2007 NIIED Scholar Fellow Year End Party (2nd day)

Let's continue the story!

So, we woke up in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel. While waiting for the bus to come, suddenly Eranga called me and said, "Snoooww! snoow is falling!!". Spontaneously, all of us went to the outside of the hotel to see and feel the snow. Ohh,, I even couldn't explain my feeling when I saw the snow falling from the sky for the first time. Speechless. Right, It was reaaaaaaalllllyy beautiful and sooo soft. Yes, snow is really soft. We really didn't expect that we could see snow directly and touch it.

After taking some pictures with the snow, finally we started our Seoul trip. 

First destination was Namsan Tower or so called Seoul Tower (360 meters). (That was my second time to Namsan Tower). Standing at the top of Mt. Namsan in the heart of Seoul, N Seoul Tower provides the city's highest viewpoint. It was Korea's first integrated communication tower, transmitting TV and FM radio signals for the metropolitan area since it was constructed in 1969. Nearly 48% of the people in Korea benefit from its antenna for various local and nationwide FM and TV broadcasting stations such as KBS, SBS, and MBC. Since opened to the public in 1980 as a hybrid recreational/cultural complex, the Tower has become the symbol of Seoul and has played a role as the city's most recognizable landmark and popular tourist attraction. I was amazed by the design of the restroom in Namsan Tower. 

Second destination was Namdaemun Shijang (Market). It was not my first time to this market. Namdaemun Shijang is the biggest traditional market in South Korea. You can find everything there in a cheap price for sure, from clothes, foods, Korean souvenirs, Hanbok, blankets, until product of TheFaceShop. The unique things are... the seller there are multi languages! They can speak many languages; English, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and so on. 

Time to have lunch! We went to Itaewon area to have lunch, we ate samgyetang. Samgyetang is a variety of Korean traditional soup which contains a whole young chicken and Korean ginseng. one of my favorite. :)

Third Destination was Changdeokgung or Chang Deok Palace (Palace of Prospering Virtue), one of the Five Grand Palaces built by the kings of Joseon Dynasty and because of its location east of Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeokgung is also referred to as the East Palace. 

Fourth destination also the last destination was the national museum of Korea. (We were to tired that we couldn't go to other places designated to go by our teacher). It is the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea and is the cultural organization that represents Korea. It is located in Yongsan Family Park in Seoul. 

That's my NIIED scholar fellow year end party and Seoul Trip and this is not the end. Keep on following my blog to read more stories! *^^* Thank You..

2007 NIIED Scholar Fellow Year End Party (1st day)

Winter 2007...

I went to Seoul with other KGSS from KNU on December 17 to attend NIIED Scholar Fellow Year End Party (it was my frist) and have a Seoul Trip. That day was Muugii's birthday so we had already prepared a set of present for her, a muffler and a winter hat. We departed from KNU's main building at around 9 am. In the bus, we sang a happy birthday song for Muugii and gave the present to her. 

We stop at the rest area after 2 hours to have lunch there. 

In the way going to Seoul, I saw many mountains covered by snow. That was my first time to see snow directly. I keep on saying woowww, beautiful!! and that's not only me but also my friend, because most of us come from South East Asia countries which only have two seasons.

We couldn't stop talking  and laughing inside the bus. We're too excited! haha. Finally, the mc family (the way we call batch 2007. Mc is abbreviation of michin which means crazy, so mc family means crazy family.) decided to practice our singing. We would perform at the party, singing two songs: Wonderful Journey (OST of Anastasia) and Areumdaun Sesang (아름다운 세상 - Beautiful World). Here is our practice recording that was recorded some days before our performance day.

Arriving at NIIED, we became nervous but still pretended to be cool. Haha. The announcement of best students was announced. The best students from our university were Nadee and Hsu. After that, we had dinner and continued the party with the performances of students from many countries including us. :D and you know what? We did our best and we got the second prize.  :D

I think I was really really lucky that day because I got a door prize! I got a samsung digital camera. So Speechless.. just watch the video :D

Finally, time to go to the hotel. Our teacher had already booked the rooms for us in Seoul Education Culture Center Hotel.

Before sleeping, we celebrated Muugii's birthday at a karaoke place near the hotel.