korea adventures
Weekly updates about the things I'm up to. Mainly so my grandma doesn't worry too much about me.
This was week 5 of classes, but I think it was my first full week with my finalized schedule and classes in full swing. The prior week was Chuseok and the weeks before that were spent rearranging my schedule and going over the syllabus. I can't believe I've been in Korea for almost two months now. I've been getting the hang of classes and managing my time. I definitely have much more free time compared to back at home, so I've been able to go out and explore.
I ruined my Monday tradition of eating at McDonald's before my class starts at 3:30PM. I spent the morning catching up on school work and went to the market. The weather is finally cooling down, but the leaves are still mostly green for now, with a few trees turning yellow. My walks up the hill are much more pleasant and less sweaty. When I go to the market, I typically buy vegetables, tofu, bananas, cereal, snacks, and yogurt. I am lucky to have a mini fridge in my room, so it is always good to have food on hand. I also felt pressured to watch Squid Games on Netflix because I saw so many references to the show, so I have been spending my nights watching it. After classes on Tuesday, I went to the Gwanaksan Park (I think that is the name). It is on the main road and further down the road from SNUs main gate. It is such a beautiful park, and there is even a path down to a stream. It also seems like there are a handful of hiking trails from that park, as well as a mini adventure area within the park. I definitely want to explore more of the park later. For dinner, I went to a French restaurant and had ratatouille. I don't think I've had ratatouille before, as I always thought it was a rat from the Disney movie. I am slowly eating my way through the restaurants near SNU station. Emily and I don't have class until 3PM on Wednesdays, so we decided to go to the dining hall on SNUs campus (building 63). Each department at SNU has their own food establishment, but I believe the Student Center cafeteria is one of the main places to get food. The SNU app and website show the different locations for food and the meals that day (tip: view it on your computer so you can translate it!). There is a kiosk and cashier to order from before entering the cafeteria where you can choose from one of three meals. If you show your SNU ID, the meal is discounted (the food is already really cheap though and ranges from 2,000-4,500 won). I believe my meal was originally 2,200 won, but with my ID, it was only 1,000 won (85 cents). It included rice, some kind of vegetable, soup, kimchee, and fish. We went at the rush hour, so it was really hectic inside, yet the lines moved really fast. There are a handful of seats outdoors, which was much more peaceful than the clattering of dishes inside. Also in building 63, there is the bookstore and souvenir shop. On Thursday, I went to an IBO EB meeting, but this weeks meeting was quite different. They had their first in-person meeting, and since I am the only one not on island, I was the only one on Zoom. It was quite weird talking to a bunch of people in a classroom through my computer, but I am happy to see that things are returning back to normal. After classes on Thursday, I was planning on going to the Seoul Station Museum, but we had trouble getting tickets. Instead we grabbed a late lunch (basically dinner) near SNU station. I learned that a lot of places close between 3-5 for a break, so we wandered around until most restaurants opened. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and I had a very cheesy quesadilla. For dessert, we went to a croffle (croissant + waffle) place nearby. This was my first time having a croffle, and it was so delicious. Friday is the beginning of my weekend, and I spent the afternoon hiking Gwanaksan. It seems like there are a lot of different trails that lead to the same destination, but I followed this guide. We rode the bus to the Construction Environment Research Institute on SNUs campus. It's pretty much straight uphill until you reached the top, but it is a safe hike (not windy and no narrow pathways). The best part of this hike is that most of the way up, it is covered by trees. A lot of older people hike in Korea, and they all wear outfits that look similar - leggings, waterproof jacket, and a mini visor. It was about 2 hours until we reached the top. Even though it was a little foggy that day, the views were amazing. At the top, there is the Gwanaksan Meteorological Radar Observation Station (we got there too late to enter) and the Yeonjudae