[vidawanderlusted]

Moving

Moving to a new account since this isn’t actually a primary blog. Same URL, just different account.

http://vidawanderlust.tumblr.com

[vidawanderlusted]

[vidawanderlusted]

T minus 35 Days.

[vidawanderlusted]

So...I got lost going back home to the hotel tonight. That was not fun. Good thing I don't easily get panic attacks I suppose. The thing I was worried about though was getting kidnapped and raped and shit. Traveling by yourself in a foreign country is scary shit. I really try not to place myself in situations like those but it can be pretty difficult sometimes when you're abroad. I had to get on the last train back to the hotel tonight unfortunately, which ultimately led to my demise. China's metro system closes really early, in my opinion. It kinda annoys me actually. I love taking the subway but it's limited hours certainly suck. Plus different lines have different hours regardless whether it's a weekday it weekend. So I accidentally got off on the wrong station. So stupid. I should've written the station name down but I didn't. I remembered it wrong because when we were following out family friends around, they got off on the same exact wrong station, and the name of the station must've stayed in my head. Especially since it started with an 'S' as well and to me, it sounded similar. I did have a nagging feeling that maybe it was supposed to be this other station. But of course I didn't listen to my gut feeling. No surprise there. Dumb. Well after I got out, I had to take a taxi back to the hotel. It wasn't one of the regular taxis though...it was those unlicensed personal hired taxis. Those can be scary. Take them with a grain of salt especially if you're by yourself. Not to be sexist or anything, but if you're a female, or appear to be female or whatever, be especially careful. Asia is not as gung-ho about gender equality as others like European countries or the US. So...Not to scare anyone, but females (males too in some cases) can get kidnapped, raped, turned into sex slaves, etc. and often these numbers are unreported in Asia especially. In this case I kinda had no choice. I actually didn't have enough money at this point. Only 20 RMB. But the guy said 80...so I called my mom (international rates unfortunately but it was an emergency) and told the guy that she'll come down and pay the rest. Hell, I had a lot of US dollars but I wasn't sure if he or a regular taxi driver would take it. Of course I'm sure they would've. These people can rip you off but I really wanted to just get back. If you happen to be in a regular taxi, make sure they turn on the money meter thingy. It'll calculate exactly how much you need to pay. Sigh. So, moral of the story... Anyway, if you have a smartphone, download a metro subway map app. It will be very helpful and it'll map out the routes you must take. I used it a lot in Korea and Hong Kong. I didn't download it for China or anything since I thought I wouldn't need it since I won't be here for that long. Oh, I was so wrong. If not, bring a map with you of the metro station. Write down where you gotta go. And even if you know, be careful of the times. The last trains for the day can really make or break your trip back home and to wherever else you need to go. Oh and save 100 RMB for yourself in case you ever need it for transportation just as a safeguard.

[vidawanderlusted]

Oh and here are just a few pics from when I was in michigan.

[vorreiliaai]

The Great Wall. Can’t believe I was actually there. #badalinggreatwall #china #beijing #mingdynasty (at Great Wall Of China)

[vidawanderlusted]

On my way to China!

Well today's the day. I'm currently waiting in the JFK airport until my boarding time with Air China. Oh gosh, when I first arrived at JFK, there was a mix of nice things but also a lot of...weird things. The set up of the transfers were just kinda like messed up somehow. It just...didn't really make sense going from our connecting flights physically. Anyways, I think I forgot my replacement contacts so...I'm gonna have to be like crazy cautious. I'm really curious what the weather will be like and how well I'll be able to communicate with people. I ain't good at speaking Mandarin, yo. And another thing. Need to figure out how to access Facebook while there. VPN and stuff like that. Yay.

[vidawanderlusted]

Restart

So...my last post involved me going to the CNBLUE concert but really I also went to Hong Kong after South Korea haha. I just got lazy and didn't post anymore pics. Oh well. BUT. Travel season has begun again and now that I've graduated, I'll be going places again! Albeit temporarily until I get a job. This weekend, Michigan. Next week, China and Hong Kong. So I guess we'll see how it plays out once again.

