Kansas City

Day 28 (Jan 16) St. Louis - Kansas City
I got my stuff together by 1pm, and Willy gave me a ride to the train to get back to the main station. The bus ride to Kansas City lasted 5 hours, and I was completely dead by then. Hailey picked me up from the bus station, and took me back to her place. She goes to University of Missouri Kansas City, and lives by campus. Her place was very cute, and her roommates were really nice.


Day 29 (Jan 17) Kansas City, MO - Kansas City, KS - Kansas City, MO
Hailey was working all day, so she couldn't really hang out. I decided to go to Kansas City, Kansas for a few hours to see what was there. I missed my connecting bus, so I decided to go to walk because I figured it wouldn't be too far. BIG MISTAKE! I completely forgot about the Kansas River, and that I would have to find some way to cross it, meaning I would need to find a bridge that allows pedestrian crossing.
It took a while walking through some dingy warehouse district. Some guys I passed along the way were warning me to be careful that I wasn't in the nicest neighborhood. I wasn't really worried, and nothing happened to me. I got safely to the other side, looked around for a while, then took the bus back to the Missouri side.
Everyone I asked about what there was to see mentioned the National World War I Museum. I knew quite a bit about World War II, but not too much about the first one, so I figured it'd be interesting to go there and learn what I could. The museum was well worth it. There were a lot of great exhibits, videos, and some interactive areas as well. There was a tower to go to the top and get a view of Kansas City, but the elevator was broken, so I never got up there.
When I got back to Hailey's, Quinn came to pick me up from her place. Quinn's a guy I went to school with in Tokyo, and we never hung out too much there, but he was in Geeta's architecture class, so I saw him a lot there when I was in her office working. He took me to Gate's, a pretty famous BBQ place in Kansas City. KC is famous for their BBQ, especially their burnt ends, which I never got a chance to try because the serving size was huge. I just ordered what Quinn did, beef on a bun, which is sliced pieces of beef in BBQ sauce on a bun. It looked kind of like a sloppy joe, and it didn't look that appetizing. After I took my first bite, I totally changed my mind! I now know why KC is famous for this stuff, because a day later I could still taste the BBQ flavor in my mouth. It was absolutely delicious, and I wish there was somewhere else I could try this stuff again because I doubt I'll ever be back to KC.


Day 30 (Jan 18) Kansas City - Philadelphia
Last day of my Midwest adventure… Pretty much running out of money, and tired. I just stayed at Hailey's packing my stuff so that it would look small enough to pass as a carry on, and watching some movies. My flight was at 4:35pm, and I got to Philly at 10pm. If you take into account the time difference, that was only 4 1/2 hours total with flights and layover in Memphis! Not bad at all. Tomorrow is a chill day at home running some errands, then on to New York and Boston on Wednesday!!

Wow, 30 DAYS!! Can't believe it.... Such an adventure.

The overall impression I got about Missouri is that all the people here are super friendly and super helpful. I got warned by quite a few people about being by myself in bad areas, which I had to cross a few times, but I never met anyone along the way that looked like they would harm me. People always smile when you walk past them, unlike Philly where no one ever makes eye contact. I love the accents here for sure. I had a lot of random black guys asking me for my number, and my telling them that I was leaving the state and never coming back didn't seem to deter them. They just shrugged and asked if they could get my number again. I guess that's just a quirk of Missouri. I had some other girls tell me that they've experienced that as well.

I got my flight details for Korea finally! I will arrive on February 6th at 4:50pm at Incheon International Airport. This will be my first time flying Korean Air. I've heard nothing but good things about that airline, their service, and their meals. I can't wait for that. Also, my friend works at the airport for that airline, so I hope he's working the day I get in.

At this point, the plan is to go to Seoul on Saturday, stay at Bina's house, run some errands Sunday, then get to Jochiwon (조치원) on Sunday night where my orientation is. Seoul To Do list: cellphone in Dongdaemun, piercings in Hongdae (maybe), banjo in Nakwon (maybe).