Emily Yan

My last day in Seoul has unfortunately arrived:( My time here came to an end so quickly, I feel like I just arrived yesterday! During our last group dinner, I couldn’t help but to reminisce to when I first arrived in Korea. I was excited but nervous at the same time. After a month, it’s become more like home and it feels odd leaving what I’ve grown so comfortable to.

Throughout the last 4 weeks, I’ve not only learned so much about the Korean culture, but also myself. This journey helped me experience and try new things as well as see a different culture other than my own that I’ve always been interested about. This was also my first time traveling alone and to a different country so I’ve grown a lot as a person from the different experiences I encountered during this trip. 

From observing different aspects of the culture and adapting to the new environment, I’m leaving Seoul with more than just what I experienced. By going to all the site visits and working with Korean students, I’ve learned that they highly value creativity. Companies and individuals strive to be more innovative by thinking outside of the box. Due to their fast development and determination to keep improving their innovations, this is the reason why Korea is known to be on of the fastest leading countries in technology! Although the country itself is extremely modernized with technology being a huge part of their daily lives, I love that they still appreciate and celebrate history. From the different activities I did such as the overnight temple stay and wearing the hanboks, it’s given me a deeper insight on what the traditional Korean culture is all about. 

I’m so grateful for this opportunity because it’s definitely opened my eyes to look at things differently and to appreciate culture. From learning about the history and culture of Korea to interacting with Korean students and exploring Seoul, Jeju Island, and Busan, all the memories I’ve made here and the amazing people I became so close to, I will cherish forever! Thank you UW, all my professors, and the wonderful new friends I got to share this experience with for this amazing opportunity! I will definitely be returning to this beautiful country❤️Until next time Seoul✌🏼

Today, I spent most of the morning finishing up my infographic assignment. I found that this project was challenging for me because it was difficult to sum up my whole 4 weeks in Korea on one page. After putting in a lot of thought, I was able to come up with an idea that represented what I took away from my experience here!

At night, a group of us went to visit the Han River. Since it was a stressful morning, it was relaxing and fun to walk across the bridge and spend one of the last few days here with the people I got so close to! When we reached the other end of the bridge, you get an amazing view of the city. There was even a light and water show for us to enjoy while socializing, and it really made us admire the beautiful scenery! Although the area was busy, I loved the relaxed aura it gave off. Whether it was to eat and socialize with their friends or to admire the view, everyone was there for the same purpose, which was to enjoy the serene atmosphere! 

Coming down to the last few days of my trip, I’ve been trying to enjoy my time in Seoul by revisiting some of my favorite areas as well as exploring new ones! One of the places I wanted to be able to visit while in Seoul was SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment is one of the biggest entertainment industries with artists including Super Junior, Girls Generation, and EXO. One of my favorite boy groups is EXO so being able to visit the Coex Artium was awesome! Since visitors and tourists can’t actually get in the SM Entertainment building, the SM Town Coex is a place where fans or anyone who is interested can go to see your favorite artists and play on interactive gadgets! 

Today, a couple of us went to a hanbok rental place called One Fine Day and rented and wore a hanbok for 4 hours. At first I was little hesitant on doing it but then I wanted to experience what it would be like and dive deeper into the history of the Korean culture.

Inside One Fine Day, it was uite busy. The store was filled with people who are visiting as well as locals. They first size you and then you get to pick two hanboks to try on of your choice. You then can add accessories such as hair pieces, fans, purses, and etc. Coming from an asian culture, I grew up watching a lot of old Chinese dynasty themed TV dramas where they wore outfits similar to this. I remember when I was younger, I used to wrap blankets around me and pretend like I was one of the characters and play with my little sister. I would also put small accessories in my hair just like they did in the dramas. Picking out my hanbok and accessories made me feel like I was a little girl again, playing dress up with my friends! 

