We had one final day to rest and be tourists on Friday, and after breakfast, Amelia and I got coffee at a spot right beside our hotel called Abu’s. I got cold brew with thick vanilla cream mixed in, and it tasted as delicious as it looks in the photo below! If you haven’t been able to tell from my frequent mentions of it, coffee is an extremely popular commodity in Korea, and there are even more unique shops along the streets of Seoul than there are in major American cities. We went back to the bookstore to look around some more after coffee, and I got a miniature study score of Bach’s Mass in B Minor to add to my conducting scores!
In Korea, baseball is extremely popular, and the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has 10 teams. One of the best teams is the LG Twins who are based in the Jamsil neighborhood of Seoul, and they’re Dr. Ahn’s favorite team! I’ve heard her talk about them over the years (especially when they won the 2023 KBO Championship), so I made a trip to their stadium in the afternoon. They were originally scheduled to play the Doosan Bears before it got rained out, but it was still nice to walk around the stadium complex. The complex was also home to Seoul’s Olympic Stadium, which hosted the Olympic Games in 1988 and the World Cup in 2002! I got an LG Twins jersey at a nearby store, then headed to Lotte World Mall one more time to do some final souvenir shopping before returning to the hotel to rest and pack.
This morning, we had one last breakfast at the hotel before we had time to finish packing and depart for the airport. As I write this, I’m sitting at our gate, and we begin boarding in about 15 minutes to fly to Dallas before connecting to Louisville. To close out the blog, I want to take time to thank Dr. Hatteberg and Dr. Ahn for their work to make this trip a possibility musically and logistically. The general public hears the music, but they don’t realize nearly how many hours behind the scenes were spent working for months to make this trip happen. In particular, Dr. Ahn’s work to communicate with Korean directors here, plan concerts, and iron out other logistics while serving as our translator should not go unrecognized. Once we were on the ground in Seoul, our Korean graduate students Jeena, Minji, and Dongcheol all served as de facto tour guides and translators to help us navigate and experience their home country, and I’m grateful for their kindness and patience in welcoming us to Korea. Finally, I’m grateful to you for taking the time to read my blog posts! I’ve enjoyed documenting my experiences and reflections for myself to look back on, and I hope my writing has helped you enjoy our trip vicariously as well. Please pray for our safe travels back to Louisville, and thank you for reading!
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