The Beginning

I landed in Busan bright and early yesterday morning. Our orientation leaders were waiting for us when we arrived, and took us to our orientation venue, the Busan University of Foreign Studies. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful! My dorm room is so nice and it has a wonderful view of some mountains and the city. And let me tell you something - this university is swaggie. It's beautiful, and resembles Washington DC. You can clearly see the certain kind of Korean aesthetic that the campus has. Clean cut minimalism with crisp edges. I'm not kidding about the swag. I have a card that controls everything. I swipe to use the elevators, enter my room, and I put my card in a slot in my room in order to use the electricity. So when I leave and have to take my card out, all the electricity shuts off so I don't have to remember to turn things off, or unplug. It's efficient, convenient, and the future of technology. Our scheduled orientation starts tomorrow, with our classes and whatnot, so I've had the past two days free to do whatever! When I hang out with the other scholars here, I feel like I can fully live in the present moment. Maybe it's because it's the first time I've had to consistently talk about real things with multiple people, and not live in the theoretical space that I usually do. I won't go into the exact details of everything that happened these past two days, because I'm so tired right now, but here are some photos to give you a basic idea:

The sunrise from my room window

Mano Memorial Hall - a building on campus, Busan University of Foreign Studies

Busan University of Foreign Studies

More campus

Residential area in Busan! Taken while walking around. :)

More walking around Busan. We got lost in the residential area and had to take a shortcut out.

Hiking through the woods behind campus

The trail behind campus :) 

So as you can see we have been nonstop exploring, and hiking in the cold weather. It might not look too cold from the pictures, but trust me. Compared to California, it's freezing- like the east coast. I'm so thankful that I brought my puffy parka, and hiking boots. :) I still feel like I'm in a dream to be honest. I'm not even trying to say that in a metaphorical sense. I mean... is this seriously real life? I feel dazed. My life just kinda turned upside down in a matter of days. I still have absolutely no idea what new experiences are in store for me the next couple of weeks, but I'm going to greet my future with an open mind.