Time to say goodbye

This is now finally the third and last Newsletter I am writing to you. Time goes by as fast as the Korean KTX train speeds over the Korean peninsula. My semester abroad at the Ajou University in Suwon is now over. The final exams are done; all my belongings are either on a ship on the way home (hopefully) or ready to pack beside me. I will leave the dormitory tomorrow morning, heading to Jeju Island with my friends Claudia, Anita and her brother. Jeju Island is the Hawaii of Korea. It is located in the Japanese sea, between Japan and Korea. We will stay there for five days and then we will take a flight to Japan. There we're going to visit Tokyo and Yokohama, and we planned to climb the Mount Fuji (by cable car of course...). Then finally I will come back to Korea for another three weeks, to show this beautiful country to my parents, who will arrive here on July 3rd.

I am glad to move out of the dormitory. It is not really comfortable to live together with so many people in so little space. Privacy and some quiet time for oneself are terms which I only remember by definition. I had luck with the choice of my roommate Anita. We really had a great time together!

A brief resume of my stay in South Korea:

- I made many friends here, from all over the world. It is sad to leave, most of them I will see never again in my life (or maybe I will make a journey round the world, who knows). Some of them don't even have internet access in their home country. Keeping in touch with them will be difficult...

- I visited the DMZ (as you all know), the most impressive scenery I ever had the chance to see. I've even been there a second time, for a Pick nick with the Swiss NNSC delegation (They served Swiss cheese and Cervelats!!!!)

- I stayed in a Buddhist temple for two days. There I had a Temple dinner together with monks, meditated for hours and I even made 108 big bows each day (I could hardly walk the next five days... One big bow is to go down on your knees, to put the forehead on the floor and to stand up again. And I did that 216 times!!!!)

- I studied Korean language, one of the most difficult languages on the face of the planet (I was not very successful...)

- And many, many more things..... I will have many stories to tell when I'm back.

I have to go now and pack my stuff... But before I close, I would like to take the chance to thank all people who made this possible. I would like to say thank you to my parents and my brothers, my roommate Anita and all my friends in Switzerland, Korea and elsewhere.