Cheering Event & Playing Tour Guide
Welcome to Week 7 of my studying abroad journey in South Korea while attending Yonsei University! This past week is definitely one that I will remember forever because it was jam packed with unforgettable memories.
To start off the week, I attended the annual Yonsei University cheering event with a few of the UH Manoa girls and my German friends that I had met last week during the Korean village tour. In all honesty, I did not know about this event prior to becoming a student at Yonsei and how spirited the student body is. The cheering event itself was held at Korea University where both KU and Yonsei battle each other in cheering. When we arrived, the venue was jam packed with Yonsei students either rcoking their jersey's or iconic varsity jackets and KU students wearing their maroon reddi-ish jersey's and varsity jackets. We got our Yonsei face tattoos and stuck a few to our faces to fit in with the crowd. It was atcually quite funny because as we were taking a group photo after putting on the tattoos, a photographer took a picture of us and we ended up on the Yonsei University Instagram account for a cover photo (i looked terrible!!) Nevertheless, I really had no idea what was in store for the rest of the event after this. Several performers hopped on stage and commanded the crowd with their cheers and shouts. Each university had their own specific song, cheer, and dance routine. Although the entire event was spoken in Korean and neither my freinds nor I had practiced the dances prior, it was still such a fun experience. The school spirit echoed through the entire stadium as each school sang their school anthem and head butted to the beat of the songs being played by the commander. Despite this event being a "battle"to see who is the most spirited school, the crowd began to combine over time thereby have big groups of students from KU and Yonsei huddled together and head butting to the msuic in unison. Since most of us were hungry towards the end of the vent, we decided to leave a little ealry to avoid the crowds and we ended up on top of the hill that overlooked the crowd below and it was truly a sight to see! SO many students gathered together to simply dance and share the moment together.
A few days after the cheering event, my boyfriend James came to visit me in Korea! I was so excited but also so nervous because this was his first time visiting Korea. Prior to his arrival, I tried my best to plan out the best itinerary to highlight the most iconic and classic parts of Korea that every visitor must see. I also consulted Jamie to help with mapping out the most convenient routes and finding fun things to do. In his short trip, we visited Hongdae, Myeongdong, Dongdaemun, Namdaemun, Sinchon, and Seongsu. We also went to N Seoul Tower and Lotte World Tower. At N Seoul Tower, we made and hung a lock amongst the hundreds of locks lining the balcony of the viewing point. It was such a fun experience because I would always see characters in Kdramas hang a lock with thier significant other and I was so happy that I was able to do the same! Additionally, one of our favorite moments from the trip was visiting Dongdaemun because of their live art exhibitions. It included several pieces from a range of different Asian artists that truly immersed us into the walking exhibit that told the story of ancient Korea and the importance of honoring the past. Overall, the trip was a success! I was nervous at first having to take lead with navigating us and ensuring that we were sticking to the itinerary but over time it became natural. It was also refreshing to have James visit Korea as it is a country packed with couples and couple activities. Seeing so many couples during the beginning of studying abroad made me kind of sad but it was all worth it because I was able to do them eventually.
This week was so fun and I have no idea how I will top it haha! Time is going by way too fast and I feel like I haven't done enough. Nevertheless, I am so excited to see what the next few weeks will consist of.
