Parallax: the life of media interns abroad

Well I have completed my internship at the Korea Herald and I’m not glad it’s over. I don’t want to leave just yet and I wish I had more time. This week was a blur as I was able to get a flurry of articles published….

The Korea Herald Office

Today is Valentine's day. In Australia, it is a day that doesn't really even cross my mind. I'll see the occasional post on Facebook or Tumblr, the usual “look at the flowers my boyfriend bought me!” or “I HATE VALENTINES DAY I'M SOOOOO ALONE” sort of stuff. Aside from that, I don't even think about it. Life carries on as normal.

Here, it is unavoidable.

A couple sharing a moment this evening on the banks of Cheonggyecheon. Photo courtesy of Hamish.

I am now halfway through my internship at TBS. This realisation came as quite a shock. Only two weeks left? Surely not, I'm just settling in! In the university holidays, four weeks seems like a long time. When working five or more days a week with a deadline every day and two major projects a week, four weeks is nothing.

Hard at "work".

Well it's been a busy week at TBS efm. I've done everything; writing quiz questions, updating Twitter, taking photos of one of Hollywood's big names and tasting the worst smelling soup in existence.

*sort of.

The hosts of Drivetime, Sam and Annabelle, with Peter Berg.

To conclude our week at the embassy, Jinny accompanied us on an excursion to the POSCO steel mill in Pohang, south east of Seoul. The trip was arranged by both the Australia Korea Foundation and its Korean counterpart, the Korea Australia Foundation, of which POSCO is a major supporter.

Following a relatively quiet weekend where Hamish and I quietly anticipated our fates, I began work at TBS today.

Hamish, the RMIT fellows Chito and Zach, myself, and Jinny outside the POSCO mill in Pohang.

Hamish and I's time at the Australian embassy was limited - the unfortunate timing of our stay meant that we only really had one day to make an impression.

Hamish and I with Mr Peter Truswell, the Political Counsellor at the embassy.

I finally arrived in Seoul after a long flight from Sydney via a six hour stop off in Jakarta, Indonesia. Stepping off the plane felt like the beginning of something special and I didn’t feel like the temperature was as cold as I had been warned it would be. Unfortunately over the next four days that rapidly changed with today’s temperature reaching -12 degrees Celsius.

I ask this question, not in relation to dance moves, but to the thermometer. As Seollal - the Korean Lunar New Year holiday - begins, the mercury hits the lowest this year (so far). We're down to minus 12, and counting, and even my best efforts to fight the cold are not enough.

Don't let the bright sunshine fool you, I can assure you, it is VERY cold!

Picture: Flickr user Stuck In Customs.

Seoul is the grinning devil on your shoulder that whispers ‘play’. Its teeming night markets, 24-hour barbecues and surging clubs all beg the question, ‘why sleep?’ But turn onto a side street, away from the shimmer of skyscraper against buzzing neon, and you’re met with the hushed, gentle tones of the past. – Seoul Lonely Planet city guide

Seoul sounds like a happenin’ place if there ever was one. Apart from the “no sleeping” part. What fun is embedding yourself in South Korea’s culture (while working full time) if you see it all through heavy, sleep-ridden eyes? Let’s be practical, now.

Wooden teahouses, bubbling stews, majestic palaces, cherry blossoms, century-old passageways, all within a rambunctious metropolis. Excitement factor about living and working in this country for five weeks in June? 11.

Hwa-nyong-hae-yo! Welcome to my Parallax blog, where I will document my experience of working at The Korea Herald as a journalist while concurrently exploring Korea and all its charms.

I was interested in Korea from a very early age, admittedly due to being addicted to the TV show M*A*S*H. A far cry from that era, South Korea has become a bustling democratic nation with a famous culture unique to the peninsula. Having never traveled through Asia, talking with locals and conducting interviews seems to pose one of the biggest personal challenges but I have begun doing all I can do to make it as easy as possible to get by.

Image: Korea by elsamuko on flickr

If you happen to tune into TBS at 10:05 Korea time on weekdays, you'll probably hear me saying that, complete with broadened Australian accent (for effect) and the phone crackles of an 8000km long distance call to a mobile.

