Khanh in Korea

Greetings! This is my text/photo/video blog of my time studying abroad in South Korea at the prestigious Yonsei University. It is a way for me to preserve my memories as well as a means of showing my friends how I am doing and what I am up to. Enjoy! var sc_project=6594960; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_security="a6f8f796"; WAU_tab('dodx2h74zpol', 'right-middle') var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-21158034-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[khanhinkorea]

Day 122: The End of a Chapter: Khanh'is not'inKorea

The day of departure came quite swiftly as the day of arrival seemed so recent. I had everything packed up, checked out of my room, and said goodbye to my roommate. We never really hung out together but the goodbye was still sincere.

For my last few hours in Korea, I promised Dana that I would spend some of it with her. So we went out for lunch and had jajangmyeon. We talked about how sad it was that we were just really getting to know each other and started to hang out on a regular basis and then I have to pick up and leave. Seems to be the theme recently that I realize how much of my time in Korea was spent focusing on Kpop related events rather than getting out there to meet people and make friends. I don't regret any of the decisions that I have made though because everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't change a darn thing about my overall experience here.

We finished off our conversation over some patbingsu and before I knew it I had to get on the shuttle bus to Incheon Airport.

It never really hit me until I actually got off the bus and was met by the open are filled with planes that Korea is now part of my past.

No more transferring around on the subway; no having tons of side dishes with all of my meals; no more watching SNSD perform live; no more randomly running into celebrities; no more Korea.

But life moves on. In the book of life, every chapter needs to come to an end in order for a new one to begin. Whatever the next chapter of my life holds for me I will live it with as much enthusiasm and fervor that I have for the past 4 months in Korea. I want to thank everyone who has read or will read any of the blog posts that I have written here. It has been quite a journey and I am glad I was able to share with you guys all of the significant moments in my life for the past 4 months. Obviously because I am no longer in Korea, this blog is now at the end of its term and will probably become irrelevant with each passing day. One day I will look back on this blog and reminisce about the good times that I had and just sit there with a smile on my face. And who knows! Maybe I might end up in Korea again and have to restart this whole thing ; )    

[khanhinkorea]

Day 121: Too Much Stuff!!!

Starting to pack the day before you have to leave for another country is not a good idea. I originally only played on packing for a few hours and then hang out with as many people as I could. However, packing everything that I have accumulated in Korea proved to be a difficult feat. The first obstacle was getting everything to fit into my 2 suitcases. When I finally through out enough stuff to fit everything in, I weighed it and find out that it was about 15 pounds over the weight limit. Having to pick out another batch of things to throw out after I thought that I had already gotten rid of everything that I needed throw away was even more difficult of a task than fitting everything into the suitcases. 

I took a lunch break and went out to Korean BBQ with my friend Janis who I met a few weeks ago. We just talked about SNSD and how she would be attending the concert in July. I pretty much had only met her 2 times and already I have to say goodbye. But at least now I can say I have a friend from Canada!

After lunch I went back and finished packing, got hungry, and went out for some street food. Nothing hits the spot like a really nice tray of ddeokbokki. There is this little sit down shop in Sinchon that has the best ddeokbokki that I have tried in Korea. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 120: Having Fun in the Present and Looking Forward to the Future

sunday: young ji apgujeong hang out. drunk

Sunday was my last weekend in Korea and it was basically winding down to finding people  for either one last hangout or a goodbye. I was scheduled to leave Korea Tuesday night, but have to be checked out of my dorm by 11AM and Monday is totally dedicated to packing because I hadn't started. 

Ji Won nuna and Young Ji wanted to meet for one last time to have lunch with me. Even though I randomly met them and haven't had that much time to spend with them, they are still been an important part of my trip here and I will miss them greatly. I waited in front of Ewha for them to show up but Ji Won nuna came down with a cold and couldn't make it. So it was just be and Young Ji and we had donkatsu at a popular donkatsu place in the Ewha area. 

