So I'm in the Seoul airport right now, and they've got free computer use, so I'm using it! It was tough to sleep on the flight last night (and it went from Sept 18-20th, so I'm still half-wondering where my Sept 19th went).
It really takes leaving home to fully appreciate what "home" really means... I thought alot about all my friends and family who I love and am sad not to see for so long, then I was thinking "wait you should have told them all that you love them more often." Gosh guys, what can I say ...I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life!
I heard they treat you well on Korean Air, and found it to be totally true. The staff is super helpful and friendly. Got a blankey, lots of water refills, a wet hot face towel, all with a smile. Got here at 4:30AM today, waited til 6 to stow my bags, then ventured out into a land I didn't even consider researching before.
After leaving the airport, not too many people I encountered spoke English. I felt silly for being so un-prepared, I don't know the first thing about Korean, like even yes and no... but Seoul actually has alot of signs in English, which I was very thankful for, otherwise I could have got lost wandering around with no map all tired. Had a confusing interaction when I bought a bottled water ... oh and the art supplies. Compared to U$D, there are three extra zer0s.
Some notes on my impression of the city (and I only was near a university close to the city hall). I liked how the immediate surrounding areas were utilizing alot of space for farming. It seemed like instead of the American style suburban sprawl, all the people were efficiently contained in minimal space, leaving quite a bit of open land. There were clusters of really tall apartment buildings but the overall scenery in Seoul's outskirts between downtown and Incheon Airport was pretty forrestly green).... anyways theres alot more to say, but i need to go get on the plane to jakarta. bye bye!
