Today is the first day of Orientation.
When we got to our dorm, we were given name tags, shirts, a theromometer to make sure we don't have the swine flu, towels, toothpaste, mugs, converter, snacks, alarm clocks, and books. They all have either the EPIK logo or JJ University logo on them. My temperature today when I took it was 35.8 Celcius. We have to keep track of it everyday, and keep a log of it in our books.
The room is very nice. It is smaller than the dorms at UWEC, but we have our own bathroom. It looks like IKEA designed the room. There is a nice view of the city and mountains. Our closet and storage area take up an entire wall.
Breakfast was served at 7:30 am today, and because I woke up so early, our group got there early and had good seats. The food at breakfast was an odd combination of American and Korean food. Some of the foods were: Kimchi, Cornflakes, Salad with Thousand Island dressing, Cream of Broccoli Soup, Crescent Rolls, Tomato Slices, French Fries, Coffee, sliced pickles, Rice, scrambled eggs, and cooked ham slices. Really bizarre, but since I hadn't eaten for 14 hours, it was delicious!
The campus is close to a 7-11, so some friends and I checked that out before our campus tour. Because there are over 550 of us here, we are broken down into 8 groups that we do our activities with. My group is group 3, and it is a combination of the Gwangju and Incheon teachers.
The teachers seem to be from everywhere! There are people from England, Australia, Toronto, Quebec, FL, NY, MI, MN, WI, IL, CA, and everywhere inbetween. I was suprised at the diversity and various backgrounds of everyone. There seem to be many Korean Americans and Korean Canadians doing EPIK.
Today we had the tour, but because there are more than 50 of us in group 3, it was hard to hear much. I think we saw the place where we are having the opening ceremony and welcoming dinner later on today. The campus is very scenic. Our dorm was completed in March 2009, and it looks even newer. Many buildings look like they are from the space age. The flora is also very nice. Because it is warm and humid here, there is a wide variety of plant life. I'm so glad all the buildings are air conditioned!
Showing posts with label Jeonju University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeonju University. Show all posts
Thursday, August 20, 2009
EPIK Orientation
I made it!
For my 14 hour flight, I was seated between two other girls doing the EPIK program. Their names were Dinah and Brandy. We talked the majority of the way, and got along very well. The food was decent. We had two meals, dinner and breakfast. The three of us decided to be brave and have the Korean Bibimbap. It is rice, meat, 4 or 5 different kinds of vegetables, and korean chili paste. It was spicy and delicious! Of course, it was served with kimchi. It wouldn't be a real Korean meal without it! I tried it, and it wasn't really that bad. I know I'll have plenty of other opportunities to have it!
We got to the airport around 4:45 am, and stayed with the two girls. It was really really easy to guess who was doing EPIK, there were about 30 of us on our flight from Chicago. They stuck out like sore thumbs- white, young adults who looked extremely confused! We didn't have any problems getting through customs, but I was suprised when they took our temperature before we even got into the terminal after walking off the plane! Guess I passed! I had no idea how cautious they were about H1N1!
I hung out in the airport near the EPIK desk with about 149 other people until the busses came. Because there were so many of us, I was unable to get on the first bus at 7:30, so my bus came at 9:30. I made some really good friends during that time, and by using the free wireless internet at Incheon, I was able to add most of them as "friends" on Facebook!
The bus was full with 30 people's luggage. Many people packed tons of stuff, and it makes me hope that I packed enough. Some people that had bags that weighed over 85 lbs and had to pay extra; that's twice the amount of weight that I had in my bags! I have no idea what some people brought- the girl I'm rooming with for orientation, Natalie, packed her pillow.
The ride took about 4 hours to get to Jenoju University. We had two stops at reststops, and I wish ours were like them. We got some snacky food. I had "ham toast." It is ham, toast, egg with cabbage, ketchup, and seasoning salt. It may sound strange, but it looked so yummy when it was cooking that I had to try it. For the $1.50 that it cost, it was totally worth it. I washed it down with at $.50 coke.
We got to the university at around 3pm. I kept my two big bags in the storage area in Art Hall because the elevators in our 19 story building are tiny. Nothing like the dorm elevators in Towers at UWEC. The most people you can cram in them is about 7. Natalie from MI and I decided to room together, and we are right next to our other 8 girlfriends from the midwest on the same floor.
We both thought it would be a good idea to take an hour nap, because even though we weren't too tired, we wanted to be rested before going out to dinner. Natalie was going to wake me after an hour, but I woke up about 2 hours later to see that Natalie had fallen asleep while reading. I showered and layed back down, and when I woke again, it was dark. We slept through dinner and the evening, and at 9pm, I decided to just continue sleeping through the rest of the night. Said and done, I slept from about 5pm to 5 am today! But I'm feeling fully rested and refreshed now!
For my 14 hour flight, I was seated between two other girls doing the EPIK program. Their names were Dinah and Brandy. We talked the majority of the way, and got along very well. The food was decent. We had two meals, dinner and breakfast. The three of us decided to be brave and have the Korean Bibimbap. It is rice, meat, 4 or 5 different kinds of vegetables, and korean chili paste. It was spicy and delicious! Of course, it was served with kimchi. It wouldn't be a real Korean meal without it! I tried it, and it wasn't really that bad. I know I'll have plenty of other opportunities to have it!
We got to the airport around 4:45 am, and stayed with the two girls. It was really really easy to guess who was doing EPIK, there were about 30 of us on our flight from Chicago. They stuck out like sore thumbs- white, young adults who looked extremely confused! We didn't have any problems getting through customs, but I was suprised when they took our temperature before we even got into the terminal after walking off the plane! Guess I passed! I had no idea how cautious they were about H1N1!
