Koyeon Games (고연전) 2013: A Taste of School Spirit (Day 1)

Never had I experienced such overwhelming school spirit in my life.
And I enjoyed every second of it.
(I know, this post this over 1 year late, sorry!)

That one morning I took the slightly longer route to class from the dorms, I stumbled upon what I had been anticipating to happen during my first month at KU. The street was decorated with great red banners, zipping from one pole to another, carrying what appeared to be supportive messages in Hangeul from the stores/eateries that lined the street. Despite barely knowing much Korean (I was in the process of learning how to read Hangeul), I knew this was the beginning of the famous Koyon Games (고연전 - Koyon Jeon) - if you were a student of Yonsei University it's called Yonko Games (연고전 - Yonko Jeon).

The beginning of something amazing.

What are the Koyon Games?

To exaplain briefly, the Koyon Games is basically a series of sports varsity games held between 2 of the top 3 universitys in Seoul: Korea University vs. Yonsei University, near the end of September. Much like University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University's (formerly Leeds Met) varsity games. This is all held on the basis of friendly ongoing rivalry between the two universities. The difference between the Korean varsity games and Leeds' is that in Korea pretty much the entire student body takes part, all students are very involved with the friendly rivalry.
The actual games are held over a period of 2 days (Friday and Saturday), and a few weeks before it all happens people attend cheering orientations to get all riled up for the games and 're-learn' how to do the KU cheers (I will elaborate on this later).

Around the games period the area/neighbourhood surrounding the university would be decorated in banners of the universitys' respective colours: Korea = red, Yonsei = blue.
A majority of the businesses in the area at the time will hold special deals for the students of that area. In particular, on both nights of the games, drinking places (술집 - sool jib) will definitely hold celebratory offers and discounts - or alumnis would have paid them for it to happen, for us students. For example, one of the chicken places in Anam (KU's neighbourhood), for an hour or two, offered free beers/drinks just for KU students - because they had been paid for already by (rich) alumnis. The streets will be flooded with students in red, cheering and chanting their school's cheer anthems, regardless of whether they are drunk or sober - WARNING: those cheer songs will be stuck in your head for a good month.
As an exchange/international student you would be encouraged to partake in such an amazing event, KUBA will be there to guide you.

My first cheer orientation with KUBA

Cheering Orientation? Cheer Songs? What?

This may sound weird and unusual to us foreign students, but cheering at the games is serious business.
It's not your typical individualistic yells of encouragement, random whoop's and woo's here and there. South Korea is a Confucian country based on collectivism, the concept of being one is most important.

There are numerous cheering orientations held just weeks before the games happen. They often start small, held in autitoriums, department by department, and then escalate onto playing fields and gymnasiums where clusters of/all departments of the university attend and cheer together. The very last orientation is usually the most epic for it typically involves celebrity appearences (Infinity Challenge cheered with us in the 2013 games, and apparently them and G-Dragon turned up for the final oreintation) and fireworks - I didn't attend it sadly...

But why are cheering orientations necessary?
Students must learn how to sing the cheer songs (not necessary for us foreigners), and do the actions/dance. That's right.
The songs are usually cheesy instrumentals taken from well known (old) songs, lyrics changed to suit a KU-theme - often boasting how amazing KU is and how much Yonsei sucks. There are also dance moves (motions) attached to these songs, which makes the entire experience all the more fun. Luckily, the moves are pretty simple to remember and easy to do. If you forget on the day the KU Cheer Leaders in front will be dancing to remind us.
The KU Cheer Leaders are a group of people who know all the lyrics and dances to the songs, and are in charge of keeping up the morale and energy of the student body during the games by dancing on a podium in front of us to guide us through.

Domestic students normally would have already learnt the cheers from Ipselenti Festival back in May/June. The orientations that happen in September are purely there just to get them all into the school spirit again.

When KUBA took us to our first orientation, it was held in some auditorium on the Science campus.
The auditorium was just about big enough to hold all of us foreigners. Upon arrival, we were given the cheer song booklet of lyrics, and a red bag with the university's tiger emblem on it. We were then introduced as to what the Koyon Games were, shown a clip of the previous year's games, and then promptly ordered to get up from our seats as soon as some of the KUBA members walked on stage donning jackets that screamed borrowed-from-the-KU-Cheer-Leaders.

By the end of it, we were all sweating like crazy, most feeling tired and sore.

The most important games are held at the Olympic Stadiums

Day 1: Baseball, Hockey, & Basketball

KUBA informed us when the dates were for the games (28th and 29th September), and recommended us that we attend in either our KUBA tees or the KU tees - basically any red t-shirt. Avoid turning up in blue - that's Yonsei's colour.
What they forgot to the mention was to bring a bottle or two of cold water - ideally frozen, some snacks, a fan, a hat, and slap on a thick layer of sun cream cos boy was I hella tanned after. The free milk, bread, sun cream satchets, and annoyingly-loose paper hat given to you upon entry were simply not enough. Sure there are convenience stores and eateries near the station, but it's a bit of a walk.

In the morning we met up early in small groups to head to the Olympic Stadium area together to make sure no one got lost on the way - we took the subway from Anam to Jamsil. I believe we started heading out around or before 8am, simply to avoid rush-hour and the fact that most of the student body were going to arrive closer to the time the games started.

