ASI400 Blog - Unlucky on Friday the 13th

To begin, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm a fourth year student in Asia Pacific studies, and am participating in the ASI400 ICM trip to South Korea. The theme of my blog, at least for the duration of the trip, is "first time in Asia," as it is my first time traveling to Asia after studying it for four years. This trip has an extra level of meaning for me as I am a member of an Asia diaspora group (I'm a sansei Japanese Canadian), and I'm at least in the region where my ancestors have come from, again for the first time.

I'm writing this at 9:25 pm Korean time in the lovely Ewha-Samsung International House at Ewha Womans University where we are staying. We arrived safely, and on time, but unfortunately sans our checked bags. All twelve participants, eleven students and one instructor, are without clothes, towels, toiletries, and whatever else they packed. Our bags are either in Beijing, which was the final destination of our flight from Toronto, or left in Vancouver. Anyway, as a result, our planned trip to the DMZ tomorrow is in limbo, as we may not be able to meet the dress code. At the moment, we are waiting to see if we need to go buy some clothes tonight.

I cannot give much of a visual impression of Seoul, as it was rainy on the way in from the airport. But I would describe Ewha's campus as beautiful, at least at night, and it is literally steps away from a very trendy area. Luckily, there are a number of clothing shops.