I am tired. My feet hurt. My room is messy. I do not have a phone number. I did not get the courses I wanted. And I am not at all oriented.

Other than that, it’s going great!

What is there even to talk about? Well… every day begins at 6 am and I have finely tuned and organized program until 8pm. Every minute you spend, every move you make, they will be watching you~

And there is never time for anything. Best example? Courses. You would think they are pretty important, as they are the main reason most of us are here. But … they have been delayed by a day. And then we had to pick them after lunch break. Which resulted in a mad dash for cheese sticks and french fries, followed by confusion while navigating their website. Just great. I am free to do whatever, but I can’t imagine how stressful this must have been for people with specific needs.

Such a nice atmosphere. Too bad I don’t have time to enjoy it.

We are also walking a lot. And I mean a lot. 50.000 steps per day. Easy. Up the hill, down the hill, in 34°C and high humidity. I hope I do not look like I feel.

Other than that, everyone has been extremely helpful. It is very different to Germany for me, as I really feel like people are here to help. Even though you have to smile and wave – probably even while asleep on the bus that took us to an amusement park. That park – Lotte World – would be perfect for a Zombie movie. At least in my opinion. Don’t tell the Koreans this, but damn their Lotte mascot is creepy. Would Goethe have liked this?

Fun Fact: Lotte is a huge company, and this is their park. It is named after Charlotte, a character in „Die Leiden des jungen Werther“ by Goethe.

At least we filled out banking forms. Someone really went through 50 pages per person for 400 persons and circled all the fields you have to tick with a pencil. When I find out who that was, I want to gift them a little something. Incredibly well organized, incredibly inefficient. But impressive nevertheless.

In the distance: Solbridge. I think the green is only possible because all the people are crammed into skyscrapers.

Tomorrow: More walking. More smiling. More waving. More collectivist activities. Everyone is invited, and everyone must attend.

After that, I can finally be my usual self again, relax a little and finally orient myself in South Korea.

Looking forward to it!