This is the first time I really had a 1 on 1 conversation with her and learned a lot about her. She's the same year as me and Ji Won and she is majoring in physics. She is from Gwangju and wanted me to come visit, but that wasn't exactly possible =(

We then went for some frozen yogurt dessert to finish off our conversation. I really feel like it took about 3 months to fully adjust and to find my place in Korea. Just as I got the hang of everything and found people to see every week I have to say goodbye. 

And after that goodbye it was another goodbye hangout with Dana and Seungyun. Because our previous hangout in Apgujeong was so much fun we decided we needed to do it again. For dinner we went to a popular samgyeopsal place called Kogii Kogii. It was right across from the construction site of T-ara's cafe shop that should be opening across Korea in the near future.

They had a menu consisting of different samgyeopsal that were flavored differently. It seemed to be a favorite dinner spot for DBSK as well. 

As we finished eating, Seungyun says to me "you are oppa, you should pay!" ^_^

UGH. WIth the Korean guys that I have met here I get differing opinions on the whole "oppa" thing. "oppa" is a term for an older male or older brother used by a female. And if you guys aren't actually brother and sister then it is more of an endearing term beefore a younger female and an older male. Some guys absolutely hate it! They can't stand the whiny Korean-girl-style of talking and adding oppa just gives them goosebumps. On the other hand, some guys love it! They think it is really cute and just love being called by that term. It's as if it makes they have a soft spot that just gets tickled every time they hear it. I for one.....LOVE IT. Oh my gosh....I've been waiting forever for someone to call me oppa in Korea. I don't know what it is, or maybe I just watch too many Korean dramas, but when a Korean girl calls you oppa you can't help but cave and do whatever it is that she wants you to do. So I paid...

Next up was saju for me!! Dana did saju (fortune telling) last time but it was just at some street tent. This time we were going to a more reputable place that Seungyun has gone herself and recommends it. It is a saju cafe, so you have to buy a drink along with your saju reading. 

They used your birthday and time of birth to do the reading. I liked a lot of parts of my reading, but some parts still irk me...but it's all just for fun!

Have study luck until the age of 28 and will study at a good university

fit to be in a position where I am watching over people like a CEO

should work where I get to meet lots of people everyday and not alone in an office

If I choose not to study then I will need to pass through many job interviews before landing my permanent job

I will get my first career-like job around the age of 28 but i will be disappointed with the job

Money will start flowing in and I will get my dream job after I am 38

I have money luck and will earn a lot until I am 60

From the age fo 28-38 even though I will not be at my dream job I will be paid higher than many others

a hospital job would suite me well

I should invest in assets because I will lose everything if i invest in stocks

I have love luck this upcoming year and then again 2 years later. 

I will either marry before 27 or in my mid 30's

I want a wife that is obedient and I will always try to "fence" her in

this will be the biggest obstacle for marriage

I will most likely end up with an older, mature, white girl T.T

The problem I have in relationships is that I overthink everything rather than just act 

Will have 2 children that are hardworking and an overall harmonious family life

I need to be careful of diabetes and high blood pressure

I don't need to try to seek new people or friends

Next was noraebang!!! We went to a different place which was nearby to Everysing because they offered all you can eat popcorn and ice cream!!

And then some boba at Cofioca to end the night. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 119: IU Is Way Too Cute!

Saturday was the GSL finals and also IU's 1st official fanmeeting. The GSL finals was scheduled to start at 3PM but the venue opened at 1PM. The IU fanmeeting was scheduled to start at 6PM and would take about 45 minutes to get there from the location of the GSL finals. I wanted to go to both because it would be my last time attending any Starcraft 2 event and I could just leave early and go to the IU fanmeeting. 

The GSL finals took place at the SETEC convention center in Seoul and had a set up similar to the LG 3D Game Festival where the entire event was done with 3D screens and everyone is given 3D glasses. 

I couldn't stay too long and just had enough time to get pictures with a few players and play a few games on the 3D monitors. 

Then it was off to AX-Korea convention hall to see the IU fanmeeting! It was supposed to last 90 minutes and was a combination of interview, performances by IU, and prize giveaways.

