Soooo I Swear I'm Alive

I know I haven't updated in forever, but I've been so unbelievably busy! I was taking notes and everything on the way here just so that I could have a post about my first plane ride, but now so much has happened, I don't know what to write about first! I guess I'll just give the cliff notes version?

So the first plane ride was nothing. It was just like a courtesy baby step. The plane was super tiny (only three seats across total), and the plane ride was only an hour long. It was over so fast! Chicago, however, was scary for a bit. I didn't know if I should go through security again, and I didn't have a gate number listed on my ticket! Luckily there were some incredibly nice people to help me. But that airport was ENORMOUS! There was literally a dinosaur skeleton (probably fake but definitely close to life size) IN THE AIRPORT! So yeah that was a little intimidating. The flight from Chicago to San Francisco was 4 hours but really wasn't bad. I slept a little and my seat mates were super cool. We exchanged stories and stuff, so it was really cool to meet two complete strangers that I will never see again. San Francisco was all around painful though. I couldn't manage to stay awake the whole 11 hours I was in the airport for the layover, so I was uncomfortably laying across the chairs for a few hours, freezing to death. When everyone finally started waking up, it was a little easier to not be miserably uncomfortable. My body was killing me, but I talked to a couple people after I found my gate. They were pretty cool. But then I met a couple people who were going to my school too! More on that later. The plane ride was so incredibly long. It really felt like it would never end. But I slept for hours, and I think that's why I really haven't been suffering from very much jetlag. We were picked up from the airport by a bus so I didn't have to wander around to find the school. The bus was so funky (in a good way!), and I got to talk to my fellow foreigners for the hour or so bus ride to Soon Chun Hyang University.

I cannot express how happy I am to be meeting these people at this school. It's like the coolest people in the world all decided to apply to this school or something. I've already made so many friends who are just chill as hell and soooo incredibly sweet and funny and understanding. I feel so at home here. I've had a couple instances of misunderstandings, but not with Koreans oddly. I just have to keep reminding myself to not be so sensitive and to not jump to conclusions. But yeah so far I've played soccer, drank, and traveled with some amazing people. And I've even gotten the chance to use my Korean when others in my group needed help finding something or ordering food. I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing year, and I am not going to want to leave, but we shall see.

One crazy thing so far has been that it's totally cool to park on the sidewalk. Cars have the right of way here, so I have to pay attention even on the sidewalk! But yeah besides people blatantly staring and the occasional random "hi!" it's really not that different here in the small college town of ShinJang. I'm sure when I venture out the differences will be more obvious. Also people here seem to love my hair. Not just Koreans! Even other Americans like it. For once I don't feel like I look like a hot mess all the time. It's a really nice feeling actually.

I'll be more frequent and detailed later.

Cheers, Sam~ (I'm the redhead btw)