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This past week has been piled with school work that has been hindering me from blogging about my past weekend. May has also been a month of visitors so far as I was able to see friends from back home who were traveling in Korea for a few weeks. It happened at a great time as midterms finished the last week of April, and the week after, my friends and friends' friends and family arrived in Seoul. I also got a case of homesickness around that time so it was wonderful to be able to see familiar faces again.
So what did I do?
Last Saturday, I went to Sinsa-dong (신사동) with two of my Korean friends. I got to know them since the beginning of term through Mentor's Club, a club where Yonsei University assigns Korean students to 4-5 exchange students during the term to help them adjust to living and being a student in Seoul. I tend to meet one of them for Korean help and practice all the time, but since we were all free that day we decided to go explore the Gangnam area as I haven't been there before other than to eat Se7en's chicken in the beginning of the term.
We hit up the popular Garosugil (가로수길) street known for higher end boutiques, franchise clothing stores, big and beautiful cafes, and a delicious assortment of restaurants. This street and area in general is known to be more expensive in pricing due to pool of richer people living here. It definitely felt different after being in Sinchon/Edae so often. Despite it being a Saturday, the crowds weren't too bad and it was such a lovely day to stroll up and down the streets and alleys (where all the fancy cafes/restaurants can be found). People dressed nicer overall and the buildings were designed to give more of a European vibe. For me, it reminded me of Edmonton's Whyte Avenue-Korean style.
For lunch, we really didn't know what to settle for. We ended going to a western restaurant called King Kong near the end of the street (turn right and head straight, it will be on your left) because people were seated outside to wait for a table. We thought.. it must be good if people are willing to wait, and joined them in the waiting. It was definitely worth the wait (which didn't take very long), and for 15000won (~$15 CAD) the steak we had was AMAZING. Savory. Flavorful. Delish. The seafood cream sauce pasta and Indonesian fried rice & chicken was to die for too 너무 맛잇어! Afterwards we walked off the calories and browsed the line up of boutiques ranging from clothes to accessories to costume headbands! Many things were beyond our student budget, but it was really fun to play and take photos. I actually really like this area and there was a mini market set up selling sunglasses, shoes, hats and jewelry.
That night, I went with friends in town to a parade near Jongno-3-ga station and the Insadong area in celebration of Buddha's birthday this coming Monday (no school, YAY!). The street was lined up with rows of plastic white lawn chairs for blocks and blocks and blocks it seemed like. Many adjummas and ajussis had already planted themselves into a seat and were ready for the parade to begin (so techy savvy.. pulled out their smart phones and even Ipads to snap photos when the parade started, and these are grannys and grandpas haha). There was so many people and so many crowds everywhere. The parade consisted of a cycle of mobs of volunteers in traditional Korean costumes following a themed lantern and some cultural performances as well, and this just kept repeating with different costumes and lantern(s) each time. I lost interest after a while so we headed to Insadong to grab dinner. We ended up eating at this restaurant near Sam-chon-gil (the 3 story mall without needing to use the stairs, can read about it here), I forgot the name but it seemed to be "designed" quite cramp and our little wooden cubicle barely tolerated our height. After our meal we walked around the area a bit and the aftermath of the parade was mobs of locals watching performances on a stage, a large amount of people drinking, and confetti falling from the sky.
Anyhow, my last visitor will be gone by tomorrow (Bye Grace!), and I only have a limited time left to get everything I want to do DONE. I can't believe I'm already 3/4 through the term =(
So what did I do?
For lunch, we really didn't know what to settle for. We ended going to a western restaurant called King Kong near the end of the street (turn right and head straight, it will be on your left) because people were seated outside to wait for a table. We thought.. it must be good if people are willing to wait, and joined them in the waiting. It was definitely worth the wait (which didn't take very long), and for 15000won (~$15 CAD) the steak we had was AMAZING. Savory. Flavorful. Delish. The seafood cream sauce pasta and Indonesian fried rice & chicken was to die for too 너무 맛잇어! Afterwards we walked off the calories and browsed the line up of boutiques ranging from clothes to accessories to costume headbands! Many things were beyond our student budget, but it was really fun to play and take photos. I actually really like this area and there was a mini market set up selling sunglasses, shoes, hats and jewelry.
That night, I went with friends in town to a parade near Jongno-3-ga station and the Insadong area in celebration of Buddha's birthday this coming Monday (no school, YAY!). The street was lined up with rows of plastic white lawn chairs for blocks and blocks and blocks it seemed like. Many adjummas and ajussis had already planted themselves into a seat and were ready for the parade to begin (so techy savvy.. pulled out their smart phones and even Ipads to snap photos when the parade started, and these are grannys and grandpas haha). There was so many people and so many crowds everywhere. The parade consisted of a cycle of mobs of volunteers in traditional Korean costumes following a themed lantern and some cultural performances as well, and this just kept repeating with different costumes and lantern(s) each time. I lost interest after a while so we headed to Insadong to grab dinner. We ended up eating at this restaurant near Sam-chon-gil (the 3 story mall without needing to use the stairs, can read about it here), I forgot the name but it seemed to be "designed" quite cramp and our little wooden cubicle barely tolerated our height. After our meal we walked around the area a bit and the aftermath of the parade was mobs of locals watching performances on a stage, a large amount of people drinking, and confetti falling from the sky. 
Anyhow, my last visitor will be gone by tomorrow (Bye Grace!), and I only have a limited time left to get everything I want to do DONE. I can't believe I'm already 3/4 through the term =(
Labels: Seoul
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