Saying Goodbye/Arriving to Korea

Wow ok so first post! This one is a little late...but I due to an accident involving beer and my laptop I didn't really have any way to get internet! So leaving Michigan was really really hard. I knew that it would be, but it still didn't feel real until I actually did it. To be honest it still doesn't even feel real. I already am homesick but I think it will get worse throughout the year! lol

I am so happy I got a chance to be home for Thanksgiving and spend it with my family. I am also really happy I got a chance to say goodbye to all of my wonderful friends. This year is going to be really hard and scary without any of them, but pieces of them will always be with me!!! :-) My mother and father have given me soo much- without them I would never had this opportunity to explore Korea! I just wanted to thank you guys for that! And for everything that you did when I was leaving (and for the special little journal that you wrote mom- i will keep it FOREVER!). It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone and I miss my sister's SOOOOOOO much it hurts sometimes. Actually I am getting watery eyed thinking about it right here in this PC bong! (A building where there are a bunch of high-tech computers that are open for public use for $1 per hour). So with all of my family and friends supporting me and loving me, I have found the strengh to live in Korea for a year...........

Saying goodbye to my parents, brother and grandma at the airport was werid and very sad. So much changes in a year....I can still picture them turning around and walking out the door- kind of heartbreaking. :*(. After goodbyes came the flight to Korea!!!! The plane ride to Chicago was not bad at all. It only took about an hour. We then had about a 4 hour layover at the Chicago airport. This stunk because all of the stores, resturants and bars were closed becuase it was so late!!! So that was long, but around 1:00am we borded Asiana airlines and started the 14 hour flight to Korea. Andrew being swave as he is persuaded them to give us exit row steating. I HIGHLY recommed these steats for anyone who is traveling long distance. Although the plane was massive, our seats didn't have any seats in front of us! So we could fully stretch out. The food was pretty good and defenitly vegetarian! Our seats were in rows of three so we ended up being seated with a young fellow on his way to Thai Land.......slightly questionable but he was nice, clean and skinny so it wasn't bad lol. Andrew and I took some pills to knock us out around 3 and they definatly made the plane ride a lot eaiser..... the biggest problem is that we couldn't recline our seats back and I became VERY uncomfortable about 5 hours in from just sitting. I was so drowsy from the pills I couldn't think straight was was extremely fidgety. I couldn't sleep but Andrew and our new frinend Carl were completely passed out beyond consesious. Watching Andrew sleep and being poked in the rib by Carl's elbow for about 3 hours I thought- wow there is a hell on earth and it is located on the flight to Korea. It was about then that I thought that I wouldn't blame ANYONE for not visiting me because the flight over here is madness. I also thought- WTF did I just get myself into!?!!? Some people encourage you to walk during the flight (and I still do) but be warned that the other passengers will just stare at you like you are a freak. So I will finally able to get a few hours of terrible sleep and woke up when we only had about 2 hours left to go! We ate breakfast, said goodbye to Carl and then arrived at the Seoul airport!

This was another emotional time for me....we picked up our luggage and I saw that a smaller but still check luggage piece of mine was red taped by American Airlines.....it was also completely ripped open and had a broken front zipper. FML were my thoughts at this point. I was exhausted and super upset about my new borken luggage. It was also obvious that it was ripped due to an idiot baggage dude who was careless with my stuff. Andrew was very patient and optimistic with me as I was crying by the luggage pickup saying I wanted to sue American Airlines and coming to Korea was obviously a dumb idea. lol I think I was still drunk from the sleeping pills....but still that seriously pisses me off! We took a short flight from Seoul to Pusan (about 40 mins)....and here I am now in Busan (or Pusan) South Korea......

(Also I apologize about my terrible spelling!!! It is nearly impossible to spell check on a Korean computer....as everything is in Korean! I can't wait until I get my laptop back!! *AHHHHH sigh*)