When I arrived I was able to see the demographic of IU's fans and it was more skewed than I thought. I expected a lot of guys to be there but out of the 1000 people that were there, it was basically 99% guys. I mean for SNSD, the fanbase has quite a nice balance between genders. I have met and seen lots of boy fans but I have met an equal amount of girl fans. I don't know what is it with the dynamic of SNSD and the charms of each member, but they attract fans of all ages and sexes. for IU, it was basically all guys, and within those guys, they either fell into the group where they were younger than her, or a lot older than her. I was walking around a bunch of little teenagers who would yell out IU nuna this, IU nuna that. IU is 17 and if you are calling her nuna, then you are hella young. Then you have your older crowd where they are all probably mid 20's and all the way up to 50 years old. 

Lots of vendors took advantage of the event by setting up shop to sell IU merchandise. 

The actual convention hall itself was pretty small and everyone was squished into small portions of lower level and upper level seating. I got a seat on the lower level seating on the right hand side. 

The event opened with IU singing Good Day and it then followed with an interview where IU answered fan questions selected randomly. A few other songs were performed for a total of 6 and there were also guests such as Luna from f(x) that made an appearance on stage. There was a very strict no camera policy that was enforced heavily on the first level. I'm not sure if the upper level was as strict or had as many guards but they were constantly checking and seized people's cameras to delete the photos they took. However, during the presentation of a celebratory cake for IU, they allowed about 3 minutes for people to take as many pictures as they wanted and I just filmed a video instead. 

   The event ended after about 90 minutes and I found an IU lighstick on the ground on my way out!

However, I wasn't lucky enough to win any of the Le Coq T-shirts that were raffled off, or catch any of the signed plastic balls IU was throwing into the crowd. And I especially wasn't lucky enough to win the grand prize raffle of a guitar signed by IU herself. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 118: SlayerS Team Event

The Starcraft 2 Progaming team SlayerS, created by SlayerSBoXeR, had an event where the players on the team would play in a series of showmatches to promote the team and their sponsors. You had to apply online the week prior to see if you would be chosen to attend the event. 200 seats in total and about 20 of those were reserved for foreigners. The appeal of the event was not only being able to watch the Starcraft matches, but they also had prizes for people that attended. One of the things that caught my eye was the SNSD Intel Collaboration DVD which would be handed out to the first 100 people that arrived at the event. 

The event was held at the TechnoMart in Sindorim which was a big shopping mall that housed the Intel E-Stadium. 

I was the 16th person there and was basically guaranteed a SNSD DVD, but they would not hand it out until the end of the 3 hour event. 

The players on the SlayerS team were split into 2 groups and event attendees chose which team they wanted to root for because they would win a prize of the team they chose won the tournament. 

Basically the tournament consisted of a 4vs4 team match followed by a series of 1vs1 elmination-style matches until a team had no players remaining. 

Player area

White Team

Blue Team

SlayerSCella--Team Coach

Boxer and Cella introducing the event

Boxer and Cella casting the matches

Epic moment in the 4vs4 game

It was tied at the end so the final ace match was between Boxer and Cella and was casted by Ganzi and MMA

Everyone is a winner

Me and Boxer

At the event I met up with a few middle and high school kids that I have seen at every SNSD event that I have gone to since being in Korea. They are pretty hardcore fans and are always surprised to see me at these events because I am a foreigner. Even though their English isn't very good, we have managed to carry out conversations every time we meet. I wanted to have a picture with them before I go because I will definitely not be running into them at any SNSD event in the future. 

I then went back to Sinchon and checked out the Look Optical glasses store because there was a 2PM fansign event to celebrate Nichkhun selling 10,000 of the glasses that he advertised for them. I knew about the event beforehand but chose to go the the SlayerS event because I really wanted the SNSD DVD which isn't for sale. I think I made the right decision.

And finally, the DVD

[khanhinkorea]

Day 117: Jeonju Part 2

It just didn't feel right to leave Korea without making another visit to Jeonju to visit Taeyeon's parents and bid my farewell. It was a pretty spur of the moment event as I woke up pretty early and then quickly packed my things together and headed to the bus terminal.

The trip to Jeonju was mostly open fields and farmland.

I actually managed to stay awake for most of the trip this time. There wasn't that much to look at though. After a little under 3 hours, I arrived in Jeonju.