Hermitage. The view from the top definitely made the hike up worth it, but my legs will need to rest for the next few days. On Saturday, I went to Incheon. When people think of Incheon, they often think of the airport, but it is such a beautiful city with so much more than the airport. It was definitely more laid back than the bustling city of Seoul, so it was nice to escape for a few hours. It was about an hour long train ride to Incheon. We went to Chinatown and had lunch there. I had soup dumplings and jajangmyeon. There were a handful of restaurants, which were all serving Korean/Chinese food. A lot of the vendors were also selling tanghulu (candied strawberries on a stick), so we had to try it! I thought it tasted good, despite the fact that the candied sugar got stuck in my teeth. We also went to the mural street and Jayu Park. Before heading back to Seoul, we picked up handmade sponges and moon cakes. On Sunday, I did a little more exploring around Seoul. We went to the Cheonggyecheon Stream, and there was an unusual amount of police in the area. I'm not sure why there were so many police, but there were also a lot of people watching a video on their phone sitting on the sidewalks. We grabbed lunch at Pig in the Garden, where my friend found a a little worm in his food. I was disturbed at first and was hesitant to eat my food, but as my dad would say, "builds immunity" - so I finished the rest of my meal. After lunch, we grabbed drinks from Tiger Sugar. I went to the location in Hawaii right before I left, and there are different offerings here in Korea. We also walked around Dongdaemun and Myeongdong. While in Myeongdong, we saw multiple street food vendors making the Dalgona Candy seen in Squid Game. I swear those vendors were not there when I came a few weeks ago.
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As someone who has barely any free time back at home, my body is still adjusting to the excess amount of time I have on my hands. Over the past few days, I walked around 8 miles per day, causing my feet were extremely sore, and I just needed a break from being outside. This week was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), which meant no classes from Monday-Wednesday. In addition, a lot of businesses were closed to celebrate the holiday, but a handful of chain stores remained open.
On Monday, I went to watch Shang Chi at the MegaBox Theater in Sinchon. This was my first time in a Korean theater, and the overall experience was pretty similar to the US. When we went, there were only two other groups watching the movie. The movie was primarily in English with Korean subtitles, but when there was Chinese narration, the subtitles were in both English and Korean. I was never a big fan of Marvel movies, but Shang Chi was such a good movie! For dinner we walked to Rolling Pasta and had dessert at Sulbing (bingsu count: 6 I think). I was impressed with how cheap my pasta was. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I didn't do much. Tuesday is the official Chuseok Day, so a lot of things would be closed. I spent most of the day catching up on homework assignments and cleaning my room. I think it depends on which classes you take, but the work load so far has been significantly less compared to UH. On Wednesday, Emily and I went down the road to where all the restaurants are. Near exit 1&2 of SNU station, there is a street filled with small restaurants. It's always so hard to decide what to eat when I'm there, but we decided on a cook your own KBBQ place. For dessert, we went to Krispy Kreme. Since it was close to closing, there were only the plain glazed donuts left, but those are honestly the best donuts at Krispy Kreme! We also had soft serve from there, and I think that was the best ice cream I've had during my time in Korea. We also made a quick stop at Daiso to buy snacks and stuff for my room. Thursday was my only day of class this week. I started off the morning with an IBO meeting back at home and went to my Digital Marketing class (on Zoom). I think Digital Marketing is one of my favorite classes because it's relevant to business today. After class, I went for a quick walk to campus to enjoy the greenery before all the leaves start to change color in the fall. In fact, some of the trees are starting to turn yellow! On Friday, I met up with my friend at SNU. I showed him around parts of the campus, and we were about to eat dinner at one of the places on campus called Lounge O. Unfortunately, 90% of their menu was sold out, so we ended up walking near SNU station. A former student who studied abroad at SNU recommended The Melting Pot, so