So my classmates at Daewon have been preparing for midterms since I've gotten here and the time has finally come for exams! Luckily, my coordinator gave us exchange students off of school until next Tuesday! I'm taking huge advantage of this second vacation since I had 5 days off last week for Chuseok and now 6 days off because of midterms. To start it all off, I visited Gangnam, Seoul National University, Hapjeong, and Hongdae today.
So at about 8am I arrived in Gangnam since it's the first one on the subway line. It was pretty early so everyone on the subway was dressed in business attire and there wasn't a lot of activity in Gangnam itself. All I really did was walk around everywhere and marvel at the skyscrapers and beautiful scenery in the area. Around the time when I though I should get going, I stumbled upon a really nice area that looked like it had a lot going on. Since I needed to head out, I'm just going to come back and look for it again in the future.
After I left Gangnam, Seoul National University was next on the subway line. When I get off at "Seoul National University Station" I would assume that SNU would be nearby... False. After a 20 minute uphill hike and another 15 minute downhill hike, I finally arrived at SNU by chance. Usually I just head in a random direction and hope it's where I'm supposed to be going, so I got really concerned when the city turned into mountains and trees... But I went with my but and made it!
First thing I did was ask the first foreign student I saw for directions to the international center. We chatted on the way there and he's 29 years old from Germany, so I thought it was pretty amazing that he's studying abroad even at that age. Once we got to the office, I asked about where I could go for admissions and they pointed me to the building. I went there, met with the international admissions counselor, got an admissions guide, and then had her direct me back to the international office to ask about scholarships. The application process is pretty complicated since I'm away from home, but I will try to check it out because there's several scholarships that I qualify for (and maybe over-qualify for) including 10%-100% of tuition fees. I don't think it'll hurt to apply but I'm just afraid that it's going to be really time-consuming. We'll see! If I could get enough scholarship money to complete my under-grad here then I definitely couldn't say no to that!
After the whole admissions and scholarships shenanigans, I (very luckily) walked further into the campus to have a look around. Up in the air, there was a balloon with a sign on it, so I decided to head over and check out what was going on. As I got closer, I saw rows of blue tents set up and the sign on the balloon said "Seoul National University Health Week"! I walked around the booths a first time just to see what was going on and stopping to explain that I only speak English when I was approached at a few. When I got to the last booth, a guy there started talking to me in English! Finally! So I had him explain to me what was going on and he said that students at SNU spend so much time studying that they don't get out enough. As a way to encourage healthy habits and education, SNU's medical school sets up this event! So cool!
On my second trip around, I decided to try out a few things, starting with the ginseng tea and lattes. I swear I could have drank a whole bottle of that tea while the latte was too hot for me to chug as fast as I did with the tea. The ladies in the booth were very excited that the signs they had up in the back were in English and I could understand them, so I politely pretended to be really interested in the posters hahaha.
Next booth was a fitness booth! It was a little intimidating to approach but it was actually really fun to go through the exercises and trying to guess what the instructor was telling me to do. I'm pretty sure I didn't do half of the things right, but the instructors just laughed and moved on.
The next booth was BMI... I think. I didn't stop into this one either because a lot of students were sitting and talking to what I assume were health counselors. I wouldn't understand anyways and I already know that I've lost a ton of weight since I've gotten here.
This one was kind of a massage both... But the practices were kind of odd since it wasn't a real massage. It was like key pressure point therapy or something like that. I didn't feel much different afterwards but it was interesting.
I did a few more things like get sheets on how to prevent myself from getting hepatitis... Really fun, trust me. Afterwards, I just walked around campus a little more before heading back to the bus stop so that I wouldn't have to waste another 35 minutes trying to hike...
Caltural Center... heh heh heh.
Next on the subway was Hapjeong! As soon as I got out of the exit, I was greeted with waterworks.
In the background was this huuuuuge complex, so I decided to check it out.
Once I got to the building, there was a huge sign that said Mecenatpolis Mall. Needless to say, "I decided to check it out"... There were cute little umbrellas that would spin in the wind whenever it blew and another water show on the floor level.
A little bit later there was some live music playing! There is nothing I love more than listening to someone sing with their guitar in public. I took a seat and relaxed while I went over some of the papers that I had gotten from Seoul National University.
Since there wasn't much left to do after the singer left, I headed out to Hongdae which was the next stop over. I wasn't planning to go, but since it was on the way home I thought I would. I went searching for the Life's Like album by Jazzyfact again to no avail since it's no longer in production. I headed back to the hat shop that I usually go to and picked up another hat before stopping in at the Young Samsung Life Cafe to read over the admissions forms again.
I finished up in Hongdae with a complimentary tea as their grand opening special and headed back to my home stop. Since it was only 3:30pm or so, I decided to stop in at a restaurant that I've been eyeballing for a while that has 4500krw samgyeopsal. It's right behind my apartment complex, and funny enough as I was leaving, I bumped into two of the security guards from my apartment complex that I say hi to every time I leave and come back. It tasted sooooo good for such a cheap price, especially since I haven't had straight up meat for a meal in such a long time. I will definitely come back here!
The last three pieces... TT
Anyways that's all for today! I feel really good having done so much, but tomorrow I have Korean classes in the afternoon and won't be able to do everything I did today. I'm probably just going to spend my day studying in Hongdae before class.
I'm excited to update about the rest of my week since I have a few places I'd like to visit.
Now Playing: Inception by Infinite
Now Playing: Inception by Infinite
Nice blog you have here!! Came here through facebook
ReplyDeleteGlad you're having a good time in Korea:)
I wish I could be in those places sooner ㅠㅠ
See u next week!! ㅎㅇㅎ
(My English name is Janet, by the way. I'm.....uh....the class president of 1-12, if you remember...)