So the week before classes started, we went on our first field trip to Inje, which is in the northeastern part of South Korea. All of the American and Korean students in the Global Village program went. We left from the University on Friday in two buses, and arrived about two hours later at the place where we would sleep that night. It was a modest guest house with one side for the girls and one for the guys. There was very little furniture; the rooms were very open to make as much space as possible for people to sleep on the floors. After we set down our things in the guest house, we got back on to the buses. One bus went white water rafting, and the other went to play paintball. Then we switched.
Paintball was much more violent. called "survival game" in Korean, was pretty intense. I had never played paintball before, but I had heard people talk about it. From what I had heard, the goal was to hit people in the body and avoid the head. This was the opposite. Only head shots counted. We suited up with fairly thick pants and shirts and a mask which, for some reason, only covered our faces, leaving most of the back of our heads exposed. Getting hit in the back of the head with paint balls really is not my definitions of fun. It was a bit exciting, sure. But I didn't like getting hit and I didn't like shooting at people, because I knew that it would probably hurt, even if I missed their heads.
I am so thankful that military service is optional in the United States.
White water rafting, though, was sweet! The people from our bus filled three boats, I believe, each of which had a guide who steered and gave us instructions. I don't think any of them spoke English, but there were lots of Koreans in our group who could translate. Most of the river was pretty calm, although there were definitely parts that were pretty wild. Big drops and lots of splashes. I enjoyed it for sure. And whenever two rafts approached one another, there were usually splash fights. It was all in good fun, but it got to be a bit cold after the first few times. At one point, we pulled over to a tiny little island in the river where there were rafts stacked up that people were using as a diving board. Front flips are great. So it was lots of fun. I would absolutely go white water rafting again. And after we got out of the water, one of the guides who was splashing us a lot came over and gave me a big bear hug. That was the first time someone hugged me in Korea.
Hugs are nice :)
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