I did a lot of things...

I haven't posted in a while so I don't even remember where I left off last time... OK, I got it. Since the last time I posted, I along with about 30 others from the UC EAP program went to Jejudo (a small resort island off the southern tip of Korea), Mina & Soohyun are no longer single (no more clubbing with you guys), Chris Greer (the homie from the Cruz) came to pay a visit for a week, went on an MT (membership training- will be explained later) trip which included a tour of the Hite beer factory, gave the nightclub life a try with Greer and Jong, and classes are well underway. About a couple weeks ago the UC EAP took care of all flight and hotel costs and paid our way to Jejudo. Although the weather wasn't as warm as I would have liked it to be, it was nevertheless a great trip. Jeju is known for many things but among others, their oranges and heuk-dehji (literal translation: dirt pig). Now I tried both but the latter definitely has a better story to it... They call it "dirt pig" because apparently they feed this pig HUMAN SHIT and it supposedly makes the meat more tender. So naturally what better to eat as our first meal in Jeju then some soju and human-shit fed, grilled pork?? When in Korea, right?... To be quite honest, it was really good.
The next day in Jeju was full of random activities like horseback riding, ATVing (awesome), and visiting some random tourist spots on the island. The day ended with a huge Korean-style sashimi dinner with the entire program. Once we all made it back to the hotel about half of us went to the downstairs hotel bar to get our drank on and naturally we found our way to the nohre bang (karaoke room) to sing our hearts out. As short as the trip was, I was really happy our program organized a trip like this so that we would have a chance to bond with the people from the UC system. If it weren't for this trip, I probably would've never meet most of the UC kids.

Right when we landed in Seoul at the Gimpo Airport, I had to zoom to Sinchon to meet up with the one and only Chris Greer who had landed a couple hours prior and had been waiting with his bags in front of the McDonalds by one of the busiest subway stops. Greer's week in Seoul was quite a blur involving large amounts of soju, beer, and fun. One Friday, Jong introduced me and Greer to the nightclub life. I had heard stories about this whole nightclub and booking thing but I wanted to see what it was all about. So when we walk in, the waiters usher us into a private room where drinks and beers are laid out on our table. The club assigns a waiter to our room and his job is to basically go outside to the dance floor area and drag girls into our rooms based on their looks. The waiters literally grab girls by the arm and put them in a room that the waiter thinks would be a good match. Quite awkward to see girls being treated like that but then again, they did voluntarily come to the club. It was pretty difficult for me to converse with these girls so you can imagine what it was like for Greer who knows about a handful of phrases/words in Korean. It was quite the odd experience full of awkward moments and confusion on what to do/say at certain points. Nevertheless it was fun but not an experience I am looking to replicate.

The IYC (International Yonsei Club) MT (Membership Training) was the next day. An MT is a fun trip that every university club organizes. It almost always involves the club renting a hotel or large space and giving club members an opportunity to meet each and have fun together (drink a lot). The day started with a bus ride to the Hite Beer factory. After being forced to endure a series of Hite commercials in a theatre and a tour of the factory, our group was allowed to drink an unlimited amount of beer for 20 minutes.



After chugging down some beer for 20 minutes, we stumbled our way back to the bus to get to the hotel located in the middle of nowhere. The drinking resumed this time with soju included. Our group of about 90-100 people split up into smaller groups to play some Korean drinking games which involve either an element or combination of rhythm, counting, or asking questions which progressively get harder through the night as you drink more. Drinking continued on through the night with a slight interuption by a bonfire that included some Yonsei school pride chants. After the chanting festivities, hip hop from the States started playing from speakers and everyone danced, sang and had a great time.

Following the bonfire, my memory begins to get a bit hazy but from what I remember we went back inside the hotel and some resumed their drinking games and others began singing along to the karaoke machine in a drunken stupor. I woke up the next morning, a bit hungover and the bus about to leave without me. I hobbled to the bus still half asleep to find there were no seats left (awesome) so I had to make myself comfortable in the aisle. From the aisle, I passed out for the rest of the trip back to the Yonsei campus.

Well that was just some of the highlights of the past 4 weeks. I know that wasn't everything but I'm tired now so maybe some other time. Until next time folks, laaaater.

ChrisP

NIGHTLIFE (3/1/09)

What an experience the last 2 weeks has been... Full of walking everywhere, eating all sorts of korean foods, drinking loads of soju, meeting new people, and just finding out what this city has to offer. The pace of a normal day in Korea has picked up dramatically since international exchange students started to flow into Sinchon for orientation a lil more than a week ago. With so much to do and so many people to see I barely even have time now to eat at my pad anymore. I've been going out to eat almost every meal and then hitting the town at night. With that combination, let's just say I haven't been saving that much money the past few days. After a couple days of visiting some mind-numbing tourist spots in Seoul with a giant herd of about 80 international students I went out this past Thursday to a small drinking joint in Hongde called the Pirate Bar with a few friends I had met that day and by the end of our stay, the number of people in our group swelled up to 19! After the bar, a majority of that group decided to go clubbing which I wasn't anticipating but of course, I'm always down for. The location of debauchery on this Thursday night was a popular club in Hongde called NB2, which played a bunch of mainstream American hip hop songs (the shitty likes of T-Pain among others). It was hilarious to watch the Korean guys and how scared some of them are to dance with girls. Most of them either stand there like a board or dance to the beat of a song that must be playing in their head b/c it's definitely not the song playing at the club.
A couple days later I guess I couldn't get enough of that Korean nightlife so hit another club in Hongde called M2 which played some loud ass house music. The place was crackin by midnight but there were a LOT of foreigners there. A couple of my friends and I stayed out until 4:30 getting some late night munchies at a Korean stand known as a poh-jun-mah-cha which is the Korean equivalent of a Mexican taco truck in California. After yet another long night of drinking and dancing, today it's time to rest up a bit because tomorrow is the first day of classes at Yonsei. Tomorrow's schedule is a pretty full so I'm gonna have to sign off. Until next time...

ChrisP