Well clearly I did not do well at chronicling my first two work trips abroad but I have a few more chances! As of July 1, I will be the primary person responsible for international recruitment travel in our office. I already have another trip to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam lined up for this fall. There will probably be one or two other trips during the school year as well.
I still have all the notes I made for myself during my first two trips- maybe one day I'll actually get around to detailing those adventures. For now I'll focus on the present which includes two college fairs and a conference this week! First up is the 2011 Malaysian Higher Education Fair and the Embassy-University Showcase followed by the Summer Institute for International Admissions College Fair at Georgetown University (sponsored by College Board). Wednesday through Friday will be spent at the EducationUSA Forum 2011. I'm pretty sure I'll be exhausted by 3:15 on Friday!
Thanks for sticking with this blog, I promise to try my best to be a better blogger!
PS Now that this blog is about more than one specific trip, does anyone have any suggestions for a new name?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Hanoi Day 1 1/2
While I had been to Ho Chi Minh City before, this is my first trip to Hanoi. We arrived at the airport (close to an hour from the center of the city) at 9:30pm Wednesday night. Most things shut down around 10, plus it's hard to see things in the dark. One of the things that really struck me on our way into the city was the INSANE number of Karaoke places! I don't think I saw a single Karaoke place in HCMC (although I'm sure they were there). From the airport, we must have passed over two dozen neon Karaoke signs!
Hanoi is the capital city which automatically gives it a different feel. There is an increase in police and military presence. There is also clearly a number of people with significant money, based on the number and brands of the cars. In addition to the cost of a car, the tax is often very high, so most people can not afford to have their own.
Hanoi also has more of a colonial feel to it and you can still see more of the french influence in the buildings and culture. The weather is also MUCH different. While HCMC was very warm and (at least during my stay) dry, Hanoi is cool and rainy. I learned that rain tends to keep people inside, even if they have appointments. Part of that is due to the number of motorbikes used for transport.
My hotel, the Melia Hotel, is much bigger than the Rex Hotel in HCMC (22 floors instead of 4). While arriving in a new city late at night makes sight seeing a challenge, it usually means the turn down service has already been done in the room. Funny how something as small as the comforter being folded over and the drapes drawn can make the room feel so cozy!
After a little bit of a rough start Thursday morning (the shower and I are NOT friends right now), the day got better at breakfast. While I was not eating on a garden rooftop, the buffet did include french toast and passion fruit juice :) The rest of the day was devoted to student and agent briefings around town. First stop was at a different hotel, where my local host is staying, The Nikko. I only saw the lobby and a meeting room, but it seems like another nice hotel, with more of a Japanese feel. After a presentation for a group of agents, we took a break for lunch then headed to an office across town. At the first afternoon meeting, we talked with some agents and met with a prospective grad student. Based on the information he shared with us, I don't think JMU is a realistic option for him but I still enjoyed talking with him.
The final stop of the day was at an office in a high rise building occupying much of the former 'Hanoi Hilton' site. There is still a corner section of the prison preserved as a museum. It was a little strange imagining what the area looked like during the war, as most of it is very modern feeling now. On a more positive note, the student I met has great academic credentials and she LOVES JMU. She also asked if she would see me if she ended up on campus. I said that I worked there, so it was certainly a possibility. Turns out, she just wanted to make sure there would be someone around to advise her. I explained that the academic departments had that covered!
When we left that office, my host needed to return to his hotel for a meeting and my hotel was just around the corner, so I took advantage of a break in the rain to walk back. That means I have successfully crossed streets in TWO cities now! Dinner was at a great restaurant, the Green Tangerine. I actually ordered the Vietnamese Menu which was delicious! (Even the two fish items were good!) Then we walked down the block to have a drink at Le Pub. The special of the night was a Baby Woo Woo. Some of you may remember that Cally's in downtown Harrisonburg used to serve a Woo Woo. While the name is very goofy, it is delicious, so I was excited to see if it was the same drink...it was :) And that covers my first day and half in Hanoi!
Hanoi is the capital city which automatically gives it a different feel. There is an increase in police and military presence. There is also clearly a number of people with significant money, based on the number and brands of the cars. In addition to the cost of a car, the tax is often very high, so most people can not afford to have their own.
Hanoi also has more of a colonial feel to it and you can still see more of the french influence in the buildings and culture. The weather is also MUCH different. While HCMC was very warm and (at least during my stay) dry, Hanoi is cool and rainy. I learned that rain tends to keep people inside, even if they have appointments. Part of that is due to the number of motorbikes used for transport.
