Obligatory depature shots from Hartsfield. The plane was a 747-400 which is fairly spacious. Even in coach, the leg room was decent, esp. compared to our domestic carriers. No AC/DC in coach, but each seat has its own video-on-demand entertainment unit. I ended up watching three movies plus several short programs/documentaries. Probably slept for a total of about 3-4 hours on and off as well (it's a 15-hour flight).
The first meal choice was either beef or bibimbap. I chose the bibimbap, and it was honestly the best meal I've ever had on a plane. I've had better bibimbap before, but this was far better than the standard "chicken or beef" options back when domestic airlines actually provided food beyond "premium snack mix" packets. The bibimbap comes with gochujang which was some sort of spicy paste.
The flight actually goes over the top of the world; this was the first time that I saw the arctic (1st pic) and Russia (2nd pic). The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. We landed in Incheon Int'l airport, cleared through immigration and customs with no problems (although the immigration agent warned me that I'd have to get a visa extenstion since we were issued 90-day visas and we'll be here for more than that), and then Younggyun (one of the TA's) got us a taxi/van to take us to Korea University. Between Venkat, his wife, and me, all of our stuff barely fit into the back of the van. Total cost was about 100,000W (~90USD)... the airport is a ways out of town. I'd also recommend not arriving on a friday evening if you don't want to sit in traffic (or maybe it's like all the time?). The driver didn't know where the CJ International House was (nor did we), so it took a little bit of wandering around on campus before we found it. The door man (Mr. Kim) was very helpful in getting us all set up.
The apartments are not the large ones that I guess were originally promised to Leo, but they will have to suffice. It's a very new and modern building, and the apartments are fully furnished. There's a gym, piano rooms, study rooms, cafeteria (although I think it's not open right now as KU is still on winter recess), and other amenities. There's even a linen service!
We have balconies outside of our bedrooms with a really good view of (what I assume is) downtown Seoul (haven't really gotten my bearings yet). (You can click on the picture for a full view.)
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