In the beginning of September, 2009, I was on my way to the States. I was going back to school from summer vacation in Mongolia.
My first visit to Korea I had a chance to look around and to get experienced to the Korean life and the people in Korea. So right after my studies in the USA, I took a break in Mongolia for a few months and made my decision to continue studying in Seoul, at Kookmin University. Moving into a new society was quite an adventure for me. I didn’t have much experience in this country except for my short visit to Korea.
Korea is about two and a half hours away from Mongolia via airplane. It doesn’t sound far right? At the end of September I arrived in Korea. The hot and humid summer breeze of Korea was still killing the environment, but the upbringings were good though. The university dorm for foreign students is kind of pushed to the side of the city life and the small houses located up in the hills weren°Øt really thrilling.

The first morning - I totally remember it was a Friday - I was so anxious to go check out my new school and classes. I went straight to my Korean class that morning. As I expected, the school was full of diligent looking students full of Korean spirit. I never felt such a vibe as that. So many students were excited about school. It seemed like the young Korean generation is really pushing to get to the top of whatever they are learning and trying to achieve more than any other students I’ve seen.
Then I had my first lunch in the student cafeteria of Kookmin University. All the food is usually spicy and half of the food is rice. It was not like the lunch I am used to eating in any other country I’ve ever been to, especially my home country, Mongolia. What I eat in Mongolia is literally a pile of meat at every meal. Probably it is because in Korea, meat, vegetables and fruit are really expensive, as I discovered later on. But really, almost any Korean food tastes good to me. No wonder Korea is so popular with Kimchi, huh?
Then about a week after I came to Korea, I started to get bored. One day after class my new friend from our Korean class went with me outside for a blind tour around our school to find something to do to have fun. Actually we were looking for a place where we could play billiards. We didn’t know any Korean and didn°Øt have any idea about the neighborhood except for our school and dormitory.

Walking down the street we stopped a random young guy on the street to ask where we could play billiards. He also didn’t know exactly but he guided us to a few places around the school. As we walked along the street we had a little talk and he was an undergraduate student at Kookmin University. Surprisingly, when I told him where I was from, it turned out he had just come back from a trip to Mongolia. From that time I started to make a lot of Korean friends through my new friend I met on the street. I also made friends with people from other countries, including my dormitory friends. My old fellas from the United States and Mongolia helped me out a lot with studying and living. We have an amusing time together even through the rough studies, with not even a sign of boredom or tiredness.
It’s already been more than 5 months since I’ve being living in Korea and studying at Kookmin University, and I am almost getting used to my daily spicy and rice food. Now I’m enjoying Korea to the fullest. I hope my stay here in Korea will continue to be exciting and adventurous with a lot of good friends along the way.

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