Seasons in Korea

Since I spoke about the Holiday season in Seoul Kai and I thought we should make a post on the different seasons in Seoul and write a little something about them and what each season has to offer. Having the opportunity to live in Seoul for almost a year gave us the opportunity to experience all the four seasons which was really interesting because we come from a place where it is always hot !
                                                     

                                                       SPRING IN KOREA
 The one thing we really loved about the Spring in Korea was the beautiful scenery. We had previously made a post on the Cherry blossoms in Korea, but we also want to share how beautiful our campus looks when everything is in bloom. Also we didn't really mention the Cherry blossom festival we went to so we'd like to share that as well and Spring festival season at universities which we also mentioned in a different post!

SUMMER IN KOREA 

Summer in Korea is definitely the worst but even though the heat is almost unbearable, at least it was for us, but we really liked going out on summer nights when it cooled down a little. There's always something to do especially in places such as Hongdae. This is an area where many people mostly college students spend a lot of their time. There are places to drink, sing, eat and of course to shop, but our most favorite part about taking trips to Hongdae in the summer were the street performances. You could find all kinds of genres being played from indie to hip hop. Hongdae is a very well known area for hip hop. We didn't take many pictures that could accurately represent the summer like we did for the other seasons, but we thought we'd highlight and focus on what we liked doing the most and it was spending our summer weekend nights in Hongdae.  Also Seoul is a 24/7 kind of place so after a night out with friends in Hongdae's most popular bars and clubs there were always a million places to eat all kinds of food.  

Both street performance pictures were taken by our friend Jacob. For some reason all we had were videos of these performances. 

Eating pizza in a popular hang out area of Hongdae. By this time Pizza Hut was only doing take out so we bought our pizza and ate it outside at a near by park were many people come to hang out with friends and drink and eat and all the good stuff. 

     
                                       
                                                             FALL SEASON IN KOREA
Like the spring all though things are dying instead of blooming the fall time in Korea is also very beautiful. It starts to get a bit chilly and we start taking our jackets out, but for university students the fall means taking out their school's university letterman jackets and representing their school anywhere they go and like them we followed the trend! It's something that is definitely not done in the United States so for us it was something very different and we really liked it. This jacket tradition also applies for the winter!

These pictures starting from the top are all of our campus and the surrounding areas! 

It's quiet popular for students to buy jackets in groups. You can customize your jacket and choose the colors. You can even write your initials or anything you want on it, you also get to pick out a number. In this picture we're with one of our university friend who happened to have the same jacket as us! 

This is our friend Chris modeling the school jacket for us and also trying out different jackets at the shop. 

We actually ended up buy in more than one jacket. We bought black ones the first semester and the next semester we were so tempted that we bought a new one this time we chose maroon and black! 

                                                       WINTER IN KOREA

Our favorite time of the year has always been winter, but in Korea we were able to experience it in a whole different way then what we were used to! From the first snow to the holiday season we really do love winter. Winters in Korea are extremely cold temperatures fall below zero and though we were not used to such temperatures we handled the winter better than we thought. One thing we didn't like very much though was how dangerously slippery sidewalks and streets could get and our campus as well. It was so difficult walking at times! Also when the first snow falls we learned from my friends that people go out and by themselves new clothes or something nice and couples go on a date to celebrate the first snowfall!

The first snow but you can't really see the snow here! We did take a picture from our dorm before heading out which shows all the snow that gathered.

Holiday Season in Seoul

This semester was definitely the busiest and most fun semester ever. Seoul during the holiday season is an awesome experience and everywhere you go everything is decorated. Offices, malls, department stores, hospitals, coffee shops and many other places. Although holidays like Christmas are not celebrated in the same way as in the U.S. it doesn't mean that there is no Christmas spirit. I've never loved the holiday season more! Christmas music everywhere and beautiful sights to see. In Korea Christmas is more of a couple holiday so usually people spend it with their significant other or their friends. It's very different from what my sister and I are used to. We spent the holiday season with our friends. We went to Lotte World and ice skated which also happened to be the first time we had ever been ice skating all of us. Lotte World also had a Christmas parade which we happened to catch ! Afterwards we went out to eat some Kimchi Jjigae and we also tried the most delicious kimchi ever. I'll leave you guys with a few pictures I took of everything Christmas and festive things!!

