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Time flew by so fast. I felt I came to South Korea recently. One month is too short for study abroad.

this time is the second time to come to Korea for me, but I felt that it is very different to come to Korea for just traveling and living in, even though it was only about one month.

I experienced a lot of things that I had not experienced in Japan and the United States in Korea.

Japan and Korea are close and they are categorized into Asian countries. However, they have different cultures and national characters. For example, in Korea, when all people bump into other people, they do not say sorry or excuse me. In Japan, I think in the States also, we have to say I'm sorry when we bump into others. When I first experienced that, I was shocked. Some Koreans bumped into me hardly without saying sorry at stations.
However, I have got used to it already. I understood it as that this is one of the Korean cultures.

Everything I had experienced in Korea was good experiences and memories for me.

I am going back to Japan tomorrow, but I am sure that I will miss Korea and my Korean friends. Therefore, I would like to come back to Korea someday in my life to meet them.

(This is the monument which shows a school song of Hanyan University) ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11907662839.html Sat, 26 Jul 2014 00:42:31 +0900
Daejeon is about two hours far away from Seoul by a bus, and it is the forth largest city according to the Korean friend.

We arrived to Daejon in the evening and had dinner with his family. We ate Korean BBQ at a restaurant and went to a park after dinner.

Even though it was night, there were so many people in the park. We could see very beautiful night view from the park. I loved it!!

Next day, we left his house in the morning, and we went to downtown. It was a smaller scale than Seoul. We visited famous cake shop and bakery in Deajon.

The cake shop had a comfortable atmosphere and delicious cakes. I tried a chocolate cake. I don't like too sweet cake but that cake was not too sweet, so I could eat all!! The cake's appearance was also cute!!

After having cakes, we enjoyed shopping little and went back to Seoul in the afternoon by a bus.

I was happy to be able to visit different city from Seoul in this trip! It was a good memory. ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11906467169.html Mon, 21 Jul 2014 23:34:48 +0900
We went to the movie theater near Hanyan University and watched "No tears for the dead".

The movie is one of popular Korean movie and it is the violence and action movie.
There were many bloody scenes that people were killed by guns and knifes.

Usually, I don't watch the kind of movie and I did not like the movie also...

I could not understand why staff in Hanyan University chose the movie. This is because I think most of women don't like violence movies... I wanted to watch a movie that teaches us Korean history or Korean culture. ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11896065241.html Sun, 13 Jul 2014 23:45:16 +0900 And I experienced very interesting thing there!!!

Before I had the foot massage, I did Doctor fish!!!

Firstly, I put my feet into water, and then fishes came to my feet and ate my feet' dead skin!!

At first, I felt weird because fish ate my feet' skin and it was little itchy.

However, after few minutes, I got used to it.

I want to try it one more time if I have another chance!! ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11896054898.html Sun, 13 Jul 2014 14:24:24 +0900

Changdeok palace is one of the famous palaces in Seoul, and it is the world heritage site.

We found Korea's national flowers in the palace during the tour!
Korea's national flower is mugunghwa (rose of sharon).

Mugunghwa blooms all over Korea from July to October every year, according to the guide.

There were not many Mugunghwa today yet, but they were beautiful flowers!
]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11894480074.html Sat, 12 Jul 2014 12:11:21 +0900 Their silverwares are different from Japanese silverwares. All Japanese chopsticks are made of wood or plastic, however Korean chopsticks and spoons are made of stainless steel and iron. Also, Korean chopsticks are more flat than Japanese one!

Moreover, rice bowls and cups for water are made of stainless steel too.

Japanese rice bowls are made of glass.

(the picture was downloaded from website)

I found another difference between Japan and Korea!! ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11893233279.html Thu, 10 Jul 2014 23:44:32 +0900

Korean rice wine is called Makkoli in Korea. Literally, rice wine is produced from rice.
At the first, Makkoli was popular among famers, however it has been liked by citizens, especially young people recently. This is because I think it is cheap. It was only 5,000 won (about 5 dollars) for three people.

In Korea, people can start to drink alcohol after they graduate from high school. In Japan, we can start to drink after we turn twenty.

The taste of Makkoli is little sweet and it was little stronger than I thought. Actually, I did not like it...
Also, the shape of container of Makkoli is interesting.The container was quite big and we shared Makkoli with three people.

Our Korean friend said that in Korea they eat pajeon, which is Korean pancake, with Makkoli.
So we ordered pajeon too!!

I did not like Makkoli taste but pajeon was so delicious!!!


]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11896047665.html Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:45:49 +0900 We met at UNK last year. She was an exchange student.

We went to Seoul tower together!

Seoul tower is also known as Namsan tower because it is located on Namsan mountain.
The hight of Namsan mountain is 243 meters, and the hight of Seoul tower is 236.7 meters. So the total top of the Namsan tower is 479.7 meters. We did not go to the top of the tower, but the view from the top of Namsan mountain was still wonderful!!

We can go to Seoul tower by buses or monorails or on foot. We didn't want to walk in hot weather and buses are much cheaper than monorails, so we chose buses to get there.

There were so many tourists there.
And I saw four people playing traditional Korean instruments and martial arts.

It was very dynamic!! It was little different from Japanese martial arts.

Furthermore, Seoul tower is a popular place for dating, according to my friend.

I was surprised when I saw uncountable padlocks there.
Many Korean couples write messages on padlocks and lock them on walls.

Japanese couples do not do that, therefore I could see interesting Korean couples' culture!! ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11891915628.html Mon, 07 Jul 2014 13:51:25 +0900

(this picture from website)

My room's, school's, and other places' restrooms I have been in Korea are the same style as restrooms in America. Some public places in Japan, like stations, also use Asian style restrooms.
I know how to use the restrooms because I used them at my elementary school, middle school, and high school. However, I think many international students here don't know how to use them.

Moreover, there is a different restroom system from America and Japan in Korea.

In Korea, we cannot flush toilet papers. We dump toilet papers in trash boxes.

At first, I didn't know about that, but one day I saw a trash box and realized it!

I was super surprised!!!
]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11889453657.html Sat, 05 Jul 2014 22:32:43 +0900 I had known that Korean people like spicy foods, but actually they use many red peppers in a lot of foods.

This is dak galbi, which is chickens mix with vegetables and red peppers.
Color of the meal is really red! And it was very spicy.

I don't know the name of the meal, but it was the spiciest foods in Seoul so far.

It is porks mix with bean sprouts, some other vegetables, and red peppers. I did not think it was very spicy, but after I had a bite, I noticed it was so spicy and I started sweating. I could not eat it everything.

Also, I realized that every restaurants I have been in Seoul gave us kimchi and pickled vegetables with meals for free.

Japan and America do not have this service. Sometimes, Japan has the service at some restaurants, however they are not free.

This is interesting culture in Korea!!!! ]]> https://ameblo.jp/rikaasai-unk/entry-11887895587.html Wed, 02 Jul 2014 13:36:03 +0900