I have entered my third week abroad in Seoul, and can’t believe that I’m already nearing the halfway point of my journey. Six weeks will be far too short of a time to explore a city as massive as this. Luckily with the aid of the subway system, every week I’m able to travel to each end of the city to see as much as possible. I’ve gotten to see massive and dense shopping districts like Myeong dong. The colossal World Cup Stadium here in Seoul. I’ve explored the endless Yongsan Electronics Market. And atop the giant Namsan Mountain I was able to go into Seoul Tower, with a view so incredible that I’m sure if I looked carefully, I could find all of the sights I just listed.



One thing that has stood out to me while I’ve been here is how kind everyone has been to me. You might be surprised to learn that despite choosing to travel across the entire world to get here, Korean is not the Asian language that I studied at UofL. I actually studied Mandarin, which as you can imagine has not been remotely helpful. As a result I have relied heavily on the help of others. Sometimes it was a restaurant employee who had to be incredibly patient as I tried to communicate, praying for a picture on a menu that I could point at. Sometimes the help came from a friend of mine who actually lives here, who was kind enough to translate between me and his friends so I wouldn’t feel so out of the loop during their conversations. I feel very fortunate to be in a city full of such hospitable people, not unlike Louisville. I can’t wait for the coming adventures I’ll have here, and I’ll update you soon with stories of them.