Written by James Rafanan, Jr. So, regarding my first day arriving in Korea, although there were some small issues, it ended on a nice note, thankfully. The next day, I woke up eager to make today count as my first full day in Korea. I went downstairs with my roommate, whom I got acquainted with the night before, in preparation to finish our dormitory check-in process at 9 am. However, we went down a bit early to eat some breakfast at the cafeteria first. This was our first meal at the Blue Mir Hall cafeteria, and I was oddly excited about this. This cafeteria was located directly inside of the dormitory, and literally ten feet away from the entrance to the male dorms in building 308 so it was even more convenient. Greeting us at the entrance of the cafeteria was a giant touchscreen that was used for the meal ticket purchases. We were a bit confused at first, but then a GLAM came over to help us. A GLAM, short for GLobal AMbassador, was one of the many designated local Korean students who worked for the Office of International Affairs at Chung-Ang University, and we got to meet them through a buddy system. We weren’t officially acquainted with them yet, but my roommate and I were grateful that they were considerate enough to notice that we needed some help. There are two main options for the meals at the Blue Mir Hall cafeteria: Korean (standard) and International (premium). The “Korean” option was standard Korean cafeteria fare, while the “International” menu supposedly offered options that strayed from the traditional Korean meals, such as pork or chicken cutlet, udon, and even spaghetti (both white cream and marinara sauce options!) However, a third option also exists for students that are craving something reliable. The third option was known as the “Snack Bar” and this was a fixed menu comprising of standard Korean street food delicacies. There were two types of 라면 ‘ramyeon’ (Korean-style somewhat spicy ramen noodle soup), 치즈 라면 (cheese ramyeon) and 만두 라면 (ramyeon with soft dumplings). Bonus tip, if you wanted a spicier kick to your ramyeon, you could ask the cook! So, if you prefer a hotter option, just politely ask the lady, “조금 더 맵게 해 주세요!” (Please make it a bit spicier) There are two other options if you didn’t want noodles. One was 오뎅 ‘odeng’, a hot broth dish flavored with seafood and vegetables paired with 어묵 ‘eomook’, soft, chewy fish cake served on a kabob stick. Both have Japanese origins but are really popular in both Japan and Korea. Easily my favorite option out of the Snack Bar choices though was 떡볶이 (Korean spicy fried rice cakes or tteokbokki in Korean) and 순대 (blood sausage or sundae in Korean). And before you ask, sundae is pronounced soon-dae, not like how you would pronounce the ice cream dessert drizzled with chocolate sauce. Totally different things. Before you dash off to the toilet to go throw up at the mentioning of blood sausage, don’t judge a book by its cover! Truth be told, I’m guilty for judging sundae, and I almost wretched at the look of its deep maroon, almost black color, with cellophane noodles (called 당면 or dangmyeon in Korean) that suspiciously resembled tiny worms. Okay, this isn’t helping my cause. Although I got sick of its taste sometimes, sundae was actually quite tasty, especially because it was paired with tteokbokki. Because sundae came with a salt mixture as a “dipping sauce”, the saltiness accentuated the fulfillingly spicy and rich flavor of the rice cake. All of the options came with your basic broth side dish and an unlimited supply of rice and daikon. Well, technically the rice was limited to how much they cooked, but you could continue to refill your sides. You could even sprinkle some nori on your rice or add gochujang (sweet and spicy sauce made from chili peppers) for maximal seasoning. To enrich our Korean student lifestyle experience, we opted for the Korean meal. I ended up paying for both of our meals, but it’s all good because my roommate brought some necessities for our room such as toilet paper! We stood in line cafeteria-style and took dishes as we progressed. Metal utensils, including chopsticks, forks, and knives, were located right near the trays. The side dishes (반찬/banchan) in the meal I got included kimchi radish, some sort of other radish dish in a sweeter brown sauce, green salad, a boiled egg also drenched in a nice sweet shoyu-based sauce, white rice and a toned-down kimchi stew of sorts. It was milder than usual. However, for $2.50, this was a good deal. It was tasty, filling, and easy on the wallet. The meal was around $2.50 and looks like this: After finishing our food, we exited the cafeteria and saw a table nearby for the male dormitory check-ins. This is where we finished our check-in process. We signed some release forms, filled out a dormitory evaluation sheet for certain provided items in the room such as a phone, internet router, toilet brush/plunger, etc., got a free bed sheet (came in handy since I didn’t bring one), and met some of the dormitory student staff. Funny story, when my roommate and I went back downstairs after examining our dorm items, I gave the floor manager student the paper and asked him, “Supervisor는 누구야?” (who’s the supervisor?) I regretted it instantly because 1) he was older 2) I SPOKE INFORMALLY TO HIM WITHOUT KNOWING. He pointed to himself and said “나” (me) casually. I apologized but he didn’t mind, he said he’s okay with 반말/banmal (informal speaking). Ugh, gotta keep that in mind now. I’m not used to speaking Korean often, so this served as a good lesson.
Anyway, after this, me and my roommate wanted to do some shopping for necessities, but we met up with two other students (now friends), who happen to have the same name as us (weird coincidence!) and we took an excursion to Yongsan! One of our friends, James, acted as our tour guide and knew the way around a bit. He knew how to take the subway as well which HELPED A GREAT DEAL! So we walked through Heukseok to get to the subway station. We visited the local bookstore and the Woori bank (where we will soon make our Korean bank account) so I could exchange some USD I had for more Won.
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