Austin's Blog

Hello, the trip is going really well. On the first day we arrived at Incheon Airport. Then we went to our hotel, it's name is the Vabien II. We were staying there for the next three days. Day Two We woke and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The food at the restaurant was very different to New Zealand. There were lot's of different types of meat to choose from. After breakfast we caught the subway to The King's Palace. On the subways you had to be really quick and just get on and not give way to other people. When we arrived at the King's Palace the guards were changing, like they were swapping. Everything was really clean inside and you had to take your shoes off everywhere. The palace was massive and in the middle was the queen's house. There were lot's of other buildings surrounding the main buildings. A fter that we went to the markets. It was really crowded and there were lot's of people trying to sell stuff and get money. Then for dinner we went to Gangnam and had a huge buffet. Day Three Lotte World is an amazing indoor and outdoor theme park. I loved the rollercoaster because it was really fast. The gyro swing went really high, but I liked the roller coaster better. After the gyro swing I was a bit sick and went back to the apartments with Mrs Harvie. Day Four I felt much better today. We went to the war museum and I learnt lots of things I didn't know about the Korean War. Then we travelled down to Cheongju to meet our homestay families. When we got off the bus the Korean students gave us a great welcome. On our first night in our homestay I felt very welcomed. I live in an apartment near the school, it is quite big. My homestay family are good friends with Michael's homestay family. We spend lots of time together. We have had sleepovers and I have been to the movies. I have played table tennis and I have had a turn on nintendo wii. I have had a lot of traditional food and my favourite is the beef. They eat the same food almost every day. The Korean school is very different to ours because it is built in stories, not just on the flat. I have been to extension maths because my homestay is in that class, but I mainly watched. We play soccer in the morning with the sixteen year olds. It is good fun. They take it easy at the start, but then they get harder. In the end the score was two all. We are really popular here and everyone wants to meet us because we are from New Zealand. It feels different here because everywhere you go you are surrounded and trapped. It is not really scary, but you are just really crowded. I am looking forward to the hot pools and Everland on the weekend!