I was picked up at 8.45am and dropped off at Unseo train station, where I proceeded to take the train to Digital Media City before switching to the GWJ line to get to Sinchon.
Digital Media City on a cold winter's day
Unfortunately, little did I realise that this GWJ line came very infrequently, and, compounded by the freezing cold that day and the fact that I was a tad bit lost whilst switching between train lines, my estimated travel time of 30 mins turned into 2 and a half hours. I later also got lost while trying to walk from Sinchon station to my accommodation at Yonsei University.
Using my poor knowledge of Korean and an image of the campus on my phone, I asked the young lady working at CU (one of the major convenience store chains) where on the campus I was and how I could get to Building 605 (i.e. International House). Turns out it was only less than 5 mins up the slope from where I was. With freezing hands (I had no gloves at the time) and a slightly-heavy heart, I finally made it to the check-in counter for International House (I-House) and got to my room at 11.30am, quite worse for wear and discouraged by my experiences thus far.
After setting my luggage and backpacker-style backpack down, all the while trying not to make too much noise since I realised my roommate was sleeping buried under her blankets, I left the safe little bubble that was to be my room for the next 3 weeks to head to the lobby to get instructions for the tubercolosis test I had to undertake as part of checking in (I got a weak positive result from the Mantoux skin test I did in Brisbane, which could not be used to for the I-House check-in. At that point, we'd already spent about AUD$100 on the consultation fee and the test (both of which required 4 trips just to get that inconclusive test result!!). I emailed the I-House people and they said they could refer me to a public health center to do a more conclusive X-ray scan for $2, so I decided to get it done in Seoul).
The lady at the I-House counter told me (somewhat impatiently, in fact) to take a picture of the information I needed to get to the Seodaemun Health Center, essentially leaving me to figure it out by myself.
Instructions to get to Seodaemun Health Center
I got on Bus 7017 (very nicely equipped with English and Korean information about the upcoming stop and next stop, so it wasn't too difficult for a first-timer like me), took a short 10 minute ride down to the health center, and found out that the whole place was closed. Slightly confused (and with a realisation that this Sunday was turning out to be terrible), I went to a nearby building that seemed touristy (they sold Ginseng) to enquire about the closed health center.
Thank goodness I can speak Chinese, because we were getting nowhere with my limited Korean until one of the guys asked if I could speak Chinese, and I was finally told that all public health centers were closed on Sundays (why didn't the receptionist lady say anything?!). Since I still needed to get my Korea SIM card, I asked for directions to the nearest GS25 (part of another large convenience store chain in Seoul) and was kindly given instructions.
It was a good thing it was less than a 5-minute walk, since, to continue my bad day, the lights were all on in the store but there was no one inside and I couldn't get in. After waiting for 5 minutes in vain for someone (anyone!) to show up, all the while trying to find some WiFi to use (there was none), I walked back to the bus stop and caught 7017 back to what was now becoming familiar Sinchon to me.
Instead going straight back to the main road that goes right beside I-House, the bus turned right into the Ewha/Sinchon district. There I stopped, and since I saw a GS25 in the area before alighting from the bus, I walked towards it and asked about the EG SIM card. And oh, thank goodness! This convenience store lady was so nice and patient as I was trying to figure out which card package I wanted and whether the SIM card it came with could fit.
Long story short, I got the EG SIM card (30,000W) with 10,000W for calls and texts and 1GB of data. I then walked to a random restaurant for one of the loneliest lunches I've ever had.
Since I also saw a Daiso where I alighted from the bus, I decided to have a look in Daiso (I needed some familiarity in my life! Looking at all those cheap items in the 3-story shop helped to calm my frazzled nerves).
I then walked back to uni and chilled in my dorm, where I messaged Kelly (a girl I met when we had an orientation thing at UQ) and realised she was on the same floor as me! I walked to her room and met her there (almost collapsing into her arms due to sheer relief at seeing someone I knew). We then went for a quick dinner at Sinchon and I finally did my first beauty shopping in Korea haha. We bought some bread at Paris Baguette (they're everywhere!) before we walked back to our dorms :)
Thus marked the end of one of the most bittersweet days of my life.
~Sorry for the pretty depressing post, but I just wanted to show that not everything goes magically well when someone's on exchange.~
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