When in Korea do as the Koreans do

   So first day in Korea and I already have stories. The plane ride went great even though it was long because I was on a good airline. There was plenty of space and really good plane food. The whole trip I met people who helped me. In Des Moines a man helped me get all my bags into two and then in Chicago I met two older men and a girl studying abroad in China. They made the wait go much faster.

   Once I got picked up by my buddies we had to wait because check in wasn't for 7 hours. So we went to the spa in the airport. This was an experience! There was this lounge room where everyone just slept and then there was a womens "spa" area where there was a public bath and public showers. They had everything there for you including shampoo and hair dryers. It was really cool and the public bath wasn't as awkward as I would have thought after you get used to it. My buddy said it is normal in Korea.

    Once we were done with that we ate and I got some Korean Bogolgi soup. It was just beef and a ton of vegetables with some rice. I also got a Starbucks iced coffee which is apparently literally just coffee in ice. It was bitter.

   Then I checked in and we went to orientation. My room is really nice. Its about the size of my gallagher room but with smaller closets and a bathroom and shower inside. The lock on my door is very different. I just swipe my card in front and it unlocks but not in the same way as the doors at Creighton. Also the RA told me to always take my shoes off at the door and there is a cute little closet to put them in.

  After orientation we went to a restaurant where it was community style meals that cooked on the table in front of you. We were all in one room that the university had reserved. It was a different type of soup and then Kimshi and rice. For desert we had Korean pear which was really good. Afterwords we went to a bar and all socialized. I was surprised to get forks for my french fries so that your not touching the others. All in all it was a good first day and I think I'm really going to like it here.

Pre-Korea

Well.... Here starts the blogging on this interesting adventure. I've never been to Asia. Some of the research I've been doing on Korea has turned out some things that I found a little funny but useful.
Some cultural differences: 

• After ordering take out your supposed to put your dishes out on the front step so that the delivery man can come back and pick them up.
• In Korea a Kit Kat bar is called a Kit Ker bar and Oreo cookies are Orion cookies. 
• Not all restrooms have TP so I must start to carry my own. Which by the way is apparently very scented in Korea because they just throw it away.

These are just a few things I've found. I'll keep you posted on all the funny and not so funny stories to come.