I made it to KOREA!

Finally!!!

I'm here in Incheon, South Korea in my apartment!

I didn't even have time to create a blog post about how I was leaving for Korea because it happened so fast at the end! Since I was told by the Korean consulate that my visa would take 5 days, I wasn't expecting to get my visa until Thursday, meaning I would then fly out Friday morning. Despite what they told me, I still checked my tracking number (or what I thought was my tracking number) on the Fed Ex website a couple times a day, but nothing ever showed up.

Then Wednesday morning I was sleeping and I hear a knock on the door. I had a feeling it had to be Fed Ex! Who else knocks on the door at 9 AM? I had a feeling it had to be my visa and I was right! My mom yells up, "Lauren it's here!" I woke right up, despite the fact that I slept about 4 hours (I stayed up talking to my friend in Korea all night). It was so exciting--I could now book my flight to Korea. I debated back and forth for awhile if I should leave Thursday, a day earlier than planned, or stick with leaving Friday, even though my visa came early.  OH and by the way, what I thought was the Fed Ex tracking number definitely wasn't, so that's why I didn't know my visa was coming!

My thoughts:

Why I would leave Thursday: Get to Korea a day earlier. It would be nicer for my friend to pick me up because she doesn't work Friday. I could work on my room all day Saturday while my friend is at work. I can fly American Airlines and Korean Air, nicer flights that the Friday option. I get to fly out of Dallas instead of Chicago, which probably means better weather. I wouldn't have to wait in the Incheon airport until my friend gets off work, which would happen if I arrived on Saturday.

Why I wouldn't leave Thursday: I still have a lot to do! Lots of packing and cleaning. I told my friends I would be at Access and I'd like to see them again before I leave.

In the end I decided to leave Thursday!! So then I had to rush around more to get ready to leave the next day. I was able to see a few friends before I left: I met a friend for lunch and some friends came over to my house Wednesday night to see me as I was packing, which was so nice! My parents and I went out to dinner at a nice Italian place Mangia on rangeline. I stayed up until 1 AM packing and I was tired, so I went to sleep.

I woke up at 4:30 AM to shower and finished last minute packing. My parents and I left the house for the airport around 5:30 AM. Once we got to the airport I was anxious about the weight of my bags. Your bags can weigh up to 50 lbs. I had tried weighing my bags the night before on a scale. Two of my bags were extremely close to 50 lbs, one most likely being over 50 lbs. I stuffed my bags as much as I could! I packed 3 bags to check and 2 carry on bags. Luckily, when we go to the American Airlines desk no one else was in line! So we got to go right up and weigh my bags. The first bag was exactly 50 lbs, whew! The second bag was 54 lbs, oh no! Mom and I removed items and stuffed them in one of my carry on bags and the other checked bag. We eventually got the weight down to 50 lbs. The third bag was around 40 lbs--it was a cardboard box that we got from UPS--since we stuffed it with more items from the second bag we had to tape it closed! My dad did a thorough taping job. Now all my checked bags were ready!

I got my ticket and we saw that I still had 50 minutes until boarding.  So we went to McDonalds where I was able to eat a nice breakfast before going through security. I got a picture with my mom and dad and then it was time to say goodbye. Tears were in all of our eyes! After we hugged and said goodbye it took a lot of control to keep from bursting out crying as I went through security. I'm going to miss them so much. Thank God for technology to keep us in touch and see each other on Skype!

Going through security wasn't much of an issue, I just had to take off my big boots and take my laptop out. I had to stand in this cylinder thingy with my hands up while I assume it searched me. Then I was able to sit at my gate for about 20 minutes and Skype with my friend in Korea, as well as email my itinerary to her and my parents. Then I boarded the plane for Dallas! I was the last one to get in line and it was probably a good thing because when I was about to board they told me my carry on suitcase was too big! Oh no! I didn't have any room in my backpack so I didn't know what to do. Luckily, she said I could check the bag for free! This actually ended up being really nice because now I only had to worry about carrying around my backpack!

The flight for Dallas left right on time: 7:45 AM. I was sitting in between two people which wasn't bad for a 2 hour flight. I read for awhile until we were served drinks. After I had a drink, I closed my eyes and rested. We landed in Dallas early, I think it was around 9 AM. My next flight left at 10:50 AM from Terminal D. I landed in Terminal C. At first I was totally confused about where to go after I landed. I walked around and realized I was in Terminal C and to get to other Terminals I had to take the SkyLink, an air train. Once on the SkyLink I saw that to get to Terminal D I had to stay in the SkyLink all the way around. But then I noticed that there were two Terminal D exits with different numbers. I had no idea what number I was supposed to go to. I got out on the first Terminal D exit and of course it was the wrong one. I found a map on the wall and found the correct number for Korean Air. I got back on the air train and got off at the next exit. On the map it gave a range of numbers for Korean Air, so I still had to find the one for my flight...and once again I go the wrong way. I go left when I should have gone right :) I'm not finding my flight so I finally go up to another flight desk and ask. As soon as I'm directed to D14 I hear my name over the loud speaker in a Korean accent: "Wright Lauren Michelle please report to D14". I'm on my way! I finally get up to the desk at 9:50 AM and receive my ticket. I have 20 minutes until they begin boarding. I cut it close for sure! But I had time to go to a pretzel stand and get a pepperoni pizza pretzel (my friend told me there is a shortage of pepperoni in Korea!).

