I know I never finished my blog about my study abroad in Korea. It's my lack of commitment and I was really busy at that time. BUT if you have any questions about Korea or attending Ewha, please don't hesitate to message me here or my main Tumblr: jaekitty. I'm helping out other students from my campus too regarding study abroad specifically in Ewha.
Anyways, I'm going to Europe for 35 days. I booked a trip to Europe using efcollegebreak.com. It's my first time using the website but I have friends who went through them (the same trip I'm going to, which is Grand Tour of Europe).
The itinerary include the following cities: London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lucerne, Venice, Rome, Florence, French Riviera, Provence, Barcelona and Madrid. There are cities I'll be visiting in between such as Pisa. The whole trip last for 30 days but you can extend before or after. I'm extending 4 days (for now, still deciding to extend more or not) and I'll be going to Turkey.Â
I got $100 off using referral codes and now I have a code to share with you guys! To save $100, please enter code: LAN522 or LAN01A1 in the referral code box. You'll save me some money too!
If you have any questions OR if you're also traveling with EFCB and on the same trip as me, please say hi. I wanna meet people beforehand ^^
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No excuse, just laziness on my part as always. Anyways, here's another very late post: Midterms is FINALLY OVER and the fun BEGINS! Even before I got accepted at Ewha, one of the places I knew I wanted to visit was Gangwon-do which is in the northern part of South Korea. After deliberate planning by my awesome Korean friend, the trip went well as planned!
Gangwon-do is the largest state(?) after Gyeongsangbuk-do so we can only pick two cities to visit (3 days, 2 nights). My friends and I decided on Samcheok and Gangneung and both cities are near the sea. We spent our first two days in Samcheok. We left Seoul on the 26th really early in the morning and went to the Express Bus Terminal. We rode the bus to Samcheok and the trip took 3 hours. The fee was 25,700 KRW.
I thought that I will be bored the whole trip to Samcheok but because I pulled an all-niter thanks to one professor of mine who decided to change his mind about midterm... I slept through it! Our first stop was to eat lunch and we tried one of the food Samcheok is famous for: oongshimi kalguksu. It cost 6,000 KRW each and there were three of us. It's noodles mixed with seaweed and potato balls. They give us a pancake as a service! The food was okay. I don't necessarily love it nor hate it.
After eating lunch, we went to see Maebang Flower Festival that actually ended a day or two before our trip but the flowers were still as beautiful! It was for free and the only thing I spent on was the transportation to go there which is not much by the way. We spent around an hour or so there just taking pictures.
Right after seeing the flowers, we went to Samcheok's railbike park. There are many unused railroads in Korea especially in Gangwon-do so to not completely waste them and boost the state's tourism, they thought of railbikes. These bikes are attached to the rail and you can bike by the seaside! Even though it was tiring, it was an awesome and unforgettable experience! I forgot the exact fees but it's cheaper if you purchase the four people bike. It's only 30,000 won for four people. by the way, you have to make a reservation if you want to ride the rail bikes. You can't buy tickets on site!
There is just one stop and it's the best! It's right next to the ocean and the scenery is just beautiful. The weather was perfect as well (in the beginning). The ride took an hour or so to complete. It depends on how well you pedal. During the ride, you will go through tunnels with different themes so the beach is not the only attractions! The tunnels were so creative!
We were at the stop and just got off the railbike when it suddenly started raining! It was such a bummer because we were planning on going to Jangho beach which is next to the station but the rain was really bad so we decided to cut our day short and went to eat dinner earlier than expected. It was actually a good decision to do so because all of us are still exhausted from our midterms so the extra hours of resting did us good for the next two days! Our dinner was also another Gangwon specialty called saengseonmodeumjjim. It's a mouthful! It's different kind of fishes. There were at least 3-4 in just one dish! It was my first time eating a ray and it tasted like crabs!
The next day we used Samcheok's city tour bus to get around faster. There are two main courses: Daegumgul Cave and Rail Bike. We picked the first obviously. The first stop of our tour is a park called Isabu Saja. It's dedicated to General Isabu who supposedly fought off invaders by placing lion (saja) statutes around the island. There were many statues that range from cute to grotesque looking lions. It was... interesting.
The next stops were places with historical values. This is actually what I liked most about the tour because even though the area is so small and has minimal value to most people, they still go to it and introduce it to tourists. One of the stops we went to was actually monument erected during the Joseon Dynasty. It was made to stop the heavy waves and the myth said that once the monument was erected, the disasters stopped! This hill also served as a tsunami evacuation site.
Before continuing the tour, we went to eat lunch at the fish market in one of the ports in Samcheok. There were so many restaurants that we had a hard time picking. One ahjumma offered to decrease the price for us for 2,000 KRW so we decided to go to her restaurant. One of the meals my friend wanted us to try is raw fish. First of all, I love fish but I actually never tried raw fish before so I was hesitant in the beginning but the taste was unexpected! I loved it! It's basically bibimbap but with raw fish! It was so good! For only 10,000 KRW, I had my favorite meal so far in Gangwon-do!
After the awesome lunch, we went to Daegumgul Cave. There are two famous caves in Samcheok but we decided to go to Daegumgul Cave just because it was nearer. I think we waited for an hour to get inside the cave. We need to buy a ticket which also include the monorail fee. You can't go to the cave by walk. There's actually a mini train that will bring you inside.
While waiting for our turn, we took pictures near the cave and Korea is really blessed with beautiful mountains and trees! The nature is just so beautiful. Just look at the picture! Beautiful, right? I'm kind of glad we took a lot of pictures outside the cave because we found out later on that they don't allow people to take pictures of the cave.
Because I can't take pictures inside the cave, here's the picture of the monorail we took to get to the cave itself! The cave.... was spectacular. I've been to a cave before but it was really small and not as elaborate or as beautiful as Daegumgul. I still get goosebumps remembering how beautiful it was. It was cold inside the cave and in the beginning I was kind of bored because I saw the usual cave shenanigans like those fangs like stones but once I saw the body of water inside the cave... I think I died a little inside. It was so beautiful that my mouth was gaping the whole time. You can watch a video here because I will never be able to explain its beauty in words. Even the video doesn't do the cave justice... but at least you have an idea what the paradise I saw looked like!
After Daegumgul, the tour ended and our second day comes close to the end. Before going back to our motel room though, we went to eat dinner. It's boiled pork, tofu soup and million of side dishes (that is also refillable)! We were the only customers when we got there because they usually have more later in the night. The waiter serving us was really nice and upon knowing that two of his first three customers were foreigners he gave us this traditional drink called sujeonggwa (persimmon punch). It was sweet but many people might not like it because it has this weird aftertaste. You usually have to order it but the guy wanted us to experience more of Korean food/drinks.