A few weeks ago, while I was in the depths of final exam study, I got a phone call from an unknown, international number. It was a woman named Sarah, from TBS' program, 1013 Main Street. She had Marc Brennan in the studio and wanted to interview me over the phone as well. 10 minutes later, I was on the air, chatting to Marc about my need to buy a coat before I arrive in January.

The following day, Sarah called again. "Hi Lucy, we really loved your voice, we were hoping you could record something for our program's jingle?" Of course, I graciously obliged, it was one of the best procrastination methods I'd had all day.

Seoul by night, by The Perfect Cup of Coffee on Flickr.

Early this year, I had the immense privilege of interning at the Australian Embassy in Seoul and the Korea JoongAng Daily. This experience is definitely the highlight of my university degree and has opened my eyes to not only the realm of journalism, but also lifelong lessons in working with people and living in a different culture. I especially enjoyed my time working at the Australian Embassy with the delightfully hospitable Jinny Lee, and providing the voice-over for the Battle of Gapyeong DVD.

Hamish Boland Rudder

Ah, soju. Soju is to Koreans what vodka is to Russians. It is your best friend by night, your worst enemy by day. But such an important part of professional life and culture in Korea!

So important, that it would be remiss of me not to include at list a single post about the culture of the hwe shik, soju, drinking, eating, and merrier side of working after hours.

Because really, my biggest lesson from my time in Korea was that it's all about the people.

At tbs radio studio (L-R) me, Hamish and Soul of Asia host John Lee.

I am already home again and am not used to Sydney’s hot weather. I think I already miss everything about Korea and will definitely go back when I get the chance.

I listened to the radio interview Hamish and I were on and it is just so weird hearing my own voice again. Sorry I can't upload the interview here because the file is too big!

Before I left for Korea, I read about the Seoul government’s plans to build a new city hall. The new city hall is based upon sustainable architecture and would symbolise eco-friendly Seoul. For example, all of its air-conditioning would be powered by geothermal energy. This was very interesting and I was keen to interview the architect and his inspiration behind the design. But when I did a bit more digging, I also found a bit of potential controversy.

Having finished my last day at the JoongAng Daily, time has been just flying by ever since. Today I have one article published in the 'People' section. I interviewed a professor from Kyunghee University who was a contact of a UNSW professor. It was really interesting talking to him about data protection in Korea.

Currently there is a bill before the National Assembly, regarding a new framework act for data protection. Korea is known to have the strictest data protection legislation in the Asia-Pacific region. With the advancement of technology and the rapid growth of cyberspace users, the issues of privacy and protection are becoming increasingly relevant.

Another day, another paper, although not just any paper.
This is "The nation's No. 1 English newspaper" The Korea Herald!

After my last, wishy-washy, airy-fairy, hypothetical post of nonsense, it is time for a straightforward, easy-to-read, simple, non-metaphorical post. The exact opposite of that last sentence.

This is what it's like working as an intern at The Korea Herald, and a little taste of my 'professional' life here in Seoul...

The second part of this series (read the first part here) is what I have learnt from interviews in the midst of cultural, language and technological barriers.

I am in my final week of my internship and I can honestly say it is only now that I am getting used to working at a newspaper. Time is running short and this Friday will be my last day at the paper.

Starting from last week, I have been busy interviewing people, visiting places, taking photos, and finally feel like a journalist.

Korea isn't a dangerous place. Attack from the North is not imminent.

But there is still something about the way war is viewed and portrayed here that makes it seem so... alive. This post is my long-winded, nonsensical attempt at 'unpacking' (tip of the hat to Steven Maras for stealing his terminology) this strange feeling I get when I see war in Korea.

How do you reconcile war, remembering, and memory in a nation which is still, technically, at war?

The Korean War Memorial

I have been finally given the green light to write. We no longer have to come in at our normal night hours but can go out and about during the day, find leads, discover stories, meet people… the life of a journalist in Seoul. I am elated but also a bit stressed out. It’s going to be a mad rush because unfortunately I only have 1.5 weeks left here.

