This weekend was the beginning of the world cup… Which is a big soccer tournament for those reading this that are in the states and don’t know what the world cup is! I had a few friends that I went to school with come down for Seoul for the weekend as well so it was nice to have some familiar faces around as well. Even though I’m sure it was probably much more crazy in Seoul than it was in Daegu, Daegu still did well for us! I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life! It was insane! There was a huge celebration complemented by fireworks at the start of South Korea’s first game. The park that we decided to go to was literally packed with people… literally. I’ve never seen that many people packed into that big of an area before. We got there a half hr before the game started and we were WAY too late. I heard of a few people who got there 2 hrs early and still couldn’t find a seat. Looking over the sea of red you notice beer being consumed, kimbob being eaten and red horns that light up on top of heads. It was quite the sight. We had a small hill the we deemed ours but it wasn’t that great of a spot because you couldn’t see the game, so we decided to trek over and try and find a seat closer where you might actually be able to see the game. Unsuccessful. It’s hard to imagine being in a park, with one absolutely enormous projection and two smaller one’s set up on the sides and still not being able to see a thing but that’s literally what was happening. The people on the edges, who couldn’t see, opted to watch on handheld TV’s or find nearby stores, coffee shops or bars that were broadcasting the game, which wasn’t hard to find because any and every bar that had a TV was broadcasting the game.
Korea defeats Greece 2-0! The scene was wild in downtown Daegu as well. There were people driving cars slowly, packed with people, front back and most of the cars had the trunk open with 2-3 people sitting in back, chanting the Korean equivalent of (U! S! A!). The USA team played England that night as well, but with the time difference it wasn’t being aired till 3:30 in the morning Korean time so needless to say ALL of the brits and many American’s conjugated to a place downtown that was big enough to fit everyone. There was quite a bit of shit talking before during and after the game but in the end it was a draw, another exciting game of soccer… but the comradery was great and everyone was there for a good time so it was a blast! All in all, besides a few breaks for food, we were out and about from 5 in the afternoon till 6 in the morning! It was a bit disheartening walking out of the bar at 5:30 in the morning and seeing the sun. Never a good feeling. Anyways, the weekend was a blast and I think my friends had a great time as well!
