Orientation - Bars, Food and Soju

Although we had a curfew of midnight (which thankfully actually kept us in check on getting a decent night's sleep), everyone partied hard each night to be sure to experience as much of Korea as possible right from the get go. This is the main downtown area of Daejeon that is full of bars, clubs and noraebang (singing rooms/karaoke).
Most of the bars have really funny names in English. Our favorites in Daejeon were "The the the", "Ho Bar", and "Any Beer". For all of which, it was a necessity that they serve soju. It's a Korean liquor that is similar to vodka and is actually the most sold liquor in the entire world, even though it's primarily sold in Korea. (Gives you an idea of how much they drink it here)
We were lucky enough to get to try many, many different foods at orientation, some Korean and some not, but I never got a chance to take pictures of them all. The next few pictures are examples are some of the ones I remembered to photograph or found someone else that did.
This is the bibimbap we had on our field trip to Jeonju. As you can see in the background, the table is also covered in the Korean banchan, or side dishes. These are communal dishes that are shared by the whole table and always come free at restaurants. They say there are 3 "services" (free things) guaranteed at a Korean restaurant: water, side dishes, and service (or waiter - meaning, no tips!).

The lunches and dinners during orientation weren't always the most glamorous or best tasting, but sometimes we got really good stuff. For example, the curry rice and udon noodles.
For our final dinner at orientation, they prepared an gigantic feast. Every single item they served was delicious and a steal. Everyone loaded and stacked the plates to the point of tipping food, but most (including myself) could barely finish half of what they took. These foods included ribs, spaghetti, spring rolls, sandwiches, shrimp, pork, duck, kimbap, corn soup, rice, cream puffs, cookies, and mini cakes! Got to hand it to the cooks, it was a better send off dinner than I could have ever possibly imagined.

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