Not much has changed in the Taeyeon Shrine since the last time I came except for a few decorations. 

It was quite a busy day at the shop with customers streaming in and out the whole time I was there. I didn't want to disrupt their business so I met and talked to Taeyeon's dad for a little bit, got one last picture with him and called it a day. 

He said that he didn't have anymore Taeyeon signed CD's left and that the next time I come (when is that going to be )=.......) he will give me something signed. I guess an IOU is nice to call upon at a later time, but when will I really be able to use it...

I couldn't leave Jeonju, the birthplace of bibimbap, without actually eating bibimbap there! I just went to a random restaurant that served bibimbap and ordered it. 

Maybe I didn't go to the right place or order the right bibimbap, but it didn't taste that different than the bibimbap I had in Seoul. I was a little disappointed to be quite honest, but at least I experienced it. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 114-116: Finals Week

There's really not much to say about these 3 days. It was just exam after exam and paper after paper, but the important thing is I got through everything. This meant that it would be the last time I see my classmates and my teachers and it was kind of touching to see how everyone felt nostalgic and no one wanted to really leave. 

Kim In-Seon. She taught my grammar and topics class

Korean Language class

Park Min-Jin. The pretty teacher ^^

I'm not going to lie about how much work I put into these classes; it was literally studying or writing the papers the day before and day of. I tried a little harder for midterms but I basically chose to have fun over caring about grades at this point. And in all honesty, the majority of study abroad classes can be BS'd and half-assed to a great degree. I just checked my final overall grades for the semester and it goes as follows: 

BEGINNING KOREAN LANGUAGE I | Credits:6 : A-

KOREAN GRAMMAR FOR INTERNATIONAL LEARNERS | Credits:3 : A-

TOPICS ON KOREAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE | Credits:3 : A-

BODYBUILDING | Credits:1 : A+

For those of you that actually need credits or your school calculates your study abroad courses into your home university's GPA then it is worth noting that Korean Language courses are worth only 6 units at Yonsei but when they transfer back to UC Schools or Cal State schools people have been able to get up to 10 credits just based on the amount of hours we have to meet each week for that class. 

If you have noticed anything from reading my blog, you will know that I play more than I study. So for those considering or plan on studying here at Yonsei, don't fret about classes and just come to have fun. I finished my finals towards the beginning of the Finals schedule because all of my exams were clumped up. But this was a good thing because it allowed me 5 days to do whatever I want before I headed home. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 113: Yoona Neomu Yeppeun!!

Suffocated by textbooks and staring at the computer screen all day; my mind has been less focused than it normally has. Thus I sought some words of wisdom to clear my mind at church. Top of the day: Steps of Discipleship. In order to follow in the path in which God has intended for you there are a certain things that are required of us. Obedience. Obedience is necessary because the path that put before us may come at inconvenient times and we will end up asking ourselves “why are You interrupting my life.” But faith without risk isn’t faith at all and without this obedience we may miss out on where the difficult path will eventually lead us. Another requirement if change of direction. Following a path may in itself mean to veer off of the current road. We can’t be afraid of making these changes in our lives just because they don’t seem like the best idea at the time. Everything happens for a reason regardless of whether it is transparent to us or not.

This was exactly what I needed. I keep trying to figure out ways to change my planned path of going home and getting ready mentality for pharmacy school and to get out of vacation mode. It obviously isn’t meant to be considering everything that has happened thus far and everything that hasn’t. Rather than waste my time trying to change something that wasn’t meant to be changed, I may very well end up missing out on whatever time I have left here because of my stubbornness to this change of direction.

So then it was off to my post-church Myeong-dong trip and this week’s agenda is to go Innisfree and get one of the eco-friendly handkerchiefs being promoted by Yoona. Yoona is currently the sole model and basically the face of the chain beauty shop Innisfree. Recently they came out with a promotion where if you spend $10 you receive an eco-friendly handkerchief that Yoona was endorsing.

