ICES 2014 / South Korea Trip

May 18, 2014. Written By Ms.  Karissa  Baguisi  Id: 5608100057

 

Last May 7-10, 2014, we went to South Korea to participate in International Convention and Expo Summit 2014. It was held at Hallym University in Chuncheon, and at COEX in Seoul.

 

We flew to South Korea using Thai Airways. It was my first time to use Thai Airways, and I can say that they live up their slogan “Smooth as Silk”. The take-off and landing were really smooth. However, I had a bad experience with them because they forgot to give me food on our flight back to Bangkok. Overall, my experience with Thai Airways is above what I expected.

 

We arrived in Seoul around 4PM and it was a bit crowded. The airport bus ride to go to Jamsil, where our hotel is located took about 2 hours. The hotel that we stayed in was Rosana Boutique Hotel. It was a nice hotel and the room space is large enough for my friend and me.

 

On our first night, we ate at a Korean grill restaurant. It was a bit hard to communicate with the staff because they do not speak English at all. Some of us can speak little Korean but it did not actually helped us. Fortunately, one staff can speak Chinese, so our Chinese classmates told them what we wanted to eat. We ordered a set of ‘samgyupsal’ (pork belly) with vegetables, side dishes, and soup for 7 people. We also ordered 3 bottles ‘soju’ (Korean alcoholic drink) for me and 2 guy classmates. It was really cold outside so the ‘soju’ helped as to warm up. After eating, we decided to roam around and we went to Hongdae. Although we got lost track of our other female classmates, me and my 2 guy classmates went to drink ‘maekju’ (Korean beer) in a secluded pub. We stayed there until 1:30AM. When we went out of the pub, it was freezing cold. We took a taxi to go back to the hotel and funny thing was the driver did not know where our hotel located is. We did a lot of rounds in Jamsil for 1 hour. The taxi driver was really pissed off but luckily, we arrived at our hotel. It was a memorable experience for me.

 

On the second day, Erin, a student from Hallym University came to pick us up at the hotel. She was really nice and she used to study English in Philippines which made us get closer more. Our first destination was Yongin MBC Dramia. It is the outdoor set of TV Station MBC to film their historical movies or dramas like ‘The Moon Embracing the Sun’, ‘Gu Family Book’, ‘Dong Yi’, and ‘Queen Seondeok’. We were so excited when we arrived because they have a life size standee of our favorite Korean actors and actresses. We took a lot of pictures with the standees. After that, we went inside of the set wherein a tour guide explained all the places there and which famous drama was filmed there. Also, there were people setting up film equipment for a filming that will happen on that day. Unfortunately, we were not able to see celebrities because it was still a bit early. When the tour finished, we went to the area where we can dress up as Korean queens and kings. We had to pay 40,000 won each but it was worth it because we really had fun dressing up and taking pictures all over the area.

 

Our second destination was Nami Island. It took us 2 hours to reach there from Yongin MBC Dramia. When we arrived, they told us we have to take a 10-minute ride boat to go to the Island so we did. The hotel van waited for us at the pier when we arrived. They took us to our house where we stayed in; it was a bungalow and have two ‘ondol’ rooms. After setting our baggage inside the house, Ajarn Varunee and I went to roam around Nami Island. I also did interview 4 Malaysian girls for my Contemporary Issue project. The island is really beautiful but not advisable to go there if it is raining or when it just rained because the pathway are not cemented so it can really be muddy.

 

On the third day, we went to Hallym University for the 1st day of conference. We arrived really early so we waited for the other delegates and ate the refreshments and sweets that were served. When the program was about to start, the student staff told us to go inside and pick up a translation device because the keynote speaker presented in Korean. The keynote speaker is the Mr. Kang Woo Hyun, CEO of Nami Island. His speech about how he started Nami Island was really motivating and he points out that we should not stop dreaming and must focus on our ‘Creativity’ and ‘Imagination’. After his speech, we went to another room to watch the paper presentation of Korean professors then we had lunch. Then, we went back to the room to watch Ajarn Pha presents her paper. After that, we went to another room to present our projects. It was really nerve-racking because we were the first group but I think we did our best in presenting and answering the questions – although we didn’t win. After, we went to Santorini Italian Restaurant for the welcome reception. It was a picturesque place. It has different feels at different time. We really felt relaxed there and the food that was served was good too.

 

On our last day, we went to COEX in Gangnam to listen to the speakers and panelists. I really like all the presentations on that day. I found it really interesting. Also, I was amazed by Dr. Bongkosh during the panel. I think she was the best out of all the panelists. Even my friend agreed that she was really good. It was just amazing to listen to professionals sharing their opinions and experiences. After, we had lunch and went to our post-conference tour. We went to Namsan Tower, Gyeonbokgung Palace, and Myeongdong. We only had limited time to tour around so we did not get to do and buy a lot of things.

 

Overall, the trip was fun and very educational. I learned a lot of things from the presentations, judges’ comments, and excursions. I would love to join another trip again if I will be given a chance.