Day out with YuSun

Today I had no classes, and so my friend YuSun and I decided to meet somewhere to have some fun! We haven’t seen each other for a really long time since we had our British Lit class together….she’s since graduated from Purdue and moved back to Korea, and so while I was here I really wanted to see her!

So at one pm I met…

YuSun! It’s a very candid photo so she probably won’t like it~ But she’s even prettier than the last time I saw her! It was really great to see her and it was so awesome to catch up. She wanted to take me to a specific place, but not before lunch! We got some Japanese food and it was so good…she really did pay for everything today, every meal! After eating, she took me up a really steep hill to where there was some art that was done on the buildings of the street. The higher we got, the more of the city below we could see.

It was really cool! There were paintings, graffiti types, wire designs, and even carvings.

I don’t know what the robot means, but I thought it was so cute…and it says “hi” in Korea, it was really adorable…then there was a really cool staircase! I blacked out my face because it was pouring rain and I was a mess, haha~

But it was really, really cool! We walked around for a long time, but it was hard to take pictures while holding an umbrella in the pouring rain…I was scared of getting my camera wet. But it was a really beautiful area. We walked for a while and it was nice to just look around and see the city. YuSun then decided to take me to a palace! (Again, she paid for the ticket…)

It was the ChangGyeongGung palace, and it was so huge! It covered a lot of ground, and the archways and buildings were really big, too. For a while we looked around at the buildings and she explained some things for me about the history or what certain things meant, like about what each small stone meant in the main courtyard area.

After seeing that we walked around the main building to another area

And there was a neat place to sit where we relaxed out of the rain. It was nice and calm there, so we sat for a long time and talked. After a while, we started getting sore from sitting for so long, so we walked around the upper garden area.

From this place you can see just how in-the-city the palace is.

Korea definitely blends the old with their new. The grounds for the palace were very calm and green, and just outside the front gate it was modern high rises and daily life. We kept walking and it really was so green…the forests around the path looked like they went on forever!

I saw quite a few people walking while we were here and it was a very comfortable place to be. We even saw a small lake that was inside the palace grounds, and it would have been nice to sit and enjoy the view if it hadn’t been pouring down rain~

After walking for a bit more and getting a drink from a vending machine, we left the palace.

Back to the everyday life for us! Actually, while leaving this place was right across the street…my mom and dad will recognize the name! Seoul National University Hospital~ It was actually a really beautiful building, but I had to take a picture to show them that I had been nearby it and seen it!

We walked around for a while more and she wanted to take me to see SeJong’s statue, but it started pouring so we just ran by it and inside to a HUGE bookstore. It was gigantic, I was amazed! We looked around for a bit before sitting down and getting a drink…and talking for a long time again. Before we knew it, it was 7:30 and we were hungry for something to eat. We ventured outside and she took me to a bibimbap restaurant. I love Bibimbap, it’s one of my favorite Korean foods, so I was really excited to try it in Korea. Inside it was nice and dry, but outside the rain kept coming down.

We both decided on the kimchi with pork bibimbap, and it was so good.

I always forget just how big bibimbap is to me, so I couldn’t even finish mine! TT___TT After eating and talking for even LONGER, we decided it was best to split ways and go home, because I have class tomorrow early in the morning. Ahh, it was really sad to go separate ways because it was so wonderful to see her…but we’ll see each other again, and hopefully when it’s sunny outside!

It's still raining outside, but it's very calming. I've so tired from having so much fun today and walking all over, I know I'll sleep well tonight. Thank you, YuSun, for such an awesome and fun day!

Introduction to Korean Studies

Success!

휴~휴~ I was really nervous for the first day of class! But it was really great, which is why I posed for VICTORY in the picture~! haha, somewhere my dad is wishing I didn't upload this picture cause he thinks I look stupid in it :P

But this morning I actually woke up early because I had a stomach ache...of course it was on the first day. I eventually fell back asleep....but slept through my alarm and woke up an hour later than I wanted. It still left me time to get ready, but I was unhappy.

