Cheonggyecheon Stream

Yesterday evening my friends Kristen, Sheetal, and I decided to head to Cheonggyecheon Stream and check it out. It’s a stream that goes for a many miles (I think at least 5?) and it’s right in the center of Seoul. It’s surrounded by nature, but also by the huge industrial buildings. We met up at six and went to a place called “Jun’s Grill”. Sheetal’s roommate works there, and she wanted to meet Kristen and I, so we stopped in.

It was so, so cute. Really small, but very earthy…there were plants and a small wall garden that lined the whole room. It was incredibly relaxing to eat there.

When it got darker, they turned the lights down a bit to give it a really calm mood, it was wonderful. Also, they had a café cat! It was so cute~

It had a little T-shirt and Overalls on. He was beautiful, and really loved the chew on the grass growing next to our table, haha. After we had eaten our meals, Sheetal’s roommate brought us out some wine on the house.

Since I’m not much of a drinker at all (and if I do drink, it’s never wine), I didn’t drink much of mine, but it was so nice of her to do that. Soon after, we left. Making our way to the subway, we saw a few guys rapping and singing, so we sat down and watched.

They were incredible. We sat through the end of their show and told them they were awesome, then went on our way. I don’t know if this is what subway stations look like everywhere else, but in Korea they’re really nice!

Anyway, so we finally made it to where we were headed, and they had some really huge buildings. One great thing about Korea is the mixture and blending of the old buildings and new buildings. The architecture of these new buildings is incredible.

They had a huge statue (which we called “The Unicorn” haha) that made it really easy to find where the stream was.

When you turned the opposite way of the statue, the stream began. It started at the top where a bunch of small fountains were located

Then it all ran down into a big waterfall.

At night, they use colored lights to illuminate the water in certain places and even put on small light shows. It was beautiful to see in the dark.

The stream ran under bridges and streets, with places to sit all along the trails to either side of the water. It was a very artistic area.

They had projections on the walls (all which were brightly colored), and I loved each one of them. At night, the buildings around the stream light up as well, adding to the entire feeling.

Everything was bright and colorful, but also calm and serene.  After walking for a while, we sat under a bridge to relax and just enjoy everything around us.

The water runs pretty quickly at this stream, despite being very shallow.

After a while of walking again, we decided to head home because two of us still had some homework to do. All in all, it was a pretty nice and relaxing weekend. Next weekend is the Yonsei/Korea University games! I’m really excited~

Shopping and Pizza Hut!

Sorry for the delay in updates! I’ve been too busy or tired to sit down and actually write anything out~

Anyway, on Thursday, I went to Myeongdong again. I actually went with the intent of buying MBLAQ’s concert DVD which was being released that day. I got it and….wow, it’s so cool~

I’ve already watched it and I really loved it! I was excited for MBLAQ to release something while I was in Korea, because I’ve always wanted to just walk to a store on the day of release and buy it. Since I was on a mission, it was over really quickly…and being in Myeongdong, I decided to shop around a bit. I still needed a regular backpack and some clothes (being here makes me realize that, yes, I did in fact underpack), so I walked around. I found a cool bag that I bought

It really caught my eye and drew me over, so I had to buy it. I also stopped in at Forever21 because I was certain they had sizes that fit me. I bought a few things that I can use here.

I’m only showing two shirts because I didn’t take pictures of anything else haha. I purchased a few other things and then headed back home because I was completely aware that I’d already spent too much money. That night I met up with Kristen and a friend of hers to get some dinner then go to Mentor’s Club Cheering Orientation! We wanted to try a Korean pizza hut, so we headed to the second floor of a building in Sinchon. We settled on a pizza type agreement

And dug in. It was “Bacon Potato Pizza”…and it was delicious. It had big pieces of bacon, potato wedges, corn, peppers, and onions on it. It was the one of the best pizzas I’ve had in my life, I think. I really need to go back to a Pizza Hut here and take my time to eat. We had to hurry to cheering orientation though, so we ate quickly.

After cheering orientation, we went to Karaoke. It was my first time doing it in Korea, and it was wonderful. I belted my heart out (per the usual), and we left after about two hours…and I was exhausted. It was about 12:30am by the time I got home, so I instantly fell asleep because I had class at 9am on Friday.

Since then, I’ve been busy with classes and other things, but I managed to snag a new pair of socks and some notebooks for classes~!

Everything here is cute, I don’t know why I didn’t live here…I love everything cute! Anyway, this upcoming Monday will be the start of the second week of school, so we’ll finally really start having lectures and learning! I’m really excited~

I'll make a new post tomorrow morning, sorry about the delay!

Second day of classes

For me, today was the second day of classes (because I don’t have classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays). The day started at 9am with my Communication Media in Korea” class in a building right behind my dorm (which will be great if there’s a strong winter while I’m here~). I wasn't sure exactly how I’d like this course, but I actually am really eager for it now.

The class covers mostly how Korea’s communication media evolved from newspaper to what it has become now, covering how it affects stories, politics, culture, and everyday life. Since I’m really interested in Korean culture and how it’s evolved to its state now, I think that I’ll be really interested in this class. Media is a huge part of shaping every society, so I’m really excited!

When I finished that class, I came back to my dorm for a little rest, because I was really tired for some reason…but instead, I couldn’t get inside. I was locked out of my room, my key didn’t work! Every time I scanned it to get into my room, it would make a noise and the pad would light up red to deny me. I went to the front desk and they told me that my file had been deleted…I was so shocked. They kept asking if I’d broken any violations, which I know I haven’t. (If I have, they wouldn’t be bad enough to get me kicked out or something!) So the man at the desk re-opened my account for me, which allowed me to get into the room again. I kept asking him what I did, and he said he didn’t know…if I’d broken a violation, he would have been told. He said that it must have been an accident and not to worry. But of course I worry, I’m a worrier.

In my room I felt exhausted, especially after that incident. I sat in my room relaxing before I went to get lunch and then go to my second class. I ate at a place under my dorm because it had WiFi my phone could connect to…haha. I sat for a while enjoying the WiFi before heading to my second class, Contemporary Korean Cinema and Society. As I walked toward my class, I saw a familiar face…my friend Kristen was sitting there waiting! I’m so happy for this class now because she’s in it with me~ We didn’t do much, we just started watching a movie as soon as class started! We started “My Sassy Girl”, which I’m pretty sure is famous for having a scene at Yonsei University in it. We only watched a little bit (we’ll finish on Friday, I suppose), but it was a fun class period.

Kristen and I left together to go get shirts for the Mentor’s Club cheering orientation tomorrow and walked around trying to find the copy mat one of my texts is from, but to no avail. Eventually we split ways and I headed to my Early Modern Korea and its Historical Sites in Seoul class.

This class seems very cool. It’s all about the historical sites in Seoul and what happened there, how it affected the growth of Korea, etc. We’ll go on three field trips to the actual historical sites, I can’t wait! We didn’t do much in this class either, and it was my last class, so I came home and took a quick nap…I was really so exhausted.

But I do have some pictures! I wanted to try the Ramyun in Korea, so I grabbed that for dinner~ I got the shin-cup type where you fill it with water to cook the noodles.

I knew that Korean style Ramyun was spicy, so I didn’t put the whole pack of seasoning in and didn’t drain any water at all so that it wouldn’t just absorb a lot into the noodles but would have more of a spicy broth instead.

Even adding only about half the pouch…it was so spicy that my lips and tongue tingled! But it was really good, actually! Better than I thought it would be~

Tomorrow, since I don’t have classes, I think that I’ll go to Myeongdong and do some shopping. I want to see if MBLAQ’s concert DVD is actually released and I think I’ll go to Forever21 and also try to find a better backpack…we’ll see! Hopefully tomorrow is successful!

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!