We are truly enjoying our time in Busan! We started out yesterday by walking around one of the famous fish markets in South Korea that is right by our hotel. There were tons of vendors in rows selling live seafood. They were having fun with it and trying to have us touch and hold them. The most terrifying experience since I have been here happened to be in this fish market where a ginormous fish somehow jumped out of it's tank at my feet and this was enough to make me leave the market. Even though it was a rainy day the view of the harbor was nothing short of spectacular. After the fish market we headed to the Gamcheon Culture Village, which is rich in history. This also happens to be the location of the reality TV show, Running Man. The village looked like a ton of lego houses piled on top of each other on the side of the mountain by the ocean. The lookout deck showed the village from an incredible vantage point. One of the highlights for me was the "Happy House" with padlocks of love notes in different languages surrounding it. After going to the culture village we decided to roam the streets to see what we could find and we stumbled upon a dog cafe! Dog cafe's are very popular in South Korea and they are cafe's with tea and coffee that happen to be filled with dogs to play with! We ordered delicious tea and got to drink it with the dogs. It made me miss my dog, but some puppy loving was well needed. Later, a friend and I decided to try and find a bookstore that was supposed to be easy to find. Well we got lost for our first time in Korea, but an hour and a half of walking in circles later we found the bookstore! Later that night our entire group including the two professors went to the noraebang (karaoke bar) next to our hotel and had a blast!! I really wish we could bring some back home with us.
Today we started off the day with an all you can eat Korean buffet that was surprisingly delicious! After the buffet we traveled to a famous beach called Haeundae Beach, which happened to be having a big festival at! The beach was beautiful with the mountains and city skyline surrounding the shore. The festival was a sand sculpture contest and they were incredible! The beach had a children's library which I think is a brilliant idea! My favorite part of the trip to the beach was the special showing of Frozen on a big screen on the beach for the festival (and yes I watched the entire movie laying on the beach while singing). After we left the beach some of us were craving American food so we stopped into the Burger King for a little taste from home. We then decided to do some shopping in the underground shopping center. We have been joking this whole trip about how we wanted a pair of these hiking pants that only the Ahjumma (older ladies) and Ahjussi (older men) wear. Well we saw some shopping and caved despite the odd looks. We personally can't wait to wear them everywhere (they are the most comfortable pants ever). We are now relaxing in the coffee shop under our hotel which we are growing quite fond of. We leave in the morning to go on a day trip before we head back to the school late tomorrow night. Our weekend in Busan has been amazing and I only wish we had a little longer. Busan has a strange way of making us feel at home even though we have only been here two days. I am going to use this time to make a shout out to the incredible people I am traveling with. I am blessed to be able to go through this journey with people that have quickly become some of my closest friends. They are some of the smartest and inspiring people I have encountered in my life and I am proud to teach these young girls beside them (Between us we can speak 9 different languages). I can't wait to see where this next week brings us!
Today we started off the day with an all you can eat Korean buffet that was surprisingly delicious! After the buffet we traveled to a famous beach called Haeundae Beach, which happened to be having a big festival at! The beach was beautiful with the mountains and city skyline surrounding the shore. The festival was a sand sculpture contest and they were incredible! The beach had a children's library which I think is a brilliant idea! My favorite part of the trip to the beach was the special showing of Frozen on a big screen on the beach for the festival (and yes I watched the entire movie laying on the beach while singing). After we left the beach some of us were craving American food so we stopped into the Burger King for a little taste from home. We then decided to do some shopping in the underground shopping center. We have been joking this whole trip about how we wanted a pair of these hiking pants that only the Ahjumma (older ladies) and Ahjussi (older men) wear. Well we saw some shopping and caved despite the odd looks. We personally can't wait to wear them everywhere (they are the most comfortable pants ever). We are now relaxing in the coffee shop under our hotel which we are growing quite fond of. We leave in the morning to go on a day trip before we head back to the school late tomorrow night. Our weekend in Busan has been amazing and I only wish we had a little longer. Busan has a strange way of making us feel at home even though we have only been here two days. I am going to use this time to make a shout out to the incredible people I am traveling with. I am blessed to be able to go through this journey with people that have quickly become some of my closest friends. They are some of the smartest and inspiring people I have encountered in my life and I am proud to teach these young girls beside them (Between us we can speak 9 different languages). I can't wait to see where this next week brings us!