So at the moment I’m typing this, I’m on my 4th day of the EPIK orientation and my full 5th day in South Korea. I can honestly say that so far my experience here is great and I still cannot believe I’m here doing this. The last couple of days have been tiring. Jet lag. Lectures. Classes. Meeting new people. Going out for chimek. Working on lesson plans. It’s exhausting yet fulfilling.

I left Seattle on Sunday, flying out around 10:30 in the morning. My mom and cousin dropped me off and I spent the next couple of hours messaging my friends, talking to my sister and trying to read a little bit of my book. On the plane I mostly tried to sleep since I had been up since about 12:30 in the morning. It was a very uneventful plane ride.

At the Incheon International Airport, everything from the Immigration line to picking up my luggage was smooth. I only wished I had organized my paperwork better so that I was shuffling though sheets looking for what I needed. After getting my bags I made it to the main area of Terminal 2 at airport to do some little tasks needed before I went to my hotel.

Now I know you probably can get a better rate at one of the money exchange offices in Seoul, but as I had no plans of making it out of my hotel room, I choose to do so at the airport. I brought enough money to exchange t to a little over 1.0 milllion Won (About $1,000). Then I walked all away down to the other side of the terminal to where I needed to pick up my SIM card.

For those of you who are planning to do EPIK or even just visiting Korea, I highly recommend you pre-order a SIM card (Especially if you have an unlocked phone). I got mine from Klooky but several of my fellow EPIK teachers used Transy. Either way, it’s a good idea to get one so you don’t have to worry trying to find a free WiFi link. They also have the option of a personal WiFi egg, but you do have to return it back to the kiosk once you contract is over.

My hotel that my recruiter booked for me (with a roommate) was nice. It wasn’t grand, but it was nice and clean. It took a bit to figure out how to flush the toilet. I meant to take some photos but I think all I took was a Instavideo. Which if you aren’t following me, please do! I try to post some pictures during my week as long as I am not too busy. My handle is theregoesjane.

Great thing about my roommate, turns out that we are placed in the same province! So starting this journey I’ve already made one friend that I can go and see when I need to see an old face! We had dinner with the other peeps that our recruiter worked with and then bunked down for the night. The next morning, K (my roommate) and I went out search for food. We ended up at this small cafe and got Korean-style toast and coffee. Just what we needed to start a snowy day in Incheon.

Afterwards was a hectic and busy day of getting our luggage repacked and on the bus back to the airport. There we stood in packs waiting for our numbers to be called. We were then checked-in by the EPIK staff and sent on another bus to the university in Chungju where we are spending the next week training and learning as much as we can before being shipped off to our school.

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So this was started nearly a month ago, and since then so many things have happened. So instead of continuing on this post like nothing happened, I’m just going to upload it with the information I wrote already and start a new post. See you in the next one!