we ate there. It's been quite some time since. I had avocado, so I opted for the avocado sandwich. We went to a kind of fancy cafe for dessert. Since it was the end of the day, a lot of their pastries were sold out, so I had a milk tea. Although it was quite expensive, the milk tea was super rich and tasted like a flower. On Saturday, SNU buddy hosted a calligraphy event. We went to a co-work room near Nakseongdae station. Our SNU buddy picked up the ink, brush, paper, and all the other materials needed ahead of time. We zoomed into a class, and an instructor taught us the history and how to do calligraphy. We also got to paint on a hand fan! After the class was over, we found a street with a bunch of cafes near SNU station. We decided on a souffle pancake place, and I ordered a vanilla cream souffle. We had to wait about 20 minutes for it, but it was worth the wait. The souffle was super fluffy, and it also came with a banana with a sugar glaze. The more I walk around near SNU station, I am finding more and more places I want to try! On Sunday, I went to the Gangnam area to meet up with a friend from UH and his friend doing the EPIK program. He recommended a place called Chick Peace, which had a variety of options, all including chick peas. I had a falafel plate, and it was nice to have a different variety of food for once. We walked around Gangnam and went to one of the few official Apple stores in Korea. The iPhone 13 wasn't even on display, but there was still a long line to get in - you could even make reservations. We also went to The Alley for tea. It's the same company as in Hawaii at Ala Moana, but the menu was quite different. On our way home, we stopped at the Express Bus Terminal (line 3) to do a little bit of shopping. I learned that large chain grocery stores are required to close on certain Sundays to protect the smaller local businesses. In the basement of Shinsegae, there were a handful of food vendors. I found my favorite Bake Cheese Tart place and had to try it. As always, I started off my week with McDonald's on Monday, since I don't start class until 3:30. I went to a different McDonald's than the last time, which was located near Soongsil University. I was craving the pancakes, and I also decided to try the pear slushie. The hotcakes were just like the ones at home, except it was served in a cardboard box. The pear slushie was really good and tasted like a ripe korean pear. On my walk back home, I was drawn in by the smell of Subway's bread and picked up a sandwich for lunch. It was a little hard to order without knowing Korean, but my pointing got me what I wanted. I had an egg sandwich, which I don't think they have back in the US (but I could be wrong since it's been awhile since I went to Subway at home).
After I finished class on Tuesday, I went out with my SNU buddy group at a restaurant near Bongcheon Station. This was probably my most expensive meal so far while in Korea, but it is still much more reasonable than Hawaii dining out prices. We ordered a mushroom truffle pizza, pasta, and risotto. Everything was super delicious! At around 9PM, we went to the SNU campus to explore. The bus ride to get to campus is on a hill and is extremely bumpy. We got dessert from a convenience store and walked around campus. My SNU buddy wanted to show us the library, and I was surprised at how many people were studying there so late at night. She also showed us the pond where the SNU duck is. Even though we left campus to head home around 10PM, the bus going around campus was still filled with students. There's about 25 international students (mainly from Europe) that live in my goshiwon, and the landlord made a Kakao chat for all of us to meet each other. On Thursday, I went to dinner with people from my goshiwon. It still amazes me at how many restaurants there are near my goshiwon. I could probably eat out every single day for lunch and dinner until the semester is done, and that wouldn't even be all of them! We ate at a place called Yoogane, which serves chicken dakgalbi. You are provided a pot of marinated chicken and vegetables, you can choose to add on tteokbokki and ramen noodles, and the pot is surrounded with melted cheese. It is quite spicy, so the cheese is a perfect way to nullify the spice. My favorite part of this was the tteokbokki because it came in different flavors such as sweet potato and a mozzarella filled one. On Friday, I went to an IBO workshop, which was really informative. Thank goodness for Zoom so I can still go to some of IBO's events! Later in the day, I asked Emily if she wanted to come to Costco with me. The Costco nearest us is