On Mondays I only have one class, which is Introduction to Korean Studies. I ended up getting to class right on time, but there was no professor...just a classroom full of students. We all sat around for a while talking to the other people around us until a woman came in and announced that our professor was on his way, he'd just gotten confused on which building the class was in.

The professor himself seems really funny and interesting. He isn't actually a professor at Yonsei, he's a professor a t Seoul Women's University...but he graduated from Yonsei. He said that he was a freshman in Korea in 1991...but has been in Korea since 1986. He's originally from the United States, but he's been living, studying, and teaching in Korea since that time (he said that it was very hostile and dangerous when he first came here).

He's really interested in Korea and how it became what it is today, so I'm glad I signed up for the class because that's what I find really interesting. I'm so excited to start the course...we were already given readings to do, but we can't get our book until at least Wednesday ㅠ___ㅠ

I think that it'll be a great class, even though there will be tons of readings and notes. I don't think I'll be bored and this is exactly what I'd wanted when applying to study here!

Tomorrow...I have no class! So I'm going to meet up with my friend YuSun from Purdue who graduated and moved back home to Korea~ I'm really so excited to see her after so long! She said that she'll take me to a place that's really good for taking pictures, so except some tomorrow evening!

On Wednesday I'll update about the classes I had that day, too~

Food Post 2!

Well, since I recently became “sick” (see: female problems), I didn’t get to do much for the past few days. Knowing this ahead of time, I decided to try some more foods over a period of a few days and then make another blog post about some more snack foods here! These were done over the period of a few days, so I didn’t eat all these in one day!

First, I picked up some potato chips…pizza flavor! I thought it sounded interesting, so I grabbed a bag to try.

They tasted like everything that claims they’re “pizza flavored”: they don’t. It’s not that they tasted bad, but they didn’t really do anything for my taste buds. They seemed somewhat bland, and I’d pick something else up before getting these again…but they weren’t bad. They just weren’t pizza flavored. It was hard to put a finger to the exact flavor of the chips…haha. After the chips, I picked up something that was called “Home Run Ball”.

It’s chocolate on the inside, that’s for sure. Also, I have no idea why everything in Korea is labeled as “premium”, but I see that word everywhere. Anyway, when I opened the container, I saw this

And when I took a bite, it was like a cornflake-y pastry crust with chocolate on the inside. It was pretty simple. They weren’t super delicious, but they also weren’t bad. Even though I kept telling myself “these aren’t special”, I kept eating them…and then the next thing I knew, they were gone! I’d also gotten something that I’ve wanted to try for a long time…

Watermelon ice cream! It’s actually like a popcicle, but it’s shaped like a watermelon with little “seeds” inside. When you pulled it out of its package, it looked like this~

It’s so cute! It was so good, I wanted a second one! The little seeds were little nuts (or something…not chocolate), and it was really yummy. It wasn’t ice cream, definitely more of a popsicle, and I’ll probably get another one soon~! For dinner that night, I decided to try a type of ramen since I wasn’t feeling too well.

I got a cheese flavor since it was something I’d never heard of or had before. It was a cup type of ramen, which is where you add hot water, let it sit, poke holes in the allotted spots, drain out the water, then add the flavoring! I was a little worried about cheese flavored ramen, but it was a lot like mac-n-cheese in a round about way. Since I was feeling so under the weather, I also grabbed a tiny thing of ice cream that night for a snack.

Yep. Haagen-Dazs. In Korea. It tastes exactly like it does everywhere else, and it was exactly what I’d needed that night. A few days later, I picked up Market-O Real Brownie. I’d seen commercials for these before and wanted to try them.

They were really sweet…sweeter than other brownies I’ve ever had. But that doesn’t mean they were bad! They were really good, especially as a little snack when my sweet tooth hit at night. (I still have most left, I’ll probably have one later tonight~) The best part was that they were individually wrapped, so I didn’t have to deal with just a big pile-o-brownie when I opened the box.