So what do you do when you only have less than two weeks to get published? And are working independently, have only a handful contacts and don’t know much Korean? Beneath every article I have written are layers of important lessons. And every day I seem to be learning something. This is what I’ve learnt from my experiences and my mistakes:

Last week was the Lunar New Year break in Korea from Wednesday to Friday. Most Korean families travel back to their hometowns and have family gatherings during this time. So Seoul city becomes very quiet with more than half of the shops closed on New Year (3rd February).

During this holiday, we (the media and AKIP interns) have been making the most of it.
Here are a few pictures…

Fun at Lotte World with a few other business interns.

Melburnian a cappella group Suade perform at the Australia Day function at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul

Working on the 'People' section of the paper means lengthy interviews and lots of transcribing - after all, I need to pump these people for 700 words++ of information, which can be an awful lot. So I am quickly learning to pay close attention to the chronology of an interview, and then know when and where the good, usable information is.

The result is a lot of waste.

So, in keeping with my catch-up theme, I present the outtakes of my first article, which was published on Jan 30. This is just some of the fun stuff that I found on my recorder, but couldn't figure out how to write into the article...

Out for a Korean cultural experience with the Austrade team - seafood BBQ and soju.

I know that I’m writing this a good fortnight too late, but I’m hoping that might offer a little more perspective on my week with Austrade, especially now that I have had a bit more of a Korean experience to compare it all to.

So here are the top five lessons I learned from my first week in Korea:

What dawned on me as I edited tomorrow’s stories was that today’s news is actually yesterday news. The ‘privilege’ of reading tomorrow’s news before anyone else did was quite a privilege but there was a realisation that news isn’t really that fresh in newspapers and could be quite stale.

An American, a Korean and an Australian walked into an office… sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? But I kid you not, I am an Australian currently working with Americans in an English newsroom in Korea.

An account of two very different first days here in Seoul...

I've now spent a full week at the Embassy, and a full week at The Korea Herald. I'll elaborate more in future posts, but my first day at each really helped set the tone for the week to follow.

Oh and photos are getting closer (but I need to take more!).

My internship at the Korea JoongAng Daily began with copy-editing for two weeks. Copy-editing may sound mundane but – fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the way you look at it – it is an essential stage of the newspaper process. Like Korea’s mandatory military service, my copy-editing experience was like a type of journalistic exercise, where I could tone my grammatical and spelling muscles and warm-up to the style of writing found in the newspaper. So if you're up for it, this is an overly-detailed look into the life of a copy-editor.

The first week at Korea JoongAng Daily has been very interesting. It has sort of been a bit of a culture-shock to me, not just working in a Korean newsroom but because it is also a Korean-American newsroom. There are a lot of things which I am still not used to and in the process of learning.

It's my second week working at the newspaper and last week has been a bit of a mixed experience, which I'll detail in a later time during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that Joni and I have been published! Well, kind of. We contributed to the Year of Friendship article by conducting one of the interviews. Hopefully, this is just the entree of our journalistic meal with the main course - when we get our own articles published - coming up next.

The Ambassador giving an address at the Australia Day function

This is my first week interning at Korea JoongAng Daily and I can say it is already beyond what I imagined in both good and bad ways (but will discuss this in another post). What I want to say is how lucky I am to come to Seoul at such perfect timing – this year is the 50th Year of Friendship between Australia and Korea.

After writing the script, I see the fruits of my labour as I provide the narration to an embassy video.

One of the most defining characteristics of Koreans is their hospitability. Koreans are not just polite and pleasant people. Despite their shyness with using English, they go out of their way to meet and welcome you, help you with directions or teach you how to cook beef on a Korean BBQ. They are some of the friendliest and most generous people I’ve met and you can see that they really value deep social relationships. My colleagues at the Australian Embassy last week were no different.

“We have a good affinity,” said 19 year old Dong-Jin, Controller of the East, as we neared the top of the hill. Looking over Dong-Jin's shoulder at his in-phone Korea-English dictionary, I could tell that the words he was probably looking for were the second and third in the list: connection or friendship. But I knew what he was trying to get at.

While Sydney swelters, Seoul is snowed in... Welcome to Korea.