Furthermore, if you buy stuff at Innisfree, you can ask the cashier if they have any Yoona posters left and they will give you one for shopping there. Because of how Myeong-dong is structured, they are multiple instances of the same shop within a 1 mile radius. For Innisfree, there were 5 shops in Myeong-dong. I went to each shop and bought either the Jeju green tea moisturizer endorsed by Yoona or face masks so that I could receive multiple posters. Originally I was just going to buy enough to get the handkerchief, but they had multiple posters and each of them was too pretty to not get a couple for myself and for my friends.  

The handkerchief was this really thin piece of cloth and didn’t have anything about Yoona on it. But the paper case that it was in had a short message by Yoona at least.      

Miscellaneous Yoona goodies I picked up while at Innisfree

[khanhinkorea]

Day 112: Now This is What I Call Patbingsu

A few days earlier I found about that IU was having her first official fan meeting soon.  It was to celebrate the 1000 day anniversary since her debut, but she couldn’t have the fan meeting on exactly the 1000th day and instead was going to have it on the 1004th day. 1004 in Korea is “Cheon sa” and “cheonsa” also means Angel so the theme of the event is IU being angelic. AHHHHH so cute. However, when I received the news of the event, it was already 10 days into ticket sales and they had already sold out the 1000 designated tickets. I asked Ji Won nuna to help me get a ticket and after constantly refreshing for seats she was able to buy a ticket because someone failed to pay for their ticket in time! Tickets were $20 and all money made from the sales went to charity.

I decided to treat Ji Won nuna out to patbingsu because she helped me get the ticket. We went to this one place in Edae where they were known for serving really large servings of patbingsu inside half of a watermelon. The wait was a little long but it was totally worth it! This thing was pretty huge and there was so much fruit.

We then set up a date to meet one last time before I have to go and this time Young Ji (the other girl that I met on the night I met Ji Won nuna) may actually have enough time to come out.

It was a nice relaxing study break since the weather has been really hot and humid lately. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 111: I Only Want the Good Stuff

Way too much paper writing and studying for a Friday. For my study break I went out to look for Vita500 Premium bottles. Earlier I have already posted about these bottles and I had already collected all 9 members of SNSD but I recently found out that there were multiple versions of the bottle. The ones from before were just normal common ones found in every convenience and grocery store. I will be throwing these away.

A more rare rounder bottle is also available and exists in 2 forms. One where the round bottle has blue text and another where it has green text and also the word “Premium” on it. They are both found only in pharmacies and I believe the premium ones are harder to find.

It didn’t turn out to be much of a break because the first pharmacy I walked into had the premium ones. I bought 2 boxes which included 20 bottles and was only to complete 1 full set while getting like 5 Yoona bottles. Ridiculous. And it was back to studying for me.  

[khanhinkorea]

Day 110: What's For Dinner?

Today was one of the last days of classes. The impending departure is really starting to set into the minds of everyone. While I should be stressing over final exams, research papers, and group projects; I instead just kept rerunning the past 4 months in my head to understand how it all passed by so quickly. Everything seemed like “it was just yesterday” but yet here I was, staring at the calendar that only had 10 red X’s left before it, along with the rest of my stuff was to be packed and shipped out of Korea like an export.

But anyways, for dinner a bunch of people wanted to go try dog meat. There was a restaurant in Sinchon that served dog meat in soup or grilled Korean BBQ style. As curious as I was about the taste of dog meat, I couldn’t really bear the thought of eating it since I have owned a dog before. It was also a little ironic since just a few days ago when I went to Myeong-dong there were animal rights activists that were trying to get people to support a movement to treat dogs more humanely. So then I decided to just get some chicken for dinner. But I have also owned a chicken before….hmmm. I guess to me the basis of whether or not something is right is based on its cuteness. Thus I shall never eat dogs, chinchillas or unicorns. 

[khanhinkorea]

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Day 109: What Isn't Meant to Be, Will Simply Not

I had been meaning to meet up with Dana to discuss a certain internal struggle I have been experiencing. It was a little less than 2 weeks before I had to go home and there were just some feeling towards a particular someone that I couldn't ignore anymore. I have always thought she was a really cute and nice girl but I just had a good grasp on my feelings. That grasp was quickly loosening and I felt like I was about to slip; which in turn would lead to a fall. So I asked Dana to go out for dinner with just the 2 of us and she said fine. But when we met up there were 3 other people with her. Apparently "just us 2, I need to talk to you about something" wasn't a clear enough message for her. 