And each little package had such a cute design. Overall, the snack food in Korea is still pretty good! I still love it here and still really excited to be here for four months.

Bonus! Today, I went to help a friend move into her apartment (where I ended up being somewhat useless…), and while I was out I stopped into Etude House. Etude House is a make-up/face shop that is really widely known and has the cutest exteriors. I had to stop in to get a body wash, as I’d used all mine up, and while I was there I purchased some other things too!

The left is the body wash I got, Apple scented! It really does smell like apples, I’m eager to use it in the morning. The middle are face masks. I love, love, LOVE Korean face masks! Since we can’t get these kinds in the states, I was really eager to purchase them. I bought the collagen mask, which came with a free aloe mask. I used the aloe one tonight and my skin feels really great and fresh! I’ll probably buy some of these to take home~ The right product is a brow color. I’d always wondered if those types of things were useful for anything, and when I tried this I was so happy! They really define the brow and fill it in, so it wasn’t a wasted purchase at all! A great part about the face stores here is…

Freebies! You usually will always get freebies it seems! I got a small hand mirror, comb, little hair razor, some cotton pads (in that box), and small samples of face products! I love cosmetic shopping here so much...

Despite being under the weather, Korea has still been very fun~ I start classes on Monday and I’m really eager! Hope all is well back home with work and classes and I hope to talk to everyone soon!

Myeongdong

So after having cabin fever after only a day of being stuck indoors, it seemed well enough with the weather to go out and explore some more! I asked my friend Kristen to go to Myeongdong with me and so we set off at around 6pm!

I’d heard it doesn’t get very busy or exciting until then, so we grabbed the subway and made our way there as the sun went down…which was awesome, because you got to see all the incredible lights.

They have literally every brand here…what can you spot?

Converse, Nature Republic, Timberland, Landrover, Nike, Spao…and that’s only one small section of a street in Myeongdong! This place is amazing…this is definitely what I’ll miss when I go back home! There’s so much you don’t even know where to begin, you just know that you want to right away! We originally went for a specific Kpop store (I have friends to send gifts home to!) but we stayed for about five hours because it was so amazing. Have you ever seen a three story Dunkin Donuts in person?

No, you probably haven’t. But I did, and I about screamed. There was even a huge BSX store there that was clearly endorsed by G-Dragon of popular hip hop group Big Bang.

He was everywhere inside that store, and since my friend was a huge fan of G-Dragon, we had to stop in! They had some great clothes, just too expensive for this trip to Myeongdong. There are also nature republic shops EVERYWHERE in Korea! There had to be four or five at least in Myeongdong alone.

Jang GeunSuk is the model for Nature Republic so he was also everywhere. You literally cannot escape his face in Korea. The store that we went into had the coolest wooden exterior though, it was beautiful. It was two stories up for an entire make-up and skin care store…GeunSuk everywhere…

This Nature Republic building was the building we had to go into to get to Music Korea, the kpop store we’d planned to visit. The kpop store was on the 3^rd floor of the building, and you instantly knew it as soon as you saw the posters and giant wall sized posters!…took this for my friend Kirtie, I knew she’d enjoy it~

I didn’t want to take any photos inside the store, I didn’t know if that was allowed, but it was so amazing…walking into a store and seeing Kpop CDs was really weird, but really great. All the MBLAQ things they had I already owned, so I bought Two-X’s debut mini album and TaeTiSo’s Twinkle album for myself and picked up Beast’s new album “Midnight Sun” for Kirtie and Ukiss’ “Neverland” album for Ali! I hope you guys like them! 

After that store, we continued to walk around and we found this cool building.

