Buddhist temple day

Another lazy Sunday.....

We exchange students, with nothing better to do, decided to visit a Buddhist temple in Seoul. I had a creeping suspicion that I would be reminded all too well of the two palaces I had seen previously, but browsing reddit had lost my interest, so I agreed to tag along.

Heading towards the subway station near campus.

The second coming of Hitler.

Outside our subway exit is the memorial for the Seoul Summit.

The world leaders that attended the summit are on pillars surrounding the metallic sphere.

Seoul Global Trade Tower

I was messing around in post-processing, and I thought this under-exposed version was worth sharing.

We finally arrived at the temple, and, yup, the architecture is exactly the same as the palaces. However, I did find one relatively unrestored bell house to be pretty cool.

The oldest looking building I've seen.

First sign of spring. I'm excited.

In the center of the temple grounds rests a >30-foot statue. The polished stone surface is for people to meditate or pray.

On a different day, also a lazy day, I finally had a chance to spend some time with my photography club. There was a meeting/study session in which one of the leaders of the club gave a lecture on some basic photography subjects and vocabulary (i.e. aperture, focus, exposure, composition, etc.). Afterward, the group went our for some dinner and drinking.

The patrons of one restaurant are encouraged to hang their soju bottle caps from the ceiling in a "barrel-o-monkeys" fashion.

Soju is by far the cheapest way to get your buzz going. A bottle like this will cost you less than one US dollar at the local department store. The bottle is the same volume as a standard beer bottle, but the soju is 20% alcohol by volume, compared to most beer at just 5-6% alcohol. You do the math. *^_^*

As far as life is concerned, my schedule is very relaxed. I've met many people here, so most of my time is spent socializing with the many different sets of friends I have gained. [Don't worry, Mom. I am not neglecting my classes] After buying my final text book, I ran out of the cash I brought with me . By "ran out of [money]," I mean literally having less than a dollar in my pocket. Bank of America has made it exceedingly painful to get money into my Korean bank account, but my wire transfer should clear before I starve to death. 

On another note, I will hopefully have an opportunity to play in a band. There is a club within the semiconductor school with about 30 members that form a mixture of groups amongst themselves. To my knowledge, the club mostly performs on campus, but I hope I get a chance to find out for myself.

Thanks for keeping up with me to this point.

~잘가 

Joining Student Clubs

w00t!!11!!!1! two posts in one night.

This week, student clubs were out and about trying to recruit some fresh meat. In Korea, it is very rare for college students to participate in extracurricular activities past their sophomore year. They become much to focussed on exit exams and things of that nature. As a result, most clubs are recruiting only freshmen and sophomores and the occasional foreign exchange student. I had a day of no classes, so I took my camera out to the main plaza to see what I could see, and I happened upon a pretty elaborate stage constructed between the Samsung library and the student center. Different entertainment groups performed for about an hour.

All the clubs had recruitment tables set up all around the plaza.

Different groups performed on the stage. Everything from acoustic guitar and egg-shaker bands to B-boy and hip-hop groups.

The group that "headlined," you could say, was a rock band. They covered groups including Guns N' Roses, Muse, and Rage Against the Machine. Overall they were pretty fun to watch.

Their guitarist could shred better than any Korean I've ever seen.

The drummer's kit rivaled that of Mike Portnoy.

Though the singer never called any special attention to the bassist, this guy was awesome. He ripped through Hysteria by Muse and never broke a sweat. Mad props to this bassist.

I ended up joining a photography club, but, honestly, I know nothing about it. I had to leave the first meeting early because I had prior plans. All I know so far is that there are weekend trips to take pictures at parks and other remote places. I'm looking forward to the weather warming up, the clouds clearing out, and the vegetation getting a little greener.

I know it's spring break in the States. I hope everyone is having a good time. Be safe, and ~

~잘가

Update - March 16

So just a heads up:
I have nothing specific to talk about, so I'm just going to show you some things that have happened to me that I find notable.
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Yesterday was basically Christmas during my microprocessor class. Each student was given all the parts and equipment needed to construct a computing system powered by the Intel 8086.

So many parts.

Intel 8086 is the brain.

My homework over the next couple weeks is putting this bad boy together. The good thing is that I've made a few friends in the class, so we can double check each other's work if need be.

We exchange students from Texas went out with some friends tonight. We ate a Korean favorite, 삼겹살, which is basically grilled bacon that can be placed in a lettuce leaf with whatever else you want to make it more interesting. My favorite combination is some onion and roasted garlic with some spicy sauce and a bit of kimchi. Put the bacon in last, and you have yourself a mighty fine mouthful of awesomeness. We did drink quite a bit so I am treating myself to some 컵라면(cup ramen) as I type.

Shrimp Ramen.

