Casey Goes to Korea: A Trip to the Store

So this morning, I woke up at 4am. Actually, I think that was pretty good since I went to sleep at 9 and was asleep on the plane as well. Not mention, I got a lot done this morning and watch the city light up so I could see it for the first time. It was nice. Just me and my music and the cold breeze through my window.

It's still beyond hot in here.

My roommate has not showed up yet either and I'm really curious to know who she is and what she's like. Also, it'd be cool to get dinner with at least someone tonight. Though it seems like ramen will be my meal of choice. I don't mind too much though. I like Shin Ramen.

I also found out my desk has plug on it and that might be old news, but for me that's amazing and I got really excited, okay? Okay.

I got ready for the international student trip to the home goods store called Homeplus. I got into contact with the other student from UWM that came to Ajou as well and when we got downstairs, well, there was no one there. We later found out that it is, in fact, tonight at 8pm. Whoops.

Assuming that it wasn't going to happen, we decided to go find food and a store. As we were just about to leave, we met up with a Finnish exchange student who was the one that told us the trip is tonight. So we went about our quest for food, the three of us.

When we got to the cafeteria, the extremely helpful lady behind the counter had directed us to the machine where we purchase meal tickets. Breakfast was only 2,500W which is pretty decent compared to the price of UWM's... The machine though, decided my money wasn't good enough for it. The older women who had helped us before came over and tried to help, but, well, the machine hates me. Thankfully, one of the guys exchanged my 10,000 bill for his 10,000 bill. And of course, it worked. Great. I really hope it doesn't happen again because I would have to go hungry!! No I wouldn't. There's plenty of restaurants just outside of the campus.

Breakfast consisted of several things I don't know, but they were good. Especially when all you had eaten in the past 18 hours was a protein bar. I got rice, soup, beans, and something fried. Small portions, but it was all very satisfying and light. Korea has breakfast right, I think. America's breakfast is too sweet and really fatty.

After breakfast and the kind lady showing us how to deposit our dirty dishes, we decided to go off campus for the first time. It's really busy here. People running, cars honking, not like Milwaukee or Racine. Maybe more like Chicago, I suppose. I've only been to Chicago a handful of times, I don't know much about how it is.

We popped into a Starbucks for some coffee. Sad news, no Oprah Cinnamon Chai Lattes. But let me tell you this, lots of interesting flavors of drinks and several kinds of cakes in the case. They even sold Strawberry Juice in bottles. The guy there was nice, even speaking in English for the two guys. I didn't get anything because coffee and Casey don't really mix. But I'll probably get some once school starts. When we entered the Starbucks, it totally reminded me of America. I'm sure coffee places always smell like that no matter where you go, but it was comforting. I'll probably go there more often.

After that, we strolled over to a shop by our Camus Plaza building, called the Dream Depo. They have everything there. From school supplies to booze to plastic food containers. I'll be visint that store far more often than I probably should. They have a tooooon of pens and highlighters. Sheets and sheets of cute stickers and other really cute items. I'm a total sucker for cute things and I already know that it's going to be my downfall here in Korea.

All three of us bought a huge two liter bottle of water for only 900W, roughly 90cents I believe. Which is great for me because now I don't have to waddle on over to the kitchen everything I need liquids and sorry, but tap water isn't trustworthy no matter where I go. I realize though, that with a bottle that big, I should have gotten cups... Oh well. The guy at the store was friendly as well, he managed to say nine hundred to me in English, which was really thoughtful of him, even though I think I'm pretty confident with numbers. I thanked him in Korean though!

I was surprised to see that I could read and understand a lot of store names. But that might be because most of them are English words written in Korean, but shh we'll just say I'm smart.

Once our exploration of a few more side streets was over and we had our fill of tasty scents, we headed back towards the dorm, taking some roads we hadn't been on. We went into the Student Union, one of the two, and found the bank and another cafeteria that's only open on weekdays for lunch and dinner.

I think I'll need to head back out sometime before classes start so I can find the two buildings I'll be visiting daily.

I have to say though, Tuesdays are going to be fun for me. I don't have class on Tuesdays and since the weekends will probably be trip oriented, I'll be able to roam around the area and find new things. It'll also be a good day to just rest, too.

So here are the pictures I did take when I got back from my journey. I didn't take any while out because I feel self conscious with my camera and my tablet is far too large for me to casually whip out.