On a Tuesday evening, I left for South-Korea from my hometown. Considering door to door, it was about 25 hours until I reached my hotel. My first impressions were amazing, suddenly, everything I knew changed.
Because of my reading about Korean culture and study of language, Stefano and I could travel without any issues. We consider our flight as one of the best we ever had because we got sufficient space for our legs and the food was amazing! On the plane, I got my first experience in contacting Koreans by talking to a lady sitting next to me. Since I’ve learned Korean at home, I had not got the chance yet to practice. Even though my pronunciation was far from decent somehow, she tolerated it.
After less than 2 hours of sleep and a long journey, we decided to go out anyway. Because of the time difference, it didn’t matter because our biological clocks were still rigged as European. Daegu can be described as pure Asia and thé fashion capital inside Korea. This can be seen by the many Koreans dressing exceptionally well to work and school.
Our first night at our hotel didn’t go as expected. After a great night of making new friends, experiencing night life and downtown Daegu, we were woken up by the hotel’s manager at 13 pm. Apparently, we were in the wrong place. The receptionist gave us the keys, without paying attention, and we had booked for the Daegu Goodstay Herotel instead of the Goodstay New Grand Hotel. A mistake on both ends. Thankfully, this issue was quickly solved by letting us stay for the same price and by automatically canceling the other booking for not showing up. We were only 600 meters away after all.
You would say this would be the end of our troubles, right? Not.
The night after, we got home at 5 am from a fantastic night of experiencing ‘’culture by drinking’’ sort of speak, where we consume responsibly (sorry mom). At the hotel, we use the elevator daily to move in and out the hotel. However, this time we opened our hotel room to find our stuff gone. The room looked clean as if it could be used to perform surgery within. Pumped up by this sight, we went to the receptionist, ready to kick the door in. At the desk sat an old Korean lady who didn’t speak a word of English. Apparently, she understood it and walked us to our room, only to find our stuff as we left it. Full of shame, we realized we used our key for the wrong room, on the wrong floor. Oops…
With lots of bows, saying sorry in Korean, and giving her gifts we brought from home, we went to sleep. Only to meet her next morning in the elevator down. She smiled and giggled a bit, looking at us as if nothing happened. As we still felt ashamed, we went on to the 7/11 for breakfast. Welcome to Korea.
Meanwhile, I’ve almost finished my first week of class. I’ve met some wonderful people and seen lots of stuff I want to share, but for now, I would like to say goodbye and until next time! Thank you for reading!
Having a good one,
Wouter