Korea's got Seoul! Part II

The first trip to Seoul was fun, but since it was with the MOE for the Spirit festival, I did not have an opportunity to explore at all.  I made a trip back out to Seoul the very next weekend for Global Gathering Korea, a huge electronic music festival.  I had known about this since I arrived in Ulsan, but had no plans of going.  My friend Connie (I'll have to post about her soon, she's one of my good friends here) talked me into going on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the concert.  The tickets would have been cheaper in advance, but Mr. Park was going to Seoul with his family for a wedding that weekend, so I was able to catch a free ride with him! 

If I took the bus it would be about 5 hours to Seoul, and cost about 50,000 Won ($50) round trip.  If I were to take the KTX (Korean speed train) it would take a little less than 3 hours and cost 100,000 Won.  In this case I just gave Mr. Park 10,000 Won for gas and tolls to be courteous. 

I had a blast at the concert and met up with many of my friends from orientation.  When I first arrived it was about 4 pm and I was to meet up with Connie.  She was already at the concert venue with some friends, but she did not answer her phone when I called.  Because of traffic and Mr. Parks children (Chan-hee & Chan-yuk)  we were running a little behind schedule.  Since this was the case Mr. Park just dropped me off and I had to find my way, which was exactly what I wanted!  I was alone in the big city, and my contact was not answering, awesome! 

My first time on a subway (unless I was on one when I was very young in Chicago, don't remember)

This is where I emerged from the subway to meet "Conda."

Well I did want to wander and explore on my own, but I also did not want to be late to the music festival, so I walked around and called a couple other friends who were in the city.  I got ahold of a friend whose name is Ryan Forrest, and he was just about to leave his hostel for Global Gathering.  He put me on the phone with the hostel owner, and he gave me directions to get there.  I went down to the subway, and figured out how to buy a ticket at the automated machine, and asked 3 people on the way to the correct subway, 1 Korean worker and 2 random foreigners.  It was pretty cool just finding my way to my destination, then the hostel owner (whose English name is "Conda" short for "Anaconda" after the movie) came and picked me up at a meeting point a block or two from the hostel. 

This is Conda at the hostel.

I didn't know what to expect at the hostel, and my friends took a cab to the music festival when I got scooped up, but it was really cool!  There was a traveler from Germany who I talked to and a couple Koreans who were very nice.  I charged my phone for a bit (oh yeah, my phone charger was unplugged the night before, so at the worst time ever I was on a low battery all weekend!) and took a cab to the festival.  It was SO much fun, and there were 5 different stages playing until 4 am! 

That is my friend Connie sitting, and my new friend Marc (who didn't know I was taking this photo, lol)

This is our blanket spot where we relaxed between dancing sessions!  That is Mike and two Korean friends, all of whom I met at the festival.

This is a shot of the main stage :)

 

 

The next morning I walked out of the bedroom to the living room and there were 3 foreign teachers from Ulsan that I know, and we had no idea we were all in the same hostel!  It was such a small world, they were like "Ryan, you did not just walk out of that room just now!"  We ended up hanging out for a few hours with them (from England), my two friends that invited me to the hostel (one from England, one from Minnesota), two Hispanic girls who were studying in China (one was from Colombia and the other was from Argentina), and the hostel workers who were Korean (Conda and 2 others).  It was so fun talking about various topics, getting different world perspectives.  As people started leaving the Colombian girl started giving me and the Pete (from Minnesota) a Spanish lesson, since we both have studied it and want to become fluent.  This whole experience reminded me so much of my father Mike Manary who shared similar stories of when he backpacked across Europe at my age. 

From the left is the girl from Argentina, a random Korean girl, a very nice Korean gentleman, the Colombian girl, my friend Pete, my friends Stacy and Nathan from England, then me.  Everyone was not in this photo.

Stacy, Pete, Nathan, and breakfast (that the hostel provided!)

I was supposed to meet up with Mr. Park at 4 pm to head back to Ulsan, but I was late.. because I took a train instead of the correct subway!  To meet him I had to take two different subway lines, and Conda gave me pretty good directions (plus I had a smart phone), so I don't know how I messed it up.  I went with my two friends Ryan and Pete to the station, and on the first subway.  For the second I was to find the blue line, #4 on my own.  I was following the signs, and eventually was just following the blue signs, that didn't say #4.  I can't believe I didn't notice.  So I got to the train station that I thought I needed to be at, and waited for a WHOLE HOUR!  Just to find out as soon as we departed that I had gone the wrong direction.  So I got off, went the other way, and when I got back to the station it was the last stop, and I realized I had taken the wrong line all together!  I felt so bad because I was holding up Mr. Park and his family, and I still wasn't at the meeting place! 

This was after I took the first subway, and right before I wasted an hour waiting for the wrong train.

The wrong train. 

I stopped a young lady and asked for help; I thought a university student was best since maybe she had been studying English.  Well she didn't speak much English, but she was going to almost the same destination that I was attempting to reach, so she led me there.  Her name is Eunji (the 3rd Eunji I have met now) and we are staying facebook friends.  She can help me with learning Korean, and I can help her with learning English! 

Eunji and I on the RIGHT subway :]

I finally made it to the meeting place at 6 pm, two hours late!  Ugh, I felt bad, and got back around 11:30, but it was a fun weekend, and Mr. Park and I had a great discussion about Asian history on the drive home.  We discussed Vietnam, China, Japan, and North and South Korea.  It was so interesting getting his point of view, especially when discussing conflicts of these nations when the United States was involved (so.. most of the time).  I have to say some of what we learn in the United States is biased, and some of what he told me was biased, but it's good and fun to hear both sides. 

In any case, I learned that Korea has got Seoul power!