korean stamina

last weekend was lots of fun - it was yon-ko-jung, which was ridiculous in itself. it's basically a huge event where yonsei (our school) plays against their rival school (korean university) in five sporting events (baseball, basketball, hockey, rugby, soccer). who knew koreans played rugby?

but what differentiated THESE particular sporting events from say a football game at dartmouth (besides the fact that we WON! GO YONSEI!) is that THOUSANDS of students show up - the stands were a sea of blue (yonsei) on one side and red (korean university) on the other side.

AND the fans spend the ENTIRE game not even watching the sporting event. They have a stage set up next to the field/court/whatever, on top of which are dancers who lead the crowd in cheers and dances.

i.e.


the fans cheered and danced and sang for HOURS. it was just CRAZZYYYY. i got tired after twenty minutes of cheering and screaming. but it was SO MUCH FUN. there's one song where you put your arms around the people on each side of you and you just sway in unison. so the entire crowd was swaying in one motion - i put my arm around someone i didn't even know but that was totally normal. i felt a certain connection to my school (yonsei), my people, and my country. it's cheesy and hard to describe but i just felt like a part of a bigger thing.