It wasn't hot in the morning, it rarely is in Korea. The morning was cool and refreshing, at times chilly, hence why in the picture you see some people donning their university jackets. But when it nears noon, temperatures rise and it becomes blistering hot. And that is exactly what happened on the  day.

Anyway, upon arriving at the station exit, the area was bustling with people/students in either red or blue. There were stalls set up with ajummas and ajusshis yelling and beckoning you to come over and buy their drinks/snacks. There's also some random tables managed by students, have no idea what they were for though...
We were promptly led up to the baseball stadium at which the opening ceremony and baseball game were to take place.

Free (sweet) bread and milk carton!

As we were lining up, there were people handing out free sweet breads in packets, and a carton of milk. Near the entrance we were given inflatable sticks, a fabric banner, and a booklet with some satchets of sun cream. Inside there was a man and some volunteers folding us some KU themed tiger hats from pieces of printed A3, this was optional, but I went for it anyway because memorabilia.
We were then lead to our seats in a zone that was pre-designated for KUBA members - it was close to the field. There we sat and waited for the opening ceremony to begin.

Free stuff: paper hat, blow up balloon sticks, cheer lyrics, and sun cream satchets.

Opening ceremony: KU

Opening ceremony: Yonsei

During the opening ceremony, they aired celebrity video messages on the large screens. I recall KU had received a message from Bora of Sistar (correct me if I'm wrong), and Yonsei got a message from EXO! Additionally, there were commercial video clips used: adverts, film trailers, etc. with fake subs poking fun at the opposing team. Unfortunately it was all in Korean, so I couldn't really understand.

Generally, I'm not a fan of sports, let alone watching sports. You can't expect me to now write about what happened in the baseball game. All I can say is we drew.

The baseball game

Sweating KU Cheer leaders in their MMORPG outfits

Cheer as hard as you can!!

For the 'Champs Elysees' and 'Red Sun' songs we need to wave around puffed up red bags.

And throughout the match we cheered, did the songs and dances, sweated and roasted under the sun. I felt particularly bad for the KU Cheer Leaders who were constantly drenched in sweat, donning layered attire where the designs seemed to have been inspired from classic medieval-style MMORPGs. They were terribly flappy with a lot of unecessary fabric, but I guess that's what makes them stand out and look amazing whilst dancing. The fabric's flappiness really exaggerated their moves, hopefully it provided them a bit of fanning action too.
Whenever KU scored, whatever track we were cheering on was halted immediately and was changed to a cheer track typically used for whenver KU scored goals. I found this highly amusing, because at times I saw some lost faces whenever the track changed. Hardly anyone in our area were focusing on the game. It's difficult anyway when you're cheering.

The KU side packed with students later on the match

Yonsei University's side later on the match

During half time many people opted to visit the small eateries lined up near the subway station for some lunch, and a cool can of beer.

Soon after the game ended, we were hurried out of the stadium to make our way to the next stadium for the ice hockey game. People who bought tickets to the basketball game left about 30 minutes before the end of the baseball game since the stadium was pretty far and started earlier than the ice hockey match - I think.
I didn't get tickets to the basketball match, which was a shame really because KU is famous for having the best university basketball team, hence why there are tickets sold and they always sell out fast. However, KU's notorious for always losing the ice hockey games to Yonsei, so tickets aren't really required.

Both the basketball and ice hockey match venues were at completely different locations. Had no idea where the ice hockey stadium was, but it was a 30 minute journey (or longer) to get there for sure. KUBA had a coach prepared to take us international students there, luckily.

Onto the next venue! To the coaches! Hockey game time! (yes that is the main Olympic stadium)

The ice hockey venue was cold inside (as expected), which was annoying since we were essentially facing bipolar temperatures in one day. Regardless, a little bit of cheering helped us warm up.
Unfortunately at this point I was drained of all energy, thanks to the early morning start and the intense cheering that happened at the baseball game. So I gave up cheering about a third of the way through and settled with just watching.

Let's get ready to cheer, again.

Huddle!

Let's go!

Watching intensly

The red bin bag 'balloons' in action

Strangely enough I found this match to be far more entertaining. There's something entrancing about trying to follow a fast moving puck, and watching Korean guys wearing gear that makes them appear twice their orignal size glide expertly across ice.

When the game ended, for the first time in years, KU drew with Yonsei.
(Though this year (2014) KU beat Yonsei in all 5 games!!! A real shame I missed that!!!)

The players lined up and bowed to the crowd a bunch of times.

Good game.

You did well guys!

KU had to end the match with the intense 'victory' song!

We left the venue shortly after, following KUBA buddies to the nearest subway station to take the train back home to Anam.

I was starving for a real meal on the train back, the KUBA buddy leading us at the time told us to follow her when we arrive back in Anam if we wanted to go eat. Unfortunately we somehow lost sight of her when we exited Anam station, so me and my 2 friends went off ourselves to Samtong Chicken (삼통 치킨) down the main street for some chicken and beer.

Man I miss that chicken (இ﹏இ`｡)

Day 2 coming up! (currently typing)