Almost

Everything is pretty much set for me to go to Korea now. I got my flight itinerary emailed to me, so that's all set. I leave Thursday 1/17 at 6am, which means leaving for the airport at 3am. Then I spend about 18 1/2 hours travelling from Portland to Detroit to Tokyo to Busan, where I will be met by someone from my school. Busan I think is about 30 miles from Ulsan, where I'm going, so we'll probably take some sort of public transportation back to my apartment. Or maybe they'll send a limo, haha.

I'm disappointed in the airline they put me on, though. I flew with Virgin Atlantic when I went to Kenya, and that really spoiled me. I'm flying with Northwest this time--not so luxurious. I checked the website to see what I would be getting in the way of food and entertainment and such. There will be movies, but I think you have to pay for it, and it' not personal screens, just overhead stuff. The movies they have on the itinerary don't look so hot, either. Family stuff, mostly. I think I'll have to pay for my food, too, what a ripoff. I'll have to eat several times in 24 hours of travel time, so I guess I'll bring a bunch of food with me.

Packing is almost done. It's amazing how much stuff you have to bring for a year abroad. I filled up my backpacking backpack with all the essential clothes, and I'm also bringing a ton of the toiletries that you can't find or are expensive in Korea, which takes up about half of my massive suitcase. That's good, though, so I can replace all that space with stuff I've bought.

I've downloaded the internet phone service Skype, which will allow me to call people in the States for cheap. Anyone who downloads the program from Skype.com can call or receive calls from me for free from your computer. You just need an internet connection and a microphone headset and it works like instant messenger services. Just add me as a contact: alia.pugh.