Again Wednesday, we had to meet in a different classroom because of some meeting conflict. When I got to class, I ended up hanging my socks on the air conditioner to try to get them to dry faster. This was our last day of actual class, so we were all a little sad. This was also our last class with our favorite teacher. Carina brought in brownies for us to share. There were definitely heavy feet leaving class that day.
Since Thursday was our final exam, we all planned to just go study after class. I didn't feel like studying, and it wasn't raining, so I went to Gyeongbuk Palace before it was too late. This is the main palace in Seoul, but it wasn't my favorite. I thought it was really big, but the palace we were at on Tuesday was more beautiful in terms of scenery and landscape. This palace had the same building style, but it was bigger and set on a much more sprawling piece of land. I'm glad that I went, but I think the palace yesterday was my favorite palace in Seoul.
After the palace, I realized I really did need to go back and study, so that's what I did. Not too much of an exciting day. On my way home for the night, however, I stopped at a little open street festival and listened to a jazz band for a few minutes.
Thursday was exam day! We were all nervous because nobody knew what to expect. We got to school and were all ready to take our exam when another group of people showed up, thinking they were using our classroom today. It ended up being a miscommunication as to which days we needed to meet in another classroom, so we kind of got evicted. I recommended that we cancel the exam and all get A's in the class, but surprisingly the teacher did not adopt my idea. Instead, we took our exam in a classroom on the second floor of the building.
The exam turned out to be much easier than I was expecting, not that that's a bad thing. I was especially nervous for the listening section because sometimes native Korean speaker speak too quickly for me to hear and understand, but this listening exam was very do-able.
After the exam, I went on my first official Korean hike up Gwanaksan, the mountain right beside SNU campus. I went with a few of my classmates: Lucille, Sang, Paul, Rebekah, and Sarah. Although it was hot and humid outside, the hike wasn't too uncomfortable. It was a shaded path that ran along a mountain stream much of the way, so we would frequently get a refreshing breeze. The view from the top of the mountain was incredible. It was a little hazy because of the humidity, but still a spectacular view.
I also had a rare opportunity for this photo op, so how could I pass that up?
There is a temple at the top of the mountain that we also visited. Again, it's an active temple. We were the only visitors at that time, but we ran into a monk who gave us freshly brewed iced tea. It was very refreshing! They say that if you go up to the temple at lunch time, the monks will give you a free lunch, but we were too late for that.
It was starting to get late, so we headed back down the mountain. Hiking down is definitely the most difficult part. I though going up to the top would be worse, but it was 100% going down the mountain that was bad. It probably didn't help that I slipped and fell a few times, but I didn't get hurt, so it's all okay.
On the way down, some of us stopped at a small waterfall and used our waterproof phone cases to explore underwater photography. I'm not sure which way is up in this picture, but I think it looks pretty cool.
By the time we got to the bottom, we were all exhausted. I went home for dinner. My host mom had already eaten with her son, but her mother came over so we ate together. She didn't know any English, so I couldn't talk to her much, but she seemed very nice. Always smiling.
Friday was our graduation day at SNU. I wasn't expecting a big graduation because to me it was a summer course for college, but at the program, they treated it like we were all graduationg from our current level. First we met with our classes and all wrote notes to each other. Then Jasmine from D class gave a speech in Korean about her experiences with the program. Next the program administrator (I think) came in and gave a speech. I really don't know what his speech was about, but that's okay. After all of the speeches, Jasmine and Spencer sang a traditional Korean song. They did a really nice job, and they were wearing hanboks to add to the traditional effect.
Our Taekwondo performance came next. We hadn't practiced in a week, so I was kind of unsure about how everyone would do. I think in the end we had fun and our audience was impressed, so that's what matters. I have a video if anyone's interested in seeing it, but I haven't tried to figure out why my videos won't post on here successfully.
After the demonstration, we each got our certificates of completion and grade reports. I also got an award for perfect attendance and excellence. I found it funny that some of the teachers told me that they were very proud of me because they thought after the first few days that I was going to struggle a lot, but I ended up doing really well. I'm just glad it turned out that way instead of the opposite!
We all made plans to go hang out Friday night, but before that I went to see my Korean friend one last time. She was leaving for vacation that night, so this was our last chance to meet. We went to the Express Bus Terminal to walk around and shop a little bit, but mostly we just talked. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her, but I'm sure that we'll meet again one day, either when I return to Korea or when she comes to visit America.
Then I went to meet up with my school friends at the SNU station area. We went to dinner at a Korean barbeque place. I ended up grilling for everyone at my table because they didn't know how to do it, so I'm proud that it all ended up delicious!
Next, we went to a nori bang. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up staying for a few hours. After a few hours, about half of the group left for one reason or another, but there were still about eight of us left, so it was still fun. Eventually people started getting hungry, so we left the nori bang for dinner, then on the way out we tried a little batting cage thing. I almost hit one out the the thirteen tries, so I think in the future I'll leave the baseball stuff to my brother ^^
It was a good end to not only the week but also the language program altogether. Carina leaves Saturday kinda early, so I saw her for the last time tonight. At this point, it still feels unreal that I'm going to be leaving this country in only a few days. I can count down the days on my fingers, but I'm not sure that I want to.
No comments:
Post a Comment