So we went into Sinchon and ate at a place called Noodle Box. It was a restaurant with many different types of noodles and rice that they served in a Chinese take-out box. I was told that the pad thai was really good so I got it. It wasn't the best I have had since they used a cheap noodle to make it, but the flavors were pretty accurate. 

I told her after dinner that I wanted to talk to her one on one and so we went to a cafe and stayed there talking for awhile because it started raining and neither of us had an umbrella. 

I told her I liked a mutual friend of ours and wanted her advice on what to do. Because my time was so limited here, I just wanted to go on one date with her for fun before I had to leave. I had thought about for awhile and came up with 2 different methods of approach:

1. Just ask her straight up. Lets go on a date as friends just for fun. No strings attached.

2. Get Dana to tell her to go on a blind date and not say who it is. Since blind dating (sogetting) where friends set up other friends on dates is quite common in Korea. 

Unfortunately Dana told me that this girl was really conservative, a bit picky, and has long-term goals in relationships. Right now she doesn't want a boyfriend and she would really like for her first boyfriend to be her husband. Basically that I probably shouldn't bother. 

I felt like a deflated balloon that had my head in the clouds and all of a sudden losing all ability to stay afloat. I can't satisfy any of those conditions and asking her to go against who she is would be selfish of me. It wasn't heartbreaking, it was just disheartening. Meeting a Korean girl and going on a date with her has always been one of those secret aspirations in the back of my mind. And when I had mustered up the courage to want to do something about it, I am told that I probably shouldn't even try.  

[khanhinkorea]

Day 108: Rich in Fandom Pride; Poor in the Wallet

Since my time is winding down very quickly I need to plan out everyday very accordingly and make sure every errand gets completed. Today I decided to go to Myeong-dong to add to my SNSD CD collection as well as buy a few other things for friends. I took a different route to Myeong-dong since I wanted to try to get their by bus and I ended up on a far end of Myeong-dong where I found a CD shop with a few SNSD collectibles. They had autographed CDs signed by all members for about $150 each and also a used copy of the now sold out SNSD 1st Tokyo Photobook for $100.

So then I went to the underground shopping area where the cheap CD stores were located and went to my favorite one. The ajusshi that works there knows me and we are kind of like friends now since I always stop by his shop to see if he has gotten in anything new and I told him that I have advertised his shop for him to international fans they may eventually come to his shop. I bought the remaining SNSD CDs that I didn't own which included "Girls' Generation," "Baby Baby," and and the Japanese singles Gee, Genie, and Mr. Taxi.    

Just a note to all of the people who haven't bought the Japanese version of Genie yet, both underground Kpop shops have run out of the poster for Genie. I was told that the quantity of these posters that were given to them were a lot more limited than usual albums. Since these shops are very popular for their price, the sheer amount of people buying these CDs have already depleted their limited supply. I had to go to the Kpop store in the basement floor of Migliore and try to get a poster there. As you can see from the images above, I chose to buy the version of the album which includes the DVD as well but this particular store had run out of the DVD version of Genie and only had the CD only version. BUT she still had the poster left for Genie. I'm not sure how many left she had but when I asked to buy just the poster she refused and said that I need to buy the CD since the amount of posters she has goes hand in hand with the amount of CDs there are. I asked if she could check to see if she had any of the DVD version left and she looked all around and told me "all sold out." I then replied with "Jinjja?" (really?) and it must have been the way I said it or something but she kept mimicking me saying it and kept laughing to herself. She then went behind the counter, grabbed a Genie poster, rolled it up, and then started hitting me playfully with it and told me that I can have it for free. I didn't understand what had just transpired but hey, a free poster that I really want was be handed to me, I'm not going to ask questions. I then went back to the other store and bought their Genie CD/DVD version and also bought a few miscellaneous fan items, Taeyang's Solar Concert DVD, and SHINee's Hello album for friends. I asked him if he could please give me the Lucifer poster as well as the Hello poster because I really wanted both. He said ok. Then I asked him if he had any IU posters left and he said he had 1 left. I said I really like IU and asked if he could please give me the poster without buying the CD. At first he said no, but then he rolled up the poster and just gave it to me. 

