My first international blog entry

I am typing this blog from my hotel room in Seoul, Korea (at 4:30 am). Earlier this year, I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Korean Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance annual conference and I left Columbus yesterday morning. Besides Canada and the Bahamas, I had never been to a foreign country, so I was pretty excited. I dreaded the 14 hour flight from Chicago, but it really wasn't bad. Korean Airlines is by far the best I have ever flown. The plane was huge, with 9 seats in each row, and probably 50 rows of seats. My seat was one of the middle three; luckily I had an aisle seat and there was no one seated next to me. When you get to your seat, there is a bottled water, a blanket and a pillow. Before the flight took off, the attendants brought by a package with slippers and a toothbrush. Every passenger in the economy section had their own monitor like this:The screen is showing one of the menu options that allows you to track the path of the flight. I assumed we would just fly over the Pacific Ocean, but we actually flew due North through Canada and the Northwest Territories, then headed west. We flew over Russia and China before arriving in Seoul. The flight track also told you how far we were (in miles and hours/minutes). You could also listen to CDs (the system had an extensive collection) and play games (I played some blackjack and golf). Best of all was the movie collection. There were 33 recent releases available. I watched 21 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall on the way here. On the way back, I plan on watching Speed Racer and Iron Man. There are also several TV shows to choose from (I watched an episode of Two and a Half Men).

When I picked up my bags in Seoul, there was a huge yellow lock on one of them. One of the security workers removed the lock and asked me if I had a knife in the bag. I had purchased a letter opener for the president of the organization that is paying all of my expenses and I showed it to him. He examined it for what seemed like a long time, then let me go. I was a little nervous being 6,000 miles from home and being detained by security in Korea, but everything was fine.

My host picking me up got his Ph.D. from Texas A&M (I had met him a few years ago), so we had plenty to talk about on our hour and a half journey to the hotel. My first impression was it is a very populated area. In the downtown area, most building are skyscrapers, with a majority being apartments. My host told me the economy is really bad here and some of the 3 bedroom apartments are sold for over $1 million (U.S. currency).

Tuesday, I will be touring in Seoul. Wednesday, I give a lecture at Dankook University (they asked me to come a day early and speak to their students). Thursday is another day of touring and I believe the opening of the conference. Friday, I give a speech in the morning, then another one in the afternoon. I leave here Friday night and get back (hopefully) to Columbus Saturday morning, in time to see the Buckeyes play Troy at noon. I will try to blog some more (with pictures, if possible) while I'm here.