Jet lag being what it is, I was awake and aware at an unusually early hour for me (more like the time I usually go to sleep) and so set about seeing as much of the city as I could before meetings in the afternoon. I thoroughly enjoy walking in cities and this one definitely does not disappoint given its size and the amount of activity on the streets in all directions.
The motorcycles driving on the sidewalks and the optional traffic stops at red lights keep you stepping lively.
One interesting thing for me to learn is that the streets do not tend to be marked, save for the large ones. You are on your own finding out where you are. I thought maybe I was missing something, but several locals told me this was the case. According to what I have been told, people navigate by landmarks and area of the city, not the street. Even my apartment address does not correspond at all to the street it is on or the number of the building. I couldn't use a map because not one store I stopped in sold one (or knew a place that did). Google maps does not do street level mapping for Seoul, nor does Mapquest for much of the city, or any other site. Today, I took to drawing my own, constructed off of bus and subway maps. There is a large city atlas out there that I seek tomorrow.
I had a lot of help not getting too lost. Even if I looked a little bit confused, people came up to me and asked, in excellent English, if I was lost, where was I going, if I had a computer with the information I needed, and so on.
Here is the view from the apartment window:
I basically used the force to find the Fulbright office, but it all worked out fine. The way there takes me past three major universities and the attendant stuff between them (a huge area bristling with restaurants, bars, and other establishments) and it was an interesting walk. The fact that it is extremely humid even by my southeastern Virginia standards might have dented the interest level if I wasn't so thrilled overall to be walking the streets of Seoul after such a long wait to do so.
Sogang University is where I will be teaching, and the campus is built onto a steep hill. The entrance features a rippling waterfall type emplacement as well as a large sculpture that is cryptically called "The Albatross". I will try to learn why.
You can see the hill going up behind the statue.
Tomorrow I go to meet the History department and finalize my classes, which start on Monday.
The motorcycles driving on the sidewalks and the optional traffic stops at red lights keep you stepping lively.
One interesting thing for me to learn is that the streets do not tend to be marked, save for the large ones. You are on your own finding out where you are. I thought maybe I was missing something, but several locals told me this was the case. According to what I have been told, people navigate by landmarks and area of the city, not the street. Even my apartment address does not correspond at all to the street it is on or the number of the building. I couldn't use a map because not one store I stopped in sold one (or knew a place that did). Google maps does not do street level mapping for Seoul, nor does Mapquest for much of the city, or any other site. Today, I took to drawing my own, constructed off of bus and subway maps. There is a large city atlas out there that I seek tomorrow.
I had a lot of help not getting too lost. Even if I looked a little bit confused, people came up to me and asked, in excellent English, if I was lost, where was I going, if I had a computer with the information I needed, and so on.
Here is the view from the apartment window:
I basically used the force to find the Fulbright office, but it all worked out fine. The way there takes me past three major universities and the attendant stuff between them (a huge area bristling with restaurants, bars, and other establishments) and it was an interesting walk. The fact that it is extremely humid even by my southeastern Virginia standards might have dented the interest level if I wasn't so thrilled overall to be walking the streets of Seoul after such a long wait to do so.
Sogang University is where I will be teaching, and the campus is built onto a steep hill. The entrance features a rippling waterfall type emplacement as well as a large sculpture that is cryptically called "The Albatross". I will try to learn why.
You can see the hill going up behind the statue.
Tomorrow I go to meet the History department and finalize my classes, which start on Monday.
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