busan and gyeongju

Last weekend, we went to Busan and Gyeongju. It was TONS of fun :D

We had a six-hour bus-ride from Seoul to Busan. It took forever and the bus driver was pretty scary. I'm one of those people with steel stomachs...I can eat a meal and then go on a roller-coaster and have no problems. But for the first time in my life, I actually got a little carsick. It didn't help that I can't sleep on buses (or airplanes for that matter). We stopped off at a Korean rest stop and WOW. They really are like you see in the movies. The bathrooms are clean and there's actually a food court and convenience store at each one. There are also very sketchy souvenier/music stalls outside haha. At one of the rest stops, someone got these little walnut cakes...SO GOOD!!! I didn't get to take a picture because I thought I would get to buy some later but still...it was this soft bread filled with red bean paste and chopped walnuts. DIVINE!!! yum :D

We finally got to Busan at around midnight. We were under the impression we'd be staying at a hostel, which none of us really minded. But then we saw the place. It was like a REAL hotel...like five star. There were tons of us piled into one room (six beds, six people) but wow. Really nice.

After we put our stuff down, we went to one of the two famous beaches in Busan: Kwangannli Beach. It is SO pretty. There's this bridge that lights up in different colors and these people sell fireworks on the beach. The fireworks are kind of scary since they only pop like five feet above you (so about eleven feet up into the air) but still...the atmosphere is awesome. I almost felt like Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose" should have been playing in the back hahaha :D

After hanging out at the beach for a while, we headed to a bar. I was going to drink a bit but I didn't like the crowd that much so I sat it out. But it was still really fun with all the Korean drinking games and stuff hahaha :D I went home after a while and went to sleep yayyyyy :D

The next morning, I got up SUPER early because we had to head to Gyeongju :P I fell asleep for most of the ride there but when I woke up, we were in the countryside. One of the things I wanted to do in Korea is visit the countryside and this was a really nice chance to just see the openness of Korea. The houses were really cool...The roofs were all Korean and I can't be sure of the bottom of the house, but the overall effect was very...comforting.

It was a cloudy day to begin with so as we were driving to Gyeongju, it started to rain. It wasn't so bad at the beginning. In order to get to where we wanted to go, we started heading up a really windy road, up a mountain. It took FOREVER and a ton of people were getting motion sickness. It was pretty but yeah...There was a little kid in front of me (the director's son, sitting in the seat in front of me) and he threw up. So the whole rest of the ride consisted of everyone trying to keep their food in their stomach, dealing with the stench of his puke and the windiness of the roads.

But in the end, all worth it. We were at a temple (at the very TOP of the mountain) called Seokguram. Seokguram is actually part of the Bulguksa Buddhist temple complex but this place is at the very top. It was beautiful.

We got off the bus and clouds were beginning to gather. I think the whole temple part of the trip was better because of the rain. We all complained about it but I think the rain added to the holiness and beauty of the temple. Plus, I love Buddha :D

After seeing the temple (no pictures allowed inside :[ ), we went to the Shilla New Millennium Park and had the WORST bibimbap EVER there. YUCKKKK!!! We were then let free at the park until 4:30pm...That wasn't so bad...It was about 1pm when we finished eating, so we all thought we could head to the costume dress-up, foot spa, the brewery, and few places where Boys Before Flowers was filmed (I think I am dying from excitement about the fact that all these famous dramas have been filmed in places I've been in hahaha).

Except...ummm...everything was closed. Yeah. No costume dress-up, no brewery. The foot spa was stupid so none of us went because you just walked across rocks, and one of the drama places was closed too. UGH. Oh well, I still got to see Ji-Hoo's house from BBF, and the place where they ride the horses :D

We also, after wasting hours at the park, went to a Hwarang performance at the park. THAT was cool. It was a show with equestrian tricks and cute guys hahaha :D Very nice!!!

Now here comes my favorite part. After the park, we left for Busan and there, we were treated to something amazing.

The D'Amaris buffet.

You know how Las Vegas has those buffets that are freaking amazing? Yeah, this was EXACTLY like that except the food was amazing. The best part was definitely the crab legs (OH MY GOODNESS), and the fresh sushi :D I love desserts but theirs were okay. But EVERYTHING else made up for it. Everyone ate SO much, we could barely move. It helped when I went for drinks later hahahah. I had four shots and nothing happened! Then again, I'm a very safe drinker...I was downing the water and food at the same time. I think I drink more for the company than for the drink hahaha.

But seriously, best buffet ever. That seafood was SO fresh and so well-cooked. Those crab legs were SO sweet. Absolutely delicious.

The next day at lunch, EAP took us to the Busan fish market. It's apparently the biggest in Asia and I LOVED it!!! My parents brought me up to appreciate literally everything that is food and so this fish market was a dream for me. Seeing all those ingredients...MMMMM....I know my mom and dad (especially him) would've gone crazy over everything we saw :D

The next step was lunch :D The people leading us everywhere, Joey and Jeff, chose our lunch for us from a local vendor. It's a really cool concept: you choose your fish, say how you want it, and then go upstairs, where they serve it to you. Plus, you're seated in the traditional Korean style :D And my favorite part of the lunch (still full from the buffet, by the way) was the nakji, which is essentially raw, squirming octopus tentacles.

SO GOOD!!!!

You have to be really careful when you eat them because the tentacles and everything are still working. I didn't chew one of them completely so one of the tentacles got stuck to the back of my tongue. My gag reflex was kicking in but thankfully, I just took another piece of nakji, ate it, and it knocked that other one down :D

Nakji tastes slightly sweet...it's a subtle sweetness and the texture isn't something that is weird. When you get the "squirter" part like I did, that has a bit of a rubbery texture but it goes down very smoothly.

