There is a chart that the study abroad coordinators give you at the beginning of your experience looking something like this: 

I’m here to tell you its true.  

Upon rereading my reflection post, the fears of losing out on my 2 homes (Michigan and Texas) came true. I missed my friend eagerly telling me they finally got asked out by their crush, celebrating my friend getting that internship, my cousins getting married, one last concert with Katherine, and watching my friends walk the grand stage one final time. 

However, if I were to stay and experience all of that, I would lose out equally as much. I couldn’t have met Dani, Nayoung, Ada, Lee, Kendall, Lauren, ACES Orchestra, Ieum Taekwondo and so much more.  

If I were given the choice to choose between the two, I would choose to study abroad all over again.  

I can’t put into words how much I love Korea, despite everything. Despite having troubles with the initial adjustment period, despite the feeling of abandonment I had felt sometimes during my stay, despite the fear of missing out, despite the language barrier, if I could go back in time I would do it all over again.  

There is no experience like this one where it trains you to trust your instincts, forces you to acclimate and adapt quickly, whilst also being open to change.  

Do you know the meme about, “Not my hometown but I know my way around?” It to me, encapsulates the feeling of Seoul to me now. I know my way around, but it is only a faint echo to what I’ve experienced.  Even if I stayed, the people I came to know had moved on, leaving and dispersing with me. Seoul won’t be the same, that the time I had experience through these 4 months could never be duplicated again.  

Seoul had been an amazing experience and city, but what I wanted to get at is that Seoul is only as good as the people in it. The people had opened their homes and love to me, and it had made it such an incredible experience that is hard to move away from. Though, knowing that these people are leaving or moving on themselves has made it easier to move on myself.  

But something that I guess will take me a lifetime to learn, is that I still look forward to my future while not looking at what I’d miss. 

THAT IS TO SAY CHINA, HONG KONG, AND JAPAN IS NEXT BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.  

Beans can wait, Yuqing, Michael, Sabrina, and Aki are waiting for me on the other side!!  

한국 사랑해, we’ve had a good run, and I know I’ll see you again.

안녕히 계세요! 

Ariana Castanon     

Mechanical Engineering     

안녕!~ 

This was my last week in South Korea, which is a bit bittersweet to think about. I feel like this blog lacks my usual energy, because I can’t mask my feelings of how much I was ready to move on, due to some personal problems that happened last week. However, I want this last blog to focus on something fun! BEAUTY TREATMENT~~! 

Overall, I did a lot of last-minute beauty treatment and went to Incheon beach with a friend. The following is places I’ve been and my experiences with them.  

One skin care places I was recommended was Ppeum Global from Ada! They have English services and differing options to choose from, with a friend discount offering half off treatments. I honestly did not care about it, because the service felt very in and out, but my friend had a different experience. 

The next skin care I went was Abijou in Hong Dae and honestly loved the services and treatments way better. While they did have a translator, the main affairs are still in Korean, however I still felt like I was taken care of. It also helped that it was in Hong Dae. I wished I did my previous skin treatment here because of how much I liked the services and how they did my face.  

Lastly, I did a color analysis with ColorLover in Seongsu as well! Omg, I thought color analysis was kind of a joke, but it really was helpful to get my skin analyzed! I knew what certain colors look good on me roughly, but to have it spelled out for me and an explanation for why certain shades didn’t mesh well was insightful as a fashionista. I would 100% recommend this place to get your skin analyzed and if I were to do it again, spend the money to get my body analyzed!  

Honestly, I don’t know why I waited so long to do skin care when the treatments were priced (decently) well and built for services meant for returning customers. I would focus on skin care first if you were to go to Korea for a long time.  

Lastly to close out my week in Korea, I went to Unification waterpark with 나영 and Incheon for its beach with my friend Ahmed that I met through Ada. As well as went out with my roomie one last time, and hang out with Kendall and Un. We had a lot of fun just traveling and playing around, and Ahmed taught me a bit about defensive soccer!  

Saying goodbyes is always hard, but hearing Himmel from Frieren: Beyond Journey End shifted my perspective on it:  

“I’m sure we’ll run into each other again if we continue traveling. Tearful goodbyes aren’t our style...Afterall it’ll be embarrassing when we meet each other again.”  

So, while this goodbye is a longer one, it will not be the last. 

안녕히 계세요!  

Ariana Castanon     

Mechanical Engineering     

Well this is emotional.