Sunday was our third and last day in Gangwon-do. We spent it in Gangneung, another city in Gangwon. You can take a bus from Samcheok to Gangneung but what's the fun in that? We took a train called seaside train. The seats are facing the sea and the whole hour ride you can enjoy the scenery.
After the seaside train, we went to Jungang Market and tried different kinds of food. The first one we tried is the one on the picture above. It's called dalgangjeong (crispy chiken). We also tried tteokgalbi (beef patty) and jjeon (pancakes).
After visiting the market, we went to two historical places in Gangneung. This two places are our last stops in Gangwon-do. The first one we visited is the house of Shin Saimdang (the woman on the 50,000 won note) and her son, Yi Yi (the man on the 5,000 won note). Shin Saimdang is a famous woman from the Joseon Dynasty not just because she gave birth to best philosopher of the time but also because she's incredibly talented. Joseon was a Confucian society so women being educated was unheard of. Saimdang was skilled in literature, poetry, calligraphy, embroidery and painting. She was one of a kind. She had many children but three of them were very famous and the most popular one was Yi I.
Yi I was considered the most prominent Confucian scholar of the Joseon Dynasty. He was also known for being a politician and a reformer. The place we visited was their actual house. One of the houses is a real one (and not a replica) dating from the 15th century. It was the house where Yi I was actually born. To see a piece of Korean history, you only have to pay 3,000 KRW! It's worth it!
After visiting their house, we decided to go to Gyeongpodae. It's a pavilion overlooking the Gyeongpo lake. It was really warm today so it was a pleasant surprise (not really because it was on a hill) to have wind. It was cold and refreshing (I really don't like hot weather). I was really hot the whole day. You can see how strong the wind was by looking at my face and hair on the picture above. It was such a nice place to end our trip in Gangwon.
Our 3 days and 2 nights in Gangwon came to an end. Unexpected things like rain happened but it didn't deter us much from our itinerary. It was a really good trip thanks to my friend! I will try to update as soon as I can but no promises! My next out of Seoul trips are Busan and Jeju (end of May). I can't wait!
Day 61-64: Everland, Dream Concert and More Midterms
April 22-25, 2013
More midterms this week but it also meant more free time so my sister and I were out and about. Both of us didn't have a class on Monday so we decided to go Everland. It's an amusement park that also had a water resort and zoo! Korea is amazing, right?!
Everland is about an hour or so from Seoul. It took longer for us to get there because we commuted. We rode the subway from Ewha Station to Gangnam Station then hopped on the 5002 bus. After about an hour of traveling, we finally arrived at Everland, bought our tickets and went inside. During the month of April is the tulips festival so the park is covered with beautiful tulips! We took a lot of pictures of course.
The park is huge so before we went, I planned an itinerary. We decided to use most of our time in the zoo because of several reasons! They have white tigers (never seen them before!), a talking Elephant (yes, you read that right!) and safari-like tour which just opened this year. It was funny because there were a lot of kids and my sister and I acted the same way as them: excited and happy just by seeing the animals!
The first ride we went on was something we didn't plan. We saw the ride and realized the waiting time was only 5 minutes. We decided to get on it for the heck of it. It was a water ride that is common in theme parks. The awesome thing though is that they offer a cover for you! You might still get wet but not too bad.
They also have these monkey village where obviously many types of monkeys live in. I actually haven't seen chimpanzees and orangutans for a long time now (they didn't have them in the Seoul Zoo) but they were in Everland!
After roaming around the Zoo, we decided to go on the tour ride thing called Lost Valley which opened as an attraction this year. As you can imagine, it was high on demand. It was still early on the day but the waiting time was already more than two hours. My sister and I hated waiting but if we decide to go later we realized the line will probably be worse so we decided to line up.
Even from outside, the idea of the whole Lost Valley thing was so cute and unique! Usually, you get bored from waiting in line but you won't be when you're on this one! They have small exhibitions where small animals are on display like meerkat and hedgehogs! There were much more animals but I forgot their names.
After two hours of waiting, we finally got on the mini bus that we'll bring us around the safari. Unfortunately, the tour guide only spoke in Korean and I believe they don't offer guides in English. That's me and my sister on the picture above seated inside the bus! The tour was quick. I don't remember how long it was exactly but it wasn't too long. We saw camels, lions, giraffes (that got too close), elephants (Koshik, the talking elephant but we didn't hear him because he was on his own world) and many more. I definitely recommend this ride especially if you have children with you! They will be entertained so much!
After Lost Valley, we rode another ride called T Express. It's the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world! I was mostly scared because of the fact that it was made with wood but it was.... weak compare to the roller coasters I've been on before. After the first drop, it was a tolerable ride. After roaming around the park and going on few rides, we took a rest before going home and watched the parade.
The parade took about 15 minutes. Before we left though, we decided to go to the garden area and took more pictures because the flowers were so beautiful! After meandering around for almost an hour, we rode the skylift and we got dropped off near the entrance. We left late in the afternoon and got home by 6pm.
We went home early because I had a midterm the next day. After the midterm though, my friends and I went to a PC Bang and want know why? It's to get tickets to Dream Concert 2013. It's a cheap concert (5,000 KRW for a ticket!) where 21 KPOP groups will perform and because of it's star-studded line up the fight for tickets is intense. PC Bangs are computer cafes in Korea and had the fastest internet service (you know South Korea has the fastest internet in the world? cool, huh!).
My friends and I (there were seven of us, 4 tickets max per person) were freaking out in the beginning because we arrived at 7:30pm and the fight for tickets start at 8pm. However, we can't get on the website. It was already lagging so badly! We needed at least 16 tickets meaning we need 4 people to get in. Within the last 5-10 minutes, 4 people got in and after a few more minutes of tense situation, we got 16 tickets! I don't know how we did it but I'm glad we did. The concert will be on the 11th of May. Dream Concert, here I come!!
Day 54-60: Midterms, Haha's Restaurant, Karaoke Night and the Filipino Market
April 15-21, 2013
I can't believe it's actually been fifteen days since my last post! The only excuse I can make up is... that I've been very busy!! And it's true! Not only because of midterms but many things have been happening recently.
Anyway, even though it's midterms' week, I went out a lot (and probably why I didn't do well in my first midterm) because during midterms week students didn't have to go to class. My sister and I explored more of Seoul specifically Sinchon, Hongdae and Hyewha!
My sister and I are avid fans of a Korean variety show called Running Man. One of the members (Haha) of the show own a restaurant located in Hongdae called Palja Makchang. The restaurant's specialty are intestines!
Many people would find it gross but it's very common here in Korea. You can find many restaurants with the same theme as Haha's: grilling intestines, pork rinds, etc while drinking beer/soju. We tried three different dishes. Obviously, we tried pork intestines (makchang), pork belly (samgyupsal, you can never leave this out!) and pork rinds.
