Korea, it’s almost the end!

18Sep10

Warning, events are not discussed in order of occurrence.

Right now it’s 1 hour before I leave for Seoul. I think everything is going according to plan except for the hotel situation. I’m not sure where I am staying, but hopefully things will pull through with Asiana. My flight got delayed again from 3:25 to 5:30pm, so Asiana provided 180 NT for a meal. I haven’t written in this blog in a while, mostly because I’ve had such a hectic schedule and I have been really lazy. I usually don’t complete these online blog entries about my travels. Where did my Europe trip summary run off to? It’s already been a year and I haven’t finished it. I don’t really think I will. I guess if you wanted the pictures to go with these summaries, you’d have to go on facebook if you’re my facebook friend to look at my photos. I don’t really have captions either. Maybe I’ll fill in that part later… or never.

Before going to the airport I was so worried I would be going on the wrong bus, but the people who worked at the bus station took care of me so I am glad. At least I don’t need to think about my luggage until after I get into Seattle. Hopefully Asiana will live up to it’s name, it hasn’t failed me yet.

I’m not sure if I’ll tell my parents about my allergic reaction in Seoul, mostly because they wouldn’t let me go travel by myself anymore. I still need to get reimbursed for it. UW travel insurance, why don’t you answer my emails?! I guess I’d have to call them later and then mail the paperwork. 😦 If you ask me in person, I will tell you. Otherwise, I won’t go into details in here. Let’s just say it involved someone’s thumb being pierced by an epi pen, a police car, and 40 dollars. It was like a horror movie and action movie combined. Hehehehe….

Another painful part of my trip was when I ran out of money before leaving for Taiwan about a week ago and I didn’t have enough money to pay for the airport bus. I went to 5-7 different atms and had to wait until 9am for the banks to open. I went to 3 different banks and then I finally found a global atm that worked. Thank you KB bank. KB, you are awesome because my debit card seems to only work with your bank.

At the end of the day, I got 7 blisters from dragging my ridiculously heavy luggage several blocks and then from the previous day dragging them around the subway. The day before I had to move to a new place and unfortunately took the subway. When I finally got my wits together to take the taxi, the stupid taxi wouldn’t take me even though it was like 3 blocks away because they didn’t recognize the address. I almost cried. At least this one guy helped me carry it up like 50 steps in the subway. He noticed my pain. Hahahah… so thankful he was there though.
I got to meet my friend/classmate from Korean history class and also my Korean teacher and classmate in Seoul. It was soooo cool.

The other and first painful experience in Seoul was when I lost my camera in Gyungbokgung palace. Thankfully Koreans are really nice and eventually I got my camera back at the lost in found. I actually cried at Gyungbokgung palace, it was quite sad. 😦 I am so thankful that I got my camera back for sure!
When I arrived at Taoyuan airport in Taipei, my friend Annie wanted me to go meet her at Songsan airport. While on the bus, I was freaking out and panicking because I realized then that I told the lady the wrong name for the airport. Thankfully I got to the right airport. The lady who helped me rushed me out like crazy. It was kind of stressful. If you’re familiar with Chinese people, you know what I mean when I say that they rush you. It’s like they’re angry or something. Heheheheh. Anyways, I got there okay and I am also thankful for public phones.
I am thankful for Annie’s family, because they were so kind to me while I stayed with them. I can’t believe how many times they treated me to meals and that they paid for my bus fares when they really didn’t need to. They have a beautiful house and Annie’s brother is really cute in a 12 year old sort of way. Hahahah.

I ended up going to sleep last night/morning at 3am and woke up at 8am. I’m really sleepy. I think I was really sleepy toward the beginning of the trip and then by the last week I was finally able to get used to the time change. Hopefully it’s not as hard to go back to Seattle. I heard it’s rainy… it’ll be a huge weather change for me. I don’t think it’s as difficult to beat the heat during the time I went compared to maybe the heat in Europe/Asia during July. Now that’s really painful. It was actually okay when I got used to it. 🙂

Okay, I might continue, or maybe not. I might type my written journal entries, but I’m not really sure. For now, I think I’ll stop here.

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