Week 1: February 16-20, 2022
My one week of quarantine has gone by really fast (thankfully) and now I couldn't be happier to explore Seoul! My quarantine release was on February 16th at noon and as soon as the clock hit 12 I was already eagerly running out the door. There was so much that I wanted to do but during my first day, it consisted of me walking around more to familiarize myself in my living area, eating at a cafe, and then a trip to Daiso to grab some more necessities for my room. When going into the cafe, I was nervous to eat alone and also the whole process of eating out due to the Covid-19 restrictions. I was also hesitant to order in Korean since I don't know how to say much but luckily, for the most part, most places understand what you're trying to order, and pointing/using gestures has helped me a lot. The process of eating here is similar to Hawaii where you can show your vaccine card but instead of a card, I have a piece of paper I have to carry around with me at all times. At some places they even make you call a number due to the purpose of contact tracing since most students/foreigners don't have the QR code that locals use here to eat out and such. In order to get that QR code, you need an ARC (Alien Registration Card) and it takes a couple of weeks to process so I won't be getting that anytime soon, unfortunately.
Since I've been going out to explore by myself lately, I've gotten over my anxiousness to go eat at restaurants and cafes alone and I enjoy it now, maybe even a little too much. As I'm still learning to adapt to Korea's culture, I learned that each place is different but one thing to know is that at restaurants you normally have to yell for your waiter because they won't come to you. I didn't know that was a thing until I saw the other people near me always yelling to get their attention. This was hard for me since I'm more on the quiet side but, since the workers could tell I was a foreigner and didn't exactly know what to do they luckily just came to me to take my order. In addition, at other places, there's normally a button that you just hit whenever you are ready to order or need anything and I think that's definitely more convenient and easier for me! Over the past two weeks of trying to adapt to the lifestyle here, I will say it's getting easier day by day.
The next few days I had the opportunity to meet up with another Hawaii and KU student for a day and we grabbed lunch, caught the subway, and walked around Seochu-gu. She has been so fun and helpful to be around since she can speak Korean and knows her way around more than I do. It feels nice to have friends who are also from Hawaii because I do miss the people back at home!
Another thing I was looking forward to when coming to Korea was going cafe hopping and celebrating Kpop idols' birthdays. Korea is known for going above and beyond for idols' birthdays by decorating cafes, promoting their faces on billboards and subway ads, and photo op decorations in the streets. Two of my favorite members from two different Kpop groups had their birthdays one day after another so for two days I went to go check out some cafes. I was overwhelmed seeing how many of them were all lined up in a row but I was so excited to go. As you walk in, it's all decorated and you can take pictures, etc but, basically, you just buy a drink or their special set they have (all depends on the place) and you get a cupholder of the member + "freebies" which are free little gifts from whoever set up the cafe. These are all created by their fans and it seems like a lot of work but I think it's really fun and cute to do! (Below I attached some pictures I took during the cafe event)
Birthday Events for BTS J-Hope & NCT Jungwoo
Week 2: February 21-27, 2022
For my second week here in Seoul, I was out and about every single day always doing something new. I started off getting my hair done at a salon with another UH student, Jordan, and we spent roughly about 4-5 hours sitting in there. After we were done we went walking around Hongdae, grab dinner, and went to a dog cafe. It even started snowing, and at first, I was happy to experience the pretty snowfall but it got hard trying to walk while avoiding snow from getting in your eyes. Nonetheless, it was fun to experience and memorable.
Throughout the week I did more shopping for winter clothes including going to a famous underground shopping mall in Gangnam. It was perfect because during the week it was freezing cold and it was all heated underground. Underground shopping is popular here as it's affordable. Mostly all the clothing items were 5,000-10,000 won which is equivalent to $5-10 US dollars. In addition, I also decided to go shopping at Coex Mall and Myeongdong Street shopping. It was shocking to see Myeongdong mostly shut down and no food carts out on the streets due to Covid. (Hopefully, it'll slowly start to open back up!)
Other than shopping, I went sightseeing at places such as the Namsan Tower, Itaewon, and Hybe Insight Museum. The view from Namsan was breathtaking as it overlooked Seoul from the 360-degree view. After enjoying our time at the tower, my friend and I took a 20-minute bus ride to Itaewon because I had never been there before and it's a popular place to hang out, especially among foreigners. Itaewon was definitely on my bucket list coming here because of the fun environment I've heard all about so I was happy to go. Exploring the cool alleyways and seeing all the bars, restaurants, and shops lit up with their neon signs at night was the highlight of my week. Even though I went on a weeknight and it was completely dead empty, it was still fun to see everything and I can't wait to go back when it's filled with people! The next day, I went to Hybe Insight Museum which is a museum dedicated to K-pop groups under "Hybe" which is a label in charge of the different groups. Since I'm a K-pop fan, this was also on my bucket list ever since this attraction opened up. I was again in shock to see how everything was very high-tech. The tour was about 2 hours and you go to multiple different rooms and watch and listen to the artists talking and there's also a lot of photo-ops. (As I'm writing this, I have already gone twice in the past week because it was an enjoyable experience!)
To end my fun week even on a better note, I went to my first K-pop concert in Seoul! I was honestly shocked I even got tickets since ticketing in Korea for any show is a whole different experience but I was fortunate enough to get them at a good price and even a really close seat! This group is called P1harmony and they're one of my favorite groups right now so I was super excited to go. In Korea, they have strict concert rules due to Covid. There was no clapping, yelling, standing, etc and I was worried it was going to be boring but I had a lot of fun and enjoyed every second of it. (They also gave us paper clappers and that's how we would make "noise" to cheer them on.) Overall, the concert was an unforgettable experience and I'm hoping there are more concerts here in the future!
Sightseeing + 1st Concert in Seoul :)
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