[vidawanderlusted]

I went to the Korean National Museum last Wednesday (6/26) with a friend! There is a Korean Restaurant (Maru) in the premises right by the Reflecting Pond that we went to. It’s a luxury restaurant so pretty expensive (which we didn’t realize at first ><) but it was really good! Forgot to take a pic of the menu~

[vidawanderlusted]

"Tequila...in Mexico at the concerts, the old men drink tequila and when it goes down their throats, it burnsss...but then they open their mouths and the voice of angels come out because their throats are opened up. It's delicioso! Mm!"

Mexican exchange student explaining the wonders of tequila to the Korean professor.

[vidawanderlusted]

101 Seoul Bucket List

The below list is taken from http://seoulistic.com/what-to-do-in-korea/101-things-to-do-in-seoul-huge-bucket-list/ Check out their site for a bunch of other things you can do or just fun facts to learn about! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I know for sure I definitely won't be able to do the majority of these things due to time constraints but it's worth a shot. I guess I'll try and edit this from time to time if I happen to get around doing them FOR MYSELF. =)

1. Drink soju or makkeolli but in cocktail form 2. Buy makkeolli from the Hongdae makkeolli man (seen late night around Hongdae Children’s Park) 3. Drink beer and soju at a convenience store table 4. Learn to make kimchi 5. Drink coffee at Buamdong’s coffee street 6. Go to a makkeolli and jeon bar/restaurant on a rainy day 7. Pick a live fish and eat it 5 minutes later at Noryanjin Fish Market 8. Eat bindaetteok and mayak gimbap at Gwangjang Market 9. Eat super spicy food that have made people faint  (honestly, everything can be so spicy in Korea but this ramyun kimchi jjiagae I had...overloaded it with chili pepper and etc, oh gawd) 10. Eat at a restaurant that’s been around for a hundred years (this one is gonna be hard since I might have ate at one and not realized) 11. Get full off of tasting samples at a Korean supermarket (go around 7PM for the most selection)

12. This super spicy tteokbokki truck (tteokbokki is already pretty spicy for me so I'll pass on this truck ><) 13. Eat live octopus at noyrangjin market 14. Eat tteokbokki at tteokbokki town (or any other food at a “food town”) 15. Grill your own galbi at some famous galbi restaurants 16. Eat and drink at a pojangmacha (tent) 17. Get super refreshing naengmyun at a jjimjilbang (Korean dry spa) 18. Eat super healthy/delicious vegan food at a Buddhist temple 19. Eat ramyun at a convenience store like in a Korean drama 20. Eat raw beef (육회) 21. Get smashed just to see if Korean hangover cures really work 22. Buy a roasted chicken off the back of a truck 23. Get Korean style fried chicken delivery 24. Order in a Korean style pizza (with potatoes)

25. Order meat at Majang Meat Market and eat it 10 mins later at a restaurant closeby 26. Try Korean street snacks – like hotteok or egg bread 27. Eat Korean ice cream 28. Drink Banana Milk (super delish! very common in convenience stores) 29. Drink some free milk coffee after a Korean meal 30. Go to a bar that’ll introduce some new Korean friends to you 31. Drink these drinks so you can drink all night without a hangover 32. Eat doo doo bread (lol, it's not literally doo doo, don't worry)

Touristy Stuff

33. Stroll along Cheonggyecheon on a nice day

34. Take pictures with Admiral Yi Sun-Shin and King Sejong 35. Check out the museum underneath the King Sejong statue 36. Take a Picture with the Gyeongbokgung Guards 37. Visit an “old” neighborhood in Seoul 38. Take a tour of the President’s Residence, Cheonghwadae – the Blue House (reservations needed) 39. Try on a hanbok (do it for free at the Tourist Culture Centers – Myeongdong, Insadong, etc.) 40. Take a cable car up to N Seoul Tower 41. Go to an amusement park: Lotte World 42. See the Han River Banpo Bridge rainbow show 43. Take a tour of the DMZ 44. Stay at a hanok guesthouse and sleep on heated floors, ondol 45. Buy traditional souvniers at Insadong 46. See the 5 Royal Palaces (3 more to go! >< not happening in 2 days) 47. Climb Bukhan Mountain 48. Go to a Han River Cafe

