They say “for every beginning, there must an end”. Well, I’d like to differ with that statement. This blog was actually created on the very last day of my trip to Seoul (because I’m currently stuck in the airport for the next 13 hours) and as I bid anyong to Korea, I welcome something new in my life……blogging! To me, for every beginning, there isn’t any ending but it’s just the end of a beginning. Before I take you on a roller coaster ride on the Joker Express, I’d like to thank all the readers for visiting and supporting my blog. Are you ready? Chalja!
The Winter Seoul ST 2011 was organized by ALSA Korea from the 12th till 17th of February. The theme of “Musing the Earth Justice” was focused on solving environmental problems which had a total of 9 participating countries from Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. This awesome event was held in the breath-taking city of Seoul where a blend of skyscrapers, traditional monuments and scrumptious local delicacies brings out the best of Korea!
Our adventure began on the 11th February, a day prior to the start of the event, as there was no earlier flight for us to arrive in Seoul before the Welcoming Party. There was an air of excitement in me because I was about to board a plane for the first time in my life and damn it was cool! The highlight of the whole journey from LCC Terminal to Incheon International Airport was the air-stewardesses of Air Asia. I must stress that they are almost perfect in every sense from beauty to hospitality except for this one particular cabin crew (you know from which country la). The flight took us about 7 hours and when we touched down at 9 p.m. local time, the crew immediately played 2PM’s “Fly to Seoul (Boom Boom Boom)” which gave me goose bumps! Hell I knew I was finally in Korea - living the drama and fulfilling the dream!
The weather was extremely cold (approx. -7 Celsius) when we got there and I nearly froze to death wearing only two layers of clothing. Upon arriving at our hostel in Konkuk University, my ‘creative, imaginative’ roommate (misCyelanius Yeo) and I were shell shocked when we looked at our room. Personally, the room I stayed in was 3 times better than the hotel that I lived in Singapore for the UM-NUS moots. It has a mini-bar, attached bathroom, separate desks, telephone, curtain and the Internet connection is super duper fast to which Yeo made full use of.
Day 1: The day started off with us heading to the streets within the vicinity of Konkuk University to have our breakfast-cum-lunch and stopped by this Korean restaurant. With little ability to converse in Korean, we managed to order three pans of ttobolki (rice cake with other ingredients such as sweet potato and also slices of chicken mixed with hot and spicy sauce). I guess in Korea, you don’t need to be proficient in the Korean language but you only have to know the language of food. We then head back to practice for our Welcoming Party at night and decided to go with Michael Jackson’s Th-Th-Th-Thriller. It turned out that I instantaneously became the choreographer for the dance (much to my surprise). At around 7pm, we gathered at Konkuk U’s Alumni Hall. Ommo! It was like a hotel! The buffet was definitely, certainly and undoubtedly better than any other hotel’s buffet! ALSA Malaysia was first to perform. With most of its members already drinking a few cups of ‘soju’ (Korean wine), one would wonder if they could even stand in a straight line. Fortunately, we managed to perform ‘most parts’ of the dance correctly having considered that we only have a few hours to rehearse. Comparatively, it was by far the most entertaining performance among the countries although the dance routine would shock Michael Jackson and resurrect him. Japan sang Doraemon’s theme song, Hong Kong performed Nobody while Korea provided the fitting ending with SNSD’s “Hoot” (very the hot hot la).
Day 2: The second day of the ST kicked off with the delegates having breakfast at the hostel’s cafeteria. Served with Korean fried rice, kimchi and scrambled eggs, we complained of how terrible First College food was compared to what the Korean students were eating. Haiz! We left to Seoul National University for the first of our two day table discussion. SNU lived up to my expectation as the finest university in Korea with its magnificent structures and mountainous back drop. It’s School of Law was comparatively better than NUS’ Law School and by a million miles better than UM’s Law Faculty. The topic for my table was “Environmental Conflict Resolution” which discusses on the alternative dispute resolutions in solving environmental problems. It was definitely a fruitful discussion with delegates from different nations putting forward their respective country’s laws.
Day 3: The second day of table discussion commenced with all the delegates from respective tables brain-storming on how we’re going to present the consensus that we’ve reached regarding our topic. During the presentation of every table, it was pretty boring actually as most of the delegates have no idea what environmental law was about. The real fun in Korea actually began after the table discussion was over starting with “Sports Day”. The delegates were divided into four groups following the houses in Harry Potter i.e. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The sorting hat placed me in Slytherin contrary to the cold war happening in Malaysia. Among the games played were dodge ball, “tail-grabbing” and eating of pepero (long chocolate biscuit from both ends) between a guy and a girl. At the end of the day, the team with the highest points would be able to taste Korean pizza. Unlike the ending in the Harry Potter where Gryffindor wins, Slytherin actually won! The taste of the Korean pizza was the best ever pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life! No other pizza can ever beat the taste of Korean pizza. Another interesting thing to note was that the cover of the pizza box itself was ‘decorated’ with the picture of a celebrity! Ommo.