far, but it is easy to get to, since it is on the green line. Like home, I showed my membership card to get in. We decided not to grab a cart because we weren't planning on buying much, since we would have to carry it back on the train. The Costco we went two was two floors - the top floor doesn't have anything exciting, but the basement has all of the snacks and food court. I spotted a lot of items that my family usually buys at home, but there were also many items that were Korea exclusive. There was lots of raw fish, a hot pot kit, and Korean snacks. The upcoming week is also Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), so it is common for people to give gift sets. Costco carried a variety of very expensive gift boxes, including apple mangoes ($60 for 8), Korean pears ($35 for about 18lbs) , and Spam. We only ended up buying oatmeal (the one at the grocery store is really expensive), pocky, and croissant waffles from the bakery section. We also bought dinner from the Costco Food Court. I think the menu was smaller than usual due to Chuseok coming up, but I was very satisfied with everything I ordered. I really wanted to try the bulgogi pizza because they don't have that at home, but the regular cheese pizza is my favorite. I definitely forgot how big Costco pizza slices were, and silly me thought that I could finish both slices (I ended up eating the extra slice for dinner the next day). I also ordered the grapefruit juice, and to be honest, it wasn't that great because it was bitter and lacked flavor. I also ordered a parfait, which had the good Korean yogurt, granola, cranberries, and pineapple. I'm not sure if this food court ever had seating, or if it was removed because of COVID, but we ended up eating our food at a park near Yeongdeungpo Station. On our way back home on the green line, the train said that this would be its last stop when it was only at Sindorim station. We had to get off our train and transfer to a different train (also the green line heading in the same direction). This hasn't happened before, even though I usually ride the same train. But, we eventually made it back to SNU station. On Saturday, Landis and I met up at the Lotte World Mall. We had lunch in the basement of the department store. There weren't as many food vendors because there was also a grocery store in the basement. I had a bibimbap, and it came with soup as the side. The bibimbap was good, but that soup was disgusting. We spent some time walking around the mall, but most of the stores were out of my price range. We went to a McDonald's around the corner for dessert, and I had an oreo affogato. After, we walked to the Olympic World Park, which is where the olympics were held in 1988. We also went to the Seoul Olympic Museum of Art. We did a lot of walking around the park, and I ended the day with 8.5 miles. On Sunday, I went to Garden of Morning Calm, Nami Island, and Petite France, which was part of a tour booked through Trazy. We originally weren't supposed to go to Garden of Morning Calm, but the night before, the tour guide messaged me asking if I wanted to meet an hour earlier to go there at no additional charge. The tour was on sale for $35 (regular is $40), which was definitely worth the money, as it included admission into the three places and transportation. We met at Hongik Univ. Station at 7:15AM and for the rest of the day, we rode around in a bus with our tour guide. There were also two other groups with us that day. At each location, we were given ample time to explore on our own. The Garden of Morning Calm was beautiful, and I am so glad that the tour guide offered us to go there. We ate lunch with a view of the Han River before riding a ferry to get to Nami Island. The landscaping on Nami Island is beautiful. While there, we took a one way train (only 3,000 won) to the other side of the island, rode the SkyCycle (only 3,000 won), took pictures in the forest, and enjoyed soft serve ice cream. The last stop of the day was Petite France. The name pretty much explains it all. By the end of the day, I was so tired from all the walking, but it was great to explore outside of Seoul. I will definitely look into other tours to do on Trazy! For dinner, we ate in the basement of the Hyundai Department Store in Sinchon. For only $10, I had hotpot, which came with meat, noodles, and a ton of veggies. I will definitely be eating here once again. We also went to Paris Baguette for dessert. This week was my first full week of school. After changing my schedule many times last week, I have finally finalized my schedule.. Here's my schedule now and the course equivalency at UH.