I love rainbows, so a huge rainbow building is something I had to take a picture of! Then we made our way down some more back streets…to be honest, no street is a back street in Myeongdong! Every single street is filled with people and shops…

We even found the really huge ice cream street vendor and we shared a cone! Seriously, they’re supposed to be about 30cm in length…and they were huge! But so, so delicious…

This is my friend Kristen who went with me showing off the ice cream. Haha, we were so sweaty by this point that ice cream was exactly what we needed! As we walked, we couldn’t stop staring at the architecture of some of these buildings! This was the entrance to a 3 story Forever21…it was so beautiful! Wooden looking beams and everything! 

After exploring for so long, we hobbled home exhausted and went our separate ways. Finally taking my shoes off was so nice…my feet ache! But I still managed to get a few shots of what I bought in Myeongdong!

First, I was bummed I had everything MBLAQ has released so I got a small clear file-like thing from a street vendor, haha! Only 2$, and it’s about the size of my computer screen!

I also got a shirt, but I have no idea what it says. I just thought it looked funny with the lady’s leg on it.

I also got a hat that I’d wanted for a long time~

My webcam is mirrored, but it says “KING” on the front~ (please don't mind my face...I'm really exhausted and sweaty! ㅠㅠ) I didn’t take a picture of the blemish hider I got from Nature Republic because it’s pretty standard like the states~ I can’t wait to go back to Myeongdong and pick up more things! Dad, if you’re reading this…don’t worry! Everything tonight cost under 75$ total!

So today really ended up being eventful! I’m very excited, and also…my favorite group announced they’ll be releasing their concert dvd in Korea! I can go buy it, hooray!

I hope everyone is well!

Love from Korea~

Kai

Food post 1!

Today I didn’t do much…I’d planned a skype date with Andi, and we went a little overboard.

So after talking with her for a long time, I went downstairs to the convenience store and bought some food…I was running low on things to drink and had no food left to eat for lunch or dinner. As I was down there browsing foods, I decided to get some stuff to review for the blog, since I was completely aware I’d have nothing of interest to write about today.

For lunch, I got the same sandwich that I’d gotten before. The bulgogi meat patties on a bun. I took a picture this time to show you!

It really isn’t that bad, even the second time eating it. When I’m in a pinch to eat, that might be my go-to food item to buy. It’s cheap and fills me up. I also decided to get a snack to try…I’d seen some American brand snacks that I wanted to try in Korea, so I picked up a bag of Doritos.

I go the Nacho Cheese since the other flavor was something along the lines of “REALLY HOT”, and if it’s really hot to everyone else, it’s simply mild to Koreans. They like their “HOT AND SPICY” to be “burn down your esophagus and fizz your eyeballs out”. I didn’t want to try that flavor just yet. The flavor isn’t as strong as the Nacho cheese back in the states. It’s not as orange as back home, either. I like it though, it’s more of a mild taste. It’s definitely still nacho cheese (even though it’s not as strong tasting). After grabbing the nachos, I got a bottle of Milkis.

Along with Chilsung, I used to get this back at home all the time as well. It’s a really strange drink to describe but I love its flavor. It tastes like a soda float to me…like ice cream and sprite. When you pour it out, it doesn’t look very appetizing…

Kind of like dishwasher detergent, right? I think that Milkis is something that you either love or hate. I love it, but I know of other people who really hate it. But if you can find it, I recommend you to try it! For dinner, I picked up a boxed Tonkatsu lunch.

I’d been eyeing these different box lunches for a while and when I saw Tonkatsu, I decided to buy it and try it out! It was only 3,000won so I’m not sure how it’ll taste. It’s got the pork cutlet, small portion of kimchi, rice, and what looks like….curry, maybe? It tastes to me like curry. The tonkatsu part is okay, it’s nothing compared to the restaurant style made here, but that’s to be expected. The rice isn’t half bad either. The kimchi has a bit of a seafood taste, which is different for me. Since I’m not a huge fan of yellow curry, I think I’m gonna pass on eating it. With my meal, I decided to try the ever famous Korean banana milk.

