Orientation was really busy. I think they were giving us a taste of what our students have to go through, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Day 2 was pretty laid back. We just got separated into our groups, took a campus tour, and had an opening ceremony and feast. Only complaint is how hot and humid it was. That sucks a lot =\
The opening ceremony was pretty sweet. They had some cultural demonstrations for us that were really cool. The first one was a drum dance that was really cool. Then there was a taekwondo demonstration that was just incredible. They ended things with a traditional fan dance. Then we had a huge feast with more food then we could eat. That was all of orientation for day 2.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Welcome to Korea
I'm here! I am currently sitting in a dorm room in Jeonju University waiting for my medical check. This is day two of orientation, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with packing and the trip over.
Packing actually went pretty well. I had a baggage allowance of two 50 pound bags to check, one carry-on, and one personal item. I rolled all my shirts and folded my pants together, put my PS3 in my carry-on, my laptop in my laptop shoulder bag, and all my climbing gear in my backpacking pack. Once I got everything in my luggage, I ended up with a carry-on that weighs 27 pounds, two bags that are 48 and 45 pounds, and my laptop bag. The great news is they never looked at my carry-on, so I got all my luggage for free. Excellent! The one issue at check-in was some bad news. My flight was delayed up to an hour due to weather in San Francisco. My layover was two hours though, so that should be fine.
So after saying goodbye to everyone at the airport I went through security. That was painless, but I did have to take my PS3 out of my carry-on as if it was a laptop. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. I went down to my gate. There, I checked in and found out it was possibly a longer delay but they weren't sure. So I waited around. They finally boarded us and we were on track to land with about an hour between flights. Shouldn't be a huge problem, just have to hurry. Then, once we're all on the plane, they tell us it will be another hour. Uh-oh.
We finally take off and have an uneventful flight. We get into San Francisco at 2:10, five minutes after the Singapore Airlines flight was scheduled to depart. At this point I'm resigned to the fact I will be staying the night in Cali, and I'm not the only one. There were several other people scheduled for the same flight. We figured we'd go down to the gate anyway on the off chance the plane was delayed and we could still make it. Naturally the departure gate wasn't on the boards or on our tickets. So we made our way to the International Terminal. On the way, I hear an amazing thing: they call me on the intercom and tell me to get to a gate. Does this mean the plane is still here?? I start jogging.
I get to the gate and it's great. There are a ton of people in line to get on a plane, and there's a jet sitting outside. I check in and get a boarding pass. We barely made the flight, but we did all get on. That's the good news. The bad news is our luggage did not have time to make the transfer.
The flight to Korea took roughly 11 hours. It was actually very nice. I had a window seat and was next to a kid about 7 years old. He was very quiet the whole trip and just watched tv or played games. His mom was in the isle seat and she didn't speak English. I spent the trip watching movies from the on-demand system. It had quite an extensive collection, including Iron Man 2. I had also called ahead and ordered the vegetarian menu, which turned out to be the same as the Indian menu. They brought out my food (along with the other veggies) before everyone else. All in all it was a good flight.
Once we landed there was no trouble getting through customs or anything. As expected my bags didn't arrive. I met up with a few other EPIK teachers and we filled out paperwork to get our bags delivered once they arrived on the next flight from San Francisco. I changed money at the airport, with the standard rate at about 1180 and the booth buying dollars at 1131. Then I went out of the secure area and met up with Gregg! We found the EPIK booth and I got a number for check-in, then Gregg and I walked around.
I ended up finally getting on a bus at about 9pm. The bus ride was pretty laid back. It was dark so really hard to see anything that was outside, so most of us slept. I met some cool people though. We finally got to the dorm at about 1230 am. I met my roommate and after figuring out how to get the AC working went right to sleep.
That was the end of day one.
Packing actually went pretty well. I had a baggage allowance of two 50 pound bags to check, one carry-on, and one personal item. I rolled all my shirts and folded my pants together, put my PS3 in my carry-on, my laptop in my laptop shoulder bag, and all my climbing gear in my backpacking pack. Once I got everything in my luggage, I ended up with a carry-on that weighs 27 pounds, two bags that are 48 and 45 pounds, and my laptop bag. The great news is they never looked at my carry-on, so I got all my luggage for free. Excellent! The one issue at check-in was some bad news. My flight was delayed up to an hour due to weather in San Francisco. My layover was two hours though, so that should be fine.
So after saying goodbye to everyone at the airport I went through security. That was painless, but I did have to take my PS3 out of my carry-on as if it was a laptop. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. I went down to my gate. There, I checked in and found out it was possibly a longer delay but they weren't sure. So I waited around. They finally boarded us and we were on track to land with about an hour between flights. Shouldn't be a huge problem, just have to hurry. Then, once we're all on the plane, they tell us it will be another hour. Uh-oh.