My study abroad program had its goodbye dinner at the top of Namsan Tower! It was my fourth time being there lol. Definitely got treated to the fanciest Korean food I'd had yet. And definitely the best bathroom view I'd ever had anywhere haha.

I wish the soccer season could've lasted forever. We had a final team dinner with some awards presented, and I got the "Golden Boot" award for scoring the most goals 🤓 also made sure to watch the Korea vs Mexico World Cup game in my Sogang jersey this week in Itaewon :)

Saying goodbye to all the wonderful people I met this semester was both the hardest and most beautiful time. Yes, I cried. Yes, there were lots of hugs. Yes, I hope to see them again someday.

I will always remember the most magnificent view I had out my bedroom window, all the love that was accumulated in our apartment, and of course the friendly stray cats.

When I said at the beginning of this semester that I hoped to personally develop, holy moly was I right. However, it happened in ways I could've never, ever guessed. I learned to be open to the flow of life like never before, which is not always an easy feat, but it's sure worth it.

With all the gratitude in the world,

2 more weeks before the end 😞 

What I wanted to highlight this week was taking private lessons with my roommates mom for understanding Korean. Through 2 months with her, meeting every available Sunday, I was able to get better at pronunciation, ordering at restaurants, introducing myself, and locating items in Korean!  

선생님 has been so lovely in giving me books, bringing real life objects from her home, and commuting every week to meet with me in person.  

My roommate and her mom both have been encouraging me to order in restaurants and testing me throughout our time together, which had pushed me to try harder, and wade off some embarrassment over speaking. 

 However it is so so so hard to get over that embarrassment stage because I sound like a child sometimes. Though it makes my Korean friends laugh when I try to apply the lessons I learnt. Like the video below with 나영 who recorded me trying to read something in Korean. Funnily enough , I could not hear “double” and thought it was “The Bowl” so it was so confusing.  

 But like my dad said when he was learning Spanish through my mom, you have to get through that embarrassment so you can learn and speak to others. It’s the only way you can learn. What’s the point in knowing how to read and write if you can’t speak with others in real time? Learning any language is so beneficial and beautiful, because you now have access to a whole new world of people and culture, and connections to things you never knew  before.  

So, 선상님 진짜 캄사합니다 . 저는 한국어를 조금 할 수 있어서 정말 칭찬합니다 💞.  

안녕히 계세요! 

Ariana Castanon    

Mechanical Engineering    

After our soccer game this week, I gave the team some tarot card readings :) My roommate back at UMich and I got these cards in Salem last October, so they're pretty legit. I've had some wild resonances come up for people, and this session was no exception. I feel like we had a very therapeutic team-bonding moment <3

My apartment building allows you to rent out a theater room, so I had my classmates over to watch K-pop Demon Hunters for our group project in my K-pop Culture class (so Korea). Also had to include this awesome pic of a cat in sunglasses and a hat (I want it).

My time here is winding down; I'm taking in all the beautiful moments and quality time I have with my friends. Two more blog posts to go... holy moly.

Thank ya,

안녕! 

I visited Jeju with Daria, a fellow CIS abroad member! I want to give her flowers for mapping out the itinerary, plane tickets, and organizing a plethora of additional activities to do in case we wanted to deviate from the pre-planned itinerary. Genuinely helped make the trip much easier and more fun, also giving some whimsey. She was quite the motivated individual, which came handy when we got rained on during day 4 when all I wanted to do was stay in bed haha. Thanks to her, though, we went out and witnessed some great sights! Thanks Daria!! <3 

Without further ado, here is our Jeju trip!!  

My personal recommendations included but overall, absolutely do make the trip to Jeju!! It is so worth it, seeing the views and having a different vibe really completes the Korean experience.  

Day 1:  

We checked in the night before with the Winseutori Hotel, which had amazing beds, with daily towels and much needed water bottles.  Though, in our experience, it was hard to communicate with the staff since they spoke little to no English, where we had to call in a friend to speak on our behalf to communicate that we would be late to our check in time over the phone.  Papago is a much-needed app to get around Jeju. Though the following are the sights we went to!   

Cheonjiyeonpokpo Falls  

Cost: 2,000 KRW  

We walked 30 minutes from the hotel to this waterfall, and along the way it had gorgeous views, and I was happy to hear the birds' calls. The waterfall itself was pretty with different opportunities to see other structures. In my opinion, since it’s relatively close to the hotel, it’s worth making the trek but if you were to find other activities you could live without it.  

