During the first long break, I had in Korea, a Korean holiday called Chuseok. This holiday is similar to thanksgiving in America where you return home to see your family after harvest. We flew to the island as a group of five during a typhoon. It was quite scary but we were only in the air for 40 minutes. We arrived on the island late at night and one of my suitemates' friends picked us up and gave us a tour of the island. He was able to help us find a place to stay and take us to many destinations that we wanted to see.
All five of us stayed in one hotel suite and our beautiful Jeju destination was not without hurdles. Jeju is a fairly tropical island and is sometimes called the Maui of South Korea. There is a large volcano in the center and two main cities on opposite sides of the island. We stayed towards the center of the island and had very little access to anything. There were no stores, no restaurants, and only one bus stop within a 30-minute walk. Many days we were hungry and left alone at the hotel because of the complete lack of access to anything. I wished very much that we could have stayed in the city so we could at least get some food during the long days we spent locked up in the hotel room.
During our first few days, we were hiking, saw the green tea fields, and looked at the beaches of Jeju. The black sand was beautiful and after the typhoon the ocean was wild. We had some amazing foods that our friend recommended. After the first few days, it was the actual chuseok holiday and we were unable to go out and do many things because of the large holiday. Being stuck in the hotel made us all a bit grumpy and frustrated. Then our hotel's water just stopped working, every evening it would stop working and not start again until the mid-morning if at all. We had dishes piled up and anger about not being able to shower when we wanted to. The stress of five people living and finding something we all wanted to do was stretching us a little thin.
We saw a few waterfalls, went to a market, and saw the largest lava tube in the world! I really enjoyed all of the sights in Jeju and even just driving around the island was beautiful. We never ate inside of a restaurant and only got things to go and quickly. The fact that we went on this trip and had control over almost nothing we did was hard for me. I was frustrated almost every day because everything was a mess in the hotel and we had limited days on the island but about 50% of each day we spent was inside of the hotel. I had a long list of places I really wanted to see before I went back to Seoul. I felt like all of the planning was never used and some were disappointed. If we had worked as a group or known each other's planning/trip personalities better then I think that the stress level would have been better. Since we did not, I have many fond memories of the trip to Jeju but also many frustrated and regrets about the trip. I am sad to say that I regret my first trip outside of Seoul. Especially because it was far away and the ideal month to visit. I think I will have to return to the island someday to be able to accomplish all that I wanted to do. I am also greatly saddened because my friendships with the girls have become strained. After our 9-day trip together and no longer being roommates we stopped hanging out every day and then it turned into every week. My feelings are quite bittersweet. I know that we all bonded so well and had many many amazing moments but now I am not sure our personalities are exactly matching. I personally have a hard time putting myself out there and making friends and this was quite heartbreaking for me. Having a strong friendship slowly dissolves into nothing. As much as I want to return to the good bond we had before we all have moved on to different groups after a month.
I think I should end this post on a good note. One of the best days spent in Jeju is when we went to Odo. This small island off of the east coast of Jeju is the top of the volcano that blew off during an eruption and is a perfect destination for a day. We arrived off of a 15 min ferry and rode bikes on a path that completely surrounded the island. The views were absolutely stunning and It was my first time ever riding an electric bike (even though mine was broken we traded off so I could feel the ease of the EBike). There was a black sand beach, rainbow burgers, and peanut ice cream. It was super hot this day too and we were sweating so bad when we got ice cream the worker gave us a free cup of mandarin orange flavor too! We swam at a beach and jumped through the waves for an hour or more and it was strange because no one in Korea wears swimsuits but actually swims in shirts and shorts and even masks! We wore our swimsuits and put a shirt on over them and got completely soaked with our masks in the ocean. I will remember the laughs and shared embarrassment we all had together on the first trip outside of Seoul.