 Lotte World at night looks  beautiful.

Ice skating with my awesome friends! We were all beginners and terrified but after a while we got the hang of it and luckily none of us fell !! Kai was the only one who had experience ice skating. 

While the iced was being cleaned on the floor above the ice rink was the Christmas parade.

Not very good pictures but inside the subway station was a cupcake shop with really cute and delicious cupcakes!

On our way out of Lotte World outside the trees and bushes were covered in Christmas lights !

We ended our day with the best Kimchi Jjigae we've had in a long time! Our friends introduced us to this really great restaurant near Lotte World located in Seongnam. It's really popular for its Jjigae and its kimchi which they sell it was actually 3 year old kimchi and it's the best kimchi we've tried. I just can't recall the name but I'll post it soon.

This is not the end

It's been almost a week since we arrived back in the states. Our last days in Korea were filled with packing, finals, goodbyes and many other things that we hardly had any spare time. Even though the semester is over and we're back in Texas it does not mean it's the end of our blog! There are still many things we did not get a chance to post about while in Korea so we will still be posting, but most importantly, WE'RE GOING BACK TO KOREA for one more semester! Originally we had only planned to study abroad for a semester, but the opportunity arose and we decided to extend our stay. Studying abroad in Korea has been such an amazing experience that we decided to stay a little longer. We will be spending the summer in Texas and returning to Seoul in August. Although we would have liked to stay in Seoul during the summer changing our flight was too expensive so our only option was to return home.

                                                            The Trip Back Home

The last picture we took of the view from our dorms. It had been raining for the past couple of days. 

The flight back home was much shorter than the flight to Seoul; it was about 13 hours from Seoul to Dallas and from there another 1.5 hour flight from Dallas to our hometown.  Our flight left to Dallas at 11:00am, but we left to the airport about a quarter to 7:00am  and this was because it took about an hour from Konkuk University to reach the airport not including traffic. The cab driver was really nice! Rather than calling an international cab one of our Korean friends called a regular cab for us and it was much cheaper. We paid about $30 each while others had to pay $40 each or more for the international cab. The cab driver gave us candy and had this television in the middle of the cab that played K-pop videos throughout the whole ride. We found ourselves singing to 2NE1 and other kpop artists which was really cool! Also the seats were so comfortable that we took a short nap. Once we were at the airport we searched for Korean Air so we could check in. Navigating Incheon International Airport was so easy and the employees were so nice! Going through security, customs and check in all took less than half an hour. We're not even kidding! After that we spent time with our friends  before boarding our flights and said our goodbyes. We made so many great friends in Seoul, we're really grateful to have met such wonderful people.  Once we reached Dallas we felt really overwhelmed. This is the part where reverse culture shock comes in. Many of our friends spoke about it, our study abroad advisor even tried to prepare us for it, and yet we were not. It must have been a mix of restlessness, stress, jet lag, and lack of sleep that made us feel so out of touch with what was going on, but I think reverse culture shock deserves it's own post because it's something no student who studies abroad can get away from. Adjusting back to life in the U.S.  has proven to be more challenging than adjusting to life in a different country. I'll leave you with a few pictures from our last days in Seoul.  

Kai's students at their farewell party enjoying potato pizza! 

My students at our farewell party! They were adorable! They got me some farewell snacks and wrote the cutest things on the board. I'll miss them a lot. :c

Me (Ro) on the left with my friend Sen on the morning of our departure. We were so sad not only because we were leaving a place we had called home for the past four months, but because this would be the last time we would see each other since we live in different states.