Intro to Modern Economy (BUS 367F, Monday 3:30-6:20) Sustainable Business Management (BUS 367G, Tuesday 10-12:50) Economics of Sustainability (BUS 367F, Wednesday 3-5:50) Digital Marketing (MKT 362, T/Th 2-3:15) Korean History (HIST DH UD, T/Th 3:30-4:45 but is async for now) I am usually an early riser so having classes late in the day is not ideal. I'm also not used to the super long class periods. If a class only meets once a week, the class will be 2 hours and 50 minutes, and the professor will give a 10 minute break every hour. The classes that meet twice a week are 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is the same as UH. Since I woke up early enough for McDonald's breakfast and my class starts pretty late on Monday's, I went for a nice morning walk to the nearest McDonald's. I had a BLT Egg McMuffin, which was an egg, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on an English muffin. It was pretty good, and the eggs here are much better than the ones in Hawaii. I also got a hashbrown and carton of milk. My meal was just under $4, which is much cheaper than in Hawaii. The recycling system in Korea is seen in restaurants. Since I was dining in, I had to put the paper trash in a separate bin from the extra food waste. In addition, if you're dining in and order a drink, they will give it to you in a reusable cup that must be returned. On Tuesday, I had a long day of class, but to end the day, the other two UH students and I went out to dinner. We walked around the area and found a place serving soup, which was perfect for the rainy weather. We also went to Ediya Coffee for dessert, and I had a milk tea with boba. I think this was my first time having boba while in Korea. We also stopped at the convenience store, and I discovered the kinako version of the turtle chips. I think I liked the chocolate flavor the best, then the original, and the kinako is last on my list. Before class on Wednesday, Emily and I walked to campus to get our S-card, which is our student ID card. I'm not really sure what I'll be using it for since classes are online right now, but we decided to pick up the physical copy. In addition, SNU has an app that has a digital version of your S-card. After class on Thursday, my friend and I went to eat Indian food at a restaurant called Otsal. My SNU buddy suggested this place for lunch the prior week, but we didn't end up eating here. However, the pictures on Naver looked really good, so I've been wanting to try it. My friend and I had trouble finding the place, as it was located in the basement at the end of a long hallway. I had the Palak Paneer and garlic naan, and it was so delicious! In addition we received aa free yogurt drink and milk tea for reviewing them on Google. After lunch, we went to the market to buy a few groceries. I saw 9 cans of spam being sold for almost $30! I don't have class on Fridays, so I met up with Justina (who has ALL asynchronous classes). We both needed to exchange our USD for KRW, and we believe that the best rates are found in Myeongdong on the street next to the Chinese Embassy. We took a quick train to Myeongdong and enjoyed lunch in the basement of the Lotte Avenue Department Store at a rotating sushi place. I don't actually like raw fish, so I enjoyed a croquette. The department store basement also has an overpriced supermarket, where I spotted Hawaiian Host chocolates being sold for nearly double the price in Hawaii. I also found my absolute favorite cheese tart company K-Bake, which I always stop at when in Japan. We also shopped around in Myeongdong for a bit and came across one of those super tall ice cream stands. Justina ended up getting the 30cm one to take pictures with, but I opted for the 15cm one. On Saturday, I did some homework in the morning, as well as club stuff. I went to the market once again because I needed dinner and was really craving the Korean garlic. On Sunday, I met up with Justina once again to make plans for Chuseok. We grabbed lunch near my goshiwon and a bingsu from Paris Baguette (bingsu count: 5?). We had hoped to go to Busan for the long weekend, but we realized that all the train tickets were booked. We'll probably end up going to Busan during another weekend. This was her first time coming to the SNU area, so I showed her around. We walked down the street with the market I always go to, which is just like Chinatown. We also rode the bus to SNU campus. We didn't explore much around the campus, as it is very hilly and gets tiring after walking for a short period of time. To cool off, I bought a mogu mogu from the convenience store on campus. I love how there are affordable convenience stores on college campuses, which you probably wouldn't find in the US. SNU started school on Wednesday 9/1, but I don't have class on Fridays. Yay for a 3 day weekend, every weekend! As of right now, all classes are being held via Zoom due to Seoul being in Level 4 social distancing (the strictest restriction). However, some of my classes have a possibility of going in person starting in October/November. I had gotten all of the courses I wanted during the original registration period, but I ended up changing my schedule like 5 times within the first 3 days of school because of various reasons mentioned below.
