My K-CLIP 2014 Experience in Busan, Korea - Korean Culture and Language Immersion Program at the Pusan National University!

Our K-CLIP 2014 (Korean Culture and Language Immersion Program) in Busan started yesterday. I've been excited for things to start for a few months now. This 15-day program is organized by the Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities (based in Korea). TPO is an international tourism organization with 72 member cities from all over the world (10 countries) and Manila is one of them. This post covers our opening day, placement tests and a Busan City Tour.

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I arrived Saturday from more than a week of Seoul Searching haha (stories to follow). My roomie is also from the Philippines and there are 2 more guys in our group :)

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We all live inside the campus of Busan National University (up the hill to our dorm). We've been hanging out with friends from Poland and Russia, as well as our Korean buddies.

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The 45 K-CLIP participants (including yours truly =D) with mentors this year came from 13 countries - Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrygyztan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Poland, Austria, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea.

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In this program, we all get Korean language, cultural experiences and travel.  =D

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At the opening ceremonies, we were welcomed by the TPO Secretary General Mr. HwanMyung Joo

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and the Director of the International Language Institute of PNU Dr. KiSeong Park.

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We were given a peek of the weeks to come from the traditional salmonuri performance (which was surprisingly soothing and hynotizing to watch)

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and dance numbers by 2 KPOP groups.

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I was particularly captivated when they danced hiphop-ish to an EXO song. This was my first intro to "EXO" too LOL.

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The placement test went by pretty fast for me. I just wrote my name and passed the paper... I've been resisting learning the Korean language on my own in Manila and well, one look at the 3 pages and I felt a headache coming immediately... This day was a bit difficult for me as I haven't been back to school for a few years now and I don't like having the least knowledge of Hangeul. I was a sure Level 0 with my travel survival language and 2 hours of free Hangeul class the week before in Seoul. I could read basic consonants and vowels though. And here we were trying to learn more Korean words before the test hahaha.

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With that out of the way, we prepared to go out for our Busan City Tour. We headed to the Busan Tower via chartered bus.

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We went to the Nampo area next - where you can find the streets with the BIFF Square, clothing shops, the Gukje Market (more on another post)

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as well as the Jagalchi Market. On the way there, there are already shops selling seafood. I found the squid

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and this (what I call submarine) fish interesting hehe.

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I don't like to take a whiff of fishy air so I stayed at this platform at the back with a view of the boats, birds and the water.

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We had buffet after (just near the Jagalchi).

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There were options for seafood but I opted for my very own grilled kimchi with beef brisket, pork belly and pork cheek :)

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After dinner, they took us to Gwanganlli Beach with the beautiful lighted bridge.

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On the way there, we passed by another newly opened bridge, the guide said.

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We got to the beach at the perfect time because it's summer season now (July). We had super limited time but I would go back here on my own to eat out around the area or

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just chill in the afternoon or at night.

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Meanwhile, back at the dorm, it was time for laundry and catching up for a bit online. Ah, I'm loving the simplicity and rythym of student dorm life abroad...(even if it's a long steep climb every single day)... I'm just so spent that I'm ready to crash when I get to my room.

My K-CLIP 2014 Experience in Busan, Korea - Korean Culture and Language Immersion Program at the Pusan National University!

I'd love to hear from you! Tell me below: Given the chance to study a language and/or culture, which country/culture/language would you pick and why? Would you study in a university or language center or self study and why? Would you stay in a dorm or at an apartment and why?