Sorry. I lied. Couldn't eat and type at the same time. The cup ramen is awesome here, by the way [pronounced ramyeon by the Koreans]. The most common flavor is spicy. Hints of beef or chicken or shrimp make it into the flavor palette, but it's mostly just spicy. It's very good though, in a spicy way. Every floor of the dormitory has a water dispenser that will deliver refreshing cold water and/or scolding hot water [basically boiling] at the user's command, perfect for instant ramen.

Perfect midnight snack.

Our student IDs were finally completed yesterday, so I went to pick mine up.

Check the tech.

With this, I can finally get into the gym to work out, and I won't have to convince the security guard at the library that I really am a Sungkyunkwan student.

That's all for now. I just wanted to let you all know what's up.

~잘가

Update: First week at SKKU

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry for the delay.

Classes have begun at SKKU. Since I am participating in this program a year later than normal, my course options are pretty limited due to the fact that I have completed most of the courses that transfer back to UT. My resulting course schedule includes the following: Introduction to Automatic Control, Microprocessors, and Advanced Probability and Random Processes.

Intro to Automatic Control seems to be a relatively simple course in te world of electrical and computer engineering. It transfers directly to UT as a course by the same title. I have heard that the course is easy at UT and even more so at SKKU. Since it fulfills one of my few remaining graduation requirements, I was inclined to take it.

The second course is for funzies. It is labeled as a graduate course in the semiconductor college. So far, it seems to be a mix between EE460N and EE445S. We study the Intel 8086 in great detail, and throughout the course of the semester, each student will build his own embedded system from scratch, no development board from Freescale or ARM. [note: I have zero inclination to type "his/her" because there are literally zero (0) females registered for the course.] The material of the first two lectures was remedial for me, having completed Computer Architecture at UT, but next week we wil be given a box full of memory chips, a couple 8086 processors, a soldering iron, soldering and copper wire, other miscellaneous ICs, a perf-board, and some other electrical components. I'm pretty excited. Unfortunately, to my current knowledge, this course will not supply me with any useful credit at UT, but I'm very happy to study the material.

The final course is labeled a graduate course as well. From what I have read of the syllabus however, it is an exact match to EE351K at UT, and that is the credit I hope to acquire from taking it.

I was registered for a few other courses, but upon attending the lectures, learned that they would not be taught in English as previously advertised. Oh well.

The Automatic Control and Random Processes courses are taught in a mixture of English and Korean spoken by the professor, with course notes and lecture powerpoint completely in English. The Microprocessors course is completely in English. I am the only foreign student in the course, so I almost feel spoon-fed, but I won't complain. The professor is very nice, and I would even go as far as to say he likes me.

Obviously, with only three classes, I have a lot of free time. Right now, I use most of it for sleep. In a couple weeks, I will have the opportunity to enroll in a Korean language program that will consume most of my mornings, but, for now, I am enjoying the free time. When I am not in my dorm and not in class, I am usually with members of the HI Club, helping them recruit new members. They hang out under the student center and pass out flyers to timid freshmen.

The Student Center houses most of the student advising offices, including the international office, and the third floor contains offices of all of the student organizations and clubs. I have been told that next week the courtyard by the Samsung library will be littered with student clubs trying to recruit new members. I will update you with more information when that happens.

speaking of the Samsung Library.....

from the West

from the South[HDR]

This library is pretty awesome. The actually library [the room with books] is very small, considering the overall size of the building, but I'm more that likely never going to visit in search of a book. There are seven floors in total (I think?), and one floor is dedicated to lounge areas and a cafe.

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Some random stuff:

My dorm building from the outside

My dorm's hall way

This chocolate milk is super tasty.

Anywho~ thanks for reading. I will try to keep my posts fairly regular and no more infrequent that once every two weeks.

~잘가

Food v0

Food is a pretty big deal for me. I love to eat, and I love to eat a lot. When I'm in the States, I am able to consume enough to easily satisfy 2-3 people. I am grateful for my metabolism because it keeps me looking tight like a tiger, but it has really created a negative experience for me in Korea. The problem is portion size. I love the food here. I may eventually tire of kimchi, but so far, I haven't tasted anything and thought it was flat out gross. That being said, I may have an especially tolerant palette, so picky eaters, beware of Korean food.

I digress.

I rarely find that my appetite has been satisfied after a meal. In the cafeteria, I have the opportunity to load my plate with extra rice to offset the entirely non-American portion size, but I have found it extremely hard to eat well at restaurants. For example, I have eaten a couple times at barbecue restaurants where you can order a dose of meat and grill it on the table in front of you. This food is absolutely delicious, but I simply cannot get full for a reasonable price. A meek 150g of beef cuts could easily set you back $15 or more. To combat this, I eat as much as I can, whenever I can. The side dishes, or 반찬 (read "ban chan"), served at every restaurant during the meal? EAT IT ALL! The rice served with most meals? EAT IT ALL! Now I've heard that completely demolishing your plate and leaving nothing behind can be offensive to the cook/host, as if to say, "You didn't feed me enough." But, I honestly couldn't care less. I'm hungry. 

