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So i am thinking of spending my time a few weeks or months in korea to participate in gsl. There are a few things i need to know though. Firstly :
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
3) During my stay, i would like to join a korean clan (not to be confused with team). But i couldn't find info on how to join. So if anyone has any info about that, i would appreciate it if you could share it with me.
I had planned to go to korea in december (perfect time since it would be snowing at that period) but i reconsidered after that incident with artilery shells being fired at yongpodong island (not sure
what the exact name of the island is).
It's hard enough trying to communicate with fresh off the boat asians in australia, so i presume that speaking english to koreans will be next to hopeless (unless i get lucky).
  
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I think that if a war with the Koreans start, the US (i think thats were you are from) would still allow airlines.
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Theres's a lot of foreign presence in Itaewon.
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Vatican City State2594 Posts
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There has been many little conflicts between the north and south, that shouldn't stop you from going.
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Calgary25977 Posts
It sounds like you've really thought this through lol.
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NeverGG
United Kingdom5399 Posts
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
I've heard there are provisions in the event of this happening for US citizens in SK etc, but tbh no one here really seems to care either way upon a daily basis. It shouldn't put you off coming here since who knows what could happen to us tomorrow - you could just as easily get hit by a bus, and by worrying too much and not coming you'll only miss out on what could be a really great trip imo.
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
There's a sort of foreigner area around Itaewon, but it's really dirty and generally not worth going to unless you're craving a particular type of foreign food you can't find elsewhere in Seoul. (Or if you want to buy certain foreign foodstuffs and cheap secondhand books.) Most things cater for English speakers here anyway, so there's not usually much of a problem with short term stays provided you learn how to read hangul (which is easy) and pick up some basic phrases before coming over.
Depending upon where you go in Seoul there will be more English speakers in my experience - touristy areas like Myeongdong, Gangnam etc seem to have more English speaking shop staff. There are also English help desks in quite a lot of the bigger malls like Yongsan's I-Park or Samseong's COEX.
You can also use sites like meetup.com to meet other foreigners here. I organized a meet up only yesterday and met a load of really nice people I wouldn't otherwise have been socialising with.
Also most maps, all public transport and lots of restaurant menus have english to help you out.
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Man it does not sound like you're the kind of guy who should be doing something like this.
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If you plan to participate in the GSL and your first thought is about your safety in case of a war between SK and NK, then you probably shouldn't go at all. Even under the assumption that a war won't erupt, there still might be armed conflicts like the shelling of an island.
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On March 13 2011 17:59 frodoguy wrote:
So i am thinking of spending my time a few weeks or months in korea to participate in gsl. There are a few things i need to know though. Firstly :
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
3) During my stay, i would like to join a korean clan (not to be confused with team). But i couldn't find info on how to join. So if anyone has any info about that, i would appreciate it if you could share it with me.
I had planned to go to korea in december (perfect time since it would be snowing at that period) but i reconsidered after that incident with artilery shells being fired at yongpodong island (not sure
what the exact name of the island is).
It's hard enough trying to communicate with fresh off the boat asians in australia, so i presume that speaking english to koreans will be next to hopeless (unless i get lucky).
I'm pretty sure you have to be like top 300 masters in korean to participate in GSL, can you accomplish that?
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On March 13 2011 20:25 darmousseh wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2011 17:59 frodoguy wrote:
So i am thinking of spending my time a few weeks or months in korea to participate in gsl. There are a few things i need to know though. Firstly :
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
3) During my stay, i would like to join a korean clan (not to be confused with team). But i couldn't find info on how to join. So if anyone has any info about that, i would appreciate it if you could share it with me.
I had planned to go to korea in december (perfect time since it would be snowing at that period) but i reconsidered after that incident with artilery shells being fired at yongpodong island (not sure
what the exact name of the island is).
It's hard enough trying to communicate with fresh off the boat asians in australia, so i presume that speaking english to koreans will be next to hopeless (unless i get lucky). I'm pretty sure you have to be like top 300 masters in korean to participate in GSL, can you accomplish that?
Yes, i think i am. Haven't checked the rank but i got over 2k points.
On March 13 2011 19:11 Zim23 wrote:
Man it does not sound like you're the kind of guy who should be doing something like this.
Whats that supposed to mean?
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On March 13 2011 20:29 frodoguy wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2011 20:25 darmousseh wrote:On March 13 2011 17:59 frodoguy wrote:
So i am thinking of spending my time a few weeks or months in korea to participate in gsl. There are a few things i need to know though. Firstly :
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
3) During my stay, i would like to join a korean clan (not to be confused with team). But i couldn't find info on how to join. So if anyone has any info about that, i would appreciate it if you could share it with me.
I had planned to go to korea in december (perfect time since it would be snowing at that period) but i reconsidered after that incident with artilery shells being fired at yongpodong island (not sure
what the exact name of the island is).
