On day one of the Korean Immersion Trip, the class’s first stop was at the Gyeongbokgung palace, a beautifully constructed area where there was a changing of the royal guard ceremony. This ceremony was essentially a changing of shifts for palace guardsmen. It was a beautiful reenactment of traditional Korean culture of the 15th century.
From there, the rest of the palace was toured where the class was shown the throne room as well as the queen’s garden.
Just behind the palace was the class’s next stop for the day: the National Folk Museum of Korea, where a bunch of historical items and information on domestic and agricultural lifestyle and cultural beliefs from the past were on display.
After lunch, the class took a quick glance at a conservative protest that had been happening close by.
With the class being on a tight schedule, they quickly made their way to their next destination via bus. There was a slight delay because of a brief and non-fatal collision the bus had with a taxi driver, luckily no one was injured and after a couple of minutes the class continued on their journey.
The last tour for the day was The War and Women’s Human Rights Museum. The class was given an audio guide where the grueling tale of “comfort women” was told. The museum showed how women suffered as sexual slaves during WWII at the hands of Japanese soldiers. Words do not do justice to what these women had to go through during WWII; it was truly horrific.
After the last tour, the class was given an hour and a half of free time before having dinner. Once the class was done with dinner, the class split off again, some heading back to the hotel while the rest stayed out to explore more.