I have to tell you though that I was very anxious in the beginning. I grew up with my grandfather who had high cholesterol so he's prohibited from eating fats. With that environment, I grew up hating everything with fat. I eat samgyupsal a lot but I remove the fat all the time. Intestine and rinds are 100% fat but guess what? I enjoyed this meal SO MUCH. It was probably because the rinds was slathered with this spicy yet sweet sauce and that the intestine was so crunchy (instead of it being slimy). For 2 people, we spent 25,000 won. I don't know if that's pricey or not but do remember this is a restaurant owned by a popular celebrity. They tend to be pricier.
The next day I went with my sister and her friends to celebrate the end of their Korean tests. My sister and her friends wanted to eat out for dinner and try out the noraebang (Karaoke). One of her friends is a vegetarian so we roamed around Sinchon for almost an hour looking for a restaurant.
The thing in Korea is, almost everything is served with meat (even soups!) but there are still many vegetarian friendly restaurants so don't worry! We just didn't research enough before going to Sinchon. Anyway, this search was so successful I wanted to cry in happiness. I'm American but before that I'm also Southeast Asian (Filipino to be exact!) and fish is something I eat a lot. Surprisingly and unfortunately, not many Korean restaurants around my school offers it. I've gone almost 3 months not eating fish until this day! Look at me, I was so happy!
After eating a delicious and fulfilling dinner, we headed out to a karaoke bar located near the restaurant. The rates differs (I don't really understand how it works) but for us, it was 18,000 KRW for an hour. Between 5 girls, it only cost 3,600 KRW each! It was really cheap and the awesome thing about this is that the employees keep giving us service through the means of more minutes! I think we got almost 45 minutes extra without paying anything!
I've never been to other noraebangs in Seoul so I can't really compare but I was really satisfied with the price and the interior design of the place was amazing! The floor is no ordinary floor! It was glass. You can see through it and check out the teddy bears they had. It was really cute but I was so nervous walking on it thinking I will break it. On top of that, there are so many songs to pick from. If you're in Korea and can't read/speak/understand Korea, don't think you would not enjoy Karaoke! They have so many songs in English, Japanese, Chinese, and even Tagalog (there's much more!) I had so much fun that night, I really wanna go back.
About a week ago, my sister and I discovered a Filipino market (every Sunday) in Seoul. Even though I reside in the United States, my diet is mainly Filipino food (my mom and sister cooks all the time) so I definitely missed eating it. I really love Korean food but nothing beats my homeland's food, okay? The market was so crowded but definitely amazing! We ate lunch there and I was on cloud nine! For 6000 KRW, I got a taste of menudo and dinuguan and was so full! I will definitely come back! Any Filipinos out there or anyone that loves Filipino food in general and currently in Seoul, I definitely recommend this market!
I will end this here but I will be writing more to be up to date soon!
Day 49, 50, 51, 52, 53: Yeouido Spring Festival, Deoksu Palace, Black Day and Gangwon/Busan/Jeju Trip Update
April 10-14, 2013
On my 51st day in Korea, the Yeouido Spring Festival started. It last until the thirteenth but my friends and I went on the first day hoping not a lot of people would be there. During the past few days, we had terrible weather. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday when it actually snowed for a minute because of the rain!
The weather on Friday was definitely better! It was very windy but fortunately, it didn't rain. I was quite disappointed because I thought Yeouido and the Han River would be totally covered by cherry blossoms. My buddy told me they usually are around this time but the weather has been really weird lately so they're probably will come next week or the week after that.
But there were several trees with the flowers fully blown out! To fully enjoy the park, we decided to rent bikes. For the first hour, you can rent the bike for 3,000 KRW then 2,000 KRW for the next and so forth. We went around the park a few times before we decided to bike by the riverside.
The river is LONG. I don't think we even biked 1/4 of it so I really want to go back and try to do the impossible next time. There are several convenience store so when you're thirsty, you can grab some drinks but do know that they're more expensive than the usual. We were also able to get some food near the river. I think there was some kind of event going on and even though the snacks we bought were quite pricey it was worth it because it was REALLY good and we were SO hungry.
My sister and I head out around 6pm because we're flooded with homework and projects while the rest of our group stayed until nighttime. I will be back though definitely! I want to drink beer by the riverside at night and watch the starts (if there's any!)
Like I stated earlier, I had a lot of things to do and the next day is not any different. I had a group meeting at 2pm but my sister and I didn't want to waste the whole day so in the morning we decided to go to Deoksu Palace. Deoksugung is very different... in a good way. The other palaces were strictly Joseon Dynasty style but in Deoksugung, there's a fusion of British and Russian architecture. You can definitely see the western influence but it was still breathtakingly beautiful.
The awesome thing about our visit to is that most of the cherry blossom trees inside the palace already bloomed. To see a cherry blossom tree with a British style building in the background? TOO EPIC! It's like the west meets with east! It's surreal!
My sister and I thought one of the buildings looked like the white house but I think we're just hallucinating because we're missing the U.S. too much. This building was actually King Gojong's (Emperor Gojong after declaring the end of Joseon Dynasty and establishing the Korean empire) residence but now it's an art museum. I didn't go in that day but I'm planning on going back to the palace because we missed the tour.
One of the coolest thing about this palace too is that their main throne hall is OPEN. I doubt I mentioned it in my other posts but in palaces there are main throne halls where the king meets with the officials to govern. In the other palaces I visited, you can't enter the throne hall or any other buildings for that matter but in Deoksugung, you can! You just can't take pictures but we did from the outside as you can see above.
Like other palace's admission fees, Deoksugung was also cheap. If you're visiting Korea, please go and visit this palace! For only for 1,000 KRW and you'll learn a lot about Korean history!
Before I continue to talk about the rest of my weekend, do you guys remember my post about white day? Well, a month has passed and it's the 14th of April now which means it's black day! Black Day is basically single people (friends) "console" each other and eat jjajangmyeon (black noodles) together. If you don't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, this is the best way to celebrate you being single! I went with my sister and a friend around 2pm. Thankfully not a lot of people were around and we manage to taste one bowl of awesome jjajang!
Before I end this post, I will talk about cool updates that happened in the past two weeks. I'll be going to Gangwon as a small reward after my midterms on April 26-27. It's in the northeast part of Korea! I also booked my hostel and train for Busan!! MY LONG AWAITED TRIP. I'll be going for 3 days, 2 nights on May 10-12. And that's not the end of it! I'm CONFIRMED to go to Jeju Island!! I just booked my hotel and plane tickets few days ago and I'm beyond ecstatic (not my wallet though)! I'm going on May 30-June 1. It's short but better than nothing, right?
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Day 45, 46, 47, 48: Farm Experience and Suwon Hwaseong Fortress
April 6-9, 2013
On Saturday, I went to another event hosted by the Ewha PEACE buddies. The farm experience cost 35,000 KRW (expensive I know) and I was really excited to go but it started raining in the morning. Although it was a hassle and we didn't manage to do all the activities, I still had fun.