After we all were ready, we went out and walked around Bukchon Hanok Village near Insa-dong. It was really fascinating seeing history in the modern day. The neighborhood was filled with beautiful traditional houses (hanok), that dates back to the Joseon Dynasty. It’s crazy to know that some people still live in these traditional houses and rather than abandoning the empty houses, they’ve turned it into restaurants, shops, and cultural centers for people to experience and learn about the Korean culture. Wearing my hanbok around in this neighborhood was a really unique experience because I would never be able to do this back in the United States. All of us enjoyed it so much because it was different than anything else we have done in Seoul! While walking around, you also see a lot of tourists and locals wearing hanboks and taking pictures just like us. Everyone is fully immersed in this experience and seeing that made me feel inspired. I feel that in America, people don’t really get the chance to embrace and celebrate their own culture as much because our society is different and they feel the need to adapt to the new culture, especially the younger generation. People sometimes only celebrate within their own family circle if the holiday they celebrate or for whatever event is different/outside of the “standard” American culture. For my family and I, I have found that we have even lost some of our old traditions because my parents immigrated here from China at a younger age. As time moves forward, you slowly learn to adapt and throughout the process you lose your original traditions.

Finally got to go to Lotte World today! Lotte World is a huge well known theme park in South Korea....almost like a DisneyLand! They have rides, parades, museums, themed shows, food, and shopping! Lotte World has two sections, one is indoor called, Lotte World Adventure and an outdoor part called, Magic Island. 

It’s good to be back in Seoul because although I made a lot of great memories in Busan and Jeju-Island, coming back to Seoul felt like a home away from home! This time we’re staying at the Somerset Palace Hotel near Insa-dong. I’m excited to further explore the area because last time, we didn’t have enough time. After I got settled in, I went down to Insadong and actually visited the Poop Cafe (또옹카페). As you can probably tell from the name, the cafe was “poop” themed. They decorated the place with cute little poop emoji faces like this---->💩  and what was cool was they even had toilet shaped mugs and plates!

I’ve noticed that cafes are a big thing in South Korea. Whether it’s to get a quick snack or your everyday morning coffee or to talk and hangout with friends, there’s a cafe at almost every corner in Jeju-Island, Busan, and Seoul. They’ve taken the western coffee culture and expanded it to another level. Because there’s so many cafes, you would imagine the competition is tough....but rather than making it a competition against other cafes, they got more creative and innovative. You can find all types of cafes with different themes, aesthetics, and styles. Through my observations, I’ve summed up that the concept each cafe strive for is either authenticity, unique food & beverage type or design. One of the cafe’s I’ve visited while in Seoul is called Thanks Nature Cafe which, is actually a sheep cafe! Right outside the cafe door, there’s a little area for real live sheep’s and during some hours of the day, they are allowed in the dining area and are free to roam around. I think this is unique because while some cafe’s attention is on the food and beverage aspect, there are others that focus on the visitor’s experience and theme. 

Attending the Lotte Giants game was a lot of fun! I’ve gone to Mariners game before but the atmosphere and energy here was completely different! I actually had more fun at this game then all of the Mariners game I’ve gone to combined. The crowd is amazing and it was interesting to see what types of different traditions they do at baseball games in Korea. After observing, I found that Korean baseball games had a lot more differences than similarities to American baseball games. They’re both similar by the fact that not everyone who attends are into baseball. Some people go for fun or for the environment and experience. I think for first timers, it’s always exciting because the crowd gets you more hyped for the game. As for differences, I noticed right away that you can bring any types of food into the stadium including from outside vendors! I saw some people bringing in pizza, fried chicken, beer, and more. In the U.S., they check your bags and don’t allow outside food into the stadium which, can be annoying because the food court in the stadium is pricey. There were also cheerleaders as well as an MC to gain more crowd involvement. Because of him, everyone including myself would get excited even if I wasn’t sure what was happening. This was interesting because the MC was physically there, jumping around, going up and down the stairs, and initiating chants. At Mariners game, most of the crowd involvement is initiated electronically through the big screen TV and sometimes people look bored. When I turned back to look up at everyone behind me at the Lotte game, I didn’t see one person that was sitting there and playing on their phone. Everyone was either standing, cheering for the team, or watching the game! I think it’s actually more affective to have someone like him there getting the crowd more involved rather than an electronic screen and an announcer you can’t even see. It’s interesting to see the differences and how the crowd and the people around can affect your experiences. To be honest earlier in the day, I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to attend the baseball game, but I’m so glad I did because it was so much fun and the energy from everyone was great! 