My hotel, the Melia Hotel, is much bigger than the Rex Hotel in HCMC (22 floors instead of 4). While arriving in a new city late at night makes sight seeing a challenge, it usually means the turn down service has already been done in the room. Funny how something as small as the comforter being folded over and the drapes drawn can make the room feel so cozy!
After a little bit of a rough start Thursday morning (the shower and I are NOT friends right now), the day got better at breakfast. While I was not eating on a garden rooftop, the buffet did include french toast and passion fruit juice :) The rest of the day was devoted to student and agent briefings around town. First stop was at a different hotel, where my local host is staying, The Nikko. I only saw the lobby and a meeting room, but it seems like another nice hotel, with more of a Japanese feel. After a presentation for a group of agents, we took a break for lunch then headed to an office across town. At the first afternoon meeting, we talked with some agents and met with a prospective grad student. Based on the information he shared with us, I don't think JMU is a realistic option for him but I still enjoyed talking with him.
The final stop of the day was at an office in a high rise building occupying much of the former 'Hanoi Hilton' site. There is still a corner section of the prison preserved as a museum. It was a little strange imagining what the area looked like during the war, as most of it is very modern feeling now. On a more positive note, the student I met has great academic credentials and she LOVES JMU. She also asked if she would see me if she ended up on campus. I said that I worked there, so it was certainly a possibility. Turns out, she just wanted to make sure there would be someone around to advise her. I explained that the academic departments had that covered!
When we left that office, my host needed to return to his hotel for a meeting and my hotel was just around the corner, so I took advantage of a break in the rain to walk back. That means I have successfully crossed streets in TWO cities now! Dinner was at a great restaurant, the Green Tangerine. I actually ordered the Vietnamese Menu which was delicious! (Even the two fish items were good!) Then we walked down the block to have a drink at Le Pub. The special of the night was a Baby Woo Woo. Some of you may remember that Cally's in downtown Harrisonburg used to serve a Woo Woo. While the name is very goofy, it is delicious, so I was excited to see if it was the same drink...it was :) And that covers my first day and half in Hanoi!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
28 hours...
I knew before I left that I was going to spend a very long time up in the air to get from Virginia to Vietnam. I did not, however, do the complete math including travel time and layovers! As I was waiting to board my first plane, I found myself getting hungry. Knowing that the next three (!) meals would be served on a plane, I decided it was ok to grab a snack in the airport. (Thanks to Dan for supporting that decision!)
When I travel by myself, I prefer to have an aisle seat. Somehow, I'd rather be the one getting up for other people than having to ask someone else to move anytime I want to stretch my legs. (If I travel with someone else, I'm all about the window seat!) As my row mates arrived, one of the first things the guy in the middle seat said to me was "So, you're not Korean." Clearly I still stand out in a crowd of Asians (if you know the Japanese zoo story from my childhood, you'll appreciate that). Nathan, from Winchester VA, was also traveling to a family wedding in Ho Chi Minh City. Since he seemed normal and conversation flowed easily, I was excited to have someone to hang out with during the layover in Seoul.
Korean Air has planes with the individual screens at each seat. So much nicer than craning your neck to see a big screen at the front of a section of seats! I was gearing up for a marathon movie session but ended up having more conversation. Not a bad alternative :) I did manage to watch Megamind and The Romantics (two separate movies).
The flight from Dulles to Seoul was a little over 14 hours in length and included lunch and dinner. For lunch I opted for a traditional Korean dish bibimbap...the non-American woman in our row (not sure of her exact ethnicity, but not Korean) was given a card with instructions on how to eat the meal. I'm not sure why Nathan and I were not offered the same card, but she was nice enough to share. The woman across the aisle from me also tried to help. She was very thoughtful, but the way she watched every bite I took made me a bit nervous, especially since I didn't absolutely love the meal! I'm chalking it up to being airplane food and may one day try the dish again. Dinner was much less exotic, but had a delicious piece of chocolate cake for dessert!
Upon arrival in Seoul, we had about two hours to fill before boarding our next flight. A really neat feature of Incheon are the Korean Traditional Cultural Facilities. They were part store, part stage and part arts and crafts. We arrived at one of them just as a music performer was finishing. At the end they passed out drums to the audience to join in- very cool! Then, if you were not Korean, you could make one of the crafts for free. We opted for the Korean prints created from Korean paper, water, fans, brushes and ink blotters. Nathan and I probably do not have professional futures in this activity, but we had fun trying!
We also saw a bit of theater in the terminal with a group of men and women dressed in traditional Korean garb....as best I could tell, there was a King and Queen and either members of a royal court or servants of some kind. It was neat to see the tradition. I tried to get a picture and will post it if it turned out!
Another bonus to making a plane friend...he will be returning to the US on the same flight! Since I will be coming from Hanoi not HCMC, we will meet up in Seoul (and maybe try another craft!). It's nice not to be completely alone in a crowd!