Please keep in mind that I do have a very big appetite. Korean portions are reasonable portions, and the health of the average Korean reflects this. But like I said before, I'm hungry. No matter whose feelings might get hurt in the process, and until my stomach gets itself used to how little food I can give it, I will continue to clean my plate with my tongue.

p.s.- Sorry again about not having pictures. The weather has been pretty "meh" lately. The Suwon campus has a pretty rockin' library though (nerdy thing to say), and I hope to get some good shots of it when the sun is out.

As always thanks for following me. 잘가~

Sungkyunkwan Orientation and After-party

To day was Orientation day for foreign exchange students at Sungkyunkwan University. The lucky few of us studying at the Suwon campus had to make the hour-long journey to Seoul. When the subway ride was over, we completed the short walk to the Seoul campus from the subway station and entered the International Affairs building about 30 minutes late. No worries.

The international affairs director knew that we were on our way so he stalled with an introductory video of which we caught the last few minutes. The orientation took us through mostly all the information we would need to become permanently settled into SKKU. The GSN HI-Club (Global Student Network Help & Information Club) presented information on using the library printing services and different services available around the campuses (health, computers, etc.). After the presentation of information to the exchange students, we went outside to take a quick, group picture and went back inside for a reception. The reception had a wide variety of finger foods to snack on as we exchange students mingled.

I found out quickly enough that I had already met all the exchange students staying in Suwon. The group that I travelled with to the orientation was everyone, twelve of us in total. Everyone else, probably more than one hundred students, were studying at the Humanities and Social Sciences campus in Seoul. I met some nice guys from Holland and Germany, but I may very well not ever see them again just because we are at different campuses. Realizing the possible futility of meeting people studying in Seoul, I went back to talking with the Suwon students and members of HI-Club. All of the HI-Club members speak English very well, by the way, and they are very helpful.

After the reception, the few of us that said we were still a little hungry went out to get a meal before the after-party scheduled at 20:00. We went to a restaurant near the Seoul campus that exclusively served 부대볶음 (if I remember correctly). Budaebokgum was a mix of bean sprouts and cabbage with bacon and sliced hotdog thrown into a kind of shallow stew. Eat that with some rice, and you have yourself a solid college meal. After eating, we went to a nearby dormitory to kill a couple hours before the after-party.

We arrived at I-house, one of the Seoul campus dormitories. Killing time commenced. We chit-chatted and met some new people. Good times happened. Come 19:40, we left I-house and went toward the bar  in which the party would be held. HI-Club charged everyone a ₩10,000 entry fee. This money, as far as I know, payed for all the alcohol you could drink. [I never payed a dime outside of the entry fee.] Huge pitchers of beer hit the table, and the party began.

For the most part, students from the same parts of the world seemed to stick together. Germans with Germans. French with French. Americans with Americans. After a bit of drinking more people started wandering from table to table to meet new people. One of the highlights of my night was being introduced to a couple of Japanese girls who spoke Japanese, Korean, and a little bit of English, enough to help me out. We enjoyed a friendly conversation of "what are you studying?" and "what do you want to do?" My Japanese is much worse than my Korean, so when I tried speaking Japanese, Korean vocabulary would sneak in, and I would confuse myself. It was very good practice though, as I was almost completely barred from using English. Almost every time I tried to resort to english one of us had to pull out a dictionary, because the language was simply not understood. I had to mix and match my Japanese and Korean vocabulary to express myself. One of the more complex topics of our conversation was the word "practice." The girls didn't understand the Korean word that I had learned for "practice," so I had to try to define it. In Korean, I tried explaining "practice" as when you do something over and over until you become better at that thing. This became a game. Almost like Taboo, but the only reason I couldn't give better hints at the goal word was because I just didn't know how. After about 15 minutes, this puzzle was solved, and we talked about something else, but on top of the beer and soju, that conversation, like a game of chess, had mentally exhausted me.

The night continued with more drinking and talking. I did some dancing with the group of Brazilians who are studying in Suwon with me, and we made plans to take a trip to Gangdam to dance at a club. Since our dorm in Suwon has a 01:00 curfew, we had to leave the bar in Seoul at 23:30. The entire trip back, I practiced Korean with a couple guys from HI-Club. I used more Korean and Japanese tonight than I had in a few months. It was refreshing. I think in 6 months, I might be able to call myself "fluent." Maybe.  Until then, I will practice as much as I can.

Now, we are all home safe and sound after a drunken, hour-long subway ride. Sorry about the lack of pictures. My camera has no business being in a bar. I will take pictures of the campus this weekend so that you all can see my new habitat.

Regardless, the night was very fun, the people I have met are very friendly, and I can only hope the rest of the semester is half as interesting as the last four hours.

~I'll get lost when I wake up tomorrow. 잘자 (sleep well) -_-