Important note: I should have been more prepared for registration. I definitely regret not submitting more course petitions ahead of time to Shidler. I had the mindset that I would just submit petitions for the courses when I actually register for them, but I should've submitted petitions for EVERY course that I had any interest in (or anything related to business in general) when the SNU courses were first posted. That way, I would have known which courses would transfer back home ahead of time. Here are the classes I was originally registered for and the course equivalency at UH: Sport Marketing (MKT 361, Wednesday 10-12:50) Financial Statement Analysis (BUS 367F, Wednesday 2-4:50) Digital Marketing (MKT 362, T/Th 2-3:15) Modern Korean History and Society (HIST 328, Monday 1:30-4:20) Sustainable Business Management (BUS 367G, Tuesday 10-12:50) On Wednesday, I was supposed to go to my Sport Marketing course that began at 10AM that I registered for during the original registration period, but I found out that I couldn't take it because it was restricted for people in the Physical Education Department. BUT, SNU's registration system is really complicated, so you can only add/drop classes between 9AM-6PM from 9/1-9/7 on weekdays. Thus, I had to wait until Wednesday morning at 9AM to drop the Sport Marketing class. I found a course that still had open seats called Economics for Business. I registered for it, submitted my course petition (for BUS 367F) and syllabus to Shidler right after, and attended the class at 9:30AM. The professor seemed really nice and the course sounded interesting. However, I had to drop the course the next day because Shidler got back to me and said the course is equivalent to BUS 313, which I already took last semester. I was kind of surprised because the material that was supposed to be covered in the Economics for Business course seemed to have a different focus than BUS 313. To any future exchange student reading this, please do not be like me. I repeat: submit your petitions ahead of time so you know that the courses you are registering for will give you credit back at home. Also on Wednesday, I had the Financial Statement Analysis class that I registered for during the original registration period. I was really looking forward to this class because it was the only class directly related to my majors of Accounting and Finance. I thought I would be well prepared for it because we did a financial statement project in ACC 321 last semester. Although there were no pre reqs for the FSA class, the professor said that we should have prior knowledge of basic accounting/finance concepts, and he proceeded to give us an ungraded pop quiz. He mentioned that if we struggle with the pop quiz, it would be a good idea to find another course to take. I was honestly stumped on some of the questions because I don't think I've learned it before (or it could have been from the nearly four month long summer vacation), and I figured that it would be best if I find another course to take. After my classes were done on Wednesday (and before 6PM), I browsed the SNU course website for another business course to take. I dropped the FSA course and decided to take the Economics of Sustainability course, which the other girl from UH is taking. To end the day, my friend took me to a market about a 15 minute walk from our goshiwon. There was a large supermarket (similar to Palama), but the road surrounding the supermarket had a bunch of vendors selling fish, kimchee, clothes, and anything you could think of. I didn't buy anything because I didn't bring my reusable bag (and Korea charges for plastic bags just like Hawaii). On Thursday morning, I submitted my course petition (for BUS 367F for Economics of Sustainability) and syllabus to Shidler. I began to worry that the course wouldn't transfer back home. I decided to drop the Modern Korean History and Society class and replace it with Introduction to Modern Economy (already on the pre-approved list for BUS 367F) because the times overlapped on Monday. I still wanted to take a Korean related class since I am in Korea, and luckily a class called Korean History had ONE seat left. At 9AM, I tried to add the class, but it wouldn't let me. Apparently, if a course was full before but seats opened up during the add/drop period, the times to add the courses are different. It makes absolutely no sense to me, so I had to wait until 10AM to add the course. On the bright side, I was able to get the last seat! Also on Thursday, I attended my Digital Marketing class. The professor has a very diverse educational background, so I am really looking forward to taking his class. This was the only class so far that has not had any problems. In Hawaii, I primarily live by myself during the week without a meal plan, can't use the stove for anything besides eggs, and rely on easy to