Adventures in Seoul

Hello! Welcome to my blog! During Summer '17, I studied abroad in South Korea, and I documented my experiences here! var sc_project=11393670; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="59a66dfd"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");

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Check out the Menu Section on the top left to find out more information about the Gilman Scholarship and about where I went!

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Before I left Seoul, I had to visit Ssamzigil in Insadong. I need to see the beautiful installment of flowers in the sky! Ssamzigil itself is an enclosed area with a walkway that spirals around the building, connecting each floor. There are a lot of little shops, restaurants, and galleries that dot along the walkway.

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During one of my last days at the company my coworker took me to this cool and aesthetically pleasing cafe called Share D Table. She said it’s one of her favorite places in Seongsu and I can see why!

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Sketch of the view from the Oryukdo Skywalk! The water was pretty clear and it seemed to go on forever.

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Cheonggyecheon River at night. It was quite a walk to reach here.

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The Starfield Library in COEX Mall. It was huge and there were a lot of students studying in groups.

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My quick 5 min attempt at drawing my favorite characters from Kakao Friends, Ryan & Apeach. Fun Fact: Ryan is supposedly a lion. 😳

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More photos from the time we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace and wore hanbok! I admittedly was a bit embarrassed at first because people would stare! But that feeling quickly disappeared after seeing others also wearing hanbok and posing for pictures.

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A sketch of South Korea’s national flower, Hibiscus Syriacus. To me, it looked beautiful, so I decided to sketch it. I also thought it was dainty yet powerful.

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South Korea’s national flower, Hibiscus Syriacus. We came across these flowers on a path, while hiking on a mountain. In America, it is known as the Rose of Sharon. It is found in many parts of Asia.

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This is the Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan! We had to take a taxi to get up here and it was a lot of walking to get to different perspectives of the village, but it was worth it! What’s amazing is that these are residential areas. Imagine having homes as colorful as those.

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A sketch of the night view from the temple. The area around the temple was dark, but in the distance, Seoul was illuminated by a sea of lights.

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Their Baskin Robins are way fancier than ours back in the States.

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Skywalk in Busan! It was SUPER windy that day and my friends and I all wore dresses... big mistake! But all in all, the views were worth it. It was super cool to walk on the Oryukdo Skywalk because it is made of glass. There were many people clinging onto the rails because they were scared of heights and they could see everything underneath them!

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Went to Seoul Tower with some friends! The hike up Namsan Mountain was exhausting but the views were with it! ☺️ It was pretty cool that there was an entrance to the mountain from Dongguk University!

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Went to a Buddhist temple for temple stay! It was quite.. an experience. Doing the 108 prostrations was beyond tiring. Also a majority of us didn’t wake up when one of the workers tried to get us up at 5am on a stormy morning for prayers (it was optional). 😅 Nonetheless, the scenery and landscapes were beautiful!

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On the last day of Korean Language & Culture class, we wore hanbok! The lady in the second pic is my professor. She really knew how to teach and connect with us. The girl in the last pic is Bonnie, my roommate from Hong Kong!