15.03.2014 - Namsan Village

On saurday 15th, we went to Seoul again (and sure not the last...). This time we went to Namsan Village. This place is a traditional korean village, but turned into a turistic place.

First of all, as you know (if you are reading this blog hehe), Seoul is around 2 hours far from Incheon, so, when we arrived to Seoul, it was actually the lunch time. Our first stop was a traditional korean restaurant.

I think the restaurant was built before the war, because it was almost in ruins. Anyway, we took a good lunch there: kimchi (impossible to skip in a typical korean lunch) and a big bowl of noodles. If you compare it with Spain, it was cheap: 5500 won (3'5 euros aproximately).

Afterwards, we went to Namsan by foot, walking around the ancient streets.

Finally, we arrived to Namsan Village. When we arrived, the first thing we could see was the big amount of buses pulled over the entrance. Very turistic place thought.

In the following picture, you will see a kind of korean game. You had some kind of arrows or small spears that you had to launch and put into the holes. Itt was very difficult. I scored 6! hehe

Now, few pictures about the village.

In this village, there is also one activity which is actually very interesting. If you pay 3500 won (2.5 euros), you can be dressed with korean clothes. And, of course, we couldn't resist to try the typical korean costumes hehe. So here is the result.

Finally, to finish this post, a group picture in Namsan!

That's all folks!

12.03.2014 - First sight to Seoul & dinner in Bupyeong

On wednesday 13th, the University of Incheon was closed because of its opening anniversary. So we took advantage of this free day to visit Seoul. The others were already in Seoul several days ago, but, for me, this was the first time that I visited the capital city of South Korea.

We went to visit the city, and our first stop was the palace of Gyeongbokgung. The palace is located in the northern Seoul, and the entrance free is 3000 won.

First we went to the palace museum, which has some interesting stuffs. Anyway, it is not a place to spend so much time.

Afterwards, we visited the palace. The palace of Gyeongbokgung is quite big, you can be walking around there for 2 hours. There are some nice places inside, like the huge gates, the ponds, etc.

In the main gate of the palace, we could see the guardians of Gyeongbokgung. The toughest guys of South Korea! hehe

Afterwards, we were just walking around, taking a look at the city.

Finally, we came back to Bupyeong to take the dinner: chicken & beer!! Scrumptious chicken with no bones, and afterwards, a typical korean ice cream. Good dinner indeed!

And that's al folks!

09.03.2014 - First sight to Songdo

Several days ago, we were walking around Songdo, the district which is nearest the University of Incheon. It is not a very big place, but it has almost everything you need: a supermarket, bars, restaurants, pubs and even some karaokes.

Here is the map of Songdo and its surroundings.

Maybe Songdo at night is not as impressive as Bupyeong or Seoul are, but anyway that's the nearest place we have hehe.

That day, we found out a place called Lotteria, which actually could be called "The Korean McDonalds", because it is exactly the same. Reasonable prices for hamburguers, ice creams and so on. In the entrance, we saw a statue which actually I don't know if has any meaning.

Well, to finish this this post, a group picture.

That's all folks!

The Student Restaurant

Now we will talk about the food in the Student Restaurant. We have two places to eat here: the student restaurant of the dormitory and the student restaurant of the University.

The dormitory has the 3 meals of the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The University has 2 meals: lunch and dinner.

In the following picture we will see a typical korean breakfast:

Rice, soup of something, mushrooms, kimchi, something like seaweeds and spicy chicken.
I tried it just once. Afterwards my stomach started to complain so I think I shouln't try it again.

In the following picture we will see the lunch:

Pork cutlet with rice and vegetables, and a soup of...something. The lunch is pretty good, and I take it every single day. Actually, in the student restaurant of the University they offer this dish almost every single day, so actually I do take it every single day hehehe.

Now the dinner. This is not always the same, but every time is pretty similar:

Spicy pork, tofu, kimchi, rice, seaweeds and seaweeds soup (probably). The dinner is also ok for me. I always take the dinner in the student restaurant if I can do it.

Summarizing, breakfast is a fucking shit, and the lunch and dinner are good. So for breakfast I just need to buy some bread, milk, etc. in the Lotte Mart, and for the rest of the meals....well I take them in the student restaurant of the University if I can do it.

That's all folks.

07.03.2014 - ISSC Welcome Party

I am starting to think that I should post in the blog more frequently since I cannot start posting with the phrase "last friday....", because last friday was the day before yesterday and not on 07.03.2014....

Anyway, the ISSC of the university of Incheon prepared a welcome party for foreign students on Friday the 7th. Of course we didn't want to miss it and we were there at 18:00.

We had a stickers with our names, so people could read the name of each other without the problem of the different alphabets and pronunciations that we had there, because people of a very variety of countries met in the party.

We could have some pizza, beers and we could try the Soju, an interesting korean liquor. People were gathering in small groups of the same nationality, so the guys of ISSC prepared some games to fix that hehe. In this one in the picture, 4 people had to sit in the sofa but each person had to be from a different country.

Afterwards we had other games. The beer pong consists in put a table tenis ball in the beer glass of the other team, and then the other team had to drink it. The team which lose all its glasses would be the loosers of the game.

Te last game was the classic arm wrestling. We had a competition: 12 participants and only 1 winner!

And that's all folks. Thanks to the ISSC for the party, it was very funny!
 

06.03.2014 - Orientation Day

Last thursday we had the orientation day at the University of Incheon. There we were informed about many things about Incheon, Seoul, South Korea, and the University of Incheon.

 Also a representative of the Police Office came to the orientation and talk to us about our rights, things that are forbidden in South Korea, and also the phone number we can call if we have any problem or emergency.

At the end of the orientarion, the guys of the ISSC association also came to talk about the university and their association. They talked about how can they help us, and in fact I have to say that's all true because they have helped us a lot! hehe. They also talked to us about the welcome party they were preparing for the next day. That party is a story for a new post of the blog hehehe.

That's all folks!

05.03.2014 - Chicken & Beer + Gig

It seems that small restaurants of Chiken & Beer are very popular here in South Korea. So last wednesday we could try it in the district of Bupyeong. We had to take the subway, and we spent around 30 minutes to get there. What can we do? The Songdo Campus is far from everywhere....

Bupyeong has a good nightlife, and it is the first place where I saw those big bright advertisements which are around all asian cities.

Afterwards, we took the subway again and we arrived to Sindorim. Because one of our new korean friends were gigging in the Unplugged Cafe. Actually this cafe is kind of hidden and we were lost several times by trying to find it.

We were sitting in the front row hehe. Now a short video about the gig (very bad quality sorry):

The University Dormitory

The dormitory is currently our home. It is located in the University of Incheon, quite close to the Faculty buildings. So basically we have to spend just 5 or 10 minutes to get our classes.

Some korean guys call it "The Prison", due to the large amount of behaviour rules it has.

You have to wear an identification all the time, men and women live in separated buildings and none can pass to the building of each other, you can't arrive later than 00:00 on weekdays, and 02:00 am on weekends. If you want to stay out of the dormitory you have to sign in a list....Yes, I understand why korean guys call it "The Prison".

We also have very very small rooms. With extra small bathroom. Everything sound very bad in this dormitory, isn't it?

Well, actually is not everything that bad. Dormitory is free of charge because we have an "special" scholarship of the University of Incheon. If it is free you can't complain, isn't it? hehe. Well it has few other interesting stuff. For instance, we have a big gym, a snooker room, and also a computer room.

So here is the Prison. That's all.