After that, we headed back to Seoul :D That bus ride back was CRAZY. I think the bus driver hated us because we were always late, so he SPED us back to Seoul. It was raining and he was driving really fast. Super scary hahaha.

Anyways, since then, not much has gone on. I'm going to try and permanently straighten my hair soon...

Wait. I FINALLY got a cell-phone. And it's the COOLEST phone EVER!!! It has things I'll never need, like video-calling and being an MP3 player. But really, who doesn't like cool little gadgets? I'm totally going to give this phone to Anooj because he deserves a really cool phone after anything he's gone through hahaha

h1n1 and asia song festival

EVERYONE around me is sick. Everyone. At first, a lot of us were afraid that it was H1N1 going around but thank goodness, it isn't. I've also discovered just HOW afraid I am of that flu...I mean, people say it's just like the regular flu but there's such a stigma attached to H1N1. I've been avoiding people with face masks, steering away from people I know are sick, constantly covering my face from germs, obsessively using hand sanitizer, and downing the hot fluids (tea, soup, water) like there's no tomorrow.

It's been working, to a certain extent. I sometimes feel the headache or sore throat coming on but then viciously attack it with hot fluids. I'm seriously obsessed. I get sick really easily and it lasts a long time for me. And even though I know what's going around the international kids ISN'T H1N1, I'm still scared.

Weird. I feel mean :(

Anyways, besides worrying about actually having H1N1, I was afraid that the Asia Song Festival would be canceled because of the flu. But amazingness prevailed and the ASF went on as planned!!!

Jenny and I got there super early, at 8am and lined up in the "Tiket Exchange Place for Foreigners" line hahaha. Jenny ended up leaving the line because she had already printed her ticket out so she wasn't in that line anymore. I stood with a few other DMC Ville people and ended up getting a really cool ticket. We got VIP tickets.

I think since we were foreigners, they let us all get the VIP tickets. Can I just say I was totally NOT expecting that? I thought I would sit with Jenny, who since she printed out her ticket, had to sit in the stands. But still, pretty exciting. I wish Jenny, Naanhee, and Jennifer could have gotten VIP tickets too though :( I missed them during the concert :(

Anyways, I went from the "tiket" exchange line to the supposed VIP line but it wasn't really the VIP line. This concert was really disorganized. They kept on shuttling us from location to location and it never really made any sense as to why they did that. Finally they just sat us down right outside of the place where we would go in (yeah, doesn't make sense but hard to explain).

After taking in the odiferous scent of decaying green waste for about an hour and 45 minutes, they finally let us in. Some middle-school age girls tried to make a run for it but thankfully, the person leading our group (R13) to our seats reined them in and SENT THEM TO THE BACK OF THE LINE!!! YESSS WOOOHOOOOO!!! JUSTICE IS SERVEDDDD!!! *ahem* sorry. Momentarily transported to the age of 4, when things like that made me the happiest person on Earth lol.

But our seats were really good. Hopefully I can sketch it out...

_________________________________________________________

-------------------------------- STAGE

_________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------- FIRST FEW SECTIONS

----------------------------------------[gate]----------------------------------

---------------------------- [camera stand] ------ [me!!!]

So really, not that bad.

And I got a TON of good pictures out of it.

Lee Da Hae from Full House was one of the presenters!!! I went CRAZY when I saw her. Brian and I were joking when I first came here that I should stalk her and take pictures of her...little did I know that she would BE there! She looks super pretty in real life...gorgeous :D

OOHHH!!! Before the concert started, Rita and I went to Home Plus to grab some snacks...on the way there, we saw some guys wearing super sketch clothing. It was like they'd taken it and ripped it off of themselves in random places. It was great. I stalked them and took pictures. Love it hahaha.

I think instead of going through the concert step-by-step, I'll just post my thoughts on each act.

Show Luo (Taiwan): He was good. His performance was good as the "real" opening act of the festival. He was energetic and his dancing was pretty good. Can't say the same for his songs though...They were kind of run-of-the-mill.

2NE1 (Korea): These girls are HUGELY popular in Korea, so I was surprised that they were the second act in. They were amazing though. I'm pretty sure everyone else besides these girls lipsynced. Their energy were great and their songs??? SO CATCHY!!!! hahhaa loved it :D Marissa almost started crying when they came on stage...cute <3

Ho Ngoc Ha (Vietnam): For a model-turned-singer, I think she did well. Her songs were upbeat but not fast-paced enough for the crowd. But her singing ability is pretty good. I did enjoy her songs and was surprised that they were in English...I think I would have definitely liked them better in Vietnamese :D

K-Otic (Thailand): I actually really liked these guys. They started off with a traditional Thai dance, which wasn't what the crowd expected. I'm not sure how the crowd reacted but I LOVED that they went basic and traditional on such an international stage like this. They smoothly transitioned into the hip-hop/break-dancing routine and did it well. They're energy was great!!! They had a really international group too hahhaa...Thai, Korean, and Japanese. Loved it!!!

Ekin Cheng (Hong Kong): This guy was the oldest person performing but he definitely kept up with everyone else though lol...but seriously...what was up with that skirt???

mihimaru GT (Japan): Love. That is all...also, the girl is super cute lol.

Chris Lee (China): Her fans were all over the place, going crazy but...ummm...she wasn't that good. Her dancing was okay and her songs all sounded like rip-offs...

