DAY 3: First day of classes!

Well, today was first day of my Introductory Psychology and Korean language classes!

I woke up at 7.50am, had a quick face wash/change of clothes, a biscuit breakfast on my bed, grabbed my bag of essentials, and took a 20min walk to Baekyang Hall with Kelly where our orientation was. We picked up our orientation packet at there, which consisted of some brochures and a fancy thermos flask, before heading into the auditorium for some welcome messages.

So excited for our first day of classes, we just had to take a picture at a nice flight of stairs haha

We then had a quick tour around the Samsung library, Student union building and finally, the Education Sciences Building where our Psychology classes were held. After trekking up the four flights of stairs, we were all shown to our classrooms and ushered in - thus marking the start of our daily Psych classes (usually 10-12pm). It was a pleasant surprise to find that a majority of the people there were Singaporean, with the next largest group being Australian, and a few other people from places like Hong Kong and America.

After that, both Kelly and I headed down to the very crowded food court at the student union building, where we had to first order our food at a counter, before we could collect our food from the stalls when our order number flashed on the displays. Pretty hi-tech. I had kimbap (long Korean-style sushi) for lunch, and I also met Cynthia, a friend Kelly met at UQ.

At 1.30pm, we headed back to the Korean Language Institute (which was near to our dorms) for Korean class. I had signed up for the intermediate level 2 class beforehand. Unfortunately, although I could understand about 70% of what was being said, I felt pretty lost, so I dropped out of that class after it finished that day and changed into the beginner level 1 class. This meant that I had one less thing to worry about during my trip since level 1 was going to be stuff I'd learned before, but that also meant I was going to be kinda bored and have less opportunity to intensively improve my Korean grammar and vocabulary over the next three weeks.

The rest of the day was basically free time. We first went to the Shinhan bank on campus for Kelly to transfer money to the uni, since almost all of us managed to underpay 10,000W (~$13AUD) due to hidden bank fees whilst transferring money to the uni.

Then I went to the Seodaemun Health Centre (see Day 2 for my previous adventure) to get the tubercolosis X-Ray done. There was a little bit of language barrier since the middle-aged (ahjumma 아줌마) receptionist lady spoke Korean only - I thought she said that I had to come in the next day to do the X-Ray when she meant that I was supposed to do the X-Ray today and collect the results tomorrow. FYI, you need to bring a passport photo and some money. I didn't bring my photo but somehow the lady managed to get me through. Perhaps she could sense my desperation?

Anyway, the test cost 1500W (about $2AUD!!). There are pretty good instructions on here: Yonsei TB Test Directions in English.
I used the information from this link to get the TB test done, except there was a lot more confusion on my part.

Later that day, Kelly and I had dinner at (rice and bland soup place) when Kelly got a text from Cynthia (who I met that afternoon), asking if would like to go to Hongdae 홍대, another hip/up-and-coming uni district, to have a look and have some drinks with a bunch of Singaporeans (Yay for SG people!)

Although I'd promised my dad not to go out alone at night, I decided to go ahead and meet Cynthia at Sinchon station (#2). Unfortunately, there are two Sinchon stations near Yonsei Uni, albeit on different lines. I ended up having to meet Cynthia at Hongdae itself. Thank goodness for SIM cards! (Why do I always get lost?!)

Hongdae was incredibly crowded. The crowd pushed out of the underground station, adding to the multitude of people walking on the streets and under the lights of the many shops. With the main road on the right, the bulk of Hongdae's shopping and food district was encapsulated in a maze of streets and lanes. The next few times I visited Hongdae (which only truly comes alive at night), there were street magicians who attracted large crowds and students with amazing voices singing from makeshift mikes hoping to become the next big thing. I even saw a few dance battles some nights.

Hongdae with its beautiful night lights

I had some peach makgeolli 막걸리 (rice wine) with Cynthia and the Singaporean group, before Cynthia and I decided to walk around Hongdae for a bit since we'd already had dinner. It was a cold night, but the hustle and bustle of Hongdae made it feel less chilly.

I finally made it back to the dorm around 9 or 10pm, exhilarated that I took the chance to go out and that my first night out turned out pretty well.

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