Dane and I, two chemical engineering students at UF, were sent to South Korea for two months.
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Thursday, August 24, 2006

The day's beginning

As my days in Korea are reaching an end, I've become more and more aware of the daily things that surround me here in Gyongsang. Hence, I've decided to narrate with pictures (and some words) my daily route towards the university, a long twenty-minute one (by the way).

I usually wake up at eleven or eleven thirty am (my alarm starts at seven, but I always manage to neglect it). When I do wake up, I am usually on the following bed:


This is my little room in Won Chul's micro-apartment. If you think you live in a small place, chances are you've never lived in the apartments surrounding Yeungnam University before. Small is this:



But despite the lack of square footage, the apartment serves its roll well; it gives me a place to crash every night, and hey, the damn thing is free, so I can't be complaining, can I? Also, despite the concept of a tub being anathema to students in Gyongasang, the hose does provide an adequate amount of warm water with an adequate amount of pressure.

About thirty of the aforementioned, micro-units can be rented for under four hundred dollars a month in this building:



And these are the streets I walk on in order to reach Yeungnam:





Something to note about Korean streets (at least the ones I've been on), is that PC rooms (a place where you can get internet service for under 50 cents an hour) and mini-markets are quintessential in daily, Korean, college life:



The first street that I walk on is Gungdang street; from there I take a right on Daedong street, and after walking for about two minutes on it, I take a left on Chaongon street. After a few more, minor streets, I reach the gym:


For forty bucks a month, this place offers daily exercice clothing (so you don't have to worry about the dirty stuff afterwards), a spa, a sleeping room (truly a reflection of Korean genius), a reading room, and--of course--the actual exercising place:



I don't work out much; mostly, I try to run for 30-45 minutes, then stay 15 or 20 minutes in the spa, followed by a nice, warm shower. Following the said algorithm, I usually go to either Isaac or Jakob's, where--for under a dollar--you can get a descent vegetarian toast.



Following this, I have to cross a main road to get to YU's main gate. On the main gate, there are several stands that serve extremely cheap and delicious Korean food (some for as cheap as sixty cents). This is where I usually get a banana or strawberry smoothie.


Once, I've indulged my culinary cravings, I proceed to head to the chemical engineering building, which to my demise, is on the opposite side of campus. So I keep walking on the main road, where some American love is displayed:


I pass the big screen, the economics building, another main road, and I am yet to reach the damn thing:


I continue on, leaving behind me the main engineering building, the textile technology building, and the architecture building, and only till then, am I finally within sight of my academic abode:




In it, we are blessed with even more Korean traditional stuff, such as my dear companion, the toilet: