What I did in Korea before the start of Yonsei's Spring school semester: figuring out public transportation, exploring the Hongdae/Sinchon area, visiting family, meeting other Yonsei exchange students, cafe-hopping, coloring my hair, Ikseondong and Bukchon Hanok village, my first Kpop concert in Korea, contemporary art museums, HYBE Insight, and more!
2/17:
After my 7 days of quarantine finally ended, I was able to connect with some other Yonsei students who also lived off-campus through a Kakao chat group that I had joined. A group of 4 of us students total planned to meet up in Hongdae to eat at a K-BBQ restaurant called "Saemaeul Sikdang," which was about a 30 minute walk from where I lived. After eating and chatting at the restaurant for a couple hours, we walked around Hongdae for a little to get desert and shop around. It was my first time being in Hongdae since I had visited Korea once before in 2017, and I thought it was so pretty, especially since I had been cooped up in my residence for the past week! I loved that it had so much shopping and so many places to eat.
2/18:
Today I planned to visit my brother and sister-in-law who also live in Seoul, meaning I had to figure out how to take public transportation, which I had been kind of nervous about, since it was basically my first time taking any kind of public transportation in years. I had taken public transportation when I had last visited Korea 4 to 5 years ago, and I rarely took the bus at home because I mainly just drove everywhere.
Luckily, the route I had to take was relatively simple. I took the bus from a stop a few minutes away from my house to the nearest metro station, Hongik Univ, and then took Line 2 to Jamsilsaenae station. I still got a little bit lost on the way to their place, because I almost got onto the Line 2 in the wrong direction, and I also took the wrong exit coming out of Jamsilsaenae station, and walked past where my brother and sister-in-law lived before finally circling back to their place. Ultimately, what was supposed to be closer to an hour commute, took me nearly 2 hours by the time that I finally arrived at their apartment, BUT I did get there safely (and didn't get tooo lost)! I ate a yummy home-cooked meal at my brother and sister-in-law's house (calzones and salad, then fresh strawberries for dinner - the strawberries in Korea are a bit expensive but definitely worth the price!), and I also started watching a new kdrama on Netflix called "TwentyFive-TwentyOne," which they were watching also (highly recommend!). On the way home, I actually only took 1 hour as projected by Kakao Maps, and didn't get lost.
2/19:
The following day I met up with a friend at a cartoon cafe in Yeonnam-dong called Cafe Greem. It was super cute, and looked really trippy on camera, because it looked like we were living in a 2-D world. We ordered our drinks, and I got an orange cafe latte, which tasted interesting. Afterwards we took a lot of cute pictures with some of the props in the cafe, and then we went to walk around the area towards Hongdae. On the way, we stopped by a birthday cafe for Seventeen's Vernon and DK.
In Hongdae, we stopped by Etude House, where I bought some brow gel and a foundation compact. Then we got food at a nearby udon place. We shopped around at a few clothing stores for the afternoon. Then, we got dinner at a skewer place.
2/21:
I had a hair appointment at CcaHair Salon in Hongdae at 11AM with my friend, which I had scheduled prior to coming to Korea by direct messaging the salon's instagram account. The colorists first gave me a hair consultation, and because I had previous red dye in my hair, I was told I wouldn’t be able to get the bright blonde color that I wanted. I ended up having 2 sessions of bleach and coloring my hair an ash-beige color because the blonde that my hair had become after the bleaching looked too yellow, even after toning. I also got a hair cut (layers & bangs), as well as hair styling. The total was in the 300,000's krw with an additional 8% fee for using a foreign credit card, since I didn't have enough cash on me at the time to pay in cash. It took 4-5 hours for the entire appointment, and we were pretty hungry by the time we finished.
After the appointment, we went to go look for food and ended up at a Korean hangover soup place. Afterwards, we went to a dog cafe! Something I noticed is that drinks at themed cafes, animal cafes, or any really nice cafe can be a bit on the pricier side since you are basically paying an admission fee with the drink.
2/22:
I met up with some other Yonsei exchange students at a restaurant called Gosami in Sinchon. After eating, we walked around campus and went to the campus store (COOP). Afterwards, we went to another cafe in Sinchon, where I ordered a pistachio latte.
After that, I met up with another girl (Yonsei exchange student) at a restaurant close by to where I lived. We went to a cafe (TwoSome) in Sinchon, and split a cheesecake and I had an English breakfast tea. Then, we went grocery shopping at NoBrand, Daisy, and Olive Young. I bought some conditioner, and some products for my newly colored hair.
2/23:
I met up again with some of the same friends I had made the previous day. We went to a cafe in Ikseondong called Cheongsudang, which was super pretty and instagram worthy.
Afterwards we walked to a K-bbq restaurant called Wangbi Chib. Then we walked/bussed to Bukchon Hanok Village street and took a bunch of pictures together!
2/24:
I met up with another girl at this Shanghainese dumpling restaurant in Itaewon called Yasanghae. It was very good! We ordered shrimp and chives mandu, and an eggplant dish.
We walked around Itaewon a little bit, but it was pretty dead since it wasn’t night time yet, so we went to Myeongdong, which was also sadly very dead. Most of the shops had closed down due to Covid.