V6 (Japan): They were the special guests of the concert and I thought they were great. Their dancing was fresh (compared to the repetitive hip-hop) and later on, when they were on stage, it was almost like they were having a mini-dance-off with Super Junior. Cute :D

Ruslana (Ukraine): I still don't know why they invited her. She's almost too foreign for the Korean/Chinese/Japanese majority at the concert. No one knew her...No matter how much energy she had, or how crazy her songs were, no one got into it. So sad :(

Gackt (Japan): He was AMAZING!!! He has this very...alternative image and I love it. His act had some of the BEST music and he was different too. AHHHH! hahahaha

Girls Generation (Korea): SO OVERRATED!!!! I think it's really easy for a group of people to sing together. I'll give them the fact that they look good and dance well BUT if you're going to name yourself "Girl's Generation" and play to stereotypes of "sexy" women, then I probably won't like you to begin with. They were fun, but in the larger picture...ugh. Not the girl's generation I want to see for my future...if they chose that name to mean something lol.

Agnes Monica (Indonesia): She was a little weird at first. Trying too hard and all that shizznit. But then she totally made up for it when she sang "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson...like really sang it. And she's an amazing singer. I got goosebumps when she had us sing with her...all without music. Beautifully haunting.

Super Junior (Korea): Another group with TONS of people in it. I'd heard of it before through Jenny, Teresa, and Tina at Davis but this was the first time I'd actually heard their music. It's super catchy and they're good dancers. Good combination :D Not my favorites because, again, I can't tell how good of singers they are when there's 13 of them singing together, but still...entertaining.

Big Bang (Korea): Ahhh...best for last :D Seriously, they came in with a bang and left with one too. They had the best songs (even if they were missing a member and another member seemed like he was sick) and were WELL worth the wait. I loved seeing G-Dragon on stage, after obsessing over his strangely cool "Heartbreaker" song...and T.O.P. really is the master :D

Overall, well worth every minute :D

blargh

homesick and frustrated with home.

love korea though...seriously, i think i'm going to live here. everything is just so amazing in terms of culture. i mean, i don't like the ahjussi's and ajumma's staring at me, but everything and everyone else is a ton of fun hahaha...and the food is great. and unlike america, people here actually give up their seats to elders. love it :D

just wish people near me didn't have swine flu...what if i get it? i know it's not that bad but i'm such a baby when i'm sick lol...

i love america too (lest i be called unamerican lol) but damn...korea has some pretty cool shizznit.

also...i wish people in general were less apathetic and more independent.

tomorrow is the asia song festival. some pretty big bands are going to be there. hopefully i'll be able to get in!!! i have a confirmation e-mail but i hope it works lol. and then itaewon on sunday. i still need to get a phone. if i can't get it then, don't know what i'm going to do lol.

edit:

...katherine heigl got a baby from korea...i wonder if they'll give me one as a "service"?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/nancy-leigh-katherine-hei_n_290380.html

note: "service" means free stuff in korea hahahaha

severance hospital volunteering

This is my second time going to see the little kids at Severance Hospital on the Yonsei campus. It's exciting and fun to teach them English but...they're so sick, as in ill.

Most of them have varying forms of cancer or another long-term illness. My first time volunteering, I helped a kid named Toby. He had scars all over his head, so I think he had brain cancer and was being treated for it. Today, I worked with a girl named Ga-ih. She was beautiful but she couldn't speak above a whisper and her legs didn't work. It's so...depressing.

And when Christina and I were walking down the hallway to get to the classroom, all the doors around us are open and you just peek in and you get this eyeful of sad, depressed, terminally-ill children. It really scares me that one day I'll show up and we'll get news that one of the kids we've gotten used to seeing won't be there anymore.

I sincerely hope I do stop seeing some of them, and I don't mean that I hope they pass away. What I mean is that if I don't see them anymore, that means that they've gone home because FINALLY, they're well enough to be at home. Can you imagine living in a hospital? All these kids are spending a huge chunk of their childhood in these walls.

I've only done this twice so far but I become so quiet after I visit them. I can't even hold regular conversations with my friends because I feel like these kids are really happy and awesome during that one hour we have with them...but after that, what do they have?

It's just really...something to think about, I guess. I've only known a few children who have had to spend time in a hospital but they've never had to LIVE there. Ah, it's just weird. I'll be fine and happy tomorrow, until next Wednesday.

But so glad I came to Korea :D At least I get to meet these awesome kids hahaa. They call me "Anne" because "Anreeka" is too hard LOL...Don't like "Anne" but I'll deal hahaha

oh dear, intense!!

wahhhh, what an intense week!!!

My Saturday was spent shopping at Hongdae. Got some cute stuff. Not that interesting haha I have a few pics of earrings and stuff but that's just me being weird hahaha.

I went to Lotte World for my birthday, which was...interesting. I was really excited because it was a really cheap ticket to get into the amusement park, but I didn't realize my pass only lasted until 5pm :( Oops haha. Another weird thing is that you have to PAY to go on certain rides. You've already paid for your tickets but you have to pay extra for these rides. LOL not cool hahaha

But once Manuela, Jenny, and I went OUTSIDE of the indoor park (but still in the amusement park haha), we had tons of fun. It was a lot more young-adult oriented, versus preschool-child oriented. Yes, I'm being ageist lol. They had these CRAZY rides that just...WOW hahaha. Explanations under the pictures lol. Manuela and Jenny were super sweet. Manuela bought this AMAZING cake (everything tastes better in Korea hahaha) and Jenny gave me a cute card hahaha.

Lotte World also has a National Folk Museum which was really, really cool. They recreated a bunch of dynasties in Korea and also recreated the lives of the common people of Korea. We were exhausted by this point but this place was AWESOME. I mean, the detail, the history, the coolness of it all...oh fudgenuts, super cool :D

But once we walked out, we found ourselves in the Lotte Department store...