(I'm experiencing some connectivity issues between my camera and computer, so photos will be added at a later date)

One of the scrumptious lunches with AEI

By now it seems like I have mastered the bus system from where I stay to the city centre. Buses are really different to Sydney buses as the drivers are really rough. The moment you enter the bus, the driver just accelerates, so you have to learn to hold onto something quickly.

I’m nearly at the end of my week at the Australian Embassy in Seoul and I have really enjoyed it. All three of us (Hamish, Philip and I) have been placed in different departments.

The pagoda on a frozen lake outside the National Museum of Korea

Exhausted but excited, I have finally arrived in Seoul after a lengthy flight and freezing transfer in China. What captivated me instantly whilst descending to Incheon Airport was the snow: the sheer whiteness of it all. The snow provided a stark contrast to the jagged brown mountains and leafless tress. And it was everywhere!

The changing land and skyscape aboard my connecting flight from Guangzhou, China to Incheon Airport in South Korea.

Annyeong haseyo!

Tonight, I leave for South Korea on what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m feeling a mixture of excitement and anticipation for the adventure that awaits me. I don’t think it’s fully dawned on me that I’ll be in snowy Seoul soon!

Having arrived in Seoul for more than 48 hours now, I have already experienced a lot. Rented a mobile phone at the airport in less than 5 minutes, and then caught the limousine bus. Already on the bus I spotted people watching TV on their mobile phones. I thought it was pretty crazy but it is the ‘normal’ thing to do here.

My desk.
A conversation.

My Korean class in Sydney (L-R) Rebecca, Jiyoon and me.

언녕하세요!
저는조니입니다.

Hello my name is Joni Sham and I will be going to Korea for an internship at Korea Joongang Daily in January. First of all I would like to say a big thank you to the Australia-Korea Foundation for granting this scholarship to make this internship possible. Also a big thank you to Richard, Fiona and Robin for selecting me and giving me this wonderful opportunity to go abroad and be able to experience and write about a foreign country.

My summer holiday reading list: brochures and books on Korea

University has finished for the year and the summer holidays are in full swing. With each holiday comes a ‘To Do List’ of the different activities which I never got around to during the semester. Cycling, visiting beaches, blogging and catching up with friends all seem very ordinary when compared to the thrills of learning Korean, exploring world heritage listed temples, sampling Korean street food, visiting the Demilitarised Zone on the North Korean border and working for an English newspaper in Seoul.

Robin and Jinny went to CJ International House at Korea University and were given a tour of the accommodation that is available to the AKF Fellows.

At the Korea Herald we met with Mr Shiyoung Chon, Managing Editor, and Mr Sung-woo Chun, Sections Editor.

We also visited YTN.

YTN produces 24 hours news aimed at Koreans living away from Korea and provide news feeds to other media organisations such as Australia’s SBS.

We visited the newly rebranded Korea JoongAng Daily and met with Mr Tony Spaeth, Editor in Chief, Tony Burke Deputy Editor and Lee Moo-young, National Desk Chief

Richard, Robin, Steven and Jinny visited TBS Radio Statio and met with Mr Kim Kyung-rae, Director of Production Team 1 and members of the TBS team.

PHOTO: (Left to right) Dr Steven Maras, Robin Moffat, Richard Broinowski, Mr Kim and Jinny Lee

We began our Korean visit with a briefing at the Australian Embassy by Hyo-Jin (Jinny) Lee, AKF Director (Seoul) Australian Embassy Seoul.

Jinny ran through the program of calls that she had arranged in Seoul. As always, she was upbeat about the whole scheme and looking forward to receiving the next three AKF Fellows, Hamish Boland-Rudder, Philip Chan and Joni Sham, in January 2011. Jinny presented us with a book about the history of the AKF written by one of the current board members, Rodney Hall.

PHOTO: Hyo-Jin (Jinny) Lee, AKF Director (Seoul) Australian Embassy Seoul

All good things must come to an end, and all the sweetest things are short - like my placement at TBS eFM in Seoul. After starting out as a fresh-faced newbie, made to Google things, I ended up doing daily news reports. Daily reports which took me to the best of places, which allowed me to understand what the people of Seoul think about their city and the issues it faces.

