I DID IT! I WENT TO THE OLYMPICS! :D
I'd know about the Olympics for months, but I wasn't sure about attending them. First off, tickets were pricey, and I wasn't sure it was worth the 7 hour trip from Naju and the money to go. So like everything else I put it off, unsure. Then, after my trip to Japan, my friend and I were discussing the Olympics, which were about 2 weeks away. We wanted to go. There were so many obstacles though.
First a place to stay...surely they would've all been sold out or the prices jumped. Lucky for me though, a friend of mine lives in Jinbu, right in the middle of all the Olympic arenas. We talked to her and squared it away to stay with her if we could get tickets.
Transportation was the next step...was it available? For me, coming from nearly the opposite end of the country, transportation was an issue. I couldn't get there directly, so it was a mix of overlapping bus times or trains and unpredictability of traffic jams (due to it also being Seollal - Korean New Year, and one of the biggest holidays of the year). The easiest and cheapest path I could find that was manageable was to bus 4 hours to Seoul, and then later that day KTX to Jinbu from Seoul Station. It cost about 40,000 won total.
Now the most important step...We had a place, transportation was available...but Olympic tickets? Now THAT was a challenge. I feel like because I am a foreigner but living in Korea it was especially difficult. We could buy tickets online, but ONLY if we had a Visa Card. This turned out to be the biggest problem of our entire trip. I have a Visa, but it is my American Card and since I've been living in Korea for over a year I don't exactly have loads of money in my American account. Not to mention if I used my American credit card, I would have to lose a lot of money to currency exchange to send money home later to pay off the bill. It was not easy. All I had was my NH card, and my friend only had MasterCard. It wasn't like we could get a Visa overnight either. So we ended up relying on people we knew, and a teacher at my friends school bought our tickets with her card and we transferred her money. It was the easiest way we could use, but because of it we only bought ticket to one event. We didn't want to use her too much, and she wasn't around all the time to help either. As much as I would've loved to go to more events, I don't think I could've afforded it in the long run anyway though. Ticket availability was also a road block. Everything was sold out unless it was like the 300,000 won tickets for seating. My friend and I had our hearts set on seeing figure skating, as it was both of our favorites and the only thing I ever watched on TV as a kid. Only men's singles were available the weekend we intended on going, and they were sold out.
We ended up scouring the fan to fan page looking for people that were selling the cheaper seat tickets. We found only 1 ticket. My friend was going to buy it and just hope that another turned up, even if it meant not sitting together or only one of us getting in. However, by some MIRACLE, the moment she went to buy the one ticket someone else posted on the site selling two tickets and she managed to grab them. It was an Olympic miracle for us! Tickets bought, transportation reserved, and a place to stay squared away we just had to wait for the day we left. We would go for two full days and two half days, but our only plan was to see the Men's Single Short Skate Program on our first full day there.
With it all set I announced to my family that I was going, and there were growing concerns. They were worried about North Korea's presence, about security, about the people, about a norovirus that was apparently going around making people sick. It was a list. A list I promptly ignored lol. I was going to be perfectly fine. And, I WAS.
I left on a Thursday morning, taking the 10:20 bus from Naju to Seoul for 18,500 won. It took me 4 hours to arrive. Luckily I missed the bulk of traffic since I was headed North and not South. There, I met some friends and had Mexican food for lunch in the afternoon. Then it was off to Seoul Station, where my friend and I witnessed a touching scene of a boy coming home from his military duty. He chanted and bowed to his family in the station while his mom cried and hugged him, welcoming him home. We went through security at the KTX station (not as high tech as expected) and took our seats on the train. One thing I noticed, is that the entire trip on KTX our tickets weren't checked once. It was my first time on KTX and I am not sure if that is normal or just because of the Olympics. But, I could have literally walked on and rode that KTX for free and no one would have known the difference. If I was even the slightest bit brave I would try that sometime...getting on the train without an actual ticket hahaha.
I arrived in Jinbu late Thursday night. Our Olympic event was in Gangneung the following morning, about an hour away from where we were staying.
I got like three hours of sleep.
The next morning was an exhausting one. After being awake much later than I had wanted to be, sleeping poorly, and getting up at 6am to be ready and get to the bus station...I was tired. Because everywhere was closed due to the holiday, my breakfast consisted of a convenience store bread roll and coffee. We made it to Gangneung around 8:30am, went to the Olympic Park and went through security. Security wasn't that tight here either. Metal detector and done. Off to Gangneung Ice Arena! AWAAAAY!!