The first activity was kimchi making. I don't eat kimchi and it's not because I hate it. I could eat it but I don't prefer to. However, I've always wanted to learn how to make it. It was really easy because you just have to mix all the ingredients. The only thing you really need to be mindful of is the seasoning: a little of something could make it or break it.
After we're done mixing all the ingredients, we decided to compare our kimchis. Mine was probably the weakest in terms of spiciness and saltiness. One was too bitter, too salt and one just right! I wish mine was that one! After you're done making your kimchi, you could put in this cute plastic jar that resembles the traditional Korean jars then you can take it home.
After the kimchi activity, we made Korean traditional dyed handkerchief. I was really looking forward to this activity but because it was raining and freezing, I was annoyed the whole time. The process too was dirty because you have to dip the handkerchief in milk and melted clay to dye it. We had to go outside to do the dying and it was raining! I finished mine as soon as I can so my handkerchief look so weird...
Making ddeok or rice cake is next. You need to have this special sticky rice and you have to beat it until it's REALLY sticky. This is the traditional way and usually people in the market use mills to create rice cakes. I actually enjoyed this activity because I was able to release some of my frustrations by hitting the rice. The mallet was really heavy so in the beginning you have to find your footing right in order to hit the rice cake better. My friends told me I seem to be enjoying it too much!
The last activity of the day was playing traditional games. I've played most of the games because they were usually available in the palaces and traditional folk villages in Seoul but the last game was called Yutnori. I'm still a little confused about the game so I can't explain about it at all but it's simply just like another board game.
The next day I had to go out of Seoul again because of a team project and presentation. I went with my sister and two group members to Suwon to visit the Hwaseong Fortress. Unlike my first visit to Suwon, the trip didn't take two hours because of mugunghwa. It's a train that is slower than KTX. It's very cheap compare to KTX and because our destination is only Suwon, the train only lasted 30 minutes.
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was built in 1794 by the 22nd king of Joseon Dynasty, King Jeongjo to commemorate his father, Crown Prince Sado. If you like history like me, you should read about Jeongjo and Sado's story. It's probably one of the most tragic story about monarchs.
We didn't realize it until when we got there that there would be a lot of people because of the traditional ceremonies. We luckily manage to watch one of the ceremonies that only happen during the April and May. They even have a fake King smiling, waving and shaking hands with the tourists! I was too shy to grab his hand but my friend did!
After the ceremony, we bought our tickets to enter the palace. We wanted to go on a guided English tour but because there were too many people, we didn't manage to get on one. After buying our tickets, we saw that the "king" was taking pictures with the tourist. At the time there were only Koreans so when it was my friends and I's chance to take a picture with him, I was shocked beyond belief when he spoke English to me. He also talked to my friend who was Japanese in Japanese!
First of all, when I saw him I already knew he was friendly but I guess he heard me talking in English and when I sat down next to him, he asked me where I was from! I was really happy and probably because he's impersonating one of my favorite kings from the Joseon Dynasty. He really played his role well!!
After taking the picture with the king, we went around the palace. It's big but not as big as Gyeongbokgung but what's really amazing with this palace is the fact it's connected to a hill (looked like a mountain to me!). We even went to the top and got a picture of the whole palace. Time quickly flew by and we had to go back to the station and get on the train. My sister and I really want to come back and get the English tour. I feel like I didn't learn anything new because there's no quirky and friendly English guides to tell us stories about King Jeongjo and Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.
Day 40, 41, 42, 43, 44: Jongmyo Shrine, Gyeonghui Palace, Ewha Jacket and Shopping
April 1-5, 2013
Nothing much happened during the days I had school except on Wednesday. That day, I had my second field trip with my World Heritage class and we actually used the subway to get there. I don't know about you but that's the first time in my life that I went on a school field trip without the school renting a charter bus or car for its students. It was a unique yet interesting experience!
We went to Jongmyo Shrine, another place filled with so much history and meaning. I had such an amazing time that by the end of my tour around the shrine, it became one of my favorite place in Korea. It's a Confucian shrine dedicated to commemorate the royal kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty and was built during the 14th century. This shrine houses the tablets of the kings and queens and the Koreans believe that these tablets is where the royals' spirits remain.
Our class went with a tour guide because you can't actually roam around the shrine by yourself (unless during Saturdays I believe). There are a lot of rules and the biggest one is always being respectful. There's a pathway just for the "spirits" of the kings and queens. You are not allowed step on them! Refer to the picture above.
There's only two times in the year that you can actually see the tablets and unfortunately, it's not during the day we went. You can see the shrines but not the tablets of the kings and queens itself because it's all closed. They only open it once in May (first Sunday) and in November (first Saturday) where they actually perform the ancestral rites to pay homage to the kings and queen. Also, this is done by the descendants of the royal family! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! In the picture above, the bottom right corner, you can see the tablets of a king and his queen.
One interesting fact about Jongmyo Shrine is that the shrine itself is a reconstruction. Like other buildings in Seoul, it also fell to the Japanese invasion. However, all the spirits' tablets are all ORIGINAL and why is that? Because whenever there is a fire, a disaster or an invasion threatening the country, the King himself takes all these tablets to safety. He doesn't take his clothes or his other personal belongings, he takes these tablets! Filial piety at its best!
Okay, I think I talked too much about history once again so I'll move on now! But if you have any questions about Jongmyo, just ask me!
 On Friday, before my sister and I went to visit another palace (there's a lot of palaces in Seoul okay!), we picked up our Ewha jackets. A month ago, we ordered these baseball jackets commonly worn by college students here in Korea. Ours cost 42,000 KRW each. It's think and amazing during winter. It also let other people that you belong to a college! I was so excited when I picked up my jacket. In the beginning, I was disappointed at the fitting because it runs larger than I expected and it's uncomfortable but the longer you wear it, the better it feels.
The jacket is dark green which is the school's colors. The front has a letter E which stands for Ewha and the right arm has Ewha's emblem on it.
On the left arm, they put the year you enter college (or the year when you buy it, usually students buy it the year they enter that's why). In this same arm, you can put your name or initials. I had them write my name in Korean with a heart!
The back has the university's name and your affiliation. Mine has "International Exchange Student." The other jackets I've seen so far has School of Business, School of Liberal Arts, etc. I thought when they gave this jacket to us it's going to be useless because it's warmer but Seoul weather is so bipolar. It's been windy and raining on and off.
That day, it was really warm. I was sweating my butt off when we went to Gyeonghui Palace after picking up our jackets. I wanted to show it off but the weather wasn't cooperating! Anyways, this is the smallest palace I've ever been to. We manage to go around in just 30 minutes. There's no entrance fee and because it's so small, there's really nothing to see. It was actually a good thing because it was too warm in my opinion. I don't think I would have the energy to go around a palace as big as Gyeongbukgung that day.