I covered corporal punishment being banned from schools [something that goes against the Korean mindset], about Twitter being used by politicians, and about smoking being banned from public places. One of my reports also led me to the COEX Mall in southern Seoul, the world's largest underground shopping mall. One of its massive 'squares' was playing host to the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival. Attending the festival were Tim Brooke-Hunt and Kim Dalton from ABC Television and I spoke to them about the significance of Korean animation and what role it would play in Australian television. Mr Dalton also a member of the Australia Korea Foundation board, my sponsors on this amazing internship.

So I'm not really a big time media kid, but I am getting a lot of work and compared to the other interns here, a bit more airtime too. TBS eFM ('e' for English) mostly consists of shows about pop music and life, interchangeably, like many other commercial FM stations around the world. The program I work for, This Morning, however, is purely a news show.

The title doesn't mean anything bad. I just wanted the vaguest sense of alliteration to mark my early morning start at the Traffic Broadcasting System English FM department's breakfast radio show, 'This Morning'. The show has changed over the last few months since Rachel Mulholland was at TBS, now being a one man news and current affairs discussion show hosted by American-born Political Science professor Hans Schattle. My day started at 6am, meeting with writers Choi Hyoung-Joo and Ahn Jung-Mi. They told me about how the show works and what the general schedule is for each day. I then met with Chief Producer of the station, Kim Kyoung-Rae, who talked about my history and asked about how I could help out with the station. Whether my dreams of being on a Korean radio show come true is something we'll have to see.

So earlier this week, I learned that I would be the newest instalment in the Australia Korea Foundation Fellows series. It seems like a pretty good show, where the main protagonists have gone on to do good things in order to foster the relationship between two of the most important nations in the Pacific region.

Australia and Korea have always had relatively strong relations, but their increasing economic influence as ever-growing economies is making a bilateral relationship between the two countries more necessary than ever.

Well, today is my 21st Birthday and what a way to celebrate- my last story for JoongAng Daily was published this morning- Foreign Foodies Flock to Web.

And what could be more suiting for my final post, than a story about blogging?

I just wanted to say a sincere thankyou to everyone who made this internship possible- Robin, Richard and Fiona who selected me as a representative of Sydney University, Jinny and everyone at the Australian Embassy in Seoul who were so welcoming and friendly, Korea University for providing magnificent accommodation, Miju, Mooyoung and Lou Kilzer from JoongAng Daily for taking me on as their intern and of course the AKF who generously provided funding.

Thankyou for the amazing experience!

Well I am very sad to announce that I am no longer in Korea. I can safely admit that I have had the best time of my life and am already planning to go back as soon as I graduate. But I have missed everyone in Australia so much!

My feature article on the House of Sharing went to print this morning in Korea.

Believe it or not but it actually was printed on page 1 and page 2 of the paper! Okay- so on page 1 it may have only had a lead in but that makes it a front page news story nonetheless right?

Since Cass shared her favourite K-pop song with you I thought I'd play you a few of mine. When Esther and I were asked to join the K-Popular team at TBS eFM two weeks ago, we had to select some of our favourite K-pop songs. We spent the rest of the afternoon listening to Korean pop music and dancing around my room. I think the film-clips are hilarious, but they're taken quite seriously here...

This is T-ara's "Like the First Time" - it was just released and is near the top of the Korean pop charts.

Yesterday was my final day working on TBS eFM's This Morning program...well sort of. After turning in my last report, eating brunch in a classy restaurant with the crew, and saying my final goodbyes, HyoungJoo, one of the writer's you've met a few blogs back, said with puppy-eyes and a pleading tone in her voice, "Rachel, I know you've finished your internship, but can you cover the Lunar New Year events for expats this weekend?" How could I say no? In fact, why would I want to? I'll get to create my very own news package and talk live on Monday's show...an opportunity that's too good to pass up! So here's some shots of my second last day with This Morning:

Posing with the stars - this photo features This Morning co-hosts Kim, Juweon and Kerstin Winter. Juweon is also a TV presenter in Seoul and supposedly he's quite the heartthrob over here.

These are a few photos I've taken throughout the internship.

Time really does fly when you are having the time of your life. The last time I blogged was nearly two weeks ago and all of a sudden I am packing to go home. And I will be singing my favourite KPOP song on the plane!

