Strawberry!

I'm here! I arrived at the Incheon Airport Sunday evening and since then I've been getting settled in, meeting new people and most of all, exploring the city! The city is beautiful, it's extremely big, way bigger than New York City. The area of the city that the University is located in is called Sinchon (similar concept to the different boroughs of NYC).

My first meal out was in Sinchon, just two blocks from my dorm, which is named the SK Global House. Monday morning, although still jet-lagged, I managed to wake up and meet some friends in the lobby of my dorm for a morning meal. The reason I call it a morning meal is that in Korea there is very little concept of distinct mealtimes, such as breakfast, lunch and dinner in the U.S. Koreans simply eat what they want when they want. In the lobby I met my friends Rosie and Jim and a few other international students. Rosie also goes to HWS with me, and Jim and I became friends on facebook before we met, he is from Rochester, NY. The other people I met were Axel and Andreas, two guys from Sweden, Felix from Germany, Aliana from France, Kia from San Francisco, and Jumee from Seattle. We ventured off campus and after only a couple of blocks we found a small restaurant called Strawberry. (Which is clearly a sign because strawberries are my favorite fruit!)

We were all starving since most of us hadn't eaten since the plane so we ordered right away. The wait staff did not speak English so we ordered by pointing to the pictures of what we wanted in the menu. I ordered a rice bowl with cabbage, garlic, rice cake, wasabi, and a few other unidentified objects, with a scrambled egg on top. It was delicious, but strange eating such a meal around breakfast time. The whole meal was 3,000 won which is about $3. Some others ordered raman noodles, dumplings, and a rice patty dish. We ended up swapping meals at the end so that we could all try everything.

Another great thing about Korea is that tipping is not customary, and also you are not taxed on food or clothing. Afterwards we walked back to the SK Global House and attacked our next order of business, registering for our alien registration card. So that's a wrap for my first official in-Seoul post! Stay tuned for an upcoming bio on my roommate from Singapore!