After the short palace trip, we decided to cool off by going to Timeout Gelato again. I tried to be more spontaneous and ordered flavors I never had before and well, sometimes being spontaneous is not a good thing. I didn't like both flavors I had but it was okay because I manage to cool off and stopped sweating. We went back to Edae and went shopping. For 50,000 KRW, I manage to snag quite a lot of clothes for Spring. It might not be the best quality but I'm not really picky because I just need something to wear once. Edae is just an amazing, cheap place to shop at so check it out! Anyways, I'll end my post here. I'll post about two more to catch up once again!
I just want to take the time to tell you thank you so much for having this blog, I am currently a junior and wish to study at Ewha once I graduate high school and I have been very confused about how to actually do that and what all is needed for studying in another country ahaha SO YES THANK YOU VERY MUCH! ;a;
That’s actually my goal when I made this blog :D So I’m really happy that it’s helping people. Good luck with high school and graduate SOON, Korea is waiting for you ^^
hi! i'm going to be studying in korea spring 2014, and i was wondering if you could tell me a bit about your time at ewha so far? like are the classes okay? any trouble or anything?
Hi! So far it’s been AWESOME! I actually thought before going here I would have problems with my classes because I heard that there’s always problems (because of the language barrier) but all the professors I have are amazing and so helpful towards exchange students. Maybe not to all students but everything for me is working out great in terms of classes. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask again~
I actually told myself that if I ever go abroad one of the places I will avoid going to is a zoo. My reason was... I have a zoo back home so why waste my time when I can go to the one close to my house. But the thing is, Seoul Zoo is 20 times cheaper than San Diego Zoo! Please don't think I only decided on going to Seoul Zoo because it's cheap but also because I haven't been in one for about 10 years and also because they have kangaroos!
It took about an hour to get from Ewha to Seoul Grand Park station. The entrance to the zoo is right outside the station so you don't have to get a taxi or anything. You can either walk, ride the tram for 1,000 KRW, or get on the skylift to go to the zoo. It's really far so I suggest you ride the tram. The skylift was expensive and I'm scared of heights so tram was the best option. The tickets cost 3,000 KRW for adults so overall, I spent 5,000 KRW only (2,000 KRW is for the tram two-way).
There were a lot of kids obviously but because the zoo was huge, it didn't look too crowded. It was easier to move around compare to Lotte World. I actually felt like a little kid while going around. Like I mentioned before I haven't been to a zoo for about 10 years now so seeing a giraffe, kangaroos, and the other animals made me so excited!
The zoo was really big so before the trip, we actually picked out certain places to visit. However, we ended up going around the zoo within the four hours we were there. We were very proud of ourselves! We manage to see all the animals and manage to survive another trip outside Seoul!
The next day we went to Changgyeong Palace, one of the many palaces in Seoul. Compare to Gyeongbuk Palace, Changgyeong is much smaller. It looked like a miniature version of Gyeongbukgung! This palace was built by the youngest King of the Joseon Dynasty for the Empress dowagers: his grandmother and mother.
Before I talk about the palace, I have to mention that this trip was a great feat my sister and I manage to accomplish! This palace unlike Gyeongbukgung is not close to any subway station. We have to walk for 15-20 mins to get there from the station so we decided to ride the bus which is actually the fastest way but we always avoid going to on buses here in Seoul in fear of getting lost.
In the beginning, we were freaking out then a very nice guy helped us out. My sister asked the driver if the bus stops at the palace but he wasn't able to understand. Fortunately, there was another passenger who did and said yes! We got on the bus (and for your information, it's bus #272 and the stop you get on is by Ewha's back gate).
The entrance fee cost 1,000 KRW and they have free English tours at 11:30 am and at 4:00pm. We went around 11am so we waited for the tour guide. It was so awkward though because it was only me and my sister. Fortunately though the tour guide was cool and it felt even better than other tours because she shared more stories about the palace!
Many of the events that happened in this palace include birth and death of kings. A king who died here was famous for his decision to have a female doctor. Only male doctors were allowed to become a doctor for the King but Jang Geum was an exception. He was amazed by Jang Geum's medical ability that he gave her the title Dae, third highest ranking officer in the Joseon Dynasty.Â
We noticed that they have this big pots outside the buildings and the tour guide said it's Joseon's version of fire extinguisher. Fires were common back then due to the floor heating system (they put coal under the buildings). She joked that it was never enough so it's useless!
The main hall is called Myeongjeongjeon and you can see that it looks really old, because it is! It's an original from the 17th century (actually built in 1485, burned down by Japanese invasion in 1592 and rebuilt again in 1616). Near Myeongjeongjeon is another hall called Munjeongjeon where the said "most tragic incident of the century" happened. The current king at the time ordered his son, Crown Prince Sado, to be sealed alive in a rice chest after news spread that he's mentally ill. He died after 8 days.
I feel like I'm going on and on about history so I'll move on. The last place went to in the palace is the glass house. It was the first ever glass house in Korea and built by the Japanese. Changgyeonggung was actually turned into a zoo but it was removed and restored back to the palace in 1984 but they kept the glass house.
I could go on and on about history and particular stories that happened inside this particular palace but I'm afraid it'll bore most of the people reading my blog but hopefully whatever I wrote was still interesting!
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Day 37: Immigration Office, Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok Village and Namsan Tower
March 29, 2013
Initially, my sister and I only planned on picking up our ARC at the immigration office in Mokdong but a sudden drive to visit Dongdaemun quickly change to a spontaneous fun-filled Friday!
We wanted to go to this accessories shopping mall but we couldn't find it all! We entered two malls where they only sold pins, buttons, zippers, etc. I was really disappointed how bad our first trip to Dongdaemun went. My buddy promised me that we'll go someday together and bring me to the right place!
After the failed trip to Dongdaemun, we decided to go to Myeongdong just to check out a CD by my favorite singers that came out about three days ago and it was there! I really thought I would only buy one CD but ended up... with around 7 more. CDs are really my luxury... I need to control myself!
We decided to go home after Myeongdong. We were still really bummed by our Dongdaemun fail but 30 minutes after we arrived in the dorm, I got a message from my buddy asking me if I was free. It was actually around 2pm so because I had nothing to do I decided to go with her and some friends to Namsangol Hanok Village and Namsan Tower.
We used the subway to get to Namsangol Hanok Village. It's a village filled with traditional houses unlike Bukcheon Hanok Village though, there are no residents.The admission is free but there are three activities you can do once your inside. One of the activities was wearing hanbok and taking pretty pictures.
Our main goal actually when we went here was to wear hanbok. The cost per person is 3,300 KRW which is about $3! It's very cheap and the hanboks were so pretty! Before trying out the hanboks though, we decided to try out the various games displayed outside the houses.
One of them is called "tuho." You throw a stick into a canister. It was popular due to a King during the Goryeo period. My sister tried playing this when we to Gyeongbuk Palace but I was really tired then and decided not to play. I tried it at Namsangol and on my first, I got it in!! Everyone was amazed! I was too! I think I gloated for a minute or two.
