On the 5^th of April, or what is commonly known in Korea as a national Tree Planting Day, the KDIS family set off to climb the Bukhan Mountain on the outskirts of Seoul. Green sweatshirts gathered around the main gate of the campus before boarding on the buses which took us to the far ends of the capital city.

Once out of the bus, cameras emerged from here and there pocketing precious little moments of our journey to the top of the formidable mountain. Hand in hand, students and faculties alike aided each other in the adventure. Utmost fortunately, the rain did not join us along the trip providing us with beautiful and breathtaking sceneries on the way. When the fools of April reached the top of the rocky mountain, we gathered around in several picnic groups, small and big, and feasted upon the food and beverage provided and prepared by the school faculty. Surely, water could never have tasted better after a long climb to the top, and nothing truly beats a good meal after a hard day’s work.

After the al fresco, we gathered into a single group in front of the Bukhan Mountain castle’s gateway to draw the winners of the raffle. Winners were given various prizes as our GMP representative called out the ticket numbers. Unfortunately, winning a raffle had no correlation with getting to the mountain top first, amongst which I was a part of. It was truly a life lesson learnt: take time to appreciate the beauty around you when you climb to the top, to you goal, and towards your dream.

On our way down the mountain, we embraced the beauty and sceneries of water splashing valleys and the greenery. After the descent, we feasted in the local restaurant located beside the valley stream. Listening to the natural song played by the water ripples and the smooth stones, as well as the chirping of the birds add to the flavor of our traditional tofu, fish and seafood cakes, and the savory “Makgeoli.” Lastly, we weren’t drunken enough to leave anyone behind on our way back!

By Cha, Taejun (2013 MDP, Korea)