March Hiking!

The Yonsei International Hiking Club led by Taekwondo Master Kim, which I’ve posted about before, holds hikes on the first Saturday of every month. The first hike of the semester was on March 5th. Roger and I were actually able to convince Krissy to go too! Except then the poor girl ended up spraining her ankle and I think that scared her off from hiking forever, heh… Only seven people went that day, actually, but that meant Master Kim was able to drive us to Bukhansan, rather than us all having to take the bus there! Here are a few pictures:

Using the exercise machines on the way up!

Hahahaha he ripped his pants.

I made it!

And here are some I took from the club website…

This was wayyy more vertical than it looks. I’m holding on for dear life!

The whole group plus Master Kim!

Cute~

Spring Semester’s Classes

Classes began all too soon on March 2nd.

Choosing classes had actually turned out to be disastrous. I hardly got anything I wanted. I ended up clicking random ones out of desperation. And I kept on adjusting my schedule pretty much up until classes started. But anyway. These are the classes I ended up with:

Korean: I did not take KLI last semester, but that meant I had to have five academic classes, which killed me. With KLI, only three other academic classes are required, which is so much more doable… Plus, it’s been forever since taking a Korean class, and I was starting to forget things, so refreshing my memory through this class is nice. However, two hours of this every single day is not fun.

Family Counseling: I am not a psychology major or minor, but this class intrigued me. And so far, it’s quite fun and interesting, and the teacher is just about the nicest guy ever. And he kind of hinted that it’s really easy to get an A, so that’s a plus. But basically, this was just a filler class since I was running out of things I can take here for my major.

Understanding Chinese Politics: Ugh. A politics class again… This is the only class I am taking for my major this semester. Actually it’s the only one I could have possibly taken because I kind of finished my other categories… If I had any other option, I would not have taken this. I am so not interested, and so confused by the content. Not enjoying this.

Contemporary Korean Cinema & Society: Normally this WOULD count for my major, but like I said, I finished the category that this would have fit into… So this is another filler class. It’s alright. We watch movies and then discuss them. Simple enough.

Taekwondo: Definitely chose this on a whim. Was not planning to take Taekwondo, but because I couldn’t get into the other P.E. classes I had wanted to take, I took this. It’s a bit intimidating, and the teacher picks on me (and Roger) all the time because he knows us, because he’s the leader of the monthly Yonsei hiking trips. But the class is kind of fun, haha. Still getting used to it…

Swimming: Hah. So I was actually pretty excited to be taking swimming. Bought a one-piece bathing suit back in the states and everything. And on the orientation day of this class I was told I needed goggles and a swim cap, so I even bought those here… Then comes the first day of real class… No. Just no. Hardest thing of my life. I was dying. It was so difficult, PLUS it was conducted all in Korean even though the syllabus said it would be taught in English. I assume it’s because I was THE ONLY FOREIGNER who signed up for this class. Great. So uncomfortable to have the teacher constantly coming up to me to explain in English what he just told the whole class. Anyway. I DROPPED this shiz after that. Was not about to put myself through that torture. I guess “real” swimming is just not for me.

*EAP Angels: This is not a class, but a volunteering opportunity that EAP offers! They gave us a few different options actually, and the one I chose is at Severance Hospital (conveniently right on campus) where we teach English to and play games with Korean children with cancer. It’s actually kind of competitive so I had to send an email right on time when the sign-up period started! Luckily I got in! There’s only four of us, and actually when we go, there’s usually even fewer kids who come in. But it’s a good opportunity, and we get free lunch from the hospital afterwards, which is a nice benefit, hehehe…

So, here is my actual, final schedule. (Love my Tuesdays and Fridays!)

Big Bang’s BIG SHOW Concert!

Right after the city tour ended, Roger and Hana and I had to rush out so we could make it to the Big Bang concert! We met Kathy there too, who isn’t in EAP. We had gotten ₩88,000 tickets, the most expensive ones, but definitely not in the standing section this time, hahaha.

Security was incredibly strict. They literally were checking our bags as we entered. I had to hide my camera down my shirt (which of course I did not even dare to use inside). Anyway, by the time all of us had entered the building, it was already past 8:00 and all I heard was loud music and I was scared to death that the concert had started already. Thank the lord, when we entered the seating area, it had still not started. Thank you Big Bang for starting late!

Like I said, I did not dare to even take my camera out of my bag because there was security everywhere, so I can only explain the concert in words… But it was wonderful! They did recent songs as well as some super old-school ones. Plus solos and duets and whatnot. Dae Sung sang a beautiful song called Baby Don’t Cry (which is finally coming out very soon!). T.O.P and G-Dragon sang some of their songs, of course. I went absolutely crazy during High High. How could I not? And 뻑이가요 (Knock Out) was the most hilarious performance I’ve ever seen. Their outfits and the segways they were riding and their seriousness among all that was pure comedy.

I sang along to pretty much every song, I think. Definitely was hoarse by the end of the night. Plus I had giant bruises on the back of my legs from repetitively hitting them on the edge of my seat from jumping and dancing around too much.

Awesome concert. SO GLAD I got to finally see concert centered only around them!

EAP City Tour for Spring Semester

EAP provided us with another city tour this semester on February 25th! Well, rather than a city tour, it’s more like going to two or three random, interesting places in Seoul. If you’re a long-time reader, you might remember that the city tour last semester involved going to Namsan Hanok Village and Namsan Tower.

This time they took us to Kimchi World, where they teach you how to make kimchi and ddeokbokki, and then you get to keep it/eat it! We each got a huge jar of kimchi to ourselves! And it’s a type of kimchi I really like too – kind of sweet and mild, rather than the sour kind that they often serve in restaurants.