Day 4: Shopping! This was the day that everyone was looking forward to, especially the girls! Firstly, we headed to Insadong where it was equivalent to Melaka’s Jonker Walk. After picking up some souvenirs and some free cosmetic products, we walked over to the Changdeokgung palace where emperors of the Korean dynasties once held their throne. In the evening, we headed over to the Alumni Hall again for the Cultural Night. ALSA Malaysia performed a traditional dance comprised of the three main ethnics and capped it off by singing “Here In My Home”. Once again, ALSA Korea was the best performers on stage firstly by performing a traditional Korean dance in their Hanbok followed by dance performances of 2PM’s “Again & Again”, Wondergirls’ “Nobody” and finally SNSD’s “Hoot”! Can’t blame them for performing these modern tracks as this is after all part of their culture. *jealous* ALSA Taiwan performed a lion dance show while giving out red packets and ALSA Singapore danced to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry’s songs (clubbing culture?). The organizing committee later took us to a Korean club to experience what it feels like to dance in Seoul and it is quite different from the clubs we had back in Malaysia.
Day 5: We went to Woongjin Play City to have some fun in the Water Park, Snow Sledding and also Skiing. There, we met many kindergarten school kids who were on a visit to the play city and they were really adorable! Some of them could actually be the next Korean idols. At night, we visited Dongdaemun for even more shopping. At about 2 am, we could actually see snow falling down and we immediately put on our jackets and rushed downstairs to feel the snow touching the surface of our faces. It was such a memorable experience which I must say, is priceless. We ate some steaming hot sweet potatoes while drinking soju under the snow.
Day 6: The shopping continues at COEX where it is Korea’s national trade centre. As Etude House and Innisfree are sponsors for this event, we were given 10% discount off all cosmetic products and that’s not the end, the items are also tax-free! It is also interesting to note that Korean cosmetics are sometimes even cheaper than the food here! When you enter a cosmetic shop, you’ll be given free facial mask and if you bought something you’ll be given more free gifts such as facial cleanser, eye patches and the list goes on. The shopping spree continues in Myeongdong. The setting is quite similar to the one in Insadong but here, it is surrounded by cosmetic shops, restaurants and food stalls. What is intriguing here is that there are AT LEAST 4 franchises of different cosmetic shops within 200m radius of Insadong ranging from Innisfree, Etude House, Body Shop and Nature Republic. Finally, it was time for our farewell party. It was a quite sad occasion because we knew that this was the last time that we’ll be able to see each other with countries like Taiwan and Japan leaving as early as 9 am and 11am respectively the following day. We exchanged souvenirs which we brought from our own countries as a token for remembering the adventure that we had with one another.
Day 7: As the countries start to leave one at a time, we packed our luggage and headed for more shopping and sight-seeing as our flight will depart at 11.25pm. We were separated into three groups because half of the girls wanted to continue shopping at Myeongdong and another half at Insadong whereas the guys left for Namsan Seoul Tower instead. When we arrived there, we could see a million locks locked onto the fences to symbolize a couple’s love with each other. The scenery at the peak was breath-taking with an overview and spectacular sight of the whole of Seoul. As we gathered back at Myeongdong, we found out that we had to take the subway from Konkuk University station to Incheon airport as there was a massive traffic jam on the expressway. We left Konkuk at 8.10 pm and arrived at the airport at 10.45pm. However, it seems that Seoul had other plans for us when we were told that we were late for the check-in and had to miss the flight. Fortunately, AirAsia did not charge us with any extra fee when they placed us on another flight the following day. We actually spent a whole 24 hours in the Incheon airport which is the best airport in the world for 6 consecutive years. Before we left for K.L., I can’t help but to have teary eyes when we bid anyong to Park and Victor who waited for hours together with us to send us off.
Before I end my maiden post, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to the organizing committee of this ST especially ALSA Korea President, Eva, ST Director, Eunsol Tina Park, Geon Hee, Yoojin (Julia), Young, Dohee (Jenny), James, Victor and last but not least the fantastic Park Yonghle, caretaker of Malaysian delegates for the effort and time in preparing and organizing this wonderful event for the entire week. We also apologise for waking up a little late every morning, wandering off taking lots and lots of photos when we were supposed to be in line and making the most noise throughout this trip. My gratitude also extends to the other delegates for being part of this memorable experience and I hope that we’ll be able to cross paths in the future.
Yongwonhi chingu. Anyong dae han min guk.
“I’ll be back,”2 PM.
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