Ummm...consumerism much?

During the week (Lotte World was Sunday), Jenny and I went to get our registration cards (FINALLY) and then...well, just continued with life haha. I had Korean class, a Korean film class (more on that later), Korea through ethnography class, and capitalism and democracy in Korea class.

I love them all. Korean class is filled with great people and awesome teachers. We all manage to have fun and learn at the same time hahaha. We have the class separated into zones too hahaha...There's a winner's corner, buffer zone, and the loser corner hehehe...I'm in the loser corner hahaha

My Korean film class is SO COOL! We watched a film called "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird." Inspired by the spaghetti Western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" but with a Korean vibe. I really, really enjoyed it. It's really interesting because themes of the Wild West are those of having no country, no home, greed for money, colonization, violence, etc. But those themes segue really nicely into Korean history because during the time when Korea was colonized by Japan, Koreans had that atmosphere. Anger, fear, no hope, lawlessness, etc. So this film is awesome hahaha.

My other classes are pretty cool too but not much that I can speak on right now.

Aside from classes, I've been realizing just HOW much money I've been spending these past few weeks. I've taken a huge chunk out of my financial aid and it's only been a month. I'm going to get a cheap cashbook (more money to spend -.- ) to help me keep track of my finances. Manuela and Jenny both have one so I'm going to copy them hahaha.

I will hopefully get my cellphone tomorrow (more money ick)...I'm almost considering not getting one but its good for emergencies, I guess. Blegh. I prefer life without one.

...but now I move into the cool stuff.

The Yon-Kor Jun.

Oh, you think it's not that interesting. But it's much more than you expect.

See, every fall, the two biggest (read: richest) private schools in Seoul have a...yell/dance/sing/sports-off. It's seriously this huge party for two days (Friday and Saturday...Wed. and Thurs. are included but not as intense) where the two universities just face-off big time.

I've never really had school spirit...but this time??? HOLY SHIZZNIT, if Davis had rallies/etc. like this, even I would be filled with school spirit hahahhaa. I have videos but they don't capture the feeling that you got while you were there. Just seeing these MASSES of people coordinating their movements (there are choreographed dances) all to outdance the other side??? HAHAHAHA awesome. There was a baseball game on while I was there but...umm...hahaha I only paid attention when I was too tired to dance. I think that's how the majority of the students were. Most of the people didn't even seem to care whether they lost or won haha.

After leaving the Yon-Kor Jun (I couldn't go to the whole thing because I'd planned to meet up with Connie), I took the subway/train to see Connie...I love Connie. Her place is so cute too! Small, but cute. She took me to this awesome park in Guri, where she lives. She also took me to their open-air market. I'll go back one day, but only after I figure out how to say Korean numbers :( We got ripped off hahaha

As a side note, Guri also has TONS of love hotels. They look super shady hahahaha.

Pictures and videos will be up on Facebook. Too much time and effort up here :P hahaha

i was kidnapped

I really was kidnapped. I mean, I'd started school this week (I find it so weird that I still call it "school," as if I'm in elementary school, not in university...even though I still act like an elementary school kid oops haha) and it had been okay. I have this super-cool teacher (professor? lol) who is teaching a class on Korea's ethnography and it's push to become a multicultural society. That all sounds good but the catch, he says, is that the current Korean conservative government wants a multicultural society by way of assimilation, not integration. In effect, the Lee Myung-bak government wants foreigners to become Korean, not keep their own culture in Korea.

I love this type of stuff. Nerd = Anreeka.

I also have a Korean language class which is...interesting. The people in it are great but I think I annoy them with my super-swearing status and my ability to walk into every room and completely fail at life lol. But still, pretty awesome. We're the only Korean class that has two teachers and one already dislikes me because I swore after I messed up some pronunciations hahaha. Plus, the first two classrooms we've had have been broken haha. Like the air vents wouldn't work so it'd get really stuffy, which isn't conducive to a daily, 2-hour Korean language class hehe. Intense, right?

Besides that, I think everyone should come to Yonsei, just to experience one day on that crazy campus. It's literally ALL hills. During the first few days, I had to keep on going down to the bottom of the campus to get books, food, homework, etc. Oh. My. Shizznit. Walking back up those hills to get to class was such a workout. After the first day of class, my muscles were sore. But it is a nice campus overall. It reeks of money but that money, thankfully, is put to good use, as far as I can tell. I know that the Engineering department recently got over its' physical sexism and finally added female bathrooms in their building(s). Not sure if it was more than one building, but that is what I've heard.

I can't really think of anything life-changing happening during my first few days of school...I did end up going to the wrong building for one of my classes but that's about it.

But yesterday, I was kidnapped.

I know, it's pretty dramatic. I was so innocent, walking into the Education Abroad Program's (EAP) orientation for the UC kids. After they finished that (can I just say that I am really, super excited for the DMZ tour??? YESSSS I GET TO SEE NORTH KOREA!!!! hahaha...I'm so gonna get kicked out -.- ), they calmly announced to us that they were going to treat us to dinner as planned...and then take us to Namsan Tower. At night. To the top. Along with the Teddy Bear Museum.

Umm.

This kidnapping was not appreciated. Granted, going to the top on the tower at night for FREE was freaking awesome (The views!!! THE VIEWS!!! ALL OF SEOUL!!! LIT UP!!!) but...but...I DIDN'T HAVE MY CAMERA!!!! How could you plan this and not tell us BEFOREHAND??? WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO LOVE PICTURES???

I think I was more mad than excited.