Taped to the wall, opposite my desk and directly in my line of sight all day, is a sign. It says: Don’t throw your coffee out of the window.

Communication may make the world go around, but in a foreign country like South Korea where English is not the first language spoken, meaning is often lost…even on a Communications Major. Although written English is commonly featured side-by-side Korean on shop signage, menus and even in subway stations, the general Korean populous isn’t comfortable with the language and can’t speak it fluently. My methods of communication have thus become an amalgamation of English, sign language (I do know a little, but mostly it’s of my own making) and the odd Korean word here or there.

A shirt I found while shopping in E-mart (this gigantic department store that sells everything from food to Levi jeans). I think some Koreans have as much trouble with English as I do with Korean! Spot the mistake...

Last Sunday Cass, Paddy, Esther and I went to see a modern version of Cinderella by the Korean National Ballet and the performance was a truly telling tale. Prince Charming’s arrival at Cinderella’s house was met with bursts of laughter around the Opera Theatre as people read the caption above the stage, “Prince Charming could immediately identify Cinderella from the others because of the black and blue bruising on the stepsisters feet due to recent plastic surgery.”

Esther's reaction to the idea of double eyelid surgery

It's strange to go from having no deadlines to having to write a page worth of material in an evening and half a day.

Everyone looks forward to the weekend, and with this being my second last, i had to make the most of it. Cue Korean drums, ballet dancers and ice skaters!

Paddy, Rachel and Michael ( from my taekwondo club) on the ice!

With my headphones on, script in hand and mic at the ready, I sat eagerly waiting for the “on-air” indicator to flash red. Just minutes earlier I was looking into this very room fervently running over and over my lines and muttering softly to myself like a person suffering from schizophrenia (which Jungmi and HyoungJoo found quite amusing). But now, as the light flashed on, the nervous anticipation I had felt then seemed to evaporate and was replaced by a calm collectedness.

Here is my second story for JoongAng Daily, 'Korean Student wins Prestigious Scholarship'.

Covering events like Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, issues like the popularity of James Cameron's Avatar around the globe, and setting up interviews with people at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and the Conference on Afghanistan in London - interning at TBS eFM's This Morning is amazing!

Here are a few photos of the This Morning crew and the studio:

From left to right this photo features Jungmi, me, HyoungJoo and Eun-Yi. Jungmi and HyoungJoo are the writers of This Morning and Eun-Yi is the editor.

The Korean mediascape today is dominated by the ‘big three’ newspaper companies, Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo. Each of these companies has a history dating back to the 1920’s during the Japanese occupation of Korea- except JoongAng which was first published in 1965.

Before I tell you all how much fun I am having here living it up as a staff reporter for one of the most respected newspapers in Korea, I want to share with you all how I came to be here in the first place and why everyone should work overseas at least once in their life (this speech was inspired by a talk I gave to Korean high school interns currently at JoongAng Ilbo).

Yep, that is the title of my first published article in the Korean media. Not exactly a groundbreaking title, but hey, it's the truth. You can access the article here:

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/01/22/201001220029.asp

Everyone come and view my first story published in a national newspaper! The story was published in the JoongAng Daily, called "Australia Celebrates National Day".

6:02a.m…

Dialling the American Red Cross…“Hi this is Rachel Mulholland from TBS Radio in Seoul, South Korea…we’re trying to arrange an interview with someone on the ground in Haiti within the next hour and we understand some of your workers are there right now…Can you put me in contact with anyone? …No…OK…thanks for your help.”

Well I am wrapping up my third day of working at the JoongAng Daily and I am starting to understand how it works around here. There isn’t anyone to hold my hand, no one to tell me what to do and I turn up and leave whenever I want. Don’t make the mistake though of thinking this is an easy, cushy job. It’s not!

Koreans take their numbers seriously. And yes, they can be a superstitious bunch. Koreans believe the number 4 to be unlucky. In fact, there was considerable public and political concern about Korea being the 44th country to send troops to Afghanistan. True, if there's one place you want a bit of luck, it's Afghanistan.