Activities

49. Have an all-night movie marathon at Dongdaemun 50. Go 1AM shopping at Dongdaemun street market 51. Watch street performances in Hongdae 52. Stay at a Buddhist Temple (try Haeinsa, one Korea’s most famous) 53. Hang out at dog, cat and sheep cafes! 54. Drink tea in a hanok 55. Get your fortune told (사주) by a Korean fortune teller (for some, need to know your time of birth) 56. Make Korean Friends while on your trip 57. Play board games at a board game cafe 58. Attend an e-sports tournament 59. Try on a dress at a dress cafe 60. Be mega entertained at a multibang (I also napped there haha) 61. Watch a DVD at a DVD Room 62. Sleep at a jjimjilbang, put a towl on your head like Princess Leia

63. Go to a bath house and have someone scrub you down really hard (to get rid of dead skin) 64. Read a book at a really quiet study cafe 65. Go clubbing with college kids in Hongdae 66. Go clubbing with the pretty/handsome/rich in Cheongdam 67. Win some money at a Casino (foreign passports only) 68. Take sticker pictures with friends 69. Bike along the Han River 70. Get fishies to nibble your legs clean at Dr. Fish 71. Learn to cook some Korean food 72. Have a gimbap picnic at Han River Park 73. Go to a Korean baseball game 74. Watch old Korean men play Janggi and Baduk at Tapgol Park 75. Watch a 4D Movie

Shopping 76. Go crazy and shop for Korean clothing brands at Myeongdong 77. Collect free cosmetics samples in Myeongdong just by walking in

78. Shop at the Hongdae Free Market for Indie Designers(Hongdae Children’s park, every Sat 1-6) 79. Buy a Starbucks Korea tumbler 80. Buy cheap clothes at underground shopping malls 81. Buy lots and lots of cute stuff 82. Find a sock truck and buy, buy, buy! 83. Buy mega cheap glasses 84. Bargain with street vendors 85. Buy couple shirts with your gf/bf (or just friend  ) (not a shirt but I got some keychains haha) 86. Buy the latest gadgets at Yongsan Electronics Market

Miscellanous 87. Pay for a drink with a t-money card 88. Get yelled at while exchanging your money into Korean won 89. Write on the walls of a famous cafe/restaurant 90. Practice your Korean with a taxi driver 91. Work out on public exercise machines

92. Make a free phone call using the subway’s smartphone for giants 93. Dance to 90′s Kpop music 94. Get treated by a traditional Korean doctor 95. Try some aegyo while in Korea (I think I actually already do this sometimes without knowing...) 96. Learn a new phrase in Korean and say it in Korea! 97. Dance Gangnam Style in Gangnam (<---this is not going to happen, I swear by it but I was there) 98. Sing so much at a noraebang you lose your voice (I didn't lose it but I sang it) 99. “Hack” some free wifi 100. Aegyo your way to some free stuff 101. Take a Picture with your homeboy Keith  (I totally wish. Keith is guy who made the list =D)

[vidawanderlusted]

Went to CNBLUE's concert in Seoul on May 25th, 2013!!! You're not allowed to take photos during the concert otherwise they will kick you out. A girl got kicked out right in front of me! But going to this made me decide that I will definitely buy the concert DVD when it releases. =)

[vidawanderlusted]

Time for some pictures from my university!

South Korea has finally entered the beginning phases of summer! Some mornings and nights can be a bit cold still but the frogs croaking in the middle of the night tells me that it's certainly summer. This week, my school is preparing for a festival from Tuesday through Thursday thus the stage!

[vidawanderlusted]

I had the awesome opportunity to attend the I Love Korea Dream Concert 2013 this past Saturday, May 11th! It was located in Seoul at the World Cup Stadium. =D

These are just a few pictures from the concert. The concert featured 22 well-known KPop groups! There were also some rookie groups and some I'm not really sure about. 

When you're in Korea, you just have to, HAVE TO, attend a Kpop Concert especially if you have the time and the luck to do so. Since kpop and media is so mainstream here, it's very much ingrained into the culture. The Dream Concert is something that happens once a year but this year was the biggest and best since they had SO MANY well-known performers in the Seoul of Korea. (Lol, I do hope you caught that.)