The other game is called Paengichigi. It's similar to the modern yo-yo. You play it by spinning a round wooden top and hitting its bottom with a stick that has attached strings to it. It's hard to explain but in the picture you can see both the spinning top and stick with strings.
After the games, we went to one of the houses and tried on the hanboks. The ahjumma there gave me this huge hanbok. At first I thought it was what shamans during the Joseon Dynasty wear. It looked really similar from what I remembered from the dramas but the ahjumma told us that it was actually what women at the time wear during their wedding...
Both of the guys in my group wore hanboks that were usually for kings. My sister wear a hanbok for a queen while our buddies decided on two yangban (noble) hanboks. We actually have a better group picture but it's on my friend's camera and he hasn't uploadedit yet.
After trying out the hanboks, we decided to roam around the village and take pictures. It's amazing how these houses were preserved since the Joseon Dynasty. I'm glad I was able to experience a bit of the Korean traditional lifestyle!
After Namsangol Hanok Village, we went to Namsan Tower. You can ride the #2 bus to Namsan Tower from Namsangol. The bus station is right outside the village. It's one way from there and it takes you right to Namsan Tower. You only have to walk a little bit to reach the top (be aware though this it's very hilly).
Namsan Tower is actually a destination for a lot of couples. The walls/fences have locks filled with messages by the couples. It was so sweet but bitter at the same time because of all of us were single!
We didn't go inside the tower itself because all of us were cheapskates. It cost 9,900 KRW! I mean it's cheap but because I already spent so much money that day I decided not to spend anymore. I will definitely go back though, enter the top deck and might even ride the cable car! Hopefully!
Day 32, 33, 34, 35, 36: Caffe Rosso, Insadong and Weekly Chicken Beer Night
March 24-28, 2013
After dealing with the aches and pains from our membership training at Gapyeong, we decided not to do much for the rest of the weekend.
My sister on the other hand (falling for the false advertisement!) ordered a shakeratto. Okay, to be honest, the main reason she (and me!) ordered it because it had an interesting name and her friend read the description and it said it'll be "sweet." WRONG! It was the probably the most bitter coffee frap whatever mix I ever tasted in my life. It was very disappointing...
After the cafe, we decided to go to Insadong which is 5 minutes away. This is our 2nd time but thanks to my sis' friend we found new adorable stores! The one that caught my eye the most is this music box shop. I visited one back in the US at Seaport Village but what makes this an amazing store is that they have KPOP songs Orgel music box version. I'm planning on getting one before I leave Korea! It cost 38,000 won... I know it's expensive but where could I ever find one again, right?! After exploring Insadong, we decided to go home and get some more rest.
Nothing special happened on Monday and Wednesday but Tuesday and Thursday, yes! I finally found a mart "near" Ewha. There's one right outside called Orange Mart but most of their products are overpriced. On Tuesday, my friend brought me to Homeplus in Hapjeong station (exit #9). It was right next to the station so having a lot of things with you would be okay. The price was not as cheap as I thought but better than nothing right?!
Thursday is probably the most interesting weekday this week. I have Ceramics for 3 hours and this time, we started designing our jars. I already made two bowls (designed them too) and two jars. This week we're designing one of the jars and look at what I did! It seem so cluttered but we have to use Bucheon surface style. It's a style originated from Joseon dynasty and it usually features flowers, fish, birds, etc.
It looks like it was drawn on the jar right? But I actually carved it. If you know about ceramics, it's called "slipping." Although my hands and arm hurt after the class, I was really happy because I usually suck with everything that concerns art and my designs on my jar turned out for the best!!
Things even got better later that night. Our small group of three girls decided that we need to do Chimaek night at least once a week therefore Thursday is now and forever will be Chimaek night!! As always after 4-5 glasses of beer, the buzzing feeling arrived and well, I still had the decency to actually stop. This is the only thing I really don't like about drinking...
I know I'm always late with my updates and I'm really sorry guys!! But awesome things just keep on happening and I can't deal with all of them in just one day. I'm always thankful though that you guys still read and that I'm being helpful in some ways. Expect another post by today! Not a April fools joke by the way :)
If you're staying in Korea for more than 90 days, then you're legally required to obtain an alien registration card (on top of a visa). I'm staying in Korea for exactly 127 days so getting my ARC is one of my top priorities.
This tips post only caters for exchange students like me so if you're not, I'm sorry! You can still read on and some of my tips might apply to you as well.
Firstly, you need to have all the required documents with you and here they are:
It's very important to have a copy of your passport and copy of your visa in the same page! SAME PAGE! I didn't know this at first but my sister who went before me told me about this. So, please make sure that the copy of your passport and visa are on the same paper.Once you have everything with you, you can go to any immigration offices in Seoul but I recommend going to Mokdong/Omokgyo because it's really crowded in Insadong (a tourist destination).
Before I continue, I'm going to warn you that the wait is like going to the DMV. It takes an average of 3-4 hours to get out of there unless you follow my directions!
First, go to the immigration office as early as you can. I recommend going before 8am. The office opens at 9am but when we arrived around 8, there were already a lot of people. Once you're inside, go get a number ticket (which the wait is based on). Make sure that this ticket is for the right counter (if you're applying for a visa, the number is different from ARC)! Once 9am hits, they will start calling people so if you get a number around 50, it's fine!
After getting a number ticket, go to the second floor. Go to the farthest left corner where the fee machines are. There's only two machines so the lines gets VERY long! You will need your passport and the 20,000 KRW fee at this point. The process takes less than 2 minutes with the help of one of their associates but the lines is the problem so get there as soon as you can.
Once you pay off the fees, go back to the first floor and wait for your number to be called. By 10am, the wait is around 200 people already and luckily, I only had around 40 people before me. Once you're called, they will take the copy of your passport and visa (remember, have it on one page!) and the receipt of your fee payment. They will also take your application with the photo. Fortunately, they don't require you to leave your passport to them.
Because I got there early, got a number ticket, paid my fees already, went back to the first floor, I only waited for an hour. Most of my friends waiting for around 4-5 hours. I'm not kidding!
I hope this helps a lot of people! If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact me.
About two weeks ago, my buddy LJ contacted me and told me about how some of the buddies are planning on going to a MT with the international exchange students. This wasn't the first time I heard about MT (which stands for membership training). Membership training is a tradition every college student in Korea experience. During the first semester, groups of students (usually in the same clubs) will travel to countryside and spend a night there playing games, drinking, singing, etc.
I really find this interesting and because I really wanted to immerse mself in Korean culture, I said yes immediately. The fee was 35,000 KRW and this include the pension (house) you'll be staying at, the food, and the drinks (MANY!). We left Ewha for Gapyeong around 3 in the afternoon. The commute to Gapyeong took us almost 2 hours. The subway and bus ride were insane!