I also couldn't take pictures of the dinner they took us to, which was also pretty cool because it was the dinner traditionally served to king of Korea.

Yeah. I'm pretty upset. The ONE meal like that but I couldn't even take pictures of it???? I mean, I can only guess how much that meal cost per person.

Don't get me wrong -- I totally appreciate the sentiment of treating all 65 of us kids to dinner and a free trip to the tower, but if they had just TOLD us beforehand, I would have brought my camera and actually had pictures to post up on this entry. SO SAD!!!!

Because I don't think I'll be able to post up pics of that royal dinner...ever :(

But I'm going back because I can't leave the tower like that. And for all you Korean drama fans, I totally went into the cable car where Jun-pyo and Jan-di get stuck HAHAHA...and I saw the vending machine where they get there coffee from. Only problem? It STANK there. There was this bathroom a few feet from the machine that...ugh. Disgusting haha. But we did go in the cable car haha. That was super fun, especially when too many of us went to the front and it pitched forward hehe.

Anyways, plan for today is to hit Dongdaemun and go shopping. It's going to be super-fun :D I need CLOTHES!!! haha

Hopefully I'll have pictures to show for that hahaha

EDIT: Stole my roomie Jenny's pics from the Namsan Tower because her pics are freaking AMAZING!!!!

hahaha I told her to take this picture <3

Also, the Namsan Tower is really, really geared towards couples. Here you can see what we mean...

This is ONE part of a huge part of the Namsan fence. This whole place is FILLED with locks people have attached, with messages, etc. inscribed on them. We were kind of joking about it because a few people put...umm...bicycle locks on hahaha. We were saying, "You bring your date here and to show that person just how strong your love is, you say to them, 'I love you so much that I brought a lock that we can attach to the fence. It's the strongest lock, the one that can represent our love best. A bike lock.'" LOL love it <3

gyeongbukgong

Oh.My.Shizznit.

This palace is amazing. I've posted a TON of pictures on Facebook, so that's pretty much all you need to know. I'll post a few of my favorites here and explain the palace a bit but overall...wow, you all just need to come to this place to see it.

Here's my take on it and why it's so fabulous:

I've grown up with European castles as the mold for royalty and privilege. I've traveled to Europe since I was a little kid and I've grown up expect European castles to be the mold, the norm. I'm obviously Indian but you don't hear much about Indian palaces until you're older and you learn about it yourself...parts of my family also went so that's how I learned so much about a few palaces...I'm sure I would have learned about them if I went to school in a country that actually taught world history as WORLD history (not the history of the world in it's roots and relations with America)...but I didn't.

Anyways, I've always loved looking at palaces and stuff because of the architecture (if it wasn't for the number's involved, I would have become an architect haha) but this was just awesome. I mean, I've never seen anything like this before. You see the fake versions all over the U.S. but never the detail, the history, the intensity that you get here. TV doesn't do this justice. Pictures don't do this justice. And we didn't even get a tour guide. I can only imagine how awesome that would have been.

Shoot.

Also, the food. We had bibimbap, which is like the staple meal of Korea. Quick, tasty, healthy. I had a spin on it called hwe dup bap, which is essentially raw fish with all the bibimbap fixings. It was delicious. Amazing. Just fresh veggies. They didn't do anything to them. One of the most refreshing, filling, amazing things I've tasted in my life. So nice and spicy too :D

Kimchi Pork Bibimbap

Hwe dup bap, which was my dish. Super good :D Mommy!!! LET'S EAT THIS!!! Daddy's coming to Korea, so I'll take him to eat this hahaha

One last thing to point out: King Sejong, who had this palace built (I think), had the lotus pond and tower built for his wife. How sweet :D And who can forget Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal? I just say this because I can't remember a specific instance of a king being nice to his wife in Europe and building something awesome for them...any ideas?

commercials.are.amazing.

My whole entry is definitely NOT going to be about commercials, but can I just say that Korean ad makers are super good?? Like they seriously make me want to buy their shizznit. They're just amazing. They should come to America and make ads for health-care reform and other cool stuff :D

Also, as a little note before I jump into my entry, Jenny and I finally had some pastries from Tous Les Jours. OMG SO GOOD. I had an apple-filled pastry and this other one. SO DELICIOUS. We need one in America...or at least Corona and Davis. This place is amazingggg.

Apple pastry in the back and pastry in the front...don't know the name but I LOVE it...just needs some butter haha

Anyways, I headed out to meet Jae Hee yesterday and we met up at the area around Hongik University. Hongik University itself is apparently known mostly for its' fine arts department. Love it :D I think that probably explains the nearby graffiti that I talked about earlier. Yonsei, Ewha, and Hongik (known as Yondae, Ewha, and Hongdae) are all big private universities that are really close to each other. Not surprised that they would spill into each other's areas...not that I'm saying they should be segregated hahaha.

Jae Hee should be a model :P

Hongdae (as in the area around the university) is super busy. It's filled with shops, cafe's, restaurants, clubs, etc. OH, HAHAHA something I couldn't take a pic of but there was a bar called, "The Ho Bar." I KNOW they didn't mean it the way an American or English-speaking person would take it but still...lol it's like those random restaurants in America that have these weird names in foreign languages. Like they sound good but what do they mean (El Pollo Loco, for example haha)?

Hongdae as the sun sets...I thought I didn't have a pic of the Ho Bar, but I do...check this pic out...to the right!!!