So now I have every OFFICIAL Korean release SNSD album that is currently out. I still don't have special promotional albums or the 1st Japanese album which I am saving up for right now. But in due time everything will be had ^_^

[khanhinkorea]

Day 107: Dream High Filming Set

Monday was Korea’s Memorial Day so there was no school. This meant that I needed to take advantage of this opportunity to do some last minute sightseeing. A few days earlier I had contacted Ji Won (the girl that asked me for my phone number on the night I saw Micky Yoochun) and asked her directions on how to get to the Dream High filming set which was opened to the public on April 26 and was supposed to be closed and torn down sometime In June.  She gave me the directions but told me that it would be way too hard for a foreigner to find on their own and volunteered to accompany me.  Before we headed out we had dak galbi for lunch. It was potato and cheese dak galbi and it didn’t taste very good because the potato and cheese overpowered any taste that the chicken had.

We took forever to eat and then remembered that the set closes at 5PM so we rushed to get there.

The filming set is located in the city of Goyang which is about an hour and a half away from Seoul.

After an hour bus ride and a 15 minute taxi trip, we finally arrived at this warehouse in the middle of nowhere. She was right, I definitely would have never found this place on my own. It was located next to a creek and with nothing around it except farmland.

We arrived around 4:45PM and I thought to myself that there was no way I was going to see everything in 15 minutes. But when we got to the main entrance we found out that it was actually the last day that the set was open and they would let everyone who came there look around as long as they pleased even after 5PM. Before I get started with the photo spam, I just want to say a few things about the filming set. If you watched the drama you will notice that most of the time it was so cold that you could see the breath of the actors and actresses while they were filming. As you can see, this was because the filming set is in an open area with basically no insulation. Furthermore, now that the set is not being used anymore, they have placed a bunch of cardboard cutouts of the characters all over the site. And it's kind of funny how they have  photo frames around the set with many different idols and state that they went to the Kirin Arts High School. I don't think I noticed it while watching drama. 

Guestbook

   Dance practice room

                                                   Samdong!!

Pilsuk ㅋㅋㅋ

Suzy

Kim Soo Hyun

Office area

IU's Room!!!

                      Pilsuk's diet board

Cafeteria area

Meeting area

Principal's office

Changing room with actual school uniforms used to film. From left to right: Suzy, Eunjung, IU.

Wooyoung, Kim Soo Hyun, Taecyeon

I chose to wear the one used by Samdong. I wish I used the one worn by Taecyeon because this was was super tight on me. 

                                        Gift shop

the lollipop Pilsuk always put on Jason's locker =)

The "K" pendant. $50 for the small one and $80 for the big one. -_-

                      Locker area

"Oh, hi there"

"mmmmmmmmmmua" 

The stage area

                                                Me and Ji Won nuna. 

We ended the day with some roasted pork for dinner. A very tiring day, but all worth it since I got to see the set before they demolish it!  

[khanhinkorea]

Day 106: Insadong

Much of my Sunday was also filled with studying because the next 2 weeks or so would be just finals and then packing to go home. I felt suffocated cooped up in my room all day so I decided to go out for some sightseeing. I went to Insadong because it was one of the tourist hotspots that I have always been meaning to go to but just didn’t get the chance to. The outskirt of Insadong has many small narrow streets with motels and restaurants which leads to the main shopping street.

It was here that I saw the most foreigners I have seen gathered in a single location in Seoul. I was so surprised to see numerous whites, Indians, Middle Easterners, as well as many other foreigners because I’m not use hearing conversations in English or a language I don’t understand besides Korean on the streets. However, I can definitely see why this place attracts so many tourists.

Much like other shopping districts and tourist sites, there are many souvenir and food shops. The food here is quite unique and some of the things I tried were red bean bites, stuffed bread, and Turkish ice cream.