At about 10:20 AM I board my flight to Korea. My friend told me that Korean Air is a nice airline and I believed her as soon as I got on the plane. The plane crew were nice and dressed very nicely! The girls wore skirts, heels, teal silk button up tops, with their hair in buns with big ribbons. Their make-up was silver and shiny. They looked great! I was also happy to see that I had an aisle seat. I like having an aisle seat, especially on a flight that is this long, so I can stretch out my legs into the aisle and get up whenever I want without disturbing others. On my seat were a blanket, pillow, slippers, and a water COOL! I sat next to a Korean mother and daughter. They didn't really speak English but were sweet to me throughout the flight...such as consistently helping me get my tray up, haha.

Unfortunately, our flight did not leave on time. I was waiting in my seat as 10:50, our time of take-off, came and went. An announcement came over the speakers...first in Korean and then in English...that we were having technical difficulties and would have to go back to the hanger. The estimated time of maintenance was 40 minutes. The staff came around with drinks and peanuts as this time, which was nice. I was anxious to get going! This was making an already long flight even longer! I was able to text my parents and have them email my friend to let her know I'd be late. We finally left around ONE! Thus, our flight was delayed about 2 hours. I was glad to finally be in the air.

The flight was sooo long! I think the flight went as well as I could have though! Everyone had their own tv screen on the seat in front of them. On the TVs were movies, tv episodes, and music. I was able to stay entertained! I watched 3 movies and listened to a lot of music as I rested. The food was good Korean food. I had Bibimbop the first time and pork the second time. We were given fruit and dessert too! mmm. One snack we received was this incredible warm bun with stuff inside. At one point we were given hot towels, which felt nice to put on my face. I stretched my legs often, I honestly was quite uncomfortable and it was difficult to sleep. The time just seemed to go on forever and I thought are we ever going to get there! But we finally hear the announcement that we would arrive in Incheon in 40 minutes!

Pizza pretzel before I leave Dallas! 

On the SkyLink

View from the SkyLink

View in the SkyLink. Waiting for my Terminal. 

On Korean Air. This is the device on which I watched movies and listened to music.  

I was given a purple blanket, slippers, water bottle that you can see here. 

The remote comes out! 

My heart started beating so fast. I was 40 minutes away from Korea. I would be seeing my friend soon who I haven't seen since May. Just hard to believe it was finally happening. I got my boots back on, which of course I took off, and got everything together. We all got off the plane and went through immigration.  THe airport was nice and quiet. We were the only flight of people around. I got right up to the immigration desk. I gave the woman working my passport and some card that I filled out on the plane. Then I went to baggage. I had four bags to find! I got a cart and waited. Two of my bags were the first to come out! I got up laptop out while waiting for the others, hoping to text my friend that I arrived. I had trouble with the internet though and my other two bags came quickly.

Then I went through customs and gave them another paper that I filled out on the plane. Then I was free! I came out the doors and saw people waiting and there was Beth! Ahhh! So good to see her! We had fun trying to get my luggage around, I did have a lot...I got some currency exchanged and then we had an adventure trying to find the subway. Beth had gotten me a transportation card with some money on it, so I was good to go through to the subway. We had to take plenty of elevators with all my stuff! We got on the subway and had a nice little ride. We got off at one point and took a taxi to our apartments because its cheaper and we can get right to our apartment. Our taxi driver was crazy! He drove fast and ran two red lights. Beth said they aren't usually like that. One interesting thing in the taxi...there was a TV in the front! So the driver can watch TV! How is that allowed? haha.

We got up to my room, I'm on the eighth floor and she is on the ninth. She showed me around my room and explained different things. I have plenty of space! I will be organizing and post some pictures later :)

I needed bedding to sleep last night so first thing we went to get me a comforter and blanket. There is basically a mall right across the street! It's awesome! It's all one store...but I'd call it a mall. Pretty much anything I'll need I can get there. One floor is a grocery store. We went up to the third floor and looked at bedding. I got a comforter and blanket for a good price! We dropped it off at the apartment and then went to get some food! We just walked down our street to find a place. I think the restaurant we ended up going to is called Kimbap Heaven. Kimbap is much like sushi. The restaurant was very narrow and small, I'd say about 8 tables. The menu was all in Korean. I could read Kimbap and that was about it :) Beth ordered for us. She got me some kimbap and dumplings. I couldn't eat it all! Water we went and got ourselves from what looked like a water cooler in the wall. Korean drama was on a TV, which is typical. Then I felt tired, so we went back to the apartment. I set up the bed and then we cuddled and listened to music. Then went to sleep around 12:30.

I woke up at 8AM this morning. I got toast from Beth before she headed off for work. I'm alone for the day while she's at work. I'm going to work on my room and venture out to find food. Should be fun! We are meeting at 7 PM to get dinner and met some of her friends!

So far I haven't had a "culture shock". It really is not much different than a big city in the United States. From what I've seen it is very westernized. The only major difference for me for is words in Korean! I love it so far...I love being in a city and close to everything! I love my room, except it is super cold.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! I am safe and happy!

Sorry no pictures! I haven't unpacked camera yet!