This drink is hugely recognized because it’s shown all the time in dramas. Since I’m not a fan of banana flavored things, I wasn’t sure if I’d like this at all, but figured I’d give it a shot. When I say I’m not a fan of banana flavoring, I mean I actually hate it. But the banana milk…isn’t bad! Since it has more of a milk taste than a banana taste, I actually enjoy it. I’m pretty shocked!

Well, this was the food I tried today. It’s said that the typhoon is supposed to hit tonight or tomorrow, and all the things that were scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed until an unknown date. I think that they forced schools to close tomorrow, too. It’s starting to get windier outside.

This is the view from the common room on my floor. It’s so beautiful, despite the fact it’s getting dark. 

Added: As it got dark, the sky got pink and blue! So cool!

Anyway, I’ll update you all later! I might have a really unproductive day tomorrow as well, if it’s raining…oh well!

Love you all!

-Kai

Home Plus

Today I called up a new friend, Kristen, and she agreed she would go to Home Plus with me! I’ve wanted to go for a while but I’ve never known where one was. All I could find was information about a Home Plus in Jamsil, close to Lotte World. It’s far from Yonsei, but we decided to go anyway.

When we got there, we were amazed…it was about 5 stories high with every floor being for something different! They even had criss-crossing escalators that had no steps and you took your cart on them! It was amazing and I genuinely wish our stores back in the states were like this.

We each had lists of things we needed, but we wandered quite a bit, haha. I got several things I needed like...

a cup/fork/spoon set (which technically was in the children’s section, but I’m a child at heart) that had Miffy the bunny on it,

a super cute umbrella with really adorable details (I WILL find a way to get this back to the states), 

towels,

a shirt that I thought was hilarious,

house slippers,

and a present for Andi back home (and presents for others, but those are a surprise so no pictures!)

I didn’t take a picture of the cute cardigan I got (I don’t know why) or the extra pillow I bought, but it was a pretty productive day.

After the long subway ride back, my arms packed full of things to hold, we stopped by a Holly’s Coffee where I got a sandwich to take home for dinner and Kristen broke a 50 for change to use a cab to get back to her hotel.

When we parted ways, I had to walk all the way back up to SK Global house…and it was scorching hot again. I was sweating so bad and that was about when I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day. My stomach was crying out in pain…I rushed home and immediately opened the sandwich to eat, but not before I got a picture to show~

It was ham and cheese, I think, but it was great. The bread was awesome! The whole sandwich was only around 3,000-4,000 won. After I ate it, I downed a good bit of Chilsung Cider and felt a lot better. The air conditioning is on and I feel pretty good~

I’m exhausted though, because I walked a lot. We weren’t exactly sure where the Home Plust market was when we exited the subway, but we found it after a long bout of walking. Either way, it was a really fun day and I had a blast with Kristen.

We have a lot in common so I think it’ll be a fun semester with her~

Tomorrow I have a skype date with Andi, so who knows if I’ll do much aside from that! I’ll update you all later!

Lazy day…

Well…today I woke up with a little cold. I must have caught it from being in the rain for so long last night! >____< I slept in really late because I didn't feel good…

When I finally woke up, I took a shower quickly and went to the G25 (pretty sure that’s the name of convenience store) in the basement of my building and got some things to eat…I didn’t want a lot so I just got a microwave sandwich and some Pringles. The sandwich was bulgogi patties (or at least that’s what the packaging said) on a long bun with lettuce and mayo…I took the lettuce off because it got soggy from the mayo and I thought it looked gross.

The whole sandwich itself didn’t look too terribly appetizing, but after heating it up and taking a bite, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I ate the whole thing. Back in the states, I never ate mayo because I thought it tasted weird. Here in Korea though, I’ve noticed you can’t be too picky with your food: sometimes because what you don’t like just comes on it anyway and sometimes because I have no way of communicating what I don’t want on my food (or even knowing what DOES come on it).