The red bean bites are similar to many other red bean cake-type snacks around Seoul but this one is made in a small size and is cooked very quickly to keep everything very soft and squishy. The stuffed bread was made from scratch right in front of me where the dough was stuck to the sides of a charcoal brazier and baked to perfection then stuffed with a topping of your choice. I especially liked the Turkish ice cream because I like my ice cream with a strong consistency where it this thick, but still soft. Turkish ice cream is extremely thick and wasn’t very malleable. A long metal rod is used to dig into the block of ice cream to chip off bit by bit of ice cream to be put into a cone. The texture can be compared to taffy in that it was thick and you would have to literally pull and rip off pieces of the ice cream.

But what makes Insadong truly unique is the merchandise that is being sold on the streets. Many of these products are handmade, made right in front of you, or express some kind of entrepreneurism. From wooden utensils and tools to hand drawn fans, scrolls, and caricatures, Insadong definitely centers around the foundation “one of a kind” and artistic skill.

Almost bought this shirt, but I figured it would be too lame to wear around back home

Hanbok cards

In the center of Insadong was a plaza called “ssamzigil” with maze-like stairs that lead to various small shops.  

Couple shirts.....so jelly

 At the very top of this plaza was a café with a small garden called “Between Pages.” This café played into the couple culture of Korea and had many strings and clips hung all around the café for people to write messages and hang up or slip them under the class panel of each table.

                             I highly recommend anyone visiting Korea to come to Insadong. I’m glad I didn’t put off going to this place entirely because it was one of the most enjoyable tourist sites that I have been to. The food, the shops, and art all make Insadong a very worthwhile sight. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 105: I Think I Found Heaven

All I did on Saturday was study for finals. Thus to keep this post from being boring and content-less, I will talk about something I saw while during one of my days in Apgujeong. I was walking around with Micha in the area where we heard SNSD's dorm was from that stalker taxi driver back on Day 75. We weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to be looking for. We didn't know the name of the building nor did we know what it looked like. However, when I walked past a certain building it looked strangely familiar for some reason. I kept staring at it and telling Micha that this was it, but she kept arguing and saying it looks nothing like what was shown in the show We Got Married in which Seohyun was on. This was when I recalled the image from that episode in my head and then cross-referenced it with what I was seeing in front of me and was pretty certain that I was at the right place. So I took a picture of it just for comparison later on. Lo and behold, I rewatched the episode and this is definitely the building that Seohyun walked into. 

So yeah, I found SNSD's dorm. The residence of the 9 angels known as So Nyeo Shi Dae. I will not list any directions, what it's near or any information about its whereabouts just in case some of you crazies out there want to rush into the building and go knocking door to door or stalk the girls there. It's not like you are going to see much there anyways since they normally enter and leave by a van that goes down into the parking garage and I'm pretty sure the building has plenty of security. But for the people that actually live here, it must be quite cool to have SNSD as neighbors or just seeing them walking down the hallway every so often. 

[khanhinkorea]

Day 104: Finding Familiarity in the Unfamiliar

Had an average Friday with classes. After working on some homework, I went out to a coffee shop in Edae to meet up with someone that I met while trying to get Dream Concert tickets. She just happens to also be a SNSD fan and had an extra poster she got from the Intel headquarters in Seoul that she was willing to give me. This was my first time actually going to a cafe and ordering a drink since I'm not much of the cafe-type coffee drinker and don't mind much just having homemade black coffee.

I got there around 9PM and intended to have a little chat with her and then head back to study, but one conversation lead to another and before I knew it the clock read 12:30AM. I couldn't believe I sat and talked about SNSD for about 3 hours with someone I had just met.  It really goes to show how much a single commonality or interest can spark such a long and thorough discussion between complete strangers. She is actually here for the summer exchange program at Yonsei and will be here until the end of July, meaning she has a chance to go to SNSD's Asia Tour concert in Seoul!!! Super jealous of her. I enjoyed my yogurt smoothie; I also enjoyed the conversation I had; and of course, I really enjoy my new SNSD poster!! That's probably around 40 or so posters I have now of SNSD. It's going to be quite a challenge figuring out how to put them all on my room...