2015년 07월 17일
FIELD TRIP DAY! The day I'd been waiting for since the program began! (not really, but I was still excited)
We left Sogang around 8am and arrived at our first destination, Everland, a little bit before 10am. But, the catch was that we only had about 3 hours in the park and had to grab lunch before we hit the road again around 1pm...
Which brings me to the question of the day:
Is it possible to spend only 3 hours in an amusement park?
The answer?
No. No, it is not.
Apparently, there is only one very popular roller coaster in Everland, called the "T Express," which is one of the longest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world (#5 and #10, respectively). Before we entered the park, we were told that lines for the coaster typically consisted of two-hour long waits. Not wanting to waste our three hours in the park, a group of us decided to wait at the entrance gate until the park opened (10 am) and then sprint as fast as we could to the T Express (on the other side of the park, of course). Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got to the entrance of the ride and had to wait for the ride itself to open at 10:30am... What a waste of energy. But, the coaster was AWESOME and worth it!
While some of the group members decided to go on a second time before the line started to build, the rest of our sat down outside and waited for them. We didn't want to risk getting caught in what we soon figured out was a 40-minute wait at the time... I'm very glad that we decided not to risk it. Not only did we avoid the hassle of such a long wait, but we also were able to harness our "왜국인" (waegookin, foreigner) powers and attract the attention of a very nice police man (dressed like Superman) and his film buddies. They came over to us, two men and a woman dressed in a hug mascot suit, and asked if we would like to be in a commercial.
Sure, why the heck not?
So, in order to promote the local police department, the six or seven of us had to sit on a ledge near the mascot-woman and shout, with our arms raised in the air, "all safe up!"
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANT, BUT I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH OF THIS.
I'm still waiting for the video to come out so that I can prove I'm internet famous.
Anyways, we had a great time at Everland going on all of the rides, even though we didn't have enough time to really explore the park.
The next stop on our trip was to 부여군 (Buyeo county), specifically to the 백제문화단지 (Baekje Cultural Land) and 궁남지 (Gungnamji). While touring the Baekje cultural land, we visited a museum and learned a lot about the history and the three ancient kingdoms of Korea - Shilla (신라), Baekje, and 고구려 (Goguryeo). As for Gungnamji, we were able to visit the beautiful pond in time for the Lotus festival! It was absolutely beautiful and there were so many interesting performances and crafts going on. However, as with the rest of the day, we didn't have a lot of time to really experience the events, so... We made our way to dinner!
For dinner, we all were treated to food which was famous in the region, 연입밥 (Yeonipbap)! Basically, it was a slightly sweet, bean-infused sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed. It was SO delicious! Not to mention, all of the 반찬 (banchan, a variety of side dishes, served with any given meal) were devoured by us within a half an hour.
After the absolutely delicious dinner, we were bused to the resort where we would be staying for the night, Lotte Buyeo Resort. The resort was very accommodating and beautiful as well! My friends and I had a great night hanging out for a while before we parted ways for sleep.
Thus, the first day of our trip ended... Stay tuned for part two!
FIELD TRIP DAY! The day I'd been waiting for since the program began! (not really, but I was still excited)
We left Sogang around 8am and arrived at our first destination, Everland, a little bit before 10am. But, the catch was that we only had about 3 hours in the park and had to grab lunch before we hit the road again around 1pm...
Which brings me to the question of the day:
Is it possible to spend only 3 hours in an amusement park?
The answer?
No. No, it is not.
Apparently, there is only one very popular roller coaster in Everland, called the "T Express," which is one of the longest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world (#5 and #10, respectively). Before we entered the park, we were told that lines for the coaster typically consisted of two-hour long waits. Not wanting to waste our three hours in the park, a group of us decided to wait at the entrance gate until the park opened (10 am) and then sprint as fast as we could to the T Express (on the other side of the park, of course). Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got to the entrance of the ride and had to wait for the ride itself to open at 10:30am... What a waste of energy. But, the coaster was AWESOME and worth it!
While some of the group members decided to go on a second time before the line started to build, the rest of our sat down outside and waited for them. We didn't want to risk getting caught in what we soon figured out was a 40-minute wait at the time... I'm very glad that we decided not to risk it. Not only did we avoid the hassle of such a long wait, but we also were able to harness our "왜국인" (waegookin, foreigner) powers and attract the attention of a very nice police man (dressed like Superman) and his film buddies. They came over to us, two men and a woman dressed in a hug mascot suit, and asked if we would like to be in a commercial.
Sure, why the heck not?
So, in order to promote the local police department, the six or seven of us had to sit on a ledge near the mascot-woman and shout, with our arms raised in the air, "all safe up!"
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANT, BUT I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH OF THIS.
I'm still waiting for the video to come out so that I can prove I'm internet famous.
Anyways, we had a great time at Everland going on all of the rides, even though we didn't have enough time to really explore the park.
The next stop on our trip was to 부여군 (Buyeo county), specifically to the 백제문화단지 (Baekje Cultural Land) and 궁남지 (Gungnamji). While touring the Baekje cultural land, we visited a museum and learned a lot about the history and the three ancient kingdoms of Korea - Shilla (신라), Baekje, and 고구려 (Goguryeo). As for Gungnamji, we were able to visit the beautiful pond in time for the Lotus festival! It was absolutely beautiful and there were so many interesting performances and crafts going on. However, as with the rest of the day, we didn't have a lot of time to really experience the events, so... We made our way to dinner!
For dinner, we all were treated to food which was famous in the region, 연입밥 (Yeonipbap)! Basically, it was a slightly sweet, bean-infused sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed. It was SO delicious! Not to mention, all of the 반찬 (banchan, a variety of side dishes, served with any given meal) were devoured by us within a half an hour.
After the absolutely delicious dinner, we were bused to the resort where we would be staying for the night, Lotte Buyeo Resort. The resort was very accommodating and beautiful as well! My friends and I had a great night hanging out for a while before we parted ways for sleep.
Thus, the first day of our trip ended... Stay tuned for part two!