The pension was a big 1-storey house with a lot of space where people would be sleeping after all the festivities. It came with two bathrooms, 1 small bedroom with pillows, futons, and blankets, and a huge porch where we cooked and ate dinner. There's also a kitchen, stove, refrigerator, and a karaoke system!
Our whole group was divided into two: the afternoon and evening group. I was in the afternoon group and we're responsible for buying the food and drinks. Half of us decided to stay in the pension and half went to the supermarket. While the other group was gone, we decided to sing karaoke but we asked help from other students in the next house to help us out because the system was really hard to set up!
The shopping team took almost 2 hours and when they came back, I was so shocked by the amount of food and alcohol they bought! I was underestimating everything at this point but boy, I was wrong because everything was finished (with some exceptions) the next morning.
The moment we decided to start on the cooking, the second group finally arrived! I forgot how many pounds of meat they bought but it's A LOT (there were around 25-30 people). We ate dinner (rice, kimchi, MEAT!) then the fun begins!
The first game was a simple one: musical chairs... without the chairs. It's like a grouping game. Although it was quick, I still had a lot of fun. I didn't win though! The next game was similar to charades. Basically, the first person will look at the word and act it out to the next person and so forth. It's also like a phone game. It's hilarious and ridiculous! On the picture, the word was "propose." My team got "drunken cat," "sadness" and "soccer." The first phrase was really hard to act out! I think I caused our team to fail because I can't act to save my life!
Next game is called "I love My Neighbor." Probably the best game of the night but almost the most VIOLENT. Everyone should form a circle and the it will ask a person in the circle whether they like their neighbor or not. If they said yes, the two neighbors will have to move and exchange seats but this is also the it's chance to get a seat. Whoever doesn't get a seat in the end is the it. If the person said no instead, the it will ask him or her, who do you like then?
Our answers varied from people wearing black socks, non-Asians, girls, etc. If whatever the person applies to you, for example a girl like me, I will have to move to another seat. This is where chaos happens. You either slam your self too hard on the floor and get a bruise, or someone will fall on you or hit you accidentally because everyone is trying to get a seat. I'm actually still sporting bruises all over my hips and knees...
The last game is a drinking board game. You throw the dice and you have to do what it tells you to do (where it lands). The choices range from king's cup (courtesy of our European friends), spell your name with your butt, eat raw onion, two shots of soju/beer, imitate an animal, etc! I drank a lot but not enough to get me drunk.
The rest of the night was spent on singing and singing and singing. I slept for around 2 hours and woke up around 4 and they were still singing! Around 5:30, they stopped and started leaving around 6 in the morning. I don't know how they did it because I was so exhausted. The last group which include me left around 12pm. It was a fun, crazy night but I don't know if I'll do it again. The commute killed me but it was a really awesome experience and way to immerse yourself in the culture! Try it and have fun and suffer in just one day! (the rest of my 31st day in Korea was spent on recovering)
Day 26, 27, 28, 29: Care Package, Dormitory Fee, Movie, Chicken and Beer Night
March 18-21, 2013
School starts again! Just like always nothing special happened on Mondays. My sister and I just decided that we're better off eating at Ewha Shikdang for lunch or early dinner. It's a cafeteria where it serve different kinds of meals but for a cheap price. We did it for this week and I really saved a lot of money!
The next day, the 19th, was the highlight of my week (my Friday was another story and deserve it's own post so look out for it!) because my lovely chingus sent my sister and I a care package! When I was still in San Diego, they kept telling me they will send a package but never said when! I got the shock of my life when the office called saying there's a package!
I should have known they sent us the package already because they've been asking what we want and need but I never expected it to come so soon! My friends actually paid for the package to be sent as priority mail! I had to get over the expensive shipping price before opening the package and it contained everything I needed and more. I'm so thankful and happy I could cry. I really appreciate my girls and if both of you are reading it, I will say this one more time, I LOVE YOU GUYS <3!
After dealing with the shock over the care package, my sister and I headed out to another event held by the Ewha PEACE buddies. We watched a movie called Guanghae (Masquerade) where it stars G.I Joe's Lee Byung Hun. The movie was fun overall and I really enjoyed it. I usually watch dramas or movies that focuses on the ladies of the palace and not the King so this movie definitely gave me more of an idea how their daily life was and it sure was very interesting!
On Wednesday, before my class started, I went to Shinhan bank which is inside one of the buildings inside Ewha. The Ewha Campus Complex is made up of different stores, gym, classrooms and even a movie theater! I think I will write more about this awesome place and post pictures when I have the time. Anyway, I went to the bank to pay for my dormitory even though the due date was on the 27th of March. For the whole semester (4 months), the dorm cost only 1,460,000 KRW which is about $1,300. This is very cheap in my opinion because I used to pay MONTHLY in the US with the same amount.
I paid my dorm using cash. I know it's unsafe to have that much cash on you but I really had no choice but to withdraw that money using a local ATM. I actually withdrew the money little by little and because of the international and ATM fees, the total amount I withdrew was around $1,320 which is not bad at all. I know that if you tried bank transfer it might cost even more than that.
On that same day, I went on my class' first field trip (the class is called Understanding World Heritage in Korea and it's about the history and historical places in South Korea). The museum we went to was actually at Ewha and even though it was small, it was amazing! Their collections were surreal. All the pieces inside the room were kept and preserved since the Joseon Dynasty! I'm just really shocked how a university have their own museum (and said museum is also voted the best museum in a university nationwide). Ewha amazes me everyday. I don't think I want to leave!
Thursday comes and nothing special happened until nighttime. My friend told us about a chicken and beer place in Sinchon near Ewha where you can get a plate full of chicken and 3 liters of beer for 27,000 KRW only. We decided to go on Thursday night and I think this was the first time I actually felt buzzed. I never came to the point where I felt dizzy before so it was a surreal and a worrying experience.
I don't really drink that much but because there's only three girls and three liters of beer between us, we had to drink about 4-5 glasses each. Fortunately though nothing serious or bad that happened. Because Sinchon was walking distance from Edae, all of us got back safely and by the end of our walk back home, I was completely sober (still a bit giggly though). On the picture, I look like I'm drunk but I wasn't! I was eating chicken when my friend took the picture. I was trying to chew it so fast that I came out looking like that. Anyways, it was a fun night that is worth repeating... not sure about the dizzying feel though.
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Day 23, 24, 25: Time Out Gelato, Myeongdeong, and FCMen Soccer Game
March 15-17, 2013
I really can't stop myself from procrastinating huh? Anyways, here's another post of how I spent my days in Korea. On the 15th of March, my friends I decided to visit an ice cream shop called Timeout Gelato which is owned by one of my favorite singers. It was a dream come true to finally step inside his shop!
