South Korea, Arrival: Incheon - Ansan - Seongnam

     Here I'm writing what I've promised you restizens earlier, days in the life in South Korea. This happened last year when I got my scholarship in The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) which is located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi province. There were two students from my university who actually got picked by the AKS, me and Ayum. Ayum was from Korean Literature Department ("was" because she's graduated and at the moment is working in Samsung Electronics). The grantees of this program mostly majored Korean Literature, only less than 5 students majored other studies (including me). There were 28 grantees from around the world in total. Early warning: this post is gonna be kinda long because I actually had a very long yet exciting day even in the first day I arrived in South Korea. Thank you for staying still~^^

***

Incheon

me at Incheon airport (excuse my bed face)

     After the not-so-long flight from Kuala Lumpur (6 hours), me and Ayum finally touched down in Incheon airport. As you see at the picture above, it was around 8AM. We were sleeping like beggars at the plane since our flight departure was at 2AM ㅠㅜ Once we arrived we were like, "oh so this is one of the best airports in the world... definitely deserves the title!" Everything is so fancy, well-managed, and sophisticated in Incheon (well compared to the airports in my country lol). We were picked up by Jinho (read: Jino) oppa (was a student of Hanseo University). We talked a lot inside the car whilst our car passing thru Incheon bridge. As a Korean, Jinho oppa speaks good English. Maybe that's why he could pass his pilot academy. My Korean ability was not so good that time, so meeting Koreans who speak English was such a relief.

     This might be personal, but there was this sweet moment when Jinho oppa asked, "you wanna listen to any song?" then Ayum answered, "어떤 노래도 괜찮아요 (any song is alright)," since we couldn't think of any song in head due to tiredness. Jinho oppa started to scroll down his playlist and then Seoul Song was played. Omg Jinho oppa got so much sense! Once I stepped my feet onto the Land of Morning Calm, the first song I listened to was a nice song that describes dynamic Seoul very well. Frankly, I'd never listened to that song before, but now every time Seoul Song is heard somewhere my brains abruptly think of that sweet moment.

it was raining in the infamous Incheon Bridge

Ansan

     Jinho oppa lives in chilly Ansan. A little trivia about this city, it lies south of Seoul, not so far from Incheon. But since our university is in Seongnam, it's nearer if we go from Incheon to Seongnam thru Ansan.

Incheon - Ansan - Seoul - Seongnam all in one map

      Jinho oppa is Ayum's friend who was an exchanged student in our university. He is now a pilot of Asiana Airlines. He was sooo nice, spent his time to pick us up, brought us to his house and meeting his parents, bought us lunch in Ashley, and brought us to watch movies in CGV. Couldn't ask for more ㅜㅠ His kindness was over the top. His family was superb! His mom was sooo pretty!!! This is not a compliment, this is a fact~ xD

     Unfortunately Jinho oppa couldn't accompany us to watch the movie due to his class schedule. He asked his younger brother Jinkyu to "substitute his presence" though! xD So me, Ayum, and Jinkyu headed to a mall in Ansan. Jinkyu also showed us his campus (Hanyang University) in the middle of journey to the mall. Oh btw, Jinkyu is two years younger than me and Ayum, so we banmal-ed* him. Lol.

CGV (and a slight of Jinkyu's face xD)

      We lined up for the ticket but the movie started in 2 hours so we decided to grab some lunch in Ashley. Ashley is a very nice restaurant (one of my favorites!) in South Korea. Its franchises are spread all over South Korea, I guess. If not, then probably only around Gyeonggi province.

Ashley!

     After loaded my belly with delicious food in Ashley, we went back to CGV to watch the movie and spent couple hours there until Jinkyu ringed us saying that he needed to do alba (part-time working) so his relative would pick us up in CGV. We waited in CGV lounge around half hour until a guy with plain white tee and wide smile approached us. This guy was none other than Seungyong oppa, our other angel. He was the one who then drove us all the way to Seongnam.

Ps. in case you restizens are curious on what movie that we watched that time, this is the answer...

The Amazing Spiderman ticket

Pps. it was kinda weird because that was technically the first time of me watching an English-spoken movie with Korean subtitle in a huge screen.

Seongnam

     The stupidest thing we've done when we were in South Korea was we forgot to change our USDs to KRWs because we had no time. Everything was in hurry. We wanted to change it once we arrived in Incheon but that was Saturday so most of money changers were closed. That led us to get treated by everyone and made us feel so bad for them. Even when we arrived in our university, we were so worn out and hungry. It was 9PM when we were planning to borrow some money to Shoghik, a participant from Armenia (whom I got close even before the program started), but I guess Seungyong oppa saw the hungry faces and pitied us (what a shame ㅜㅜ) so he offered us to grab dinner with him.

ddalkkalbi for the first dinner

    We had tasty dalkkalbi near our university and nice chitchat time. I learned that Seungyong oppa is a very shy yet sweet guy. He talked a little but smiled a lot! xD We headed back to the dorm and handed some gifts for Seungyong oppa before he drove back to Ansan. He looked so happy that he couldn't stop thanking us. This guy is so cute~^^

