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