The flight from Seoul to HCMC was close to five hours. We had dinner again, my highlight being the strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I also chose to accept the glass of wine with this meal (having turned it down during the previous 2). I'm not sure what kind of Reisling it was, but it had a nice flavor. In honor of the Oscars, which I knew I would miss seeing, I watched The King's Speech and Black Swan. Now I feel almost caught up in the world of pop culture!
There was a driver from the hotel waiting outside the airport to pick me up. The drive to the Rex took about 20 minutes and there were numerous times I thought things looked familiar- pretty sure I was wrong every single time! Check in went quickly and there was even a note from my local contact (he's South African but has lived here for the last 9 months after going to school in the US and working in the US and Europe. There was a bit of a translation error when he left the message (what I received said he wished me a good life...as if he wouldn't be meeting up with me the next day...made me nervous for a moment, but at that point I was too tired to worry too much!). Turns out he had a rugby injury from the weekend and had taken a painkiller prior to phoning the hotel. We're not sure if the translation error was due to language or the meds, but we shared a good laugh over it :)
We're off to lunch and another meeting before flying to Hanoi...I'm sure there will be more adventures to share from there!
Erin
When I travel by myself, I prefer to have an aisle seat. Somehow, I'd rather be the one getting up for other people than having to ask someone else to move anytime I want to stretch my legs. (If I travel with someone else, I'm all about the window seat!) As my row mates arrived, one of the first things the guy in the middle seat said to me was "So, you're not Korean." Clearly I still stand out in a crowd of Asians (if you know the Japanese zoo story from my childhood, you'll appreciate that). Nathan, from Winchester VA, was also traveling to a family wedding in Ho Chi Minh City. Since he seemed normal and conversation flowed easily, I was excited to have someone to hang out with during the layover in Seoul.
Korean Air has planes with the individual screens at each seat. So much nicer than craning your neck to see a big screen at the front of a section of seats! I was gearing up for a marathon movie session but ended up having more conversation. Not a bad alternative :) I did manage to watch Megamind and The Romantics (two separate movies).
The flight from Dulles to Seoul was a little over 14 hours in length and included lunch and dinner. For lunch I opted for a traditional Korean dish bibimbap...the non-American woman in our row (not sure of her exact ethnicity, but not Korean) was given a card with instructions on how to eat the meal. I'm not sure why Nathan and I were not offered the same card, but she was nice enough to share. The woman across the aisle from me also tried to help. She was very thoughtful, but the way she watched every bite I took made me a bit nervous, especially since I didn't absolutely love the meal! I'm chalking it up to being airplane food and may one day try the dish again. Dinner was much less exotic, but had a delicious piece of chocolate cake for dessert!
Upon arrival in Seoul, we had about two hours to fill before boarding our next flight. A really neat feature of Incheon are the Korean Traditional Cultural Facilities. They were part store, part stage and part arts and crafts. We arrived at one of them just as a music performer was finishing. At the end they passed out drums to the audience to join in- very cool! Then, if you were not Korean, you could make one of the crafts for free. We opted for the Korean prints created from Korean paper, water, fans, brushes and ink blotters. Nathan and I probably do not have professional futures in this activity, but we had fun trying!
We also saw a bit of theater in the terminal with a group of men and women dressed in traditional Korean garb....as best I could tell, there was a King and Queen and either members of a royal court or servants of some kind. It was neat to see the tradition. I tried to get a picture and will post it if it turned out!
Another bonus to making a plane friend...he will be returning to the US on the same flight! Since I will be coming from Hanoi not HCMC, we will meet up in Seoul (and maybe try another craft!). It's nice not to be completely alone in a crowd!
The flight from Seoul to HCMC was close to five hours. We had dinner again, my highlight being the strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I also chose to accept the glass of wine with this meal (having turned it down during the previous 2). I'm not sure what kind of Reisling it was, but it had a nice flavor. In honor of the Oscars, which I knew I would miss seeing, I watched The King's Speech and Black Swan. Now I feel almost caught up in the world of pop culture!
There was a driver from the hotel waiting outside the airport to pick me up. The drive to the Rex took about 20 minutes and there were numerous times I thought things looked familiar- pretty sure I was wrong every single time! Check in went quickly and there was even a note from my local contact (he's South African but has lived here for the last 9 months after going to school in the US and working in the US and Europe. There was a bit of a translation error when he left the message (what I received said he wished me a good life...as if he wouldn't be meeting up with me the next day...made me nervous for a moment, but at that point I was too tired to worry too much!). Turns out he had a rugby injury from the weekend and had taken a painkiller prior to phoning the hotel. We're not sure if the translation error was due to language or the meds, but we shared a good laugh over it :)
We're off to lunch and another meeting before flying to Hanoi...I'm sure there will be more adventures to share from there!
