Wednesday, March 19, 2014

I survived my first week of classes! I have adjusted well into the dorm house as well as with the other international students. I have made many new friends and have enjoyed my time here in Anyang so far! I am beginning to feel much more comfortable with the food, the people and navigating my way around campus and outside of campus as well.

During my four month course at Anyang University, I am completling four classes: Leadership Discovery, Cross Cultural Communication, Beginner Korean Language and International Politics and Business.  I am also taking two online classes through my school, Northern State University (which is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota): Accounting 211 and International Management.  So far my professor here have been very nice and very cool!

I know, I know. They sound like extremely hard classes! Most of my classes are quite fun actually and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester. The most challenging class is Beginner Korean Language! I am just beginning to learn the basic syllables (pronunciation) to the Korean characters. So far I have had a couple of Koreans tell me that my pronunciation is good! Off to a good start I think! Should be speaking basic Korean in no time! Maybe....

I do know some basic phrases. Forgive my spelling as it may not be right. "Anyo" is the informal way of saying "hello" and "goodbye", "kan sa hab ni da" is to say "thank you", and "ne" which is to say "yes".  My korean professor, although he does not speak much English, is a very funny man! Apparently, we are just suppose to call him the Flower man!


I have tried many of the Korean delicacies! It easy to find any kind of authentic Korean food and it is just a short walk from campus.  Many restaurants are located in what we would call similar to a downtown area.  This area is like a market with many many restaruants, shopping stores, salons and bars.  They call this area of the city "ilbanga".   

The photo to the far left depicts a Korean commodity called "kimchi".  It is best described as a spicy cooked cabbage.  The Koreans eat it with almost every meal and mix it with almost everything.  And the second photo in depicts one of my favorite Korean foods that I've tried so far.  It is called "pibimbap" and it is a mixture of rice, meat such as beef or tuna, several common veggies found in Korea, and kimchi as well.  They serve a seaweed soup with everything as well.  They also typically serve pickled raddish.  
                                                                                                  
The first two photos on the right depicts authentic Korean BBQ.  It is not like our BBQ at all.  They cook the pork and garlic on a grill right on your table.  Once the pork is ready then you hold a piece of lettuce in your hand (not sure what kind of lettuce it is, but it's not like ours) and place all of the ingredients on top of it; a piece of pork, garlic, kimchi, onions, "special Korean sauce", pickled raddish, and some other type of onion (don't remember the name). Then you fold the lettuce together and put the whole thing in your mouth!  It's a lot in your mouth at once, but otherwise it is absolutely delicious! I've never tasted so many different flavors at once!  And the bottom photo, of course, is authentic Korean pizza.  I feel like we did not try pizzas that were too different from pizza back home.  They like to put all kinds of crazy toppings on their pizza.  I tried three different pizzas.  One had potato wedges on it.  The one depicted in the photo had chicken tenders on it with some green peppers and some sweet chili sauce on it. The other pizza had shaved beef on it.  All of the pizzas had cheese, onions and a little bit of corn on them as well.

This week was eventful and exciting.  I very much enjoyed all of the great food and getting to know my housemates.  Everyone I have met so far is very friendly and welcoming.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this semester with these beautiful people! 

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