Setting up for a busy Saturday night of clubbing :D

But Jae Hee took me to this really good restaurant. You just order the meat and they come cook it for you in the big metal pan. Really, REALLY good. I also had what Jae Hee called, "kimchi soup." LOL so cute. It was really good though. Like spicy and sour at the same time but cold. It was a really good counter-taste to the spicyness of the chicken that she ordered...look at me, sounding all foodie. This means I watched too much Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern during the summer haha

We were eating that and the waiter comes over and starts talking to Jae Hee. He was all surprised that I could eat the food since even a lot of Koreans had trouble eating it (because it was so spicy) haha. I was so proud of myself *sigh.* Look at my Indian heritage shining through once again, strictly because of my tastebuds. Mommy, Daddy, thank you :D hahaha

After we finished eating, we headed out to the larger Hongdae area. Jae Hee helped me buy a bag (I'm so indecisive and my sense of fashion sucks) and made sure I got a good deal. She also told me about other good places to go shopping haha. I totally saw some presents I'm going to grab later there. Things for Avni, Niral, Mansee, Fariha, and Johnathen...got all of y'all covered haha.

By the way, I get a TON of free things here in Korea. On my first day here, I bought a dinner from the convenience store downstairs and got a free cup of noodles and a free corn tea (YUMMMM). Then when I went back later on, I bought another meal and got a free yogurt. When I was with Jae Hee, I bought this little watch for myself and got a cell-phone charm for free. And TODAY, when I went to Home Plus (Korea's version of Wal-Mart...I just hope it doesn't kill people and contribute to the degradation of the environment...I think it might be sexist though :[ ), I bought shampoo, and got another shampoo free, along with free conditioner and a free basket.

I love Korea haha.

But after buying all that shizznit, Jae Hee and I decided to chill in this little cafe (there are so many cafe's here! All the coffee drinkers of America would rejoice...but it is still expensive here lol). I had this awesome little fizzy grapefruit juice. And it tasted like a grapefruit...and I had little pieces of pulp. I LOVED IT!!! YUMMMMM :D I was sitting there drinking it, thinking about my first year, where all of us ate TONS of grapefruit. Some people though *coughMelindacough* had lots of trouble with the grapefruits hahaha.

YUMMMMM :D Grapefruit Fruit Ade haha

After eating, Jae Hee took me to an Ulzzang shop. It's like this place where you take tons of pics together, with backgrounds and props. Then you color them in, put little stickers, whatever. It's kind of cool and I wish they had them in America haha. They're like photobooths but with tons more options. Mine were so cheesssyyyyy LOL. Jae Hee kind of looked at me and was like, "Ummm, epic fail." hahaha Plus, I took wayyyy too long to color them in haha.

At the Ulzzang place, computer where we decorate our pics. Love it :D

The last thing we did before going our separate ways was something my dad really wants to do when he comes to Seoul...eat DUKBOKKI!!! LOL I had to take it to go but it was really good! Reminded me of something my mom and dad make with dough triangles...it's a Gujarati dish but the name escapes me. The concept is the same: sweet and spicy sauce, with a doughy addition. The Gujarati version is more like a soup...I'll have to get the name from my parents...But still, same taste. The dukbokki, however, has a really different texture since it's rice cakes. It's interesting, since the texture isn't anything I've ever encountered before. But you get used to it :D

Ah, and then I went home...

That's about it. OH! And I've taken to watching Korean dramas on TV (we have HD...yes, it's okay to be jealous. I know I am) but I still don't get them. I need to learn this language :P But because of those dramas, I'm slowly picking things up...I hope. Otherwise I've been screwing things up majorly haha...

One of my roommates had me watch this song and it's been stuck in my head all day...super cool music video AND song...Korea's pretty awesome haha:

korean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCbqj4SxGJs

english: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7fdSkp8ds

alone by our lonesome

What. A. Day.

I'm so exhausted bleghhhh.

Started off by going to Tous Les Jours, a French bakery, for breakfast. Ummm...they still hadn't stocked up their place by the time we got there so we awkwardly left. Then we went to Dunkin' Donuts, which was literally two minutes away. That place was open but we still had trouble getting food because we had to use the trays and stuff...oh well :P

Korea is really big on things like that. They're weird to a person like me but this place is so...sanitized. I know that sounds weird but everything has a layer of protection, a layer of clean. Like the subway, the restaurants, even the toilets. This place doesn't feel sterile or weirdly inhuman like Monaco did but it still has that "clean" feeling while also being really...human? I don't know. Maybe it's because there are so many people everywhere that it's strange to see everything be so clean.

Anyway, it was at around this time that Jenny and I noticed something.

Tons of people were staring at us. To me, this is nothing new. I mean, I am brown and I don't think many Korean people have seen such a tall, Indian girl before. But it was a strange feeling because so many people had never stared at us before. We'd gotten a few glances during our other trips out but today? SHOOT, everyone was staring at us...and I don't know if it was necessarily in a good way. Anyway, we just made jokes about it because really, we were the only white and brown girls walking around together that we could see.

We ignored the staring and got off at our university...only we didn't get off at our university. You see, when we had gone to Yonsei before with Gina, we'd decided to get off the bus at the Ewha Women's University stop because it was closer to where we needed to be.

We got lost again.

We got off the bus and were completely confused. The place we'd gotten off at was completely NOT what we were expecting. Again, we were lost UGH...

But this time it wasn't so bad because we could see our destination in the distance and so began to walk through the streets to get there. Along the way, we saw a ton of cool and questionable things, like this club called, "Club Sexy," a bunch of not-so-legit looking shoe stores, and other such areas but it was fun.

We also saw this cute dog and his owner haha.

But the best part of getting lost? The AWESOME graffiti we saw on our way. I have to admit that I stereotyped Korea as a completely non-graffiti culture...uhhh...yeah, that was my epic fail of the century...Anyways, this graffiti...WOW. Super good.