So far I’m loving Busan and Haeundae Beach. I think the city itself is beautiful and wished we would have arrived here earlier because I want to see more of it! Since one of the things Busan is known for is seafood, today I visited the Jagalchi Fish Market and it was a lot of fun. The whole street is filled with all types of fresh seafood you can purchase such as, octopus, squid, clams, lobsters, sea worms, different types of fishes, and more. Most people who visit, will buy squid or fish and they will cut it up and serve it to you upstairs in the dining area. I’ve never been to a fish market where you can do something like this so I thought it was fun and interesting!

While exploring the city, I can’t help but to notice that Busan still looks like it’s still developing in a way. In different areas, I saw that there was still a lot of construction and the architecture on some of the buildings look newer and more modern. However, even though the buildings looked more modern, the environment didn’t feel like it. Seoul definitely demonstrated the more modern side of Korea while Busan’s atmosphere felt like old urban South Korea. Other than Haeundae Beach, there were a lot more adults and older couples in most of the other areas I visited. I did not see much of the younger generation other than the area where our Hotel was at which, mostly consisted of tourists anyways. This was surprising to me because I imagined Busan to be like Seoul in a way but the ratio was different. Because of this, I could sense the hierarchy system when I’m walking around the streets. I can see that they try to stay true to the traditional Korean culture so respecting your seniors and elders is crucial. Also, in most street food vendors, the workers were older rather than younger. When walking around different districts in Seoul, you see a lot of younger employees but here it’s the opposite!  

Last day in Jeju Island and surprisingly, I’m not as sad to leave as I thought I would be. For me I think Jeju was definitely a fun experience, however I will forever love being in the city more! In my previous blog, I talked about the different culture style Jeju displayed compared to Seoul. Another big difference I wanted to point out was transportation. Throughout our stay in Jeju, we’ve been lucky enough to have a personal bus to take us everywhere. In some ways I think this was good but I also think it had some disadvantages. Because it’s an island, everything is further away from each other...meaning theres no subway or continuous running public busses for people to take. The bus was necessary in order to get to our destinations safely and efficiently. This was different compared to Seoul because everyone including myself got so used to taking public transportation. Since we needed the bus to get to everywhere, it was more challenging to explore and see all of Jeju. Although, we saw less, I think our group became closer through the long bus rides together and being able to do more activities with everyone as a whole! I also thought that shifting from doing more modern activities in Seoul to more traditional visits in Jeju gave me a deeper insight to the Korean culture that I didn’t know before. I made some fun memories here with everyone that I will treasure. The adventures and experiences I’m leaving Jeju with, I don’t think I will be able to get from anywhere else!

On the other hand, I’m very excited that we are going to Busan! Busan is the second biggest city next to Seoul, so I’m anxious and eager to explore around. After a quick flight from Jeju to Busan, we arrived at our hotel, JB Design, and had a delicious group lunch. Then we all got to go out and explore the area, Haeundae Beach. Immediately, I found that this environment was similar to Seoul....busy and everything was more accessible! A couple of us spent a few hours down at the beach while the sun was going down and the view was beautiful! It will be interesting to see what types of adventures I will experience here and see the culture similarities/differences from Seoul and Jeju Island. 

Second day in Jeju Island and we got to visit many different places! The place that had the most significance to me was the Bonsai Garden which, was very peaceful and elegant. It was early in the morning, so we were basically the only visitors there at the time and it was very quiet. However, I didn’t mind because I didn’t feel rushed and I got to take my time to enjoy the beauty of the garden. What caught my attention the most was how informative it was. I noticed that by each tree, plant, or display, there would be a stone with information written in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. It made me feel that this place was not only very tourist friendly and open to everyone, but also the importance of presenting the history of each piece and the garden itself for visitors to understand.  

We all finally arrived to Jeju-Island! I’ve always seen little parts of Jeju thanks to Korean variety shows, so to physically be here, I was excited to make my own memories and adventures! We went to Hyeopjae beach and it was beautiful! The water was so clear and blue, it reminded me of Hawaii. Something that’s different here compared to Seoul is the quietness. Seoul is always so busy and loud in a way, especially at night. In Jeju, after the sun goes down I found that there wasn’t much to do and there’s less people in the streets…its odd to experience this transition. Despite, the differences, we spent most of the day in the water and exploring the area. It felt so relaxing to have a full day off to just enjoy the beauty and serenity of the island. 

