Arrival: First day in Seoul!
- Lia <3
- Feb 17, 2022
- 2 min read
The early morning was crisp and clear--as if the sky had prepared just as much as us for our journey that day. San Fransisco Airport was huge, so I'm glad we had our program coordinators to help us navigate.
Because we left the hotel so early, we got to have breakfast at the airport. While searching for a spot, Maggie, Serena, and I met a robot barista that made Serena a Matcha latte.
We went through security without too many hiccups. (Daisy had her jam confiscated, but she was okay.) Also, all of our luggage was under the 50lbs limit! (Well, Ruby's was actually slightly overweight, but the staff let it slide--what a nice guy!)
We played some BTS UNO before boarding the plane. Before we knew it, we were walking along the passenger boarding bridge!
I was seated in an aisle seat, which was great because I had to pee like 4 times. I read a few episodes of a Webtoon called True Beauty, wrote a letter to my future self to read at the end of the program, and watched Shrek in Korean (no subtitles). I could understand like 30% of what was said, but my hope is to watch it again on the flight back and understand at least 60%.
Not going to lie, the flight was really long and really uncomfortable. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't get my chair to recline. The meals were not the greatest either, but I guess that's pretty much expected on airplanes.
After the longest haul, we arrived at Incheon Airport!
Then came immigration/customs. This was so stressful. I felt like all of the Korean I had practiced just decided to dip. Also, the airport felt like 80°, which only added to the anxiety.
We had to download a quarantine app to record our temperature/symptoms while at the hotel, and submit a bunch of forms we filled out on the plane. The plane ran out of english versions of many of the forms, though. So, many of my peers had to fill them out in Korean, or fill them out once we landed.
All of this was really stressful. But we got through it!
At luggage claim, we found some really cute carts to push our luggage. It was so convenient! Why don't we have these in the U.S.?
After that, we finally met up with Sky and Carrie, our Local Coordinator in Korea and our Resident Director. We were then rushed into a taxi (My first time witnessing South Korea's 빨리 빨리 문화) and arrived at the hotel. It was dark, it was freezing, but the city was breathtaking. That taxi ride was incredible. It felt like this place I had only ever seen in videos had come to life--like being inserted into the universe of your favorite book.
^I apologize for the bad quality, my phone sucks at taking pictures/videos at night
Then, we were given room keys and SIM cards and sent up the elevator to the rooms we'd be staying in for the next 7 days!
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