After taking too many pics of the graffiti, we headed to Yonsei, where we saw a funeral procession and then a graduation. It was a good and bad day to go because of the graduation. There were TONS of people there and it was crowded but...shizznit, such a happy day!! And so many pretty clothes!!!

That's another thing...Korean people, in general, are really, really well-dressed. I expected this because Nirav told me that this was a fashion-conscious country but fudgenuts!!!!! Jenny and I constantly find ourselves looking at people's (mostly women's) clothing and saying that it's something ugly and yet, it looks freaking amazing on the person. They're like this clothes with these garishly ugly huge bows or weird scrunches, high necks, and lots of extra fabric. All in all, really unflattering but strangely good-looking on a lot of these people!!!

We also finally ate in a real Korean restaurant, strictly by pointing at the picture on the wall haha. Super good food though. I loved it. I actually didn't know what I had ordered until I asked Jae Hee (my friend from Davis who lives in Seoul during the summer) what it was...The soup was doen jang chigae and it was awweeesssooommmeee :D

After eating, we headed back to the immigration office so I could turn in my form. However, Korea yet again proved its' efficiency by starting off at number 424 when I got there (my number was 578) and reaching me within 3 hours. Craziness.

Ugh, so exhausting. How do people do this everyday?

No pics because they're on Facebook and I'm super tired lol haha

By the way, everyone was staring at us because they thought my lace undershirt was actually my bra...oops. hehehe

kidnapping a korean baby

I was exhausted yesterday so I couldn't type anything up for what we did. But we did make this super weird video of what we did in the morning after breakfast...Like I said last time, there's this security camera channel that the apartment has. We went ahead and we recorded it and made it like a silent movie :D here it is haha

*edit:...can't upload it because Korea doesn't let you do that...i don't get it :( *

By the way, totally found out today that another Davis person, Rachel, was watching that channel, thinking it was an actual show...Super funny when she found out it actually was a security camera thing hahaha. She was like, "I was waiting for something to happen! I was wondering why people would watch that show, it's the same thing over and over again!"

I didn't want to tell her that I thought the same thing haha. Totally thought it was a real show hehe.

Anyways, after doing that little recording thing, we had to head out to the Seoul Immigration Office, which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't so confusing to get there :( Even Gina, who is mine and Jenny's Goddess, had a hard time figuring out the map. We're also pretty sad because Gina left us to be with her cooler friends, so we're the two bum-faces that are walking around Seoul, trying to get people to understand us. More on that later haha.

Gina literally had to babysit Jenny and I as she took us to the Seoul Immigration Office. But it was super fun because as soon as Jenny and I saw the subway for the first time, I think we both had heart attacks. It's SO COOL!!!!

Please, let me illustrate.

Usual subways have this gap between the platform and the actual train thing. Not Seoul. They're too awesome and amazing for that type of infantile construction. They actually have these HUGE glass panels that sit in-between the platform and train. The panels have automatic sliding doors that coincide to where the doors are on the subway and both open at the SAME time. These panels are amazing because they do SO much!!!

So not only can I NOT commit suicide, I also cannot get my foot stuck in that weird little gap in-between the platform and train. Wow, Seoul. You're awesome.

Plus, you have cute little shops and stuff.

Don't know what this is haha

I HAVE to go to this one. It sounds French but the donuts and stuff sound a lot better than the breakfast we're having everyday at DMC Ville haha.

But your waiting system sucks ASS. Puh-lease. You have subways that protect people from death, TVs in your kitchens and cabs, intercoms in your bathrooms, toilets that deodorize our butts, and the best parking lots ever, but you can't have a faster moving bureaucracy?

Ahhh, just kidding. I actually did feel really bad for the people working there because I think so many people showed up on an unexpected day that they had to call in more people to work. Plus, considering that Jenny and I's number was 484 and 485 respectively, and that the number count was in the 350's when we got there, and we got up to the front desk within three hours? Wow. They did really, really well.

THE NUMBERS NEVER MOVEDDDDD :(

...the baby was so CUTEEEE...yes, I was stalking the baby and taking pics of it in a room full of like 120 people...hehehe

My form thing didn't work out because I'm stupid but I'll be going back soon. I'm sure I'll have another adventure to tell you about for that :P

After we FINALLY finished the form shizznit (but not our Monopoly game on the iTouch LOL), Jenny and I took the cab back to DMC Ville...without Gina. Our Goddess/Mother had to get back to her life and so we were left to make our way back in the cab, with a cab driver who didn't know where we were going. Thankfully we found a bus that he could follow and just pointed to it and he followed lol. We just went, "Ahjussi, bus! Bus!" which means, "Mister, bus! Bus!" LOL he got it though haha.

Once we got out of the taxi though, it started raining. Yup, just as we exited. So we decided to go grab dinner, head up to our apartment, and be the bums that we are.

So we went to grab dinner, in this place that's in our apartment complex. A little side note here...we got lost hahahaha.

Anyways, we walked inside this TINY little fried chicken place and tried to order. They didn't speak English, except for a few words. We ordered by pointing at the menu and were really confused about what we were getting. The only thing we knew for sure was that it was chicken and fries...we hoped. We waited off to the side until he showed up with our chicken nuggets.

Ummm.

Why is there a straw coming out of the cup? Are we supposed to drink them?

We were confused. So then we lifted UP the chicken nuggets container and OH.MY.SHIZZNIT. There was Coke underneath!!! I don't know what it was, but that dinner made us giddy with happiness. I think it was the jetlag and weirdness of the food combined that made us love it and freaking crazy. I mean, the food was super good...but I think after our experience today...LOL I don't know when we'll go back there again unless we're starving haha.

