Seoul Searching: Adventures in Korea: Week 4

This past week has been very eventful! It started last Tuesday night, when I joined the Seoul Nature and Hiking Club on a hike to Gwanaksan mountains. We hiked/bouldered in the pitch dark (of course dimly lit by the city lights) with a guide and a bunch of other international students. There was a great view of Seoul at the top, and a cool night breeze.
The International Club at my school also took a trip to N Seoul tower, a large tourist attraction that overlooks all of Seoul. It was neat because at the top, they label the direction you're looking in and how far away you are from major cities around the world. At one point I was looking at Chicago from 10,000 miles away.
Friday was a very special night as I got to reunite with Praew, my Thai friend whom my brother/sis-in-law hosted as an exchange student almost 6 years ago now. We met in Gangnam and had an amazing (yet VERY spicy) meal with her fellow Thai friends and Lisa, our Korean friend who had also studied in Minnesota. The spice made me tear up and cough so the girls ordered an egg dish for me out of pity, haha! Praew's English had improved immensely, and it was wonderful to get to communicate with her well and see her around her friends. My roommate joined our group later on and we went to one of the top 5 clubs in the world called "The Octagon". They had amazing EDM music and we danced the night away!
To top off the weekend, Mariem and I went on another hike with the Seoul Nature and Hiking Group to Suraksan. Though the Facebook event page described it as a "lazy hike," it was anything but that. The hike took about 6-7 hours in total and we had some very steep inclines with just a thick rope to help us ascend. The peak was worth all the hard work. I got to know one of my German classmates along the way, Franzy, who actually studied in Iowa for a year. We chatted about our growing concern for the Iowa floods and also about my travels to Germany.
In other news, classes are continuing to go well. Korean class keeps getting harder, however, and we have our first test next week. That's probably the hardest class right now, as there are SO many letters in the alphabet that look/sound almost exactly the same. We are also moving at a crazy fast pace, though no one really knows what is going on! At least we are all in the same boat, haha! International Organziations continues to be the most interesting class, as there is such diversity in opinion and cultures over very controversial world issues.
That's all for now! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!