Due to an insanely busy schedule, I have not had as much time to blog as I would like. Some of that is due to all the travel- we have so many quick little flights, I don’t always have enough time to power up the computer and update everyone on my adventures or internet access is limited. I have been keeping handwritten notes and taking lots of pictures, so eventually everything will end up here, but just not in the real-time I was hoping for! I apologize for the confusion, and hope you will still enjoy reading my stories even if they’re not posted until a week or so after they happened! (I'm still writing about many of the days as if it was still that day, and I will try to keep all of the posts in chronological order!)
Cheers!
(there is a British fellow in the group, so I'm picking up some of his sayings!)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Seoul, Korea
The staff at the front desk told me I was the last person to arrive from ELS (not surprising given how late it was) and they had an updated schedule as well as a welcome letter for me when I checked in last night. I missed the group dinner (by several hours), so I still have not met anyone else I’ll be traveling with.
I woke up surprisingly early this morning, which gave me plenty of time to get ready for the day. I headed downstairs for breakfast around 8:30, wearing my JMU sweatshirt. (I thought maybe if any of the other group members were there, they would know I was with them. Clearly I was anxious to connect with the group! No one seemed to pay much attention to me, so I picked up a copy of the international edition of USA Today for entertainment.) Many of the people staying at the Fraser Suites are there for long term trips and some even have their families staying as well. This made for an interesting mix in the restaurant. Although breakfast was complimentary, it was more formal than what I’m used to on travel. The buffet had quite a variety of options…including hot dogs and mashed potatoes! I ended up having “fruits cereal” (some variation of fruit loops) and a banana…my idea of a great breakfast :)
After breakfast I headed back to my room to get dressed for work. Our original schedule indicated there would be an orientation at 11 in the lounge, but the revised schedule listed nothing before lunch at 12:15. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything, so I did head to the lounge which gave me the opportunity to observe the wives of some business men. There were several who clearly had Asian roots and one woman originally from Germany; however they all conversed in English. (It turned out the orientation was scrapped since most people arrived earlier on Sunday and were all settled in.) Some of the women had children…including one little boy around 4 or 5 years old. I was amazed at how little attention his mother seemed to pay him, yet I knew she was aware of his activities. He was free to run around the lounge area, moving chairs, stacking cushions…at one point I think he even started digging into the cabinets, but a staff member headed that venture off. What surprised me most was that while he was certainly not doing himself or anyone else any harm, at home, most mothers would not have allowed such freedom. I gathered from the conversation that his was a fairly global family, having spent considerable time in many different states, as well as locations in Europe and Asia. I’m not sure if that contributed to the mother’s carefree nature or if it was coincidence, but it was refreshing to witness.
When we met in the lobby for lunch, I did feel a bit behind, since everyone else seemed to know one another, but that was quickly forgotten as we walked to the restaurant. The roads were narrow and shared by cars, pedestrians, bicyclists and scooters, with each group thinking they deserved the right-of-way. I started to learn a bit about my fellow group members (although we will meet up with several more people in Shenyang), and I’m fascinated by the different places they have been. I am guessing I am the least-internationally traveled person of the group (at least for work, maybe not personally), so it’s nice to be surrounded by such experience.
The restaurant we ate in, Top Cloud, is located at the top of the Samsung building and has some amazing views of Seoul. (In fact we all made trips to the bathroom, cameras in hand, to capture some of the skyline!) I was able to sit next to one of the ELS staffers, Tata, who is originally from South Korea, so I learned a lot about their culture and history. One of her stories was about a national monument of sorts, an ancient wooden gate at the entrance to Seoul. Apparently a citizen was angry with the government and decided to set the gate on fire, completely destroying something that had lasted thousands of years. Tata said most Koreans did not appreciate the landmark until it was essentially destroyed. I also learned that South Korea has one of the best broadband systems in the world, and that their society is far more connected to the internet than ours.
The meal started with a buffet and ended with an entrée of small servings each of steak, chicken and fish. They also had a huge selection of desserts. The great thing about those- they all came in small sizes, so you could sample many without consuming a lot! I’m not exactly sure what these were, but when I realized I had this color combination, of course I had to take a picture!
We headed back to the hotel to get ready for work (the real reason we’re all on this trip, of course!). My nerves began to kick in at this point, since I knew the agent workshop would be unlike anything else I have done on travel! We were using the same lounge from breakfast. They set up five tables with a single chair on one side for the college rep and two chairs on the other for agents. Our boxes of materials were waiting for us (yay!) and we each had placards with our name, institution and location. As the agents arrived, they rotated through our tables, asking lots of questions about our schools. This experience made me feel like I was brand new to the world of college admissions. While some aspects of international admissions are the same, there are so many differences! I’m used to talking about all of the different academic programs and the student organizations and the sports…but here, the questions are on the conditional acceptance agreements and I-20 forms…two things I have become much more familiar with! I was hoping to gather information from the agents about their companies, the Asian market, etc to bring back to my office, but as soon as they were done asking me questions, the agents moved on. I’m hoping that will change in future cities!