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| Outside our gate, gate 20! |
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| Inside the arena |
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| The yellow circle is where we were sitting. |
We were so excited and in a hurry not to miss the opening of the event that we didn't have time to eat before the 4 hour event began. So we starved. Now I could go on forever about how amazing the event was, but I will restrain myself. I will say that all of the 30 skaters that competed in the Short Skate program were amazingly talented, some more than others. I wasn't sure who to root for haha. Obviously I wanted Nathan Chen to do well, since he is America's rising star in figure skating. I had heard a lot about him and was anticipating his performance. Unfortunately nerves got the best of him I think. He made up for it in his free skate the following day, nailing 6 quads. SIX!!!! But sadly it wasn't enough to place combined with his short skate points. I think he could be a real killer contender in the next Olympics though if he qualifies. I also had heard a lot of great things about Hanyu Yuzuru, and since I had been to Japan very recently I wanted him to do well too, and see the 2014 Olympic gold medalist defend his title. I expected greatness from him. Jin Boyang of China, Javier Fernandez of Spain, and Uno Shomo of Japan also were very impressive in the execution of their programs. One skater that left a lasting impression with me though was Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea. As only a 16 year old, being able to represent his country in the Olympics was awesome. I was really rooting for him too. He looked alive on that ice. He seemed to be so exhilarated and loving every second of being there. His charisma on the ice captivated me. I won't forget him. He didn't place, but I expect he will only improve in the years to come as a figure skater. I feel like I will be following their careers and looking for them when the next winter Olympics comes around.
Midway through the program we were starving, so when they took a 15 minutes break to resurface the ice we raced to find food. I found pizza. The pizza was terrible. Nothing like a soggy, steamed piece of pizza from a plastic container to turn you off of the Olympic food. The food inside the Olympic park absolutely sucked. I was expecting way better, figuring Korea would want to introduce its food to the world..but I was wrong. Of course...I think this is all a corporate monopoly over the venue problem. (I will complain about this more later haha)
I watched the entire 4 hour program and was absorbed in it the entire time. I didn't seem to feel the time passing at all. I wish I could have attended the free skate program as well, but it was sold out and I was broke. I watched it outside the arena on the big live screen instead for free. :)
Here is where I will provide multiple multiple links to various videos I recorded of some of the contestants in their free skate program. I know it isn't professional quality, as I could only take the videos on my iPhone. Starting with the medal winners and then others, in order of their total combined scores (not just the Short Skate Program).
1. Gold Medalist - Hanyu Yuzuru - Japan
2. Silver Medalist - Uno Shomo - Japan
3. Bronze Medalist - Javier Fernandez - Spain
4th Place - Jin Boyang - China
5th Place - Nathan Chen - USA
Others I liked
1. South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan - 16 years old!
2. USA's Adam Rippon
Lastly...the short skate program warm-up - with all the top five competitors!
Giving up on meeting the skaters we looked for food, because we were starving. There were food places all over the park, but they all sold the same thing: Overpriced, crappy tasting, icky food. This is where I will begin my complaining. I am sure to those who are tourists the food was fine. But I KNOW BETTER. I live here. The food was crap, not authentically Korean at all, and about double the price you'd find it anywhere else. My friend and I refused to eat there. Not that we could have ANYWAY, because they only accepted Visa cards or cash. I didn't have enough cash, due to the high price, and the only ATM inside the Olympic park ONLY ACCEPTED VISA CARDS!
Literally the only thing I could do was leave the park, to find an ATM, to get cash and then PAY AGAIN, and wait in line another hour to get tickets to get back inside. So not worth it. OR I could go to the Visa center, and get a Visa prepaid card and load money onto it to use inside the park. Problem being...whatever I didn't spend..I can't really use it. They only refund it if you spend at least 60% of what you load on the card and its only accepted at the Olympic park or few select spots that sponsored the Olympics. That doesn't mean those few select spots are AWARE they accept it though, because I tried to use it at the one accepted convenience store and the cashier hadn't the slightest idea what I was trying to pay with. It was lots of hand waving and trying to explain and ended with us taking the card and showing the cashier how to scan it. Such a big mess.
Anyway, we got prepaid Visas so we could get souvenirs, but still refused to eat inside the park. So we started our crusade for help. The volunteers must have known somewhere outside the park that had food. We asked an information center, but they wouldn't say unless it was inside the park, directing us to another info center, which did the same thing. We were under the impression they couldn't promote things outside the park. So we tried asking the police officers on duty, as there were hundreds of them and they were young so they could understand English (and are more than excited to help a foreign girl...with several flocking over to see what our problem was). Problem being...none of them were locals, so they had no idea either. After what I believe was a couple hours...my friend and I found a female volunteer who lived in Gangneung, OUTSIDE the Olympic Park and struck up a conversation with her. We asked her if she knew of anywhere to eat, and she said the park...which is when we explained we wanted real food because the food inside was crap. She kind of giggled as we explained that we lived in Korea, so we understood the food was a rip off. That is when her and the other guy with her both just went, "OHHHHHH" and agreed with us that it was no good. She smiled and asked if we could read Korean, when we confirmed we could, she said, "Alright, if you walk straight up the road away from the park a ways there is a 갈비 restaurant up there, and its open today."
OUR HERO!
I'll make a second post about my long, but exciting day 2.
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