Seogwipo Submarine  

Cost: 65,000 KRW 

This was a fun experience, though I wish we could have gone deeper haha. This was one of those things we discovered along the way and did on a whim. I think my favorite fish was the worker who kept giving us hearts through the glass. It was cool to witness ship wreckage, and the workers gave us a lot of time to appreciate the sights of seeing fishes in their own habitat. This is another, it would be nice but not a totally necessary activity you could do on Jeju.  

Saeseom Island Saeyeongyo Bridge 

Cost: Free  

The bridge view was amazing, but I think the true showstopper is when it is at night where it almost seemingly comes to life. Since we were at the bridge, due to the submarine experience, we decided to go at midday. If I were to redo the experience, I would plan for sunset or onward, just for the fact to see it lit up and the firework show they have!  

Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market 

Cost: Flexible 

After eating, we decided to head to the Olle Market. There are a lot of food stalls selling fish and oranges, which is Jeju’s specialty! On the one hand, I wanted to try and eat a meal there but on the other hand, it was so huge that it would have been overwhelming, especially since I was starving at this point. The market as well has many variations of souvenirs that is hard to come across again, or for as cheap, so I really recommend getting souvenirs here – I mourn the loss of not getting Punch’s mom in a Jeju themed outfit with an orange hat keychain.  

Day 2: My favorite day   

Jeongbangpokpo  

Cost: 17-24 years of age: 1,000 KRW 

25+ : 2,000 KRW 

You absolutely need to go to this waterfall, as you can dip your toes in the water, and the views were absolutely gorgeous. 100% Recommend and loved every second of it. Make sure you bring some sort of ID that has your birthday and give it to the ticket lady so you can get the 1k discount!  

Oedolgae Sea Stack  

Cost: Free 

Another must see that no photos give justice to. It was an absolute amazing sight, and we had so much fun posing with the fake hanbok that was worn by a famous actor in a k-drama. 100% Recommend, it blew me away. Also, we couldn’t find the beach/lagoon area where you could swim and Google maps, KakaoMaps, nor Naver does not work so definitely ask a local or tour guide for help.

Gamttanam  

It’s a themed cafe where during the months of October-December you could pick oranges. We had to skip this activity due to Daepo Jusangjeolli closing at 5pm, but God, I wish to come back and pick oranges. This is a fun cafe since it's so cute and made for photos so if I were to redo my trip, I would do this while on the way to the next locations.  

Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff 

Cost: 1,000 KRW (17-24)  

  2,000 KRW (25+)  It was a nice cliff. Though I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I could have because I was starving. Luckily, they have a shop selling chicken skewers outside of it with a cute little cafe cat.  

Jungmun Saekdal Beach 

Cost: Free 

This was a fun beach with some soft, warm sand and a lot of seashells along the shore. Daria became an expert at finding the biggest and coolest looking seashells! The water was too cold for me to enjoy but Daria had a blast swimming. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed walking up and down the beach. 100% recommend, though there are a ton of gnats. 

The Cliff 

Right at the entrance, the cliff was a little pricey restaurant that seemingly appears a lot in K-TV, but the main reason I include this restaurant is that they hire performers to entertain, as well as the beach view!!  

Day 3:  

We then traveled to our other hotel, Ocean Grand, and the service was better but still lacked English speaking employees. Papago to the rescue once more. Their beds were not as good as the other hotel. Their bathroom layout was not great either since there was no divider for the shower, causing the whole bathroom floor to be wet. However, being able to see the beach and walking distance to all of the different pop-up shops and stores all made up for it. We spent the whole day swimming along the beach.  

Day 4: 

Final day with lots and lots of rain.  

Manjanggul Cave  

Cost: 2,000 KRW 

This is another sight I would recommend seeing at least once, because the atmosphere was so grand that the pictures fail to capture or do justice to. 100% Recommend, felt like exploring Minecraft's new caves.  

Udo Island  

Cost: 11,000 KRW.  

Navigated to the Seongsanpo Port terminal, and you MUST Bring your passport to visit Udo Island. (I forgot mine and had to go back to the hotel much to Daria’s displeasure). I’m not sure how to get to the correct port but try to go to the Udo Cheonjin Hang Port. Though if you land in Haumokdong Port like we did, there was a bus tour that helps you travel to the 6 main attractions of Udo! We did that and it saved the trip since there were no taxis and it was raining. Though my favorite had to be Geommeolle Beach. Leave some room for exploring that area and if I could redo the trip, do this experience first rather than the Manjangul cave so we could have a shot of going on a boat and viewing Dongangyeonggul Cave. I also wanted to try Daria’s pick for Sanho Chinese Restaurant or UDOJJAJANGMAN, but they both were closing when we arrived 🙁. The last boat back to mainland leaves at 6:30 PM, so be aware of the timing! 