For dinner we walked to a local restaurant operated by monks. All of the food was vegetarian and naturally grown...very interesting! There was also entertainment after dinner...music and dancing. After dinner, several of us stopped at Starbucks on the way back to the hotel...this particular Starbucks is the only one in Korea not to have the name in English because they were not allowed in the neighborhood unless they used ancient Korean Script. Nice to see the big company knows when to give in! I have several pictures from today...I'll put them all in the next post (easier than trying to format this one!)!
Tomorrow, Shenyang!
I woke up surprisingly early this morning, which gave me plenty of time to get ready for the day. I headed downstairs for breakfast around 8:30, wearing my JMU sweatshirt. (I thought maybe if any of the other group members were there, they would know I was with them. Clearly I was anxious to connect with the group! No one seemed to pay much attention to me, so I picked up a copy of the international edition of USA Today for entertainment.) Many of the people staying at the Fraser Suites are there for long term trips and some even have their families staying as well. This made for an interesting mix in the restaurant. Although breakfast was complimentary, it was more formal than what I’m used to on travel. The buffet had quite a variety of options…including hot dogs and mashed potatoes! I ended up having “fruits cereal” (some variation of fruit loops) and a banana…my idea of a great breakfast :)
After breakfast I headed back to my room to get dressed for work. Our original schedule indicated there would be an orientation at 11 in the lounge, but the revised schedule listed nothing before lunch at 12:15. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything, so I did head to the lounge which gave me the opportunity to observe the wives of some business men. There were several who clearly had Asian roots and one woman originally from Germany; however they all conversed in English. (It turned out the orientation was scrapped since most people arrived earlier on Sunday and were all settled in.) Some of the women had children…including one little boy around 4 or 5 years old. I was amazed at how little attention his mother seemed to pay him, yet I knew she was aware of his activities. He was free to run around the lounge area, moving chairs, stacking cushions…at one point I think he even started digging into the cabinets, but a staff member headed that venture off. What surprised me most was that while he was certainly not doing himself or anyone else any harm, at home, most mothers would not have allowed such freedom. I gathered from the conversation that his was a fairly global family, having spent considerable time in many different states, as well as locations in Europe and Asia. I’m not sure if that contributed to the mother’s carefree nature or if it was coincidence, but it was refreshing to witness.
When we met in the lobby for lunch, I did feel a bit behind, since everyone else seemed to know one another, but that was quickly forgotten as we walked to the restaurant. The roads were narrow and shared by cars, pedestrians, bicyclists and scooters, with each group thinking they deserved the right-of-way. I started to learn a bit about my fellow group members (although we will meet up with several more people in Shenyang), and I’m fascinated by the different places they have been. I am guessing I am the least-internationally traveled person of the group (at least for work, maybe not personally), so it’s nice to be surrounded by such experience.
The restaurant we ate in, Top Cloud, is located at the top of the Samsung building and has some amazing views of Seoul. (In fact we all made trips to the bathroom, cameras in hand, to capture some of the skyline!) I was able to sit next to one of the ELS staffers, Tata, who is originally from South Korea, so I learned a lot about their culture and history. One of her stories was about a national monument of sorts, an ancient wooden gate at the entrance to Seoul. Apparently a citizen was angry with the government and decided to set the gate on fire, completely destroying something that had lasted thousands of years. Tata said most Koreans did not appreciate the landmark until it was essentially destroyed. I also learned that South Korea has one of the best broadband systems in the world, and that their society is far more connected to the internet than ours.
The meal started with a buffet and ended with an entrée of small servings each of steak, chicken and fish. They also had a huge selection of desserts. The great thing about those- they all came in small sizes, so you could sample many without consuming a lot! I’m not exactly sure what these were, but when I realized I had this color combination, of course I had to take a picture!
We headed back to the hotel to get ready for work (the real reason we’re all on this trip, of course!). My nerves began to kick in at this point, since I knew the agent workshop would be unlike anything else I have done on travel! We were using the same lounge from breakfast. They set up five tables with a single chair on one side for the college rep and two chairs on the other for agents. Our boxes of materials were waiting for us (yay!) and we each had placards with our name, institution and location. As the agents arrived, they rotated through our tables, asking lots of questions about our schools. This experience made me feel like I was brand new to the world of college admissions. While some aspects of international admissions are the same, there are so many differences! I’m used to talking about all of the different academic programs and the student organizations and the sports…but here, the questions are on the conditional acceptance agreements and I-20 forms…two things I have become much more familiar with! I was hoping to gather information from the agents about their companies, the Asian market, etc to bring back to my office, but as soon as they were done asking me questions, the agents moved on. I’m hoping that will change in future cities!
For dinner we walked to a local restaurant operated by monks. All of the food was vegetarian and naturally grown...very interesting! There was also entertainment after dinner...music and dancing. After dinner, several of us stopped at Starbucks on the way back to the hotel...this particular Starbucks is the only one in Korea not to have the name in English because they were not allowed in the neighborhood unless they used ancient Korean Script. Nice to see the big company knows when to give in! I have several pictures from today...I'll put them all in the next post (easier than trying to format this one!)!
Tomorrow, Shenyang!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)