AH, and I can't forget to give a special shout out to the LAX gang...Thiney, Wilf, Pitties, Kevie, Atte, Mike, Clinty, Timmy Toot, Meliss, etc for the Birthday Lovin. I loved the cards and package(s)...especially the jewelry box with everyones random, freefallin' HAIRS! Much love.

Hey EVERYONE. hope you enjoy the pics. This might be my last update for awhile...as i have shown throughout the semester, i am not the best at updating. i cant beleive i only have about 3 weeks left here. my time here has been amazing, it would be impossible to accurately sum up in words. once the semester ends, i will take a lil tour of asia...singapore, malaysia, thailand, cambodia, and beijing...wooo hooo cant wait. I will return back to the U.S. on July 14th. ahh cant wait to reunite with all of you!!! byebye love mandyyyyyyyyyyy

dinner with my beloved korean class...my teacher is the pale faced one in the front/middle. super nice, even though she thinks my korean kinda sucks. after we finished eating dinner, we pressured her to come out to the famous ladies night club/bar at the seoul hilton, she agreed...drank, and danced up a storm with her all time fav. class.

night out with my korean class

HEY EVERYONE!

favorite lil guy

sinchon day view

sinchon night view

the top line reads "mo-sheen-tang" which is dog meat stew...koreans are infamous for eating dog...but its really not as popular as many thinkit is

yes, this is me sampling dog meat. so disgusting, really chewy and nasty ass aftertaste

class field trip to the Seodaemun jail. all time fav teacher in korea...absolutely hilarious. a girl came late to class one week wearing big sunglasses and a baseball cap...the first thing that the prof. lee says is, "ohhh noo "oh no, i been here so many times now. mina, why you dress like that, you north korean spy or something..." this jail was owned by the japanese during the japanese invasion. while we were touring asked Prof Lee if she is having fun (because she looked bored), she replies, i only have fun if there are japanese students with me, then i show them what they did to us, no one hurt my korean pride...no one"

a group of us decided to head east of seoul to hit up the beaches of sokcho, cruise through the fish market, and to hike through seoraksan national park...an enjoyable long weekend except for long bus ride to and fro...the only time in my life when i havent been able to fall asleep anywhere

women working hard at the fish market

fishing village in sokcho

HEYYYYYYYYYY

top

naturesque

koreas finest

giant buddha at seoraksan national park

so cool, dont deny it

yonsei taekwondo performance during global week

traditional korean clothing is called Hanbok...so festive and fun i love it

traditional korean get-ups

a dayview from the top of the mountain. it is located about 2 minutes from campus.

me doing some late night mountain climbing.

inside the temple right before the lady told me i wasnt allowed to take pics. OHH, and the commentary on the first pic related to the DMZ below is courtesy of CNN.

lantern festival for buddhas birthday.

work it SK

a crazy night with a local korean who proved how hospitable koreans really are. joost took five us to meet up with SK for dinner, drinks and clubbing. SK dropped well over $500 dollars for all of us to eat, drink (he bought 2 whiskey sets that cost $125 per set), eat, club ($25 entry fee-he paid for all of us), and he even gave us plenty of money for the taxi ride home. this behavior, however, is common for korean to exhibit, especially considering that we are students and SK recently got hired to work in the financial dept at Samsung. gotta love koreans.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas is the most heavily fortified border in the world, bristling with watchtowers, razor wire, landmines, tank-traps and heavy weaponry.
On either side of its 151-mile (248 km) length almost two million troops face each other off ready to go to war at a moment's notice.
They have been on a hair trigger for almost 50 years, ever since the last shot was fired in the Korean War and an uneasy truce came into force.
Officially that war has not yet ended -- no formal peace deal has ever been signed and the war could start again at any moment.
Between North and South is a strip of rugged no man's land -- the DMZ proper -- averaging two and a half miles (4km) wide.
A sense of tension fills the air -- along with, from time to time, the sounds of martial music and propaganda blasted out from giant speakers installed along the North Korean side.
Also on the North Korean side is what the Guinness Book of Records lists as the world's tallest flagpole soaring some 160 meters (525ft) into the air.

Flashpoint
Monitoring the edgy standoff is a small group of Swiss and Swedish officers who make up the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
For its part North Korea is thought to maintain about one million troops along its side of the frontier.
On the southern side, stationed alongside some 600,000 South Korean soldiers are 37,000 U.S. troops, one of the largest single overseas deployments of American forces.
If North Korean forces ever crossed the DMZ again the United States is automatically at war -- under a 1954 treaty backed by United Nations resolutions the U.S. is committed to defend South Korea.
Although one of the world's major flashpoints, the DMZ has become a major tourist attraction drawing in hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
Many come to gawp at the rigid North Korean soldiers stationed along the frontline.
Others take in visits to one of a number of tunnels dug secretly under the DMZ by the North for use in a possible invasion.
Virtually undisturbed for half a century the zone has also become a rugged natural haven for several endangered species including the white-naped and red-crowned cranes as well as nearly extinct Korean subspecies of tiger and leopard.
Former president Bill Clinton described the DMZ as the scariest place in the world.

DMZ museum

ROK soldier in the UN building...the north side border runs right down the middle of this room

a straight arrow shot at a north korean building (if you look close you can see a north korean commie). the blue buildings are UN buildings and the soldier is a ROK (republic of korean soldier) standing in the traditional taekwondo-ready pose. everything we did and said was recorded by the north koreans. before we were allowed to go to this checkpoint, we had to sign a waiver basically absolving the UNC and the American military from any blame should we get shot or blown up by the communists. .we could see window curtains moving and binoculars flaring from the north korean side...it was definitely an odd feeling.

this is literally part of the line that separates north and south korea...wow, here i am standing in commie-ville.

this is the north korean flag...it is recorded in the guiness book of world records as being the biggest flag in the world. although it looks like only a spec, dont be disillusioned...it weighs over 600 pounds and takes 50 (weak) communist soldiers to raise it.

a view of north korea from the dora observatory. picture taking is regulated pretty intensely. they had this yellow line that was about 5 meters back from the balcony, making is virtually impossible to take a clear picture due to all the fog and wall. so of course being the scam artist that i am, i took a few pictures from the ledge when the soldiers werent looking. yes, that is north korea.

optimistic statue at the DMZ

the intense preparation for the flippy cup tournament. hosts: the americans. location: i-house patio.

winning team for sure.

i-house picnic love

i-house picnic fun...international exchange director behind me having the time of his life, umm yeah

my university hosts this ridiculously huge event called AKARAKA. it is kinda like homecoming back in the states, but think 10 billion (yes billion) times bigger. it is held at yonsei's outdoor ampitheatre, which holds who knows how many people. they bring in crazy famous korean stars...it wasnt as cool for me as a foreigner because they spoke in all korean...but it would be the equivalent of UW-LaX bringing huge stars like Oprah, Usher, B. Spears, Tiger Woods, Tim McGraw, etc

tommy hilfiger was one of the sponsors for Akaraka. ok, please take a close look at this ad. look at the asian girl in the yellow dress on the right...photo-shopped in/cut and paste action like no other! she totally doesnt fit in and you know it. go asians

akaraka akaraka akaraka

AKAROCKIN' yo

AKARAKA!!!

we decided to take an extended weekend to some west coast islands that you can just ferry-hop to. not too tropical or exotic, but fun nonetheless

west coast island crizzzzzzewwww

ohhhh the seafood, even though i am not really that crazy about the food, it was still yummy

island hopping weekend. see the hotel that looks like a cruise ship...thats where we stayed...sick n wrong

west coast islands on the yellow sea...i seriously love the run-down vibe from this pic...