Anyway, the Pringles were just Sour Cream & Onion…they taste about the same as back home, but the individual Pringles themselves are smaller, which I like.

I also got a big jug-o-Chilsung Cider. Those who know me from back home know that I got Chilsung from Hana, the Korean Market at Purdue, all the time…and I’m excited that I can go anywhere here and get it. It’s one of my favorite drinks.

I also got a free bottle of PU:R water! It tastes like water, surprise. It’s safe to drink filtered water here, so no worries to those who weren’t sure about that back home. The pink drink is Vitamin Water, which we also have back home in the states. I got this flavor, which is supposed to be Kiwi Strawberry…and I regret it. It really doesn’t taste good at all, because it’s not like Powerade. It’s definitely like watered down powerade…bleck. I kept it anyway because I paid money for it and if I really need a drink, it’ll do. Ha.

After eating, I decided to try and find the fitness room since I was tired of just laying in my room. I still didn’t feel too well but I had antsy legs…I had to move or go somewhere. I wandered around on floor B2 and eventually stumbled upon the fitness room. There was a guy in there lifting weights that looked like they’d weigh what I weigh…I was impressed but also slightly intimidated. I didn’t want to look like a pansy in front of this guy, haha.

I got on the really awful elliptical and switched to a treadmill after a bit because it was in such bad shape. After about ten minutes on there, I felt really sick…so I had to leave and run back up to my room. I figured I should be done for the day…I didn’t want to get MORE sick.

Coming to dinner time, I figured I could start my laundry and grab some eats while they were washing. Laundry here is cheap, about 1,000 won for one load. That comes out to a little less than $1 USD. While waiting, I hopped over to a restaurant by the G25 store in the basement. I don’t remember the name, but I always read it as “Kinki”…that’s not it, but oh well.

There were very few people inside and I made it just before closing. I got Tonkatsu, or pork cutlet. It was about 6,000won (a little less than $6 USD)…it was called “big pork cutlet”, but for 6000won I expected a regular portion. When I got it, the cutlet alone was the size of my head…and it came with a side of rice, small salad, a few sweet pickles, and some fried potato skins. I was so shocked. I could only eat about ¾ of the cutlet and half of the rice! I picked at the salad and left the potato skins alone…I didn’t want them. But I love sweet pickles, so I devoured those~ Korea tends to like sweet pickles with a lot of things, so I was really happy to notice that! Thank you, Korea!

I had a while, so I picked at my food for a long time until the timer on my phone went off, signaling to go check on my clothes. I got back and had a few minutes left, and I started to wonder how I would get my sopping wet clothes back to my room…I had brought them down in my suitcase, but forgot that they’d be wet going back up (they don’t have driers here for students unless you get your clothes dry cleaned). I noticed a wall vending machine that sold big plastic bags for 500won…about 00.45 cents in USD. I bought one and was pleased when all my clothes could fit in it!

I made it back to my room and set up the air-drier that we use here. I know all the people older than me reading this will say “that’s how we had to dry clothes when I was young, that’s no big deal”…but for me, I’ve always had a drier! So for me, this was a new experience. I managed to get it set up on the tiny balcony and get all my clothes on it…oh boy, I’m not a failure! We’ll see what they’re like tomorrow morning. I just really hope it doesn’t rain tonight…

I decided to play it safe for the rest of the night and just hang out in my room. I’m still feeling a little under the weather, but tomorrow I have hopes of making my way to Jamsil to hit up a HomePlus…I really want to see what one is like! I’m just in my room now relaxing, listening to Nell, and writing. Not a bad ending to my day.

I hope my parents had a good flight back and enjoyed seeing our puppy dog again! I already miss her loads…hi Maddie (parents, that’s a queue to give her a big hug and kiss from me)! I also hope my brother had a good First Nighter with the Glee Club…miss you guys back home and I’ll try to skype some of you soon!