Friday approached and it was our last day at the SKKU dorms. I felt a bit sad because I made so many fun memories with my roommate and friends there and we all got so used to the area. I guess once you get settled in at a place, its hard to leave everything behind:(. I spent most of the day after lecture, packing and getting ready to leave for Jeju Island & Busan. I enjoyed staying in the Hyehwa area because it had a mixture of the day and night culture and it was still close to other districts by subway or bus! Transportation was one of the things I had to adjust to in Seoul because I’m so used to driving myself everywhere back at home. Being here made me realize that how the streets and the city in general is set up, having a car may not be the most convenient thing. I drive my car everywhere, to school, to do groceries, work, everything….I don’t know what I would do without my car!! In Seoul, I’ve learned to put that behind and live as if I was a local here rather than a tourist and by doing that I’ve learned a lot about their culture and their everyday life.  

One of the biggest things I’ve noticed in Korea is the night life. During the day its busy but at night, it feels like even more people are out and about. I really love that about here because back in Seattle, everything closes early. Here, you can go out and shop, eat, karaoke with friends, go clubbing, play at PC Bangs, and more. The night life is almost endless, while in Seattle there isn’t too much to choose from. My friends and I always have a hard time finding activities to do at night back home because we want to do stuff like walk around and shop but its either too dangerous out in the streets or most malls close at 8. 

Seoul’s Namsan Tower is a must see attraction in Korea. From the bottom, you always see it when walking around or on the bus or subway and it looks so small but once you get to the top, the architecture of the tower is truly breathtaking. The landmark has a similar feel to the Space Needle in Seattle. In Seattle, the Space Needle for locals is not as big of deal as it is for people visiting but its an important landmark that represents the city. Namsan also has the same concept as it has become one of the symbolic attractions in Seoul. The world is moving in such a fast pace, we sometimes forget to appreciate things like this because we’re always thinking about the future...but when you’re at the top of tower, you forget about everything and just enjoy the beauty and the moment.

I think its amazing how Namsan has that huge impact on people that attracts thousands and millions of visitors every year. Whether its to see the iconic landmark, to make your own memories, or put a lock on the bridge to celebrate love, this demonstrates that no matter how far into the future we go or how modern we become, there will always be that something special that locks the people of Korea back to their culture. 

One of the biggest and well known company in the world is Google. Our group got the opportunity to visit Google Korea and it was a unique experience! Our host presented about artificial intelligence using deep learning so users can have a more in depth experience. The presentation was actually pretty interesting and it gave you a different view point on data and informatics. I think everyone was the most excited for this site visit including myself but unfortunately, we didn’t get to see as much of the company.

After the site visit, I also went to Gangnam and Garosu-gil and I had so much fun! We got to go to Mr. Holmes Bakehouse (the coffee was AMAZING), had lunch at Brotherhood Kitchen, and explored the official Kakao Friends store! Since the main focus of my blog is modern Korean culture,  I love exploring places like Garosu-gil because you always find cool, notable shops, concept stores and cafes in the area! 

We started off the day with a seminar class at Seoul National University with new Korean students which, was engaging! I love meeting new people so I was glad I got to work with SNU students! One of the activities we did, it involved the UW students and SNU students joining together to come up with a synthesized data.....it was pretty interesting to see the different assumptions we each made based off of our own culture. Doing this activity gave both sides a deeper insight on each others lifestyles! 

After the seminar, we headed off to explore Hongdae! In the morning it was raining, but the skies cleared up so that was a relief. Hongdae was a fun area to be at, it was packed with locals as well as tourists. We even got to visit the TrickEye Museum! I felt comfortable in this area because it seemed like most of the people are students or young adults like me. 

Prior to this trip, I never learned much about Buddhism. I went in with an open mind to see and learn more about the culture. When our whole group arrived at the temple, we were greeted by very friendly staff members as well as a beautifully decorated courtyard area. Throughout the day, we performed different practices that the monks perform daily such as prostration and meditation. We did a 10 minute meditation practice on the first day but on the second we had to meditate for a whole 40 minutes! This practice was super hard for me because it was challenging to not fall asleep and to sit still without making any noise.

The activity I was mostly excited for during the stay was the traditional tea ceremony. I’ve seen videos online about tea ceremonies and it always looked very orderly & precise but learning the process wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It was actually quite fun and soothing. Overall, the temple stay was a very humbling and peaceful experience. I not only learned a lot about the culture but the different things they value and cherish.