It's hard enough trying to communicate with fresh off the boat asians in australia, so i presume that speaking english to koreans will be next to hopeless (unless i get lucky). I'm pretty sure you have to be like top 300 masters in korean to participate in GSL, can you accomplish that? Yes, i think i am. Haven't checked the rank but i got over 2k points.
with 2k points you are not top 300. You are like 2500 on Korean ladder. Korean ladder is harder but on EU, 2k masters means (for most of the players) that you understand the game a bit and know a few builds, play like a few games every now and then and thats it.
I would try to get a Korean account and ladder for a month every day. See where you get and check your ranks at sc2ranks.com
Actually I cannot believe you didnt check your rank once if you plan to participate in GSL
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lol 2k masters is #2,381 (82.67% of 2,880, 17th percentile) on the korean server.
Although, with 2k points, you must have a bonus pool which is rather large, so who knows ~!
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Dont you have to be top 200 to participate in the qualifier ?
Also lol if you actually think that these are all the things you have to consider.
Anyways good luck trying !
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Dont listen to the naysayers, if you wanna go, go, but be prepared, everyone in the GSL practice 10 hours per day or more, can you deal with that?
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On March 13 2011 17:59 frodoguy wrote:
So i am thinking of spending my time a few weeks or months in korea to participate in gsl. There are a few things i need to know though. Firstly :
1) Suppose that a war with north korea started. Does that mean i will be stuck in the country? Will the airlines still be operational?
2) Just like there is a chinatown, koreatown and other minority communities in western countries, is there a community like that in korea for foreigners of english speaking background?
3) During my stay, i would like to join a korean clan (not to be confused with team). But i couldn't find info on how to join. So if anyone has any info about that, i would appreciate it if you could share it with me.
I had planned to go to korea in december (perfect time since it would be snowing at that period) but i reconsidered after that incident with artilery shells being fired at yongpodong island (not sure
what the exact name of the island is).
It's hard enough trying to communicate with fresh off the boat asians in australia, so i presume that speaking english to koreans will be next to hopeless (unless i get lucky).
1. If war breaks out, in the 1st 20mins, 1M Seoul residents will be dead as the artillery fire hits Seoul (as you can't block artillery shells). If you can survive that you have about 1 day to try to make it out of the city and make your way towards Busan. If you survive another 2 more days, you'll be safe as the US aircraft carriers will have blocked off any further push by NK. Otherwise, if are still stuck in Seoul and have internet access, you can contact me and I'll get you a rifle and we can go hunting NK soldiers if you're up for it. I definitely will be doing that by hooking up with friends and going to the army reserve posts, you're welcome to join me.
2. Like NeverGG mentioned, you don't really want to hang out there where all the foreigners hang out, its like a neighborhood that forgot that the 80's were over a long time ago, it very much feels like a US army area, except that surprisingly there are some really great foreign restaurants there. So if you want to go to foreigner friendly area, just hang out at COEX mall, I can't really say its foreigner friendly but its very modern so it won't seem uncomfortable.
3. If you can't speak Korean whatsoever, you won't generally be able to join a clan for fun because Koreans who game all the time generally don't speak a lick of English. But I'd say, go to a big nice PC bang and just ask to play with the older kids there and then they might be able to help you out, just tell them. 'Starcaft Korean Clan, Me join, Help me!' and they will get it and then direct you to a clan site which will likely be on naver.com as a cafe which you wouldn't have access to because you need Korean ID to log on to it if they made it private or you'll have to write them for access to the site. If you can speak and type Korean, I'd guess it would be relatively easy by just joining a Korean bnet channel and asking around a bit.
Otherwise, I'm sure you'll have fun visiting, just remember, if someone offers you a drink, just shoot in one shot and you'll make lots of friends. ^^
edit. ah I just re-read the top part of your post about playing in GSL (I was wondering about the strong reactions from the other posters) mmm...then for #3 have no idea what you should do.
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On March 13 2011 22:14 MightyAtom wrote:
1. If war breaks out, in the 1st 20mins, 1M Seoul residents will be dead as the artillery fire hits Seoul (as you can't block artillery shells). If you can survive that you have about 1 day to try to make it out of the city and make your way towards Busan. If you survive another 2 more days, you'll be safe as the US aircraft carriers will have blocked off any further push by NK. Otherwise, if are still stuck in Seoul and have internet access, you can contact me and I'll get you a rifle and we can go hunting NK soldiers if you're up for it. I definitely will be doing that by hooking up with friends and going to the army reserve posts, you're welcome to join me.
War with NK ever happens, I'm contacting MightyAtom.
Epic Businessman,
Korean Rambo.
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I've already started work on my frodoguy cheerful
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Actually foreigners are exempted from the top 200 requirement no?
I seem to remember that fxoboss and vt's manager allowed to participate. ( unless they really were top 200 then ignore what i said)
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This is just another topic like the ones near release who said they were going to try and compete. What happened with them?
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EPT
