[Part 1] 28. Gwangali

Class ended earlier by 20 minutes today because we had to leave school at 1.20pm for Busan Cultural Centre 부산문화회관 for a Korean Traditional Music & Dance Cultural Experience.

There wasn’t any private transport arranged for us so all of us took the subway to Daeyeon 대연 Station with our classes which was pretty cool since it was the first time I had such an outing with my classmates.

The whole program was actually really short…it was just 1 hr long but we watched numerous performances: soojecheon 수제천, folk songs with the gayageum 가야금중주 민요메들리, samullori 사물놀이 and cheonji-hyeonhwang 천지현황. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the performances so I don’t have any photos. I like the gayageum and traditional dance performances so I enjoyed those the best. I’ve always been fascinated by Korean traditional dances ever since I watched Hwangjini.

With one of my Korean teachers

Class E 

After the program, 8 of my classmates and I took the subway down to Gwangan 광안 which was just 4 stations away. To get to Gwangali Beach, come out from Exit 5 of Gwangan Station and walk down all the way.

Love my blouse from Gmarket

We had a great time at Gwangali Beach, just looking at the sea, taking photos and fooling around. I spend most of the past 1 month cooped up in my dormitory and only going out on during the weekends. So much so that I didn’t feel like I’m in Busan at all; I’m just in Korea. But after going to the beach today, I really feel that I’m in Busan :) Intially, I was quite upset and disappointed at being sent down here to Busan. But now, I’m really glad that I was sent here. During my MBA program, I will be so busy with school and probably wouldn’t travel out of Seoul at all. Besides, I’ve already covered most of Seoul during my exchange. Now’s the best time to explore Korea, especially the southern part! I’m beginning to fall in love with Busan too…it’s so beautiful! Also, 2 out of the 3 presidential candidates are from Busan. Speaks a lot about Busan :)

Dinner was at a small eatery near the beach and I think the lady boss was quite amused by us, seeing a group of foreigners speaking only in Korean. I speak in Korean to my classmates most of the time because English isn’t the 1st language for most of them and they are actually more comfortable speaking in Korean than in English. 

After dinner, we went back to Gwangali Beach again to take pictures of the Diamond Bridge before grabbing some ice cream from Lotteria and making our way back to school. 

Big paper spoon

I really love my class :) Can’t wait to go for another outing together again! I think our MT in November will be so much fun :)