We finally arrived in South Korea!! We landed at 4:30am. The experience on the flight was not too bad. After finally leaving the plane, we had all of our documents on paper, so we went through customs and immigration very fast. When we were able to connect to Wi-Fi, we were welcomed with messages on Kakao saying we need to get PCR tested and quarantine as well as the flight that the group flying from LAX was delayed and wouldn’t arrive until 10pm.
This was a lot of information to take in for all of us at almost 5am. Since we were all sleep deprived and exhausted from the long flight, we were feeling all sorts of emotions. We had to anticipate to stay at the airport and wait until the group from LAX arrived. The wait was expected to be 16 hours. We tried to stay as positive as we can and stick together as a group. The exhaustion was definitely hitting us, but also the excitement of starting this journey together. The airport honestly felt like a second home to us. We formed small groups to have a group watch our things while others went to buy food or whatever they needed, then we would switch the roles. I would definitely say we bonded a lot while we waited together. We walked each level of the airport at least twice, so we definitely familiarized ourselves with our surroundings. We played “Hangman” and tried to take naps together on the hard benches. We were exhausted and a bit frustrated, but we tried to make the most out of what was happening. However, shortly after, we received good news and we were told that we will stick to the original plan and leave at 6pm rather than waiting for the LAX group to arrive. We all instantly had a sigh of relief and relieved some anxiety as well. After walking the different levels of the airport once again, it was 5:30pm. As we saw Dr. Paik, Dr. Duh, and Dr. Rodriguez, we all had smiles on our faces and we were finally reunited! I instantly had another sigh of relief. After another 30 mins or so, we finally made our way to the bus and we are on the way to Woosung University in Daejeon! It was about 9:30 when we arrived at the university and we were assigned rooms. We started settling down and finally began to wash the fatigue away after a long day. It has been one roller coaster of a day.
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AuthorSFSU Psychology Study Abroad Students Archives
August 2022
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