Erin
Vietnam Take 2!
I spent most of my 2008 trip saying things like "How many times is a girl going to be in South Korea/Thailand/Taiwan/China/Vietnam?" Turns out the answer to that last country is at least twice!
I left my house around 7 am on Saturday February 26...28 hours later, I walked into my hotel suite in the Rex Hotel. The local time when I arrived was 11 pm on Sunday. I spent most of Monday getting settled and exploring the actual hotel. It has a lot of war-time history, although I am staying in a newer wing. Monday evening I had my first presentation to a group of local students and parents. Although much of the content is the same as my usual presentations, working with an interpreter was an odd feeling. My local contact, Sean, then took me to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. We had a LOT of food, most of it delicious.
Breakfast each day has been buffet style, with seating in a rooftop garden. Yes, I know that's a tough way to start the day :) One thing I find interesting about breakfast here is the combination of foods they serve. There are plenty of fruit and pastry options, but they also serve soup, dumplings, rice and other dishes I would expect at lunch or dinner. There's also a nice selection of juices including watermelon, guava, apple and orange.
Tuesday morning I explored outside my hotel a little more. Crossing streets in Vietnam is pretty intense so I was pretty excited to have done it successfully. (Someone on facebook referred to me as 'little frogger' which is a VERY accurate description!) There is a statue of Ho Chi Minh right outside my hotel, the Opera House and the People's Committee building. We are in District 1 (there are 10 districts, but the geographic placement does not make a lot of sense), which is where most of the important buildings in the city can be found.
After surviving the streets, it was time for lunch! Another buffet (very common), thist time with some of the other college reps attending the IIE fair. This was followed by a country briefing and review of the visa application process. The actual fair began at 3 and went until 6. This was very different from my last visit when we only met with educational agents in a VERY organized manner. I am proud to say that the JMU table had people there almost the entire time. It really is nice to be a well-thought of school. The coolest moment had to be when the Consul General stopped by our table and shared that his oldest daughter was a JMU grad and his youngest was just admitted! Perfect example of the JMU small world quality we all know and love.
Today I have a few presentations with groups of agents then we fly to Hanoi. I'm excited to add another city to my list of places I've been!
Erin
I left my house around 7 am on Saturday February 26...28 hours later, I walked into my hotel suite in the Rex Hotel. The local time when I arrived was 11 pm on Sunday. I spent most of Monday getting settled and exploring the actual hotel. It has a lot of war-time history, although I am staying in a newer wing. Monday evening I had my first presentation to a group of local students and parents. Although much of the content is the same as my usual presentations, working with an interpreter was an odd feeling. My local contact, Sean, then took me to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. We had a LOT of food, most of it delicious.
Breakfast each day has been buffet style, with seating in a rooftop garden. Yes, I know that's a tough way to start the day :) One thing I find interesting about breakfast here is the combination of foods they serve. There are plenty of fruit and pastry options, but they also serve soup, dumplings, rice and other dishes I would expect at lunch or dinner. There's also a nice selection of juices including watermelon, guava, apple and orange.
Tuesday morning I explored outside my hotel a little more. Crossing streets in Vietnam is pretty intense so I was pretty excited to have done it successfully. (Someone on facebook referred to me as 'little frogger' which is a VERY accurate description!) There is a statue of Ho Chi Minh right outside my hotel, the Opera House and the People's Committee building. We are in District 1 (there are 10 districts, but the geographic placement does not make a lot of sense), which is where most of the important buildings in the city can be found.
After surviving the streets, it was time for lunch! Another buffet (very common), thist time with some of the other college reps attending the IIE fair. This was followed by a country briefing and review of the visa application process. The actual fair began at 3 and went until 6. This was very different from my last visit when we only met with educational agents in a VERY organized manner. I am proud to say that the JMU table had people there almost the entire time. It really is nice to be a well-thought of school. The coolest moment had to be when the Consul General stopped by our table and shared that his oldest daughter was a JMU grad and his youngest was just admitted! Perfect example of the JMU small world quality we all know and love.
Today I have a few presentations with groups of agents then we fly to Hanoi. I'm excited to add another city to my list of places I've been!
Erin
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Pics and stories coming soon, promise!
Sorry this is taking so long but my upcoming two week vacation should provide me the opportunity to update with all the fun stories and pictures from the trip!!
Thanks for being so patient :)
Thanks for being so patient :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Clarification!
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!)
Cheers!
(there is a British fellow in the group, so I'm picking up some of his sayings!)
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!
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