[vidawanderlusted]

This is really random but so far from what I've experienced, Korea's food is either really sweet or really spicy. Well there's normally seasoned food as well but usually the things that you snack on especially a variation of an "American style" food, it's either one of the two. The first week in the MiniStop convenience store downstairs in my dorm, I decided to try the chicken sandwich just for some semi- homestyle American food. The moment I bit into it, I spat it out with disgust. I'm not questioning Korean tastes or anything but it was just...different. The chicken itself was all right but they lathered two different types of sauce in between this seemingly harmless meat bun. There was ketchup (sweeter than the kind we use) and some sweet mustard sauce except it didn't taste like mustard for it was sweet. It wasn't honeh mustard either. So my palate is probably more on the European German side. I have a blander palate than most Americans let alone Asians. Serve me a plain grilled chicken and I'm perfectly content. If all seasoning was gone in this world save for salt and pepper, I won't complain at all. Rather, that's perfect. Add in some soy sauce just for some variety, even better. So I guess now you can tell that this fried chicken sandwich was like a war in my mouth. A couple of nights ago, I was in the mood for a burger but see, convenience stores don't have regular American hamburgers. They have bulgogi burgers. What's that? Bulgogi is basically marinated beef but its usually sweet. Okay, that's fine I thought. I can kinda deal. 'Course I was naive and to my disappointment, I discover a highly sweet brown sauce slauthered all over the underside of the top bun and on the bottom was a garlic mayonnaise sauce. ...well that adventure didn't go too well. I don't really like sweet non-dessert type food so it was just...weird for me. Maybe others will like it but for someone like me with dull tastebuds, it doesn't work. How dull are my tastebuds really? Well I guess another example would be french fries. I eat them usually without any kind of sauce. Salted or not salted, I will still eat it and enjoy it. So why did I bring up this random blurb about sweet foods in Korea? Well...today I had some milk. Just regular dairy milk. Back in the U.S., I drank a LOT of milk. Mostly in hopes of surpassing my five feet height, which by the way never happpened. So I grew to really enjoy drinking it. This milk that I had today, if you can tell where this is going, was sweet. It's not super sweet but it's got the undertones of it. It might be hard to detect unless you drink milk like a lot. But if I tell you, I'm sure you can. So lesson of the day? Find a non-sweet milk in Korea.

[vidawanderlusted]

Perfect for that Overseas feeling. =D

[vidawanderlusted]

Photo outside my dormitory room window.

If you ever get the chance to study abroad...

Take it. 

Maybe not even study abroad. If you can even just go travel somewhere especially overseas, take it.

There are so many amazing things in the world that none of them is more amazing than the other. We'll always find something that will top another or we just simply can't even rank them. We'll rack our brains for so long that the list can just be simply endless. As are the things that are unfortunate in this world. And one of the unfortunate things that one can experience is the ignorance or lack of understanding of a different life in a different environment.

We won't ever be someone else. But we can certainly try to see what another sees through his or her own eyes. And it's truly an eye-opener for yourself. The world is big. The world is small. Whether you decide to see it for yourself is up to you but let me tell you...it changes you. No, not for bad, but for good; good for you. 

You aren't that little baby anymore who is unable to walk and only crawl, unable to speak and only babble. Ultimately, it's your decision to see another life. Just know that your life isn't the only life on this planet. Crazy repetitive, I know, but it's true. And I'm not talking plants or animals or anything like that, but that'd be cool too. I'm talking another human being. Another being who has thoughts similar to yours. And if you ever have met an international student or just any "foreigner" in your own land, in your own school speaking your language with an accent or just very limited knowledge of it, maybe you've thought that they were annoying. Maybe you had to speak really slowly to them almost like a child. But have you thought about what if you were in his or her own shoes. You'll just be the same way. They will treat you as you treat them. And when you're in another country lacking that ability to communicate fluently, you will see what they see. It's not that this foreign international student is "dumb" or anything. They have thoughts of their own, just like you. The only difference between you and them, is the ability to express their thoughts. But it's something that can be learned. And that's what they're there for in another country. To live, learn, work, and be happy. You can read this and be like, "Ohhh, I see now." But it's not as simple as that. Throw yourself out there and live it yourself. It will impact you even more. I can tell you but I can't really show you in such a way that it stays with you for life and you truly understand.

And before things such as "adult responsibilities" inevitably tie you down, you should strive for curiosity of another life in another place in another culture. If you are able to take a chance, again I say, take it. Because others will not even be able to touch that chance unlike you. Don't take your chances for granted. Don't take your life for granted. And just know that, when you travel elsewhere across the world, you may feel you are in a completely different world. You may be comfortable or you may feel completely alien. But just know that the sky is the same. The stars are the same. The sun is the same. The moon is the same. And isn't that amazing? When you go, your world will change but it's still the same world you're from.