korea adventures
Weekly updates about the things I'm up to. Mainly so my grandma doesn't worry too much about me.
Over the past days, I have done a lot of exploring around Seoul utilizing the amazing metro and bus system.
August 25th My friend and I spent the afternoon exploring around the heart of Seoul. We rode the train to Ewha Woman's University station to do a little bit of shopping. There were quite a handful of vendors selling clothes for super cheap (10,000 won and under), but I didn't find anything that was my style. We grabbed lunch in Sinchon at BoxQuare, which kind of reminded me of SALT in Kaka'ako. There's a good variety of food vendors and a few retail stores. I tried basil ramen - it was pretty good, but the best part of my meal was that it came with Yakult. After eating lunch, we walked to both Ewha Woman's University and Yonsei University to take a look around their beautiful campuses. Both campuses had stunning architecture and were so green. I am very impressed with the landscaping and cleanliness of all the campuses I have seen in Seoul. Before heading back to our goshiwon, I had my first bingsu at a Twosome Place, and I also bought 4 gigantic Korean pears and a bunch of bananas on the side of the road. I heard that fruits and vegetables are pricey in Korea, so when I found fruits that were cheaper than they would be in Hawaii, I had to buy it. August 26th Because the day before consisted of a lot of walking, I decided to take it easy on my legs once again. I grabbed lunch with another SNU student from UH and went for bingsu (bingsu count: 2) at Korean Dessert Cafe. I remember the last time I came to Korea, Korean Dessert Cafe was my favorite place for dessert, but to be honest, I thought the bingsu at Jejubing in Ala Moana was better. August 27th I spent the day with Justina exploring around the city. I met up with her at Ewha, and I taught her how to ride the bus! We went to one of the I Seoul U signs on the Hangang River. The park was super empty and offered amazing views of Seoul and the Namsam Seoul Tower. We rode the bus to Myeongdong, where we ate Korean BBQ. This has been my most expensive meal so far at 15,000 won (tax included and no tipping necessary). Thank you Justina for eating all the octopus and letting me eat the beef <3. I love that eating out is much more affordable than at home! We also shopped around in the Lotte Department Stores. Like Japan, the basements of Korean department stores are filled with food vendors. Justina and I will definitely be eating here the next time we are in Myeongdong. We exchanged money in Myeongdong and walked down the street with the Chinese Embassy to find the best rate. There's probably about four money exchanges on this street, and we ended up exchanging at a really good rate (1,167 won per USD). I'm not sure if all money exchanges require a passport, but the one we went to did. We didn't have our passports with us, but the worker accepted our Hawaii drivers license instead. I heard that you will receive a better rate if you have larger bills, but this did not hold true for me. August 28th In the morning, I met up with Justina and Natalie at a Twosome Place. I spent the rest of the day with Justina, and she showed me around Ewha's campus, including her dorm. We ate lunch in Hongdae at a Japanese restaurant and also went to the LINE and Kakao friends stores. August 29th Today was my first time meeting two of my fellow SGLs in person! We spent the entire day at COEX mall in Gangnam. I rode the train to the mall, and to my surprise, there was a McDonald's right outside of the train station! I 100% believe that McDonald's breakfast is better than the lunch menu, so I had to buy myself a hashbrown, since it was before 10:30AM. With the conversion rate and pricing, my hashbrown was only 86 cents! There is so much to do at the COEX mall and the area surrounding it. The COEX mall is famous for the Starfield Library, which you have probably seen all over the internet. It was cool to see it in person, but to be honest, it wasn't as cool as some of the pictures I've seen online. We ate lunch in the basement of the Hyundai Department Store. We ordered from a kiosk, which had a bunch of vendors serving a wide variety of food. When you are done ordering, it will ask you for a phone number, and it will send you a text message indicating that your food is ready to be picked up and which vendor it is at. I love how tech savvy Korea is! The Hyundai Department Store also has really cool elevators and a rooftop garden. After eating lunch, we went to the COEX Aquarium. It was a lot cheaper to purchase tickets online from Klook. Even though it was a very kids oriented aquarium, I really enjoyed the different types of animals and themes. After the aquarium, we got dessert from a 100 flavor Baskin Robbins and shared a 10 flavor flight. There were definitely some interesting flavors, but we will be back another 9 times to taste all 100 flavors! Lastly, we walked across the street to the Bongeunsa Temple. August 30th One of my friends who goes to Yonsei University doesn't have class on Mondays (just like Shidler, haha), so I spent the day with him. We went to Bukchon Hanok Village, which is a traditional village located at the top of a hill. We had a little bit of trouble finding the village, which meant we did a lot of uphill walking, but the view was absolutely rewarding. We did not realize that people still live in the Hanok (Korean houses), but there was a lady walking around with a vest stating "talk quietly." Located right down the road from the Village is the Gyeongbokgung Palace (3,000 won for admission). We spent an hour walking around the palace grounds, and there was so much more to see than we had expected. Connected to one of the side exits of the Palace is the National Folk Museum of Korea. Since admission was free, we decided to take a look inside. I didn't really know what would be inside a Folk museum, but it was cool to see the artwork and learn about Busan. To complete our day of lots of walking, we stopped at a place for bingsu (bingsu count: 3).
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At noon on the 15th day of quarantine, I was finally able to go outside! I was planning on changing goshiwon rooms to get a room on a higher floor, so I went to look at other rooms available. I am surprisingly in one of the biggest rooms, so I decided to stay in the same room I quarantined in. I also took out all of my trash and water bottles that have been sitting in my room for the past 14 days. Korea has a very particular recycling system, but luckily my host was able to help me sort out my trash. I had to take off all of the stickers in order to recycle my plastic water bottles properly. The goshiwon host also showed me the different amenities in the building, such as the washing machine, dining room, kitchen, and rooftop. My goshiwon has free rice, kimchee, and ramen!
I always had this assumption that SNU was "out of the city," but once I left my goshiwon, I was pleasantly surprised with how much there would be to do around the area. There are tons of places to eat, including a bunch of American chains, such as Baskin Robbins, a Starbucks Reserve, and Krispy Kreme. There is also a Daiso, which was super convenient to buy small household items. I spent my first few hours of freedom walking around the main road and grabbed Korean food for lunch with another exchange student from Spain. We also went to walk around SNU's campus, which was absolutely beautiful. The only downside is that the campus is on a gigantic hill. On my second day of freedom, I went to visit my friend who is doing the Korean Flagship program at Korea University. I loaded my T-money card at the convenience store (you MUST pay with cash to reload the card) in order to ride the bus and train. I'm not familiar with the train and bus system in Korea, so I downloaded the main navigation apps used in Korea (Naver Map and Kakao Map). However, those maps weren't English friendly, and I found Google Maps to work perfectly fine for public transportation. I was a little bit confused in the train station because I wasn't sure which train was going in the right direction. After about an hour, I arrived at KU's campus, which was so beautiful! We grabbed lunch at McDonald's, and I had an Egg Bulgogi Burger with mozzarella sticks and a strawberry soft serve! We also rode the train to Hongdae to check out the LINE friends (BT21) and Kakao Friends stores. We finished the day with the Myeong-dong Shopping Street. By the end of the day, I walked almost 10 miles, and my legs were burning from the hills the day before. I am so happy to be out of quarantine! |
AuthorStudying abroad at Seoul National University! Archives
December 2021
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