Over winter break, I traveled to South Korea for the first time. Ever since I booked my flight, I had been especially looking forward to spending time in Seoul because I missed the convenience of a big city. However, the actual size of Seoul came as quite the surprise to me after living on the quaint island of Kinmen for the past six months. Although I had difficulty communicating with others, since I knew only five phrases in Korean, the sheer number of American chains like Smoothie King, Papa John's, Dunkin' Donuts as well as the cold, snowy weather made me feel more at home.
Although I was originally more excited about Seoul, Jeju Island turned out to be a much more unique experience. It was snowing when we arrived in Jeju, and the sight of snow falling on palm trees was one I never thought I would see. Also, the friendliness of the people there surprised me and my friend. When we boarded the bus from the airport to our hostel for the first time, four or five locals helped us get off at the right stop and even made sure we knew how to get from the stop to our hostel.
My most memorable outing was definitely hiking up Hallasan, a shield volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea. Although we did not go all the way to the top, we took a trail with many beautiful vantage points. The entire hike took five and a half hours up and back. Though we had crampons-shoe spikes-the slippery snow and ice that covered the steep paths made the trek quite tiring and perilous. On our way, we encountered many other people hiking who cheered us on and gave us oranges and chocolates to help boost our energy. At certain points, we wanted to give up and turn around, but we eventually made it to the top of the trail and celebrated by getting some ramyun, instant noodles. The way down was even more frightening because we could see just how far up we hiked (around 1000 meters above sea level), but we made it to the bottom safely. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the bottom, all of the buses had stopped for the day. The cab ride back would have cost 30,000 KRW (900 NT), but some kind souls we met while hiking agreed to give us a ride back; this only further substantiated our thoughts about the kindness of Jeju locals.
My nine day trip to South Korea was a lot more eventful than I had expected, but I had a lot of fun there. I am not sure when I will be able to visit the country again, but my trip has inspired me to take a Korean class at the community college in Jincheng.

『本專刊由<金門日報>編輯部與學術交流基金會(傅爾布萊特交換計畫/Fulbright Taiwan)共同策畫製作』