One of the only areas that was still kind of alive was Myeongdong Underground shopping in the metro stations, which was also not very busy. I decided to go back towards home, and stop by Sinchon to get some groceries.
I was looking for a heat protectant spray in Olive Young and other stores, but I discovered that Korea doesn’t really sell heat protectant hair products. They had many other serums and hair treatment products though, which I'll probably purchase later.
2/25:
In preparation for a P1Harmony concert I was going to the next day, I went to go print my concert ticket receipt at the print cafe nearby to where I lived. It took me a while to figure out how to get the printer to work, since all of the instruction were in Korean, and the computers and printers were also in Korean, but I was able to do it eventually. I was also able to use my T-money card to pay (500 krw) for the copy I printed.
I then went to Gangnam underground station. I met up with a girl at a nearby cafe called, Vrew Coffee. We talked for a while there, and then went to shop and grab a bite to eat in the underground station. We ate gimbap at a stall, and I shopped for my concert fit and also bought 2 pairs of stainless steel earrings. After I finished shopping, I decided to just go back home. I got onto the metro around 5pm, which was unfortunately right during rush hour, so it was super packed in the metro, to the point you couldn't even move around.
2/26:
Today I woke up early to get ready for the concert, and because I was meeting another girl at MMCA (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art). She was a foreign student studying online at a Shanghai university, but from Korea for the next 3 months. We walked around the MMCA exhibits and also took a bunch of photos. Afterwards, we got coffee at a nearby cafe in the surrounding hanok village.
I had to leave to go back home and get ready to go to the concert (I was aiming to arrive 2 hours before the start time). It took me longer to get back home, because I ended up taking the metro, which is a less direct route to my home, and I also missed the timing to take a bus from the metro station back to my home, so I just walked very quickly. Definitely getting my steps in since coming to Korea!
Getting to the concert venue was a struggle because I had to transfer so many times from the bus and the metro, but I got there eventually, and around when I had been aiming to arrive.
My friend had gotten my ticket for me already (bless her soul), and so I just had to get my vaccination proof checked. I chose not to buy merch or a light stick, because I didn’t want to spend too much money, although my friend did buy a light stick, which was really pretty.
I ate at a burger place nearby while waiting for the concert venue’s doors to open. My friend also let me borrow her portable phone charger because my phone was dying so quickly.
The concert was amazing! P1H are amazing performers, and the venue was small enough that I could see them very clearly. I also think one of the members’ moms (Jongseob’s mom) was sitting right next to me at the concert. During the concert, we weren’t allowed to stand up, scream, or clap our hands (we were given clappers). We could film, but just not with a professional camera (so just our smart phone cameras were fine).
After the concert finished, it was raining, and we needed to use the restroom (the concert venue staff said we needed to use the restroom outside of the venue), so we went to a nearby chicken restaurant. I’ve gotten a bit better at ordering food in Korea! I don’t feel as shy about asking for things in Korean.
2/27:
Today was a chill day. I just called my parents and went grocery shopping at a nearby supermarket called Sareoga. I bought sandwich & salad ingredients. Prices for groceries were definitely a bit on the expensive side.
2/28:
I met a friend in Hongdae in the morning who had just gotten out of quarantine. I bought gimpab and we also got coffee.
Some friends came to the house around 3:30pm to bake and eat dinner together, since the Airbnb I was staying at had full kitchen, which most student housing typically does not have. We made brownies, and ate sandwiches, and also later went to go check out a nearby gym.
3/1:
Today, I had reserved tickets online to go to HYBE Insight. I, along with my roommate, planned to meet up with a friend about 30 minutes prior to our reservation time at HYBE, because if we were late for our appointment time, we would not be let in and we would not be refunded our tickets. We ended up meeting at a cafe close by to HYBE Insight called Bud, which was actually celebrating TXT's anniversary, by giving out little free posters of the members.
We went on our tour of HYBE Insight museum, using the tickets that we reserved. I had purchased a photo card ticket, which had my name and a picture of Enhypen Jay on it. I also was given a green bag when I checked-in. If I am remembering correctly, I believe there were 3 total floors or main sections in HYBE Insight, and we moved through each floor and section all together with a larger group. The 1st floor was probably the coolest, however, we were not allowed to take pictures or recordings there. It was very futuristic and reminded me of a k-pop spaceship or something. The second floor had an art exhibition in collaboration with a contemporary artist, which featured figurines representing BTS members. There was also the Euphoria room, and some other interactive exhibits and games. Lastly, there was a section dedicated to the achievements and history of HYBE's artists. After the tour finished, we exited through the HYBE merch/gift shop.
After our tour at HYBE, we went to Itaewon to eat at a Turkish restaurant. I had a lamb kebab set. I also bought baklava from a nearby Turkish bakery.
My roommate and I caught the bus home together from Itaewon, and I spent the rest of the day preparing for the first day of school, which was the following day, by figuring out and navigating "LearnUs," Yonsei's online student portal for classes, the equivalent of Laulima at UH, and making sure that I knew my class schedule and which Zoom links to use for each lecture.
