This week not all that much happened. I’ve finished my time
in the TFT lab and have moved on to the LCD lab for the next 2 weeks, we went
for our weekly mountain hike and then had our weekly meetings. I’m starting to
feel a lot more at home here because of the routine I’ve gotten into. Things
that were brand new and exciting 2 months ago have become the status quo. Don’t
take that the wrong way, I’m not complaining, I love it here.
My typical day consists of waking up, going to the lab, eating
lunch, going back to the lab and then going home. Usually though, going home
isn’t until 10:30 at night. The students that I share an office with usually
stay even longer than that. It’s not uncommon for them to sleep the night at
their desk and start working again when they wake up. I haven’t had any sleepovers
yet, I find my single bed to be much more comfortable.
On the weekends I usually find a small adventure. This past
weekend I went up to Seoul on Saturday and came home Sunday night. We took the
KTX train instead of a bus or subway. The KTX is a high speed train that
travels about 300km/h. It turns a 2 hour subway ride into 30 minutes. Well
worth the 10 dollars I’d say. We went to a few places in Seoul, the highlight
was the Hongdae district. It’s a never ending maze of small, pedestrian only
streets lined with clubs and bars. We even went to one called “The Rocky
Mountains” which was a Canadian bar, filled with – you guessed it – Canadians.
It was pretty cool.
Sunday we woke up and walked around Yongsan market. It’s a
huge area with outdoor and indoor markets that sell all things electronic.
Anything you can think of they have there for cheap. You have to be careful
though because most of them are small independent vendors so you have no idea where
the products came from or if they’re in good working order. So if you’re
planning on going there anytime soon, be careful, ok?
Another big part of life here is the food – obviously.
Before I left I wasn’t a big fan of the spicy stuff. The first few meals I had
here I couldn’t handle. There’s spice in everything. When we’d go out to eat
they’d order me food without the spice and then laugh about it. So I tried it
again and gradually I built up some kind of immunity / liking to it. Now I crave
it! It’s a different kind of spicy though, it’s not really on your tongue, it’s
on the back of your throat. I like it so much now that I get sad when I think
about going home and eating the blandness we call food. I really hope there’s a
Korean supermarket in the Niagara region somewhere. I might even open my own
restaurant.
All in all I feel completely comfortable here.
As I’ve been writing this blog it started to snow for the
first time this year so I’m cutting it off short to go for a walk with one of
the other students.
Have a good one!