I got the smallest cup which cost me about 4,500 KRW if I remember correctly. You can choose two flavors and I decided on melon and some kind of mango mix. It was actually really good although the melon one was too sweet in my opinion. My sister tried on the Snickers' one and I tasted it, it was the best. I'm getting that definitely when I go back.
The shop is laced with Yoochun's (the owner) pictures. When you buy an ice cream (and it doesn't matter what size), they give you a sticker. They also sell other goods besides ice cream. My sister ended up buying a set of mugs! Anyways, Timeout Gelato is a great place for fans to hang out and enjoy awesome flavored gelato.
After heading out to Myeongdeong, we decided to stop by a cafe called Kona Beans. It's actually a franchise from Hawaii but in Korea one of the stores was owned by three famous singers as well. One of my friends like one of them so we decided to visit as well. The walk from Timeout to Kona was quite far but you walk everywhere here so all of us were used to it.
We stayed there for almost an hour then went to Myeongdeong. It's basically a shopping district where mostly foreigners visit. Most if not all stores have associates that can speak English, Chinese and especially Japanese. I think I was mistaken for a Japanese too many times that night. In Myeongdeong, you can find clothes to CDs/DVDs to makeup (A LOT of make up). I think you can find cosmetic stores in every turn in Myeongdeong. It's insane!
We stayed there until around 9pm. We mostly just went around trying to see everything the place has to offer. I bought a lot of CDs though even though I told myself to not buy too much. It was a spur of the moment and can't help it! The sellers are very convincing! Just bring a lot of money just in case.
So on the 24th Day, we ended up in Coffee Cojjee and Myeongdeong again. We only spent little time there because we had a meeting with a friend later. Going to Myeongdeong after Cojjee was a spontaneous trip because we had nothing else to do and my brother wanted me to buy CDs for him.
The highlight of the day was meeting one of my "online" friends. I actually ran a website and it started in 2008. Because we translate Korean and Japanese shows, I met many Korean and Japanese translators. This friend of mine is Korean and can speak both Korean and Japanese. Until to this day, I still can't believe I finally met her. After 5 freaking years!! Never underestimate any kind of friendship guys!
On March 17, 2013, my friends and I went to our first ever soccer game. 5 days before, I found out that one my favorite singers who is also in a celebrity soccer team is having a match. Although it's only an opening match for the real game, we decided to go because we never saw a soccer a game and if we could see one of our favorite singers, why not! We bought the tickets through Interpark and without my PEACE buddy LJ's help, I wouldn't have manage to get these tickets.
The ticket cost 12,500 KRW and the seats are not bad at all. We were really close to the ground and I'm surprise that the ticket cost only that much. The opening game was mainly composed by fans of the celebrity soccer team which is called FC Men. All the members are actually all celebrities! The main game starts around 4pm so the fans hasn't come in yet. Junsu's position in the team required him to always be on the opposite side's field (to attack) so he always far from us. Junho though, his twin, was always on our side because he was some kind of a defender.
After the opening match, we actually planned on leaving. But when soccer fans started filling in the stadium and we saw how many they were and how supportive they were, we decided to stay. I've never been exposed to soccer culture before so this was a huge surprise for me. I was so excited because the fans were so excited! Their energy was amazing and they were singing/cheering the whole game. Although the home team lost, never did I hear any of the fans boo them. The fan loyalty here is indescribable! VAMOS SUWON CAMPEON!
Our only purpose when we went to Suwon was to see the celebrities team but we got more than that! It was a nice and kind of new way to experience another part of Korea's culture.
Day 19, 20, 21, 22: Ddukboki restaurants and White Day in Itaewon
March 11-14, 2013
Like always nothing much happens on days I have school compare to the weekend so this post will be shorter than usual. I always get my homework done during weekdays so that I'll be free as a bird during the end of the week!
The area around Ewha WU or commonly known as Edae is known for its ddukboki restaurants. I don't know if I explained what ddukboki is before but it's basically spicy rice cakes. THIS IS MY FAVORITE KOREAN FOOD. I just can't stop eating this goodness! I think I eat this once or twice a week! Anyway, on the 12th, my sister and I decided to roam around Edae and noticed how many restaurants there were.
There were so many to pick from so we decided on the restaurant with the most people inside because the more people, the better food right? I don't know if that logic makes sense but the food was really good. In addition to ddukboki, my sister and I ordered bibimbap (mixed rice) and kimbap (like sushi). We only paid around 10,000 KRW for all these goodies! Definitely coming back!
Moving on to my 22nd day here in Korea... March 14. March 14 is a special day here in Korea. Actually every 14th is but the most important ones are February 14, March 14, and April 14. Before telling you what happened to me on this day, I will explain this three 14s! On February 14, Valentines Day, girls will give their boyfriends (or crush if they want to confess) chocolates. The guys will respond by giving candy on March 14. If you don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend or got rejected on either days, you will "celebrate" by going to Black Day on April 14. You have to eat jjajangmyeon (black noodles). Sounds sad but I'm really looking forward to doing this next month!!
Even though I already knew what March 14 meant, I was still surprised at what happened on that day! Originally, I didn't have plans to go out on that day but I found out one of my friends I met here in Korea is celebrating her birthday. Before going to her birthday party though, I had an informal offline meeting with an online class to get to know each other and exchange contact information. That only took thirty minutes so I was waiting outside and noticed how many guys were waiting!
I go to a women only university and even though I see guys now and then inside the campus, I haven't this much! All of them were either carrying flowers, box of chocolates (ferrero rocher! it's really expensive here in Korea that's why it's a big deal to me), and even stuff toys. I was pretty much envious while waiting because you'll see the girlfriends coming out looking so ecstatic! Even after leaving and went to get a surprise cake for our friend, White Day followed us! Inside the bakery, guys were buying their last minute cakes and chocolates. All the cakes were designed specifically for that day! We got our friend a really cute cake (but I think was for couples).
My friend wanted to eat at a non-Korean restaurant so we decided to go to Itaewon which is basically where a lot of foreigners hang out and where many international dishes are served. Unfortunately though all these restaurants are SO expensive it's insane. Everything was overpriced and after roaming around for an hour in the cold we just decided to go to this Korean restaurant which by the way is also in the expensive side!
But the amazing thing about this restaurant though is that it appeared in a Korean variety show. Three people in our group including me recognized the restaurant immediately. It was from Running Man! They had the members of the show's signatures displayed on the walls. It was such a nice coincidence and in the end, we decided to just eat there.
We decided on three main dishes which the birthday girl haven't tried before: spicy pork with tofu, seafood ddukboki, and cheese topped kimchi pancake. This ddukboki was the spiciest ddukboki I ever had. I think I almost died. The best dish though was the cheese kimchi pancake. It was amazing and I really wanted to order more! After finishing all the food, we sang to the birthday girl in three different languages (Korean, English, and French). I really hope she had fun that day because I did. Happy birthday, Jas!!
