These days, there’s always a voice whispering in my mind every evening, telling me to type out my Seoul trip! But well, every evening when I’m back from work, there is always something keeping me staring at the screen instead of typing!
But finally today, the voice is not whispering anymore, it’s screaming LOL So I think it’s time I typed out the trip or else the memories will soon fade away day by day, which I totally don’t like.
Yesterday, I found on my bookshelf the book “Korea-travel guide”,which I used a lot during my Seoul trip. What a surprise since I was always thinking that I had lost it with the luggage. And turning the pages again definitely makes me miss Seoul so much!
Think that I should start from the very beginning in order not to miss any detail. Still remember the morning I caught a taxi to Noi Bai Airport to take a flight to Seoul. Can’t believe that I’ve lived in Hanoi for more than 4 years but have never been to the airport. So this was the first time I came to the airport, the first time taking a flight, the first time going abroad and definitely the first time coming to Seoul 
What a trip, huh?
It was quite sunny and warm on that day in Hanoi; but heard that it might rain in Seoul, so I put the Airen-colored umbrella in my backpack in case I needed it when arriving. I still remember the moment the plane lifted up into the air! What an amazing feeling when you can look at your town through the clouds~ The sky was so beautiful and I kept staring at the plane window for a while before falling asleep. When I woke up, it was probably China under my feet!
I know my real trip begin when I stepped out of the airport, alone, with 40kg of luggage and a zero-equal Korean knowledge! Too busy checking out, getting back luggage and asking for bus station that I didn’t pay attention to any banner or billboard, so temporarily no sight of Seunggi. It was so cold outside, compared to Hanoi just 5 hours before that. The bus was nice but the way to Seoul is way too long; it was raining slightly outside; and I kept wondering what would happen next! But I saw bridges aross Hangang River! Love them On the bus, I got to see the first sight of Seunggi when SBS was showing their add for 10 memorable dramas, also seeing Sugeun’s CF. Everything is fine until I got off.
When I reached Mia Samgeori, I really had no idea where I had to go after, totally depending on a few Korean words in my notebook which my friend wrote for me. Feel so bad at this moment! But the first thing to solve after getting off is to cross the street! A lot of taxi cars kept passing and no crossing section in sight. To be honest, I was completely lost before realizing that I had to walked a bit to find the zebra crossing!
The first taxi driver passed me when seeing my luggage! The second taxi driver stopped and let me in, but showed his disappointment apparently when he found out that I do not speak Korean. I showed him the paper with a phone number and the place I want to get off. He was old, and had to stop, taking out his glasses, looking at it so closely. He refused to call my friend for me, but at least took me to the place I need (of course, I didn’t understand a word he said). One more time, I got off at a place I totally had no idea where it is. Two boys standing nearby so I asked them a favor to make a phone call, they just caught the words “phone call”, I guess but they were so nice and tried to help me. And DAMN COLD~ there were small snow flakes for some moments also, I think!
So finally after 3 hours, I gotta go inside, eat and sleep! It was my very first day in Seoul!
A little worried and confused! Stuck with language barrier! Too much body language in just a few hours! But everything was fine
On the second day, I took subway to Honggik University! The day before, I didn’t see the yellow leaves on the street clearly. But the second day, with day light, I was amazed by how beautiful the streets were.
Within the morning, I managed to carry my luggage downstairs at Mia Station, changing to line 2 at Dongdaemun History and Culture Park station and walked to IWO office with the map they had gave me via email. Since it was the first time using subway to me, a few tiny problems as well, but it was all fine in the end! Met a few participants of the course in the office and we even had a walk around before catching a public bus together to Paju at 4pm.
Around Honggik University:
Arrived in Paju when it had got dark! The course and people at the course is just another story!