Final notes 

Overall, save yourself the trouble and order taxis for long distances, as the buses are very infrequent and walking is a bit harder since the island does not always have stoplights, and the sidewalks sometimes don’t fully exist. Taxis are cheaper than in Seoul so don’t worry about that, but I recommend using Kakao’s Taxi rather than K.Ride (foreigner ver) since it was cheaper. I loved the South side myself, as the views were amazing. Go with friends and enjoy yourself; this is definitely an island worth visiting!  

안녕히 계세요! 

Ariana Castanon    

Mechanical Engineering    

One of my favorite activities this week was hitting the Han River on bikes and taking in the beautiful nighttime views. Haesue put Kendall and I onto the super cheap Seoul bike-rental app. We took a little rest after a while and met up with another friend from our exchange program to chat it up by the river, too <3

Lots of fun updates with soccer: We've mainly just been training this semester to get stronger, but recently we've officially begun our matches! With that, I'm officially the first goal scorer in history for the first ever Sogang women's team 😎 Also, during one of our practices, none of the coaches could make it at last minute, so I was asked to run the training session 😎😎 It feels so good to get back into sports more seriously, which is something I miss about the old days and hope to keep up as much as possible back home. We've been mixing it up with some futsal matches, as well.

*peep the girl in the 5th photo on the opposing team wearing a UMich shirt!!!*

I took my friend from Uzbekistan (who's NEVER been to the movie theater before) to see the Michael Jackson movie. I taught him how to moonwalk during the closing credits, and we had a little dance party (the music was too good not to). I've been listening to Michael Jackson non-stop ever since…

Plus a couple extra photos here because photo booths are super popular in Seoul, and I'm a chef and want to share my creations :)

It's starting to feel a bit strange writing so much about myself. At least future me will appreciate these posts, and it's always nice to reflect on the week.

With love,

안녕! 

This past weekend I performed with ACES Orchestra!  

After 3 months of working every weekend, me and my friend Mason performed the following pieces:  

Ludwig van Beethoven - Egmont Overture 

Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished": I. Allegro moderato 

Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 8 

Johann Strauss II - Frühlingsstimmen (Voice of Spring Waltz) 

My favorite one was playing the 4th movement to Dvorak Sympnoy no 8., as I have been able to play it in orchestra with Michigan! Here is the link to listen to the Michigan version.  I really appreciate the do over since that semester I did not have the chance to practice as much as I wanted to since I had 19 credits (it killed me). I knew it like the back of my hand and just took the moment with the ACES orchestra to just enjoy it.  Apparently, my friends found it relieving every time to see me dance and sway along the piece. While I tried to contain my natural tendency to dance during the performance, I couldn’t contain my smile 😂.  

Honestly, this is a love letter to ACES Orchestra. Like I said in my previous post (week 5 I believe), they have been nothing but kind to me. Thank you 준아, 하은, 아인, and 윤형 for always including me in conversations, and taking an interest in me beyond just ACES. I loved connecting with them, and it had made my experience in ACES orchestra that much sweeter. I also want to give a big thanks to 치강 for helping me and Mason get adjusted, as he was a major help in the beginning through end. I still remember talking to him about Kafka, specifically Metamorphosis. As well, shout out to my fantastic stand partner 민서 who helped translate what the conductor was saying and carried me through Dvorak movements 1-3. ACES Orchestra has been such a big part of my trip in South Korea, and an experience I could have never thought or imagined when I first picked up the violin in middle school. I wish in the future to learn more Korean, so I could connect better with them, and enjoy our time even more. 

 Please support the ACES Orchestra if you do chose to travel to South Korea, if not for the fantastic music, but for the amazing people who have chosen to open their arms out to anybody, and include them as best as they can despite the language barrier.  

I’m horrible when it came to taking photos with everyone, but I also wanted to extend my thanks to the people who showed up to support us: Kendall, Flora, 나영, Yasmine, Joseph, Grace, Celeste. Thank you so much for attending; it always means the world to me when someone shows up to my orchestra’s performance, and I’m glad they came out to also support the orchestra.  

While our time was brief, it was such a memorable experience! Thank you so much ACES for such a great semester, and I hope that you guys can continue to host orchestra concerts!!!  

안녕히 계세요! 💕 💕 

Ariana Castanon    

Mechanical Engineering    

Semester in Seoul, Sogang University.