So about 2 hours we found out that 5 of the Chinese students have to return home. TONIGHT. Or else the Chinese government is going to fine them $10,000 and they won't be able to return to Korea for 5 years. I guess what happened was their program at their university filed for a tourist visa (which is only for a month) instead of a student visa, and today it expired. Three of the students already left (they were taken out of class early) and we didn't even get to say goodbye. The remaining 2 are girls, and they decided to go shopping today, without a cell phone. So they are somewhere in Seoul, and they don't even know yet. The bad news for them is that the last plane for China already left for the evening, so I'm not sure how the Chinese government can impose such a high fine if they didn't even know until hours later. It's pretty scary for them, and pretty shocking for the rest of us. I am so thankful to be from USA and not have to have a visa to visit here.
The students were all talking, and they were all saying that USA is the hardest place to get a visa, unless you are a student. Each country is different, but you have to wait a long time and have a definite purpose for your stay. It's incredible to see the different view points of people and what they think of Americans. I was told that we are "fearless", don't get embarrassed, and say really cool stuff haha. Sometimes I feel like we're good guys, but sometimes not so much (like when my Chinese professor tells everyone how the US is taking all of their profit and that's why China and its people are so poor). I guess the real truth is in the eyes of each beholder.
Even though I wanted to go home earlier, now I take that back. Anything could happen, at anytime. So we just have to live it up, every moment.
CS
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