May 26th - Goodbye GCC; A Little Bit Longer, Seoul

I'm sad today.

But although today was our last day, the day was still very fun and happy. We went to the popular amusement park Everland and it's water park partner, Caribbean Bay. The park itself is not actually in Seoul; it's in Yongin, but lots of people from all over Korea, along with international tourists visit the park.

The park itself is most comparable to Disney Land or Disney World. It's got tons of colorful characters and souvenirs scattered throughout, along with plenty of photo ops. As expected with Korea, there are even cosmetics shops within the park (an Etude House and Face Shop near the entrance). Otherwise, the park is pretty much just like an American theme park. You ride rides, get snacks, and just have as much fun as possible! It really didn't even feel like we were in Korea, except for when we had to communicate with people...

a colorful tree

a colorful ride that i did not ride

We then switched over to Caribbean Bay after lunch, which is just around the corner from Everland. The water park was not very crowded, and it was a generally warm day, but it did get a little colder. We immediately noticed that people here were actually quite covered up. Almost everyone had life jackets (required to leave the shallow end of the wave pool) and something to cover their heads. Many people had shirts on - almost all the foreigners were the most revealing, which was kind of funny to notice. Not all Koreans were so modest though, as the park allows people to dress in such a way that they could never do in public - it's not even legal for men to be shirtless in public places. With regards to all the life vests, our GSI Nora told us that many Koreans just don't know how to swim. There aren't really lakes or pools to swim in, and it's hard to access the beach from Seoul. But maybe everyone just had vests because you'd feel left out if you didn't. Another thing you might notice at Caribbean bay was that a lot of the Korean people there were actually tan. Korean beauty culture usually values white, pale skin, so it was interesting to see people who were tan or tanning. Normally, people do whatever they can to avoid the sun and whiten their skin.

the entrance to caribbean bay

empty wave pool

All in all, a theme park is a theme park, and there's nothing to do there but enjoy yourself, which we did pretty well in my opinion. After swimming, we headed back to Everland to ride a little more and headed home after. The best ride was the T-Express coaster, which is the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. I love roller coasters, especially those at Cedar Point in Ohio, but that coaster was quite possible the best roller coaster I've ever been on. If we had had more time, we definitely would have ridden again.

a giant red heart

Anyway, we headed back to Seoul by a combination of bus and train, and it took almost a couple hours.

I'm glad we ended the trip on such a great note, but I'm actually really sad that it's over. I'll definitely miss all the friends I've made here, and my professor and GSI too, who were really just like friends to us on the trip the whole time.

a bear

bye bye everland!