But this is also why, upon entering a building and stepping into an elevator, one is likely to see an 'F' denoting the fourth floor, rather than the customary '4'. It generally appears: 1, 2, 3, F, 5, 6, etc.

For those unversed in the ways of Korean elevators, this would understandably be a tad confusing. Fortunately Jess, an intern from 2009, had the foresight to forewarn me of this custom. Because, as luck would have it, the offices of the Korea Herald are located on the fourth floor.

On the weekend Paddy, Cass and I had a brush with Korean culture when we visited the Gyeongbokgung Royal Palace in Seoul, which is located right near the Australian Embassy building and the "Blue House" where President Lee Myung-bak resides. The photographs say it all...

Gyeongbokgung Royal Palace in Seoul

On the second day of our journey in Seoul Cass and I went trekking up the mountain behind Korea University and stumbled on an army base...protecting the border between the North and South..

P.S. For those of you who may think us silly for walking this close to the border...it's not the real border between the North and the South. The "army base" we came across is actually a part of the "green belt" mountain range, which is dotted with small army set-ups to act as a final frontier protecting Seoul from the North. We also asked permission to film this area so there was no danger involved!

A week has passed, and Seoul and I are starting to get to know one another. And yes, it’s cold. The lead of an article in today’s Korea Herald just about sums it up: “The morning low in Seoul sharply dropped to minus 15 degrees yesterday, recording the lowest temperature in six years… Although the actual morning temperature was set at minus 15.3 degrees Celsius, it felt like minus 22.1 degrees Celsius due to the wind chill.”

My first few days working at the Australian Embassy in Seoul have been totally mind-blowing. The Embassy building for a start is enormous with 22 floors and is home to five other Embassies, including the Canadian and Swedish Embassies. The Australian Embassy, which is located on the 19th floor, is a maze of white corridors and has security doors requiring swipe-card access and a pin code at every turn.

As Cass has already told you, the view from this floor is utterly breathtaking. Glancing out the office window to the North, I can see traditional Korean houses, or as the locals call them, Hanok, nestled into the side of a beautiful mountain range – a mesmerizing image of postcard perfection. Because this district is only about 55km from the Demilitarized Zone between the North and South, these mountains are known as the ‘green belt’ and are dotted with small army bases as a kind of last frontier protecting Seoul.

As I stood above the molten 'pig iron' I could not help but feel that this must be the feeling people have when standing on the edge of a volcano. The metal plates we were standing on had long thin glowing cracks. The air smelt of sulfur and there was the grinding of machinery, but this was all lost to the amazing sight of millions of tonnes of iron streaming from the smelter, sparks flying, and at a temperature of 1500 degrees celsius. It was actually mesmerising watching the iron flow beneath our feet and the warmth was pleasant after waking up to a morning of -14 degrees. It was scary and exhilarating to think we were standing right over the top of liquid metal and could easily have been a scene from the third lord of the rings!

As I look out over the bustling city of Seoul, 19 floors up in the Australian Embassy, it is still amazing to think that I am really working in another country. I have been assigned to the department called Australian Education International, which aims to promote study in Australia and strengthen education ties between Korea and Australia. My first project is to write a story about the successes of Australian University researchers and their innovative projects with regards to environmental sustainability. Surprisingly this is a very similar task to what I do for Sydney University World, a magazine distributed by the University of Sydney, and so I am finding this really enjoyable.

This is actually my second day at the embassy and I am patiently waiting for people to reply to my interview requests. On my first day I was introduced to several people who work in the Embassy; Jinny- who is heavily involved in the Australia-Korea Foundation (who sponsored our internships), Jenny- part of the political section who had to answer all of my questions about North Korea ( it is amazing hearing her experiences first hand as she makes regular trips over the border to look at the success of aid projects), and the lovely people who work in my department, Juhee, Emily, Dean and many more I would meet but they have taken leave.

After a quick briefing there was not much time before we headed out for lunch. Jinny took myself and Rachel out to a traditional restaurant where we ate Shabbu Shabbu (or at least that is how it sounds), which involves cooking an array of vegies, noodles, dumplings and thinly sliced beef in a broth and then dipping them in a wonderfully tangy sauce. The flavours here are just amazing, I am going to have to find a Korean recipe book for kimchi, bibimbap, shabbu shabbu and all the other wonderful dishes I have tried.