Hello Kitty Cafe inside Incheon Intl' Airport! It was right next to our waiting area. ^^

Korean Universities Spring Festivals

Every Spring semester universities all over Korea hold school festivals.  The festivals usually last 2 to 3 days or in some cases the whole week. My university's festival is held every year on the day of its foundation. This year Konkuk University was celebrating 82 years! The festival started early in the morning and while generally classes are cancelled during these days professors had the option of still holding class which we unfortunately had to attend. There were booths all around campus that served different purposes. The booths were organized by many different student organizations.  Many of these booths sold food, alcohol, games and many other things. They had food from different parts of the world including Chinese, Turkish, and of course Korean. At night after student performances came the celebrity performances and this year at Konkuk University we had performances by Epik High, Beenzino, Girls Day, K. Will and other artists. Our favorites and the ones we anticipated the most were K.Will, Epik High and Beenzino! If you're ever in Korea during the Spring we highly suggest you go to one of these festivals because they really are something else. I can't think of anything back in the U.S. that is similar to this. You get to eat good food, meet new people, and see your favorite Kpop idols perform for free.

The day before the main event a party was held in front of the student dorms. It started early in the morning and went on late into the night. There were many student performances and at the end there was a dj set where everybody pretty much went crazy. By this time many of the students had been consuming 2 dollar jagerbombs and many cans of 70 cent beer throughout the day!

 During the day there were many activities held by the students. Our favorite booths were the cocktail booths and food! We tried a chicken kebab and it was so delicious! 

This was one of the many cocktail booths at the festival. Apparently they have just recently become a popular thing at school festivals. 

Us with our mentor at the International Program's Booth in which we volunteered for a few hours and had not only nachos and beer but also different games where you could win free stuff. 

Our favorite part of the festival was Korean rapper Beenzino's performance with Beat Box DG. We waited hours in advanced just so we could make it to the front of the crowd and even so it was still a struggle. There were so many people that were pushing there was a point where Beenzino cstopped the performance because they were stepping over people, but we made it close enough and we were so happy! At one point before his performance the MC noticed my friends and I as the only foreigners in the crowd and asked us to send Beenzino a message! 

At the end of the festival there were many fireworks but I didn't get a chance to take pictures. The festival was so much fun I definitely recommend attending one if you're ever in Korea around in the Spring! 

Weekend Outing

This weekend we explored the streets of Hongdae and Gangnam. We spent our Friday exploring Hongdae with our friend Lucy who introduced us to her favorite restaurants, cafes, and stores and many other things. This time we visited Hongdae at night and boy does Hongdae come alive at night. Night time is definitely the best time to visit Hongdae, especially during the spring and summer ! It was so much fun we spent the whole day together and ended our outing at of course you guessed it, Karaoke a.k.a. noraebang!

Our friend Lucy took us to this restaurant so we could try Tteokboki and she also informed us that the restaurant's name is  Hongdae Gangsters!   

                         

This is the Tteokbokki from the Hongdae Gangsters and while it was spicy it was delicious. We also had pig stomach and pig intestines that are on the right. She was worried we wouldn't like it, but we informed her we ate this back home too. We also tried other dishes and overall the meal was delicious and we definitely plan to go back. 

Shopping in Hongdae is a dream. There are so many shops and most items are really cheap ! We stopped by Stylenanda a very popular online store. This one in Hongdae is there main one and we even had the opportunity to see the models!   The store has three floors, but there is not a lot of variety and everything that is sold here is one size and they only have certain items. The plus side is that the clothes is cheaper here than online especially for international buyers. The store was definitely an experience and we left with jackets we wear almost everyday. 

Our favorite part of the trip was the Hello Kitty Cafe ! Everything is pink and the whole place just looks amazing . While we loved what we saw the reason why we loved it the most can be explained by the picture below. THEY HAVE DR. PEPPER!! Dr. Pepper is rare in Korea! Lucy told us that this is because it is not very popular or well known in Korea. The only soft drinks you'll find are Coke, Sprite, and Mt. Dew. Some convenience stores carry Dr. Pepper, but only very fewand the other option is to travel a long distance to Costco. We were so happy to find it here. Also the dessert was delicious especially the frosting! 

Finally we ended up at a photo sticker shop! You'll find many of these throughout Korea, but they can be sort of expensive. A set of pictures will cost you around 6,000 to 8,000 won depending on the machine you choose.