Other than that (TODAY), we've spent a lot of our time gazing with amazement at the freaking awesome commercials that are Korean commercials. Our favorite so far? This one!!! Mostly because its song is AWESOME hahaha...we just need to find the full song. It's called "C'est La Fete" by Ilona Mitrecey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ey3pcKooso&feature=PlayList&p=F4A85A399582B9A1&index=30

Other good ones...in order haha (because they makes NO sense):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwW_mSOOvQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNRPEQNbdc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTt50Dhkvhc&feature=related

And we also tried to go to a Korean food court today haha...ummm...NO. FAILLLL...we walked in, got lost, then walked right back out hahaha...

So yes. Hopefully tomorrow is more exciting :P

Oh, pics of the balcony:

yonsei

Me and my roomies (Gina and Jenny so far) headed out to Seoul today. Took us forever to figure out how to do it. It wasn't like we were confused on how to get there but more like stupid time constraints...like the excellent DMC Ville deciding to hold a mandatory orientation at 11am, and us Yonsei kids getting news that we have to pick-up our shizznit from Yonsei from 9am to 12pm.

But it wasn't really until 12pm because when the DMC orientation finished, we found out the Yonsei packet pick-up was extended to 5:30pm.

Thanks for telling us haha.

Anyways, the roomies and I grabbed a bus (171 Blue...I think haha) to Yonsei and proceeded to get very, very lost. For me, it wasn't so unusual, and in fact, getting lost in Korea is kind of fun because you're a lot more lost than usual. Might accidently end up at the DMZ or something...and I would, considering the way I'm going right now haha.

...

Sorry, mom. Ending up in North Korea was a joke heheh <3

By the way, I feel slightly bummed out by Yonsei. It pretty much looks like Davis except it has hills and taller buildings. Other than that, there's trees everywhere and its got its weird little charm of feeling really closed in. I think they're both the same size but Yonsei just feels bigger because of the hills, cars, and the fact that the moment you step outside the university, you're surrounded by cute little shops in narrow alleyways...which is kind of like B street in Davis hahaha.

I also have yet to spot a squirrel population like Davis's...but back to my life story haha.

We had to go to Underwood International College and had a really weird time getting there. It was up a hill...then up a REAL hill...then up some stairs, then down the hill, turn right and head up the same hill we just came down, then turn right and go down the hill again. At this point we passed a child daycare center and I have decided I am going to kidnap a Korean baby. THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!! My cousin Nirav approved this operation so the Korean Baby Operation is GO!!!

The building BEFORE the daycare. If you keep going right and down a little hill, there is is. See, we're all set to get some of them babies :D

But even with our plan to some day get Korean babies, we were still confused, because now, we were at another university. Yup. No more Yonsei. We had somehow landed at the gates of Ewha Woman's University...that's not where we needed to be haha

But evenutally we got to the UIC main hall, only with the help of this cute old man. I mean, we knew we were there (we could see the building), but there was just intense construction going on around it. So he sent as back the way we came and up another street...which meant another hill. Before coming here, I was actually a bit worried about me gaining weight while I'm stuffing my face with Korean food but if we have to walk up and down those hills like that then I'll definitely be super fit by the time I get back to the U.S.

Cute old man who helped us out of our predicament :D

I just have to get better shoes for it because my feet ache :(

The last hill before we made it to the site of the registration packet pick-up. So difficult!!!

Anyways, we did our registration thing and we managed to make it back to the DMC Ville orientation on time. Wasn't really interesting. They were going to serve us lunch but me and Gina just filched a few sandwiches (okay, a half each) and some juice and ran back the apartment. We also got lost on our way to the apartment.

Really, it's crazy how many times I've gotten lost so far here in Korea haha.

I just spent the rest of the afternoon bumming around on facebook, skype, and on the TV. There's this one channel that's like the security camera for a certain part of DMC Ville. A few of us roomies have decided that we're going to record the TV and then go run out in front of the security camera. It'll be a faux-"Look Ma, I'm on TV!" moment haha.

I had to go meet for dinner with Nirav so I left my place at around 6pm. I have to say that my cab driver on the way there was awesome. Pretty much the coolest person EVER. We started talking about the weirdest things. I think it was such a fun conversation because he spoke like 20 words of English and I speak about 1.002 words of Korean. It was only natural that conversation was freaking cool.

We started off by him asking what DMC Ville was. I said "apartments" but he didn't understand. Then we started talking about "Korea speak" (he meant the Korean language), soju (I think he wanted some hehe), my family, Korean dramas (there was this little TV in the cab and he was watching a drama on it as he drove...there was one man with TWO wives...he loved it haha), my single status (that was hilarious hahaha), weddings, wedding marches (I think...), something called "hakjang" or something like that, "Biz X" and just "Biz", the word "pretty" in Korean (ippuda) and Chinese (piao liang), smoking, drinking, and Yonsei. Pretty much amazing haha.

When we finally reached the Grand Hyatt Seoul, he let me off, and I have to say, I was pretty sad. He was so cool!!! Anyways, I went inside and found Nirav.

He took me to dinner to the restaurant in the hotel and OH. MY. SHIZZNIT. That stuff was goooood. I couldn't be the weird me that I am and take pictures of the food or the view because...well...because...

I forgot my camera.

I was so sad :( FINALLY, I'm in downtown Seoul at night, the view is amazing, and the food is freaking AWESOME (special shoutout to the dumplings haha) but I don't have my camera.

FAIL.

Oh well, there's always next time.

I hope. I mean, do they let regular people like me into a place like that? haha jkjk