blend/cut/microwave Costco food or stuff my sister makes for me. Basically, I am quite hopeless when it comes to cooking, and my sister has been telling me to learn how to cook for the longest time. However, now is my time to learn how to cook. It's probably cheaper and easier to eat out in Korea (depending on what/where you're eating), but sometimes it is nice to eat a healthy, home-cooked meal. My friend and I went back to the market (with our reusable bags this time) and bought a few groceries to cook dinner in the goshiwon kitchen. I sent a picture of it to my sister, and she told me what to do with everything. I made a tofu stir fry, and honestly it wasn't that bad. Mission accomplished! And my sister can't bother me about not being able to cook when I go home. On Friday, I didn't have class, so I signed up for Lunch and Board Game day with the SNU Buddy Program. For SNU Buddy, there are about 80 Korean students total who have 4-5 international buddies each (us international students were able to choose our buddy). There are also about 10 big groups that consist of 8 Korean students and their international buddies (each big group has 40 people total). The purpose of these big groups is to meet people outside of your own small buddy group. SNU Buddy has events planned almost every week, but because of COVID, they do sign ups for each event to restrict the number of people. Once slots filled up, 3 international students are randomly paired with a Korean buddy. As of right now, only four people can hang out together before 6PM, and that number reduces to two after 6PM. For lunch, we ate at a pork belly place near SNU station and went to Sulbing after for bingsu (bingsu count: 4). Instead of going to a board game cafe, we all agreed on doing a breakout room. We rode the train to Gangnam to do one of the Seoul Escape Rooms. I think I am bad luck when it comes to escape rooms (I tried Breakout Waikiki 3 times and have never broken out), and I did not break out once again. I had a lot of fun though, and yes, the hints and locks were all English friendly. We walked around Gangnam for a little bit, and this was my first time seeing the sun while in Korea. When I rode the train back to the goshiwon, I was honestly kind of tired, but I had to make the most of the sunny day. I went for a short walk down the road to the market and Daiso. On Saturday, I had a very busy and fun day with Justina and her roommate. Justina and I have a list of places we want to eat at, and one of them was the Kakao Friends Cafe in Hongdae. I had a savory cheese and onion biscuit and some kind of sweet apple dessert. When I tried to purchase the food, the worker said that if we are dining in (which we were), we must buy a drink from the cafe. I thought that was absolutely ridiculous because the food was already expensive, and the cheapest drink was an americano for $4. I don't love coffee, but I wasn't going to spend $8 on a smoothie. I just bought the americano, and the caffeine made me feel jittery for hours. Other than the ridiculous drink policy, I really enjoyed the food. After Kakao Friends, we rode the train to Dongdaemun and took a quick look at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. We saw a lot of vendors selling fake Louis Vuitton and Gucci on the streets. From Dongdaemun, we rode a bus straight to Namsam Seoul Tower. We were super lucky that it was a clear day once again, so the views from the observatory were beautiful. Since Itaewon was nearby, we decided to try a vegan restaurant called Plant. To get there, we walked down the mountain, but we ended up walking to the wrong side of the mountain... and ended up taking the train to get to Plant. Apparently Plant is a super popular restaurant even at 3:30PM, but while waiting for a table, I met students also going to SNU who live in my goshiwon! The wait for Plant was worth it though, and it was the best meal I've had in Korea so far. I had a mushrooom burger and hummus dip. There were a lot of foreigners dining there, and all of the workers spoke English very well. On Sunday, I spent my morning doing some things for IBO back at home. In the afternoon, I decided to get a little bit of exercise in by exploring the SNU campus. I followed the main road, which ended up being a 6 mile walk. I am kind of thankful that classes are online for now because the campus is gigantic, and I would definitely not be able to find any of the buildings. The campus is also super hilly, so my legs are thankful too. Even though it was a weekend, there were a bunch of cars and people around campus. I think it is because there are hiking trails located on the edges of campus. That is something I will check out on another day. 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). 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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