Busan National University and Shanghai Street

August 27, Saturday – Bee Jun and I departed to Busan National University. It is a famous public university in Busan. We took the subway to Busan National University station and had a look around the area before visiting the university. There were not many students around there as we arrived. It was weird as normally areas around the university are crowded with students. There were many gift shops selling items with interesting designs. The stationeries’ design in Korea is indeed very unique. The writing pad and notebook have colorful papers and cute drawings. The paper clips are really unique, in the shape of stick figure and clothes clippers. The hair accessories and earrings are well designed, with very beautiful designs at a cheap price. There were not many restaurants around the university as DSU. The price is also slightly more expensive. We had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food there is unique, its taste differs from what we had before and the ingredients for the same dish are also slightly different. Bee Jun and I ordered different types of “bibimbak”(mixed rice). Mine is served in something like hot plate. It is not too oily, not sticky, not too salty and spicy, the rice is a bit crunchy(due to the clay pan) and with one of my favorite ingredients, cheese! It is the best “bibimbak” I ever had.

Even though the university is also located on a hill slope, it is not very steep and nearby to the subway. No wonder students in DSU are always complaining about the “mountain climbing”. We were able to see more students as we reach the university. Somehow, I feel that the students here look different from DSU students. Hahaha… weird! Almost immediately after the entrance, we saw a football field and basketball court. Many students were there, playing and observing the games. In Korea, the football field is made of sand. We saw a few international students around and some local students carrying their luggages. Next week, or should I say, tomorrow, the school will reopen.

Well, at first, my impression on this campus is not so bad, most of the buildings are flat land and the slopes are not very steep. Later, I am quite disappointed with the maintenance of the campus and its buildings. I felt like I was in an abandon garden and ghost hostel as I passed by an area. There were many wild grasses around the area and vandalized benches. The building beside it was really badly maintained - dirty windows, the paint on the walls are coming off, dirty curtains etc. It reminded me much of the public universities in Malaysia. I had only being to 3 public universities – USM, UPM and UKM. I felt that these public universities’ maintenance is better than Busan National University. We arrived at the university’s museum but it was closed. There were no sign of people around the area. The building looks ancient and nice. But, the maintenance of the museum is also very terrible. There was spider webs at its back entrance and the big air-conditioning outside is “berkarat”. I walked further around the campus. There were some nice places like the school garden beside the library, some new buildings around the area and statues. But, overall, the maintenance is terrible.

We departed from Busan National University and took the subway to Busan Station. From there, we walked to Shanghai Street which is located almost opposite it. We were really disappointed. There were less than 5 Chinese shops along the street. There were little people and I think none of them were Chinese. Instead, there were more Russia and Korean shops. It is not a place worth visiting!

Then, we walked further in the search of Busanjin Market. It is famous for selling textile. People normally go there to get the materials for their wedding. But, we were lost and ended up in Seomyeom. We did some shopping and then headed back.

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Now is crapping time! These few days it is not raining and the weather is not very hot. This Thursday marked the 1st day of autumn. This week, 9 Germans arrived after some of them leaved. There are 4 girls and 5 guys. More of them will be coming, making a sum of 20+ Germans. There will be 3 Malaysian students coming here to do their Masters. They are ex-MMU students, 2 guys and a girl. Suddenly, it reminded me of something. Koreans normally refer to male and female as men and women in their daily conversation, even if they are around 20+ years old. When my lab members referred me as lady, I somehow feel that I am old, though it is better than woman.

This weekend, I finished watching the complete 22 episodes of a Korean drama called “Stairway to Heaven”. It was aired in the year 2004 and a hot movie back then after “Winder Sonata”. I was not really interested in Winter Sonata, so I did not pay much attention to it. Yet, after watching a Korean comedy, my perspective somehow changed. Well, I can conclude that it was a sad love story, a bit like Cinderella. The main actress is the same as “Winder Sonata”. It is a drama series worth watching. I am not going to give any spoilers here :P You can get the sypnosis and more information from this link:
http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=2118&konum=subm1_1&kosm=m3_9