Movement By Lydia

I know you're all still waiting on your host family information still, and one lucky student will get the pleasure of staying with my lovely family, so I thought I'd write about my host family today. I did a lot with them, but I still wish I did more to be honest. I know many of you wonder how to get close with your host family, and the best advice I have is to spend time with them ! Don't always go out with your friends or lock yourself in your room. Do things with them, talk with them, interact with them, get to know them! So these are just some of the things I did with my host family over the summer that helped us get closer and create good memories together. Some things are just simple, while other things involve going places.  [Also, once you have a host family, make sure they're okay with you using their pictures and stuff!] Eat Meals Together: I know this sounds like a given, but not everyone eats a lot of meals with their host families. I always woke up ...

I'm sure going to 남산타워 is on most of your bucket lists, and I was fortunate enough to have gone! I went one weekend with my host family, and it was a really cool day with them. Here is another post about a place I went in Korea that hopefully gives you an idea of a place to go as well! ^^ We took a taxi to the area of Namsan Tower then got off and took this outdoor elevator called the oreumi. "Namsan Oreumi is a free outdoor elevator that runs between the plaza in front of the Namsan Tunnel #3 Commemorative Plaza and the Namsan cable car platform. This inclined elevator covers a distance of 140m and can accommodate up to 20 passengers. With glass on all sides, the Namsan Oreumi offers a unique and convenient way to get to the cable car station." After we got off of the oreumi, we walked around up there and went to eat before going up to the tower. My family says you always eat bibimbap when you go to Namsan Tower (there is another food too but I forget what ...

So before I came to Korea and met my host family, I had already talked with my host mother via Kakaotalk and email. Most of the other students also contacted their family before meeting them, and I would definitely recommend doing so! It makes it a lot less awkward when you meet and you can get to know them before actually meeting them and living with them! Before meeting my family, I talked a lot with my mother about my interests and their interests [which helped with gifts], and just about how we are both excited for me to arrive in Korea and meet. We arrived in Korea on Saturday at around 2:30am, and after more orientation [click here for that blog post] , we finally met our host families on Sunday afternoon! My host mother came to pick me up alone since my brother and appa were at church, and we got along really well. The car ride from the hostel to my new home actually was not awkward and we talked a lot~ She spoke English pretty well, so if I didn't understand the Korean sh...

Last week we were told that we would be getting our host family information Monday (June 16th) so I was pretty restless all day. I had a half day of school and came home all ready for my host family info, but when I checked my email there was nothing. Some people had gotten theirs already, and we figured out it was probably going in alphabetical order [meaning I was going to get mine much later haha]. When I finally got my info, I was soooo excited! So I can't reveal too many specifics because of privacy, but I will tell you as much as I feel I should. I will be living in the mid-north part of Seoul near where Korea University and Daeil Foreign Language High School are, both prestigious schools. I'm pretty close to Dongdaemun and Myeongdong which are popular areas so that's exciting~ I have a mother, father, and little brother, and I am SOOO EXCITED about my family. My parents are fairly young and my brother is younger than me. I've always been the younger sib...