korea adventures
Weekly updates about the things I'm up to. Mainly so my grandma doesn't worry too much about me.
This week had my last midterm! I'll have a slight break from studying until finals begin in early December. I do have a 10 page Korean History paper to write, so I will also have to work on that in the upcoming weeks. Time is flying by, and I can't believe it's already November!
When I first arrived in Korea, I tried a chain called Pizza School, and it is known for its interesting pizza toppings. I've been thinking about the different pizza flavors, so for lunch on Monday, I picked up a sweet potato pizza. The sauce that they put on the pizza is super good, and it's made fresh! I will be back another day to try some of their other weird flavors. I've also been trying the different bagged drinks from the convenience stores, and I had the grapefruit ade. The ades are really sweet, so it tastes good when watered down. I had my third and final midterm on Tuesday, so it is nice to have a break until finals start in early December. After classes on Tuesday, I went for a walk in the Gwanaksan Park. It is crazy how much the leaves have changed color since the last time I went about a month ago. There is still some green, but the majority of trees are a beautiful brown, yellow, or red. It's so cool experiencing a real fall for the first time! I had a very, very long day on Wednesday. Due to the Hawaii time difference, I had an interview at 5:15AM, followed by 3 more events, class that ended at 5:30PM, and ended the day meeting with my friends to plan a trip. I thought that drinking a bagged hazelnut latte from the convenience store would make me feel energized, but it actually made me feel so sick when trying to sleep. I have been trying to get my body adjusted to coffee, but I think my stomach is not a big fan. I do enjoy the taste of coffee, so I guess I will suffer until my stomach gets used to it. I also think the coffee beans in Korea are different because I would never be so affected by the coffee at home. As a reward for making it through the long day, I bought myself a chocolate scone from a bakery near the Gwanak Office. On Wednesday afternoon, I received an email from HireDiversity (ARC company) that I needed to get my fingerprints scanned. I was quite confused because when I went to get my fingerprints scanned three weeks ago, the lady said they already had it on file. I knew that that was probably wrong because that was not the case for anyone else, but I did not want to make a big deal about it. I faced the consequences of not speaking up. On Thursday morning, I went to the same building I went to three weeks ago to get my fingerprints scanned and found out that this wasn't the right place to go to. The place I was actually supposed to go to was the Seoul Immigration Office, which was about an hour away. I hurried to the train station because I had a meeting at 11:30, and it was already 9:15. Luckily, when I got to the immigration office, there was no line to get my fingerprints scanned, and I was able to make it to my meeting on time. I am still quite frustrated that this happened, and now I'm worried that I will not get my ARC in time. Everyone else from SNU already got theirs, but I will just have to wait for now. On Friday, I went to a Hawaii themed restaurant for dinner in the Parnas Mall, which is connected to Coex. I was really craving an acai bowl, so I got one that had strawberries, bananas, and blueberries on it. It definitely wasn't as good as home, but it was enough to satisfy my craving. The acai bowl was rather small, so I also got this mashed potato and egg dish from EggSlut. Inside a lot of higher-end malls, there are a lot of sales going on for the beginning of Fall. In the open spaces where people typically walk, vendors are selling coats/warm clothes for up to 90% off. It's crazy to think that these vendors have so much trust in people; if stores sold clothes like this in the US, it would probably get stolen. After dinner, I went to the Olympic World Park because there was a giant statue of the red light green light doll from Squid Game. The doll is already creepy but seeing her at night in the middle of an empty park was even creepier. On Saturday, my SNU buddy group went to a place called Sports Monster located in Hanam, which is about 1.5 hours away from SNU Station. We met up at Jamsil station for lunch at a cafe called Cafe Mamas, and I had a mushroom panini. I always find it so interesting how some restaurants alter the food, as my panini had cranberries in it, but it actually tasted really good. Sports Monster was a lot of fun, and there was so much to do inside. There was a trampoline, digital racing, and even karaoke, but the most fun activity was a 6 course obstacle. For the obstacle, we were about 25 feet up in the air, and not all parts of the obstacle had a net below. We were wearing a helmet and harness, but the fact of not having a net below really made my adrenaline rush. In the course, we got to jump from 8m, walk across unstable blocks of wood/rope, and rock climb! It was a bit scary but a lot of fun. We were only allowed to stay at Sports Monster for two hours, so we headed back to SNU station. For dinner, some of us ate at a Vietnamese restaurant in Sharosugil, and I had pho. I ate at a souffle pancake cafe on Sunday in Sharosugil. I ordered a fruit souffle, and it reminded me of the farmers market back at home, since it was topped with different fruits like figs, grapefruit, grapes, lilikoi, dragonfruit, and pineapple. I love how most of my fruit consumption during my exchange has been coming from desserts. After eating, we also picked up kimbap and made our way to Bukhansan National Park to hike. It was about 1.5 hours to get to the start of the trail via bus and train. The mountain was beautiful, and since it is fall, the leaves were beautiful on the path up. Unfortunately we started too late/the sun sets too early, so we decided that it would be best to turn around to avoid hiking back in the dark. In addition, since all of the leaves were falling, it made certain parts quite dangerous and slippery. We headed back to a transfer station and ate Indian food in the Lotte Mall. I had honey butter naan and a palak, and both items were delicious!
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AuthorStudying abroad at Seoul National University! Archives
December 2021
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