From my office window I can actually see the mountain ranges which divide the north from the south and there is a beautiful view of the president's palace called the Blue House. It is surrounded by guards and tanks for fear of attack from North Koreans who have made it into the country. I am hoping that one weekend I will be able to do an army tour of the demilitarised zone and view the negotiations room. It is interesting to compare the different attitudes towards the North Koreans. The Australians in the embassy have been several times and don't show any fear so much as sadness for the people over there, whereas the South Korean people would not dare go anywhere near even the border. A block away is the US embassy which has a staff of 400 people and their own building, we only have the 19th floor of one building!

I also witnessed another cultural difference at taekwondo tonight. Every person has their traditional uniform called a Dobok but apparently women are supposed to wear a shirt underneath as the uniform has a v-neck. In Korea that is apparently too much skin and so even though my master understands western culture (as he taught in the United States), the other girls in the class asked if i could wear a shirt underneath to cover my skin. This was a bit embarrassing at the time but again, just goes to show how different the two cultures are. The amusing fact is, that Koreans can show as much skin on their legs as they want- to the point where women walk upstairs with their handbags tucked behind their backs to stop people from seeing their underwear. It is confusing.

Training taekwondo is amazing here though. They are meticulous in their technique and force you to practice until you have all the patterns (called Poomsae) and kicks engrained in your memory. Master Hur teaches in both English and Korean and so I am slowly learning more words. He also teaches a separate martial art called Gumdo, which is the art of the sword and is really fascinating as there are so few schools in Australia which teach this curriculum let alone have such a recognised teacher. My forearms are sore though because the sword is extremely heavy and a lot of the moves require lunging and balancing.

Tomorrow I will be going to POSCO, the second largest iron ore steel mill in Korea. We are going to tour around the plant and see how our Western Australian iron ore is transformed into steel for cars and industry. This trip was organised by Jinny and the AKF and so we are extremely lucky as we will be able to see what life is like outside of Seoul. we are also lucky that we are heading south towards the equator as it will be -14 degrees tomorrow and i don't think i can fit any more layers of clothing on!

Another day, another adventure!

I was met with the glow of buzzing neons and two boundless highways lined with shimmering orange lights as my KE122 flight from Sydney to Seoul descended on Wednesday night.

The earth beneath us was far from the flat, parched land that is Australia. Instead, as I pressed up against the cabin window, I could see mountainous terrain that seemed to undulate below. Seoul appeared so alive and endearing, and my heart began to race in anticipation of landing...

I have decided to give you a more interesting perspective of what I am currently doing... cue slide show!

I have been in Korea for 3 nights and 2 days. And I am still alive!

Finding Korea Unviersity was difficult on the first night as not even the taxi drivers new exactly where the CJ International Dormitory was. I was very lucky that on the bus from the airport I met a man who spoke fluent English and was so nice that he caught the cab with me to make sure I reached my destination safely!

“I’m going to Korea,” I excitedly tell anyone who’ll listen. “I’ve got an internship at a newspaper over there.”

“Oh, really?” comes the response. “I didn’t know you spoke Korean!”

“I don’t,” I reply. “It’s at an English-language paper.”

Annyong Haseyo!

Hello! Let me introduce myself- my name is Cassandra O'Connor and I have just completed my third year of my media and communications degree at the University of Sydney. For those who know me well, I am a martial arts fanatic, book worm, and journalist in the making. Those who know me too well couldn't tell you how much I have wanted to go to Korea.

There is approximately fifteen hours between myself and touching down in Incheon- South Korea's international airport. I have a pocket guide to Korean Phrases and a poor accent I have adopted from my Taekwondo master- who has visited Seoul on several occasions. Surprisingly my preparation for this trip did not begin with a language book, or articles or reading the newspaper, rather for the past three years I have been practicing Korea's national sport, Taekwondo. I am hoping to train at the World Headquarters and watch some of the most skilled and talented athletes in the world. Whilst I know Korean words for stop, start, run and kick... I would never make it through the airport by myself and so I wisely invested in a language guide.