Getting Settled In!
Welcome back to my blog!! It is week 3 of my study abroad journey in South Korea. A lot happened in the past weeks that I will be mentioning in the blog today. To start off, Kylie and I had our ARC (Alien Registration Card) appointment which is a card that is required to re-enter South Korea if you plan on traveling to different countries during your sstudy aborad (plus it allows you to skip the long line at customs). Luckily, we had booked our appoitnment through the website back in Hawai'i but a majority of our friends received their card through Yonsei. If you plan on traveling a lot during your study abroad right away, I highly recommend making an appointment in advance!
Anyways, this week I attended a full day tour hosted by Yonsei Global which is an international student club here on campus. During our new student orientation, they introduced us to several student clubs on campus and Yonsei Global hosted two full day tours happening the day of the orientation and a week later that were on a first come first serve basis. Obviously after the orientation there was a stampede of students running to signup. Luckily, I was able to snag a spot for the second tour.
On the day of the tour, we visited a historic Korean village where we got to watch traditional dance performances, try food, and learn more about South Korea's origins. In this tour, I was completely separated from my friends back at UH so it forced me to meet new people and I met a group of friends from Germany! It was so fascinating learning about each others cultures and homes while simultaneously learning about Korean culture. Overall, this tour was definitely worth waiting in the long line because you get to meet both native and international students.
Another club that I had joined with my friends was the Yonsei Mentor's Club. This club places you in a group with different international students with a native Korean student who is the "mentor". On their first event, we were all split up to different restaurants with our mentor group and were later brought to a larger event space with everybody. It was very crowded but so much fun! (took a photobooth picture with all the UHM girls!!)
Finally, Kylie and I ended off the week with your color analysis appointment!!! This was one of the activities I was looking forward to the most when landing in South Korea. The clinic we went to was referred to us by our friends called "Color Place". In the appointment, I found out I was a Cool Spring?! Who would've known. It was such a fun experience because our specialist showed us the different color pallets and how they affected the look of our face and features. After you and your specialist find your pallet shades, they will present a series of slides showing the different celebrities who have the same pallet, clothes most suited for you, makeup most suited for you, and hair colors. All in all, it was an eye opening experience as someone who truly thought they were a warm tone! They are english friendly so I highly recommend everyone to try it out as a cool activity.
ALSO i forgot to mention te most important thing. IT STARTED SNOWING!! This was my first experience with real snow falling from the sky. A someone who is born and raised in Hawai'i, this was a big deal. Snow is a lot more softer than I thought it would be and extremely cold.