I hung out in the airport near the EPIK desk with about 149 other people until the busses came. Because there were so many of us, I was unable to get on the first bus at 7:30, so my bus came at 9:30. I made some really good friends during that time, and by using the free wireless internet at Incheon, I was able to add most of them as "friends" on Facebook!
The bus was full with 30 people's luggage. Many people packed tons of stuff, and it makes me hope that I packed enough. Some people that had bags that weighed over 85 lbs and had to pay extra; that's twice the amount of weight that I had in my bags! I have no idea what some people brought- the girl I'm rooming with for orientation, Natalie, packed her pillow.
The ride took about 4 hours to get to Jenoju University. We had two stops at reststops, and I wish ours were like them. We got some snacky food. I had "ham toast." It is ham, toast, egg with cabbage, ketchup, and seasoning salt. It may sound strange, but it looked so yummy when it was cooking that I had to try it. For the $1.50 that it cost, it was totally worth it. I washed it down with at $.50 coke.
We got to the university at around 3pm. I kept my two big bags in the storage area in Art Hall because the elevators in our 19 story building are tiny. Nothing like the dorm elevators in Towers at UWEC. The most people you can cram in them is about 7. Natalie from MI and I decided to room together, and we are right next to our other 8 girlfriends from the midwest on the same floor.
We both thought it would be a good idea to take an hour nap, because even though we weren't too tired, we wanted to be rested before going out to dinner. Natalie was going to wake me after an hour, but I woke up about 2 hours later to see that Natalie had fallen asleep while reading. I showered and layed back down, and when I woke again, it was dark. We slept through dinner and the evening, and at 9pm, I decided to just continue sleeping through the rest of the night. Said and done, I slept from about 5pm to 5 am today! But I'm feeling fully rested and refreshed now!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Jeonju University
Above is a picture of the campus. I found it on their website. The university's tag line is "The Place for Superstars: Substantiation and Specialization of Education bringing up Students of Excellence with God's visions." I haven't been able to find out how large the university is, or if it is affiliated with Christian schools, but that would be something interesting to learn about when I arrive.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
One Week Out
Well, here I am, just one week short of leaving. I have secured my E-2 visa, as well as my flight for the way over. I didn't have any problems getting the visa, and they were able to process it within a few days. Of course, I checked the mail every day until it arrived.
I got my plane ticket from Priceline. I was orignially going to fly out of Minneapolis, until I found that I could spend the same amount of money, but save about 10 hours by flying out of Chicago O'Hare. I'll be flying on Asiana Airlines. I leave at 1 am central, and arrive at 5am at Incheon International. It is a 14 hour direct flight, and I will be crosssing 14 time zones.
When I arrive at the airport, I'll meet my EPIK guide. They have 20 different busses to pick up the 500+ EPIK participants leaving the airport at different times during the day. The first bus leaves at 7:30 am, and that will take me to our orientation site, Jeonju University.
Jeonju University (http://www.jj.ac.kr/) is located in Jeonjusi, Jeollabukdo in the Southern portion of the country. We will be there from August 19-28th. We'll have dinners with everyone, a variety of classes and guest speakers, and movie nights. I'll also be able to see a traditional Korean village on a field trip. From there, we will go to our respective providences, and start at the schools August 31. I'll find out during orientation at what school and grades I'll be teaching.
Packing is almost done. I've got two large suitcases and one carryon. It has been difficult packing because I need to pack for 4 different seasons. I thought I had it pretty well organized, until I read that EPIK recommends packing one suitcase with what I will need for orientation because there may or may not be enough room at the university for two large bags. There is a separate storage area for excess baggage.
The only paperwork I am still waiting on is my residency certificate. This is needed so I do not have to pay the Korean income tax. After some confusion, I finally found what I needed at the IRS website. I'll need to have my parents mail it to me as soon as it arrives because I need it by September 25th, when I receive my first paycheck.
At this point, the only thing I have left to do is say my goodbyes, which I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to Skype with close friends and family to keep in touch. :) Pray for my safe travels next week!
I got my plane ticket from Priceline. I was orignially going to fly out of Minneapolis, until I found that I could spend the same amount of money, but save about 10 hours by flying out of Chicago O'Hare. I'll be flying on Asiana Airlines. I leave at 1 am central, and arrive at 5am at Incheon International. It is a 14 hour direct flight, and I will be crosssing 14 time zones.
When I arrive at the airport, I'll meet my EPIK guide. They have 20 different busses to pick up the 500+ EPIK participants leaving the airport at different times during the day. The first bus leaves at 7:30 am, and that will take me to our orientation site, Jeonju University.
Jeonju University (http://www.jj.ac.kr/) is located in Jeonjusi, Jeollabukdo in the Southern portion of the country. We will be there from August 19-28th. We'll have dinners with everyone, a variety of classes and guest speakers, and movie nights. I'll also be able to see a traditional Korean village on a field trip. From there, we will go to our respective providences, and start at the schools August 31. I'll find out during orientation at what school and grades I'll be teaching.
Packing is almost done. I've got two large suitcases and one carryon. It has been difficult packing because I need to pack for 4 different seasons. I thought I had it pretty well organized, until I read that EPIK recommends packing one suitcase with what I will need for orientation because there may or may not be enough room at the university for two large bags. There is a separate storage area for excess baggage.
The only paperwork I am still waiting on is my residency certificate. This is needed so I do not have to pay the Korean income tax. After some confusion, I finally found what I needed at the IRS website. I'll need to have my parents mail it to me as soon as it arrives because I need it by September 25th, when I receive my first paycheck.
At this point, the only thing I have left to do is say my goodbyes, which I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to Skype with close friends and family to keep in touch. :) Pray for my safe travels next week!
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