We finally take off and have an uneventful flight. We get into San Francisco at 2:10, five minutes after the Singapore Airlines flight was scheduled to depart. At this point I'm resigned to the fact I will be staying the night in Cali, and I'm not the only one. There were several other people scheduled for the same flight. We figured we'd go down to the gate anyway on the off chance the plane was delayed and we could still make it. Naturally the departure gate wasn't on the boards or on our tickets. So we made our way to the International Terminal. On the way, I hear an amazing thing: they call me on the intercom and tell me to get to a gate. Does this mean the plane is still here?? I start jogging.
I get to the gate and it's great. There are a ton of people in line to get on a plane, and there's a jet sitting outside. I check in and get a boarding pass. We barely made the flight, but we did all get on. That's the good news. The bad news is our luggage did not have time to make the transfer.
The flight to Korea took roughly 11 hours. It was actually very nice. I had a window seat and was next to a kid about 7 years old. He was very quiet the whole trip and just watched tv or played games. His mom was in the isle seat and she didn't speak English. I spent the trip watching movies from the on-demand system. It had quite an extensive collection, including Iron Man 2. I had also called ahead and ordered the vegetarian menu, which turned out to be the same as the Indian menu. They brought out my food (along with the other veggies) before everyone else. All in all it was a good flight.
Once we landed there was no trouble getting through customs or anything. As expected my bags didn't arrive. I met up with a few other EPIK teachers and we filled out paperwork to get our bags delivered once they arrived on the next flight from San Francisco. I changed money at the airport, with the standard rate at about 1180 and the booth buying dollars at 1131. Then I went out of the secure area and met up with Gregg! We found the EPIK booth and I got a number for check-in, then Gregg and I walked around.
I ended up finally getting on a bus at about 9pm. The bus ride was pretty laid back. It was dark so really hard to see anything that was outside, so most of us slept. I met some cool people though. We finally got to the dorm at about 1230 am. I met my roommate and after figuring out how to get the AC working went right to sleep.
That was the end of day one.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Busy busy
I have been so busy lately. I'm currently sitting in a hotel room about 10 minutes from the PDX, with my flight at 10 am tomorrow morning. So now I have time to take a breath and update everyone. Now, where to begin.
We had a going away party in Portland last week with a lot of family and friends from around the area. It was great to get to see everyone one last time before setting off. I'm working on collecting photos from everyone, those will be going up hopefully in the next week.
I started digitizing my media collection. I got myself a 1.5TB external hard drive and started ripping DVDs to it. That will save a lot of space. Isaac will appreciate this - I have all the bond movies at my fingertips all the time =)
My Mom threw mini-parties for me and my sister to celebrate our birthdays, Christmas, and every other holiday for the next year, complete with presents. That was kind of fun.
I had to get everything packed of course. That took up most of my time for the last few days. I'm allowed two 50 pound bags, one standard carry-on, and one "personal item," which I'm using for my laptop bag. Overall I ended up getting all my stuff (including my climbing gear!) in one 48 pound and one 44 pound bag. My carry-on is about double the weight allowance though because of my PS3. Nothing I can really do about that, so I'm hoping they don't check the weight.
I'm pretty excited to get started on this trip. It sounds like a bunch of people from the Facebook group at my orientation will be going out Wed night, giving us a chance to finally meet in person and try out this soju we've heard so much about!
My next post will be from the other side. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics and vids up soon.
T minus seven hours to the airport!
We had a going away party in Portland last week with a lot of family and friends from around the area. It was great to get to see everyone one last time before setting off. I'm working on collecting photos from everyone, those will be going up hopefully in the next week.
I started digitizing my media collection. I got myself a 1.5TB external hard drive and started ripping DVDs to it. That will save a lot of space. Isaac will appreciate this - I have all the bond movies at my fingertips all the time =)
My Mom threw mini-parties for me and my sister to celebrate our birthdays, Christmas, and every other holiday for the next year, complete with presents. That was kind of fun.
I had to get everything packed of course. That took up most of my time for the last few days. I'm allowed two 50 pound bags, one standard carry-on, and one "personal item," which I'm using for my laptop bag. Overall I ended up getting all my stuff (including my climbing gear!) in one 48 pound and one 44 pound bag. My carry-on is about double the weight allowance though because of my PS3. Nothing I can really do about that, so I'm hoping they don't check the weight.
I'm pretty excited to get started on this trip. It sounds like a bunch of people from the Facebook group at my orientation will be going out Wed night, giving us a chance to finally meet in person and try out this soju we've heard so much about!
My next post will be from the other side. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics and vids up soon.
T minus seven hours to the airport!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Flight & Pre-Orientation
I have a flight! PDX --> SFO --> ICN. I leave Aug. 17th at 10:20am and get to Seoul at 6:45pm on the 18th, after about 20 hours of travel time I think. Total cost was $801.
I've also started the EPIK online orientation course. So far it has just covered developmental psychology, which I actually find interesting.
I'm moving from Portland back to Seaside today to start packing. I'm not looking forward to that, but I guess I need to get started.
I've also started the EPIK online orientation course. So far it has just covered developmental psychology, which I actually find interesting.
I'm moving from Portland back to Seaside today to start packing. I'm not looking forward to that, but I guess I need to get started.
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