to have at least the CD that the group is currently promoting, and then you are further up in line (= more likely to get in) if you're a part of the official fan club, have bought the music from the official music shops online, and things like that.

Post About Japan #3 : Typhoon Chronicles

I am back once again with my last post about Japan! In a way, my six days (though it was really only six nights and five days) here have felt like so much more, and also like they haven't been nearly that long. Due to the typhoon, I ended up deciding not to head up to my Japanese home town up in Gunma. That ended up being a good decision, because the train lines ended up getting shut down completely, but I will get more into the typhoon a bit later. First I'll tell you all about how yesterday in Shimokitazawa went!

Post About Japan #2 : So Many Things

Where I left you all before, I was still suffering rather severe jet lag. I can proudly say that is now mostly fixed, and I woke up around 4:30 this morning. Yay! In these past two days I spent most of my time in the Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya area and met quite a few people. This was all actually managed without a cell phone or any way to contact these people actually around the time we were meeting, so I feel like it has gone quite well... This time there are pictures!

Post About Japan #1 : Jet Lag Chronicles

Because I am stopping in Japan for 6 nights on the way to Korea, I am going to go ahead and write one large post about the going-ons in Japan. Originally I flew MCI → LAX → NRT. For the long part of the flight (LAX to NRT) I was with Korean Air. And I definitely have to say, that had to have been the best flying experience I have ever had.

천리길은 한 걸음부터

The title of this post (as well as the title of this blog itself) is a Korean saying that literally means "A journey of 1000 li begins from one step." Li's are a form traditional Chinese measurement, equivalent to around 500m or 1/3 of a mile. But basically, any journey starts with the first step. Though I'm leaving the US in less than a month, on September 15th, the first step of my new journey will truly be on September 22nd when I leave the at least somewhat familiar country of Japan to head over to South Korea.

My reasons behind going to South Korea for language school (and hopefully later regular university classes) are long and a bit difficult to understand, even for myself, but I can definitely say that part of it has to do with liking k-pop, Korean pop music. Those are not my sole reasons for going, but they were the first part in what made me consider it. In the end, the price is equivalent to going to my cheapest option of a four year university in the US.

The rest of this post is going to cover the steps it took to get into Yonsei's Korean Language Instutute and the other things you have to deal with them for. So if you're interested in going on a University exchange or doing language school there like I am, it may be helpful for you. Otherwise, unless you take interest in these sort of things you may want to skip it. I'll cover the visa and places to stay some other time!