Friday we ended up going out with a large majority of the international students downtown. There were probably about 20 of us in total. We all get along so well. We first headed to a lounge at the back gate, relatively close to the university. A lot of our Korean buddies were there, so we were able to hang out with them a bit. We left for downtown about 2 hours later and ended up at a big techno club called Houze. They threw in American music here and there, and we all ended up having a great time.
Saturday we had our last cultural excursion of the program. We were put into our groups that were established at the beginning of the program and were sent on an "Amazing Race" through the local Gwangju Market and had to perform different tasks, and were graded on a point system for prizes. It was cool to see the market and everything, but after seeing all of the markets in Busan, it wasn't much different from what I saw there. When we got back to the international center, the CNU ISS program staff threw us a farewell party with tons of food (both Korean and American style!) After we stuffed our faces we headed back to the dorms.
The girls and I realized that we had yet to have one night out on our own, so we decided to check out a spot downtown that we had heard a lot about. It's called "Speakeasy," which is ironic and very American- because the term came about during the Prohibition period in America, when it was illegal to sell/manufacture alcohol. These "Speakeasies" were places you could go and illegally obtain alcohol. History lesson over. Anyway, this bar is a foreigners bar, and it's tucked away where almost no one could find it. It was great. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the owner, who is straight out of Ireland living in Gwangju just for fun. The entire bar was filled with English speaking people, and it even turned out that one of the Korean buddies from the CNU program was a waitress there. We were accompanied all night by either the owner or other various Americans. We learned that probably 95% of the people in there were in Gwangju because they were teaching English. I can't even count the amount of times we were asked if that's what we did. The owner told us all about the bar and how it came to be, along with other local foreigner hot spots. Everyone was so friendly, it was great. We couldn't stop saying how upset we were that we had just now found the place. I'm pretty sad we can't go back again. We migrated from there to a couple other places, and overall it was a great last night out on the town with the girls! :)
Today (Sunday) we were determined to climb Mount Mudeung, the tallest mountain in the Gwangju province. So eight of us grabbed Mr. Pizza and hopped on the bus to the mountain. It was about a 30 minute ride on the bus, which isn't too terribly far considering how frequently it stops and everything. When we got there we were a spectacle as per usual... I'm assuming they just don't see foreigners at the mountain a lot. It was a neat place though, at the base of the mountain there were a few blocks of modernized shops and restaurants, reminiscent of what you'd see at a ski resort. They had shops like The North Face, Columbia, and Mountain Hard Ware... everything a serious mountain climber would need. We felt pretty goofy as almost every person was decked out head to toe in their climbing gear. The mountain has a ton of trails with different sightseeing things on each one. We hiked for about two and a half hours, stopping pretty frequently because of the heat. Today was the hottest it's been in Gwangju since we've been here... mainly because monsoon season is coming to a close (figures- right when we are about to leave) and it's starting to get back to it's hot and humid summer. We probably hiked 2 or 3 miles, a lot of it being really steep climbing. We saw 2 temples up in the mountains and everything was very peaceful. Unfortunately we got a pretty late start... 3pm to be exact. I wish we could have gotten there early and stayed all day. After hiking we grabbed a cheap dinner at one of the Korean restaurants at the base of the mountain and headed back on the bus.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Gwangju. Tuesday morning, 6 of us are heading to Seoul to spend one day there and do as much as possible before we leave. I fly out of Incheon International Airport at 11:40am on Wednesday and will be arriving in St. Louis at 3pm on Wednesday. (Pretty cool huh? I'll be traveling for about 18 hours, but will only be gaining 3 hours by the time I get home.) Longest Wednesday of my life! I'm going to be busy until then, for sure.
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