*banmal: casual/informal ways of speaking like you would with a friend or those younger than you

***

     So yeah that was how my first day in South Korea, more or less. I think it was the most intense first day you restizens ever read. Lol. This post only talked about the first day, based on the duration I've spent my life in South Korea, means I still have gazilion stories to write. Please anticipate it a lot!^^*

Jin (진) - Gone (너만 없다) Lyric 가사 [Hangeul/Romanji/English Translation]

Since I put effort to translate this lyric, please credit me if you want to put this lyric translation everywhere and don't hesitate to correct me if you think there's an error with this lyric. That'd mean the world to me :-) Thank you! xx

Jin
(soooo pretty omg! *0*)

Hangeul

기억이 머물다간 그 자리에
손 끝에 남아있는 온기에도
니가 있다 있다
너의 향기
너의 얼굴

제발 날 봐 날 봐봐 날 봐봐
나 이렇게 널 느껴 널 느껴 널 느껴
애써 잡은 말투

애써 잡은 미소
애써 잡은 넌데

우리 함께 있던 그 공간에
내가 널 닮아가던 그 순간에
빗속을 그냥 걸어도 너무 좋았던 니가 없다 니가 없다
어떻게 나 혼자서 널 지우고 살아

함께 걸어가던 그 시간에
그렇게 만들어가던 추억까지도 미련까지도
머문 자리에 난 서 있다
너무 그리워

날 봐봐 날 봐봐 날 봐봐
나 아직도 널 느껴 널 느껴 널 느껴
겨우 닮은 말투
겨우 닮은 미소
겨우 닮은 넌데

우리 함께 있던 그 공간에
내가 널 닮아가던 그 순간에
빗속을 그냥 걸어도 너무 좋았던 니가 없다 니가 없다
어떻게 나 혼자서 널 지우고 살아
너무 그리워

겨우 허락된 너의 이름 지울 수 없어
너만이 부른 나의 이름이 여기 잠자고 있어

우리 함께 있던 그 공간에

함께 걸었어야 할 시간에
나 혼자 붙잡고 있어 우리 미래도
나의 바램도 멈춘 자리에
나 서있고 너만 없다


Romanji

gieogi meomuldagan geu jarie
son kkeute namainneun ongiedo
niga itda itda
neoui hyanggi
neoui eolgul

jebal nal bwa nal bwabwa nal bwabwa
na ireohke neol neukkyeo neol neukkyeo neol neukkyeo
aesseo jabeun maltu
aesseo jabeun miso
aesseo jabeun neonde

uri hamkke itdeon geu gonggane
naega neol dalmagadeon geu sungane
bissogeul geunyang georeodo neomu johatdeon niga eobda niga eobda
eotteoke na honjaseo neol jiugo sara

hamkke georeogadeon geu sigane
geureoke mandeureogadeon chueokkkajido miryeonkkajido
meomun jarie nan seo itda
neomu geuriwo

nal bwabwa nal bwabwa nal bwabwa
na ajikdo neol neukkyeo neukkyeo neol neukkyeo
gyeou dalmeun maltu
gyeou dalmeun miso
gyeou dalmeun neonde

uri hamkke itdeon geu gonggane
naega neol dalmagadeon geu sungane
bissogeul geunyang georeodo neomu johatdeon niga eobda niga eobda
eotteoke na honjaseo neol jiugo sara
neomu geuriwo

gyeou heorakdoin neoui ireum jiul su eobso
neomani bureun naui ireumi yeogi jamjago isseo

uri hamkke itdeon geu gonggane

hamkke georeogaya hal geu sigane

na honja butjabgo isseo uri miraedo 

naui baraemdo meomchun jarie
na seoitgo neoman eobda

English

Memory stays in that place
And the warmth that remains at the tip of the hands
There's you, there
Your scent
Your face

Please look at me, look at me, look at me

Like this I feel you, feel you, feel you
Your tone that's hard to catch
Your smile that's hard to catch
You that's hard to catch

In that place where we were there
At that time when I came to resemble you
You who just really liked to walk in the rain is not here, is not here
How do I live alone while erasing you

That time when we walked together
Like that we went to make memories and feelings
I'm staying at that place, standing
I really miss you

Look at me, look at me, look at me
I still feel you, feel you, feel you
Your tone that barely resembles
Your smile that barely resembles
You who barely resemble

In that place when we were together
At that time when I came to resemble you
You who just really liked to walk in the rain is not here, is not here
How do I live alone while erasing you
I really miss you

I can't erase your name that I barely allowed to say
My name that only you call, is sleeping here

In that place when we were together

That time when we had to walk together
I'm alone holding our future
My hope also stops at its place
I'm standing here, only you're not.

Korean lyric: melOn

Hangeul & English translation: Resty Armenia

TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDIT

DO NOT REPOST