After that they took us to eat delicious bulgogi at a nice restaurant nearby! And then we went to the Han River to take a short cruise on which we were put into groups to do a short scavenger hunt. Was really easy and we got candy as prizes, haha.

From there they took us to the 63 Building where we got to explore both the aquarium and the wax museum. Of course, all for free, as every EAP event is! Thanks EAP for a fun day!

Our kimchi-making materials!

Red pepper paste hands~

Now making ddeokbokki!

So windy on the Han River cruise!

At the 63 Building aquarium.

There are fish in there that eat the dead skin off your hands! Feels funny…

At the wax museum now!

Hehe, they provided us outfits for this scene.

Clowns are so scary… : (

Various Fun Before the Start of School

The official move-in date for spring semester was February 21st, so that’s when friends started arriving! Here are some random photos to represent some of the things we did before we had to start worrying about school starting.

The delicious free lunch that EAP provided for us during our orientation.

Playing around at Daiso! The best store!

An okay-ish quesadilla at a place called Happy Table!

Singing our hearts out at noraebang. : )

Eating at our favorite sushi buffet in Hongdae!

At a bar. Posing like hookers.

Playing Family Feud at our place!

BEAST Concert

On February 18th, I went to Beast’s concert! I was so glad to find out they were doing another round of concerts, as I failed to get tickets to the ones they put on in December.

I chose the cheapest ticket actually (₩44,000) to save money since I knew I’d be going to Big Bang’s concert later on and would be getting the most expensive tickets for them. I also bought my ticket a bit late, so I sat alone even though a few friends were also going, but I didn’t mind! I entered and found my seat, but, even up until the concert had nearly started, there were so many empty seats! I figure it was because most of their fans had gotten their dose of them from the concerts in December. I knew I had to take advantage, so about three minutes before the concert began, I made my way as far down and towards the center as I dared to go. I think I ended up sitting in a ₩66,000 section (the second most expensive). Nice!

Also, I had my camera with me, but I was reeeally really nervous to take pictures/video for fear of it getting taken away. Wasn’t until the concert had nearly ended that I noticed that these security guards really did not care. Everyone was doing it. So unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures. But the concert itself was so enjoyable! They did practically every single one of their songs, and they did them beautifully! Super worth it.

Trip to Gangwon-do!

As you know, I arrived in Korea with quite a lot of time to spare before school started! So, Roger and I planned a trip! We went to Gangwon-do for three days, two nights, from February 15th to 17th. We used the free shuttle bus that Visit Korea Year provides for foreigners! Gangwon-do was a special location that they only provided during the wintertime, so that’s why we chose it. We didn’t know anything about it otherwise, so we had to do lots of research online to figure out where to go, what to do.

We got on the bus around 8AM, and arrived about two-and-a-half hours later at a ski resort. There was snow eeeverywhere (in Seoul it had all melted already). We explored a bit and I played in the snow, but we needed to find a way out of the resort area and to an actual city with transportation and things to do.

On the bus in Seoul and ready to go~

Playing in the snow at the ski resort.

After exploring around, we found out we could take a quick shuttle bus to Gangneung –  a main city that was kind of in the center of everywhere we wanted to go. Once we got there, we got a map of the city and picked out some places to go see. Supposedly there was a bus that was going in the direction we needed, so we waited… and waited… and finally we were just like, screw it, we’re walking. We would use our map and sense of direction to find our way. Had we known how far we would be walking, I’m not so sure we would have done it, haha, because our first destination ended up being way further than we thought. But we are determined people, so once we started we didn’t stop!

A car completely covered in snow! Also, that snowball was my baby for about three hours of walking.

Snow everywhere!

Look how much my snowball grew! (I know I’m dumb; I had no reason to be carrying it around, other than for fun.)

After about three hours, we got to our first destination, Omokgyo (a large traditional-looking gated area), but it looked boring, and you had to pay a fee to enter, so we didn’t even go in. Moving on, our next destination was Gyeongpo Beach. After about an hour-and-a-half of more walking, we made it there. Nothing too special, but we hadn’t seen a beach in a long time! And it was kind of cool to see snow on the beach… Walked around and took pictures for a while, but  it was absolutely freezing, and we were cold and uncomfortable in our wet shoes, so we didn’t stay for too long.

In front of the area that we didn’t even enter. (Also my snowball’s last moments.)

Our map tore. ㅠ_ㅠ (My fault…)

Having to walk through this snow to avoid getting hit by cars caused our shoes to get soaked. : (

Finally made it to the beach!

Snow on the beach?!

Don’t be fooled; behind our smiles we are secretly miserable from the cold.

We were exhausted and basically done for the day, so after lots of searching, we finally found a nearby jjimjilbang (Korean bath house/sauna) called Water Dreamland, which would be our lodging for the night! (If you didn’t know, yes, you can sleep over at jjimjilbangs.) Time for our first jjimjilbang experience… First thing you do is pay (this one was ₩10,000) and you receive an outfit and a locker key. You put your shoes in a small locker and then go to your gender’s changing room. Be prepared to see a lot of naked people. From there, you put your stuff in your big locker, then get naked and go to the shower room… Took me forever to do it, but once I did, I felt fine! It’s really not bad… Makes you feel free! After showering, you change into the outfit that was provided to you, and then you’re ready to enter the main area! We bought eggs and ice cream to eat, and explored all the different rooms, then went to sleep somewhat early on mats on the floor in a dark sleeping room. Kind of uncomfortable and cold, but you get what you pay for!

Sleeping area!

Inside a cool-looking room!

Playing Family Feud, yeeeah!

Woke up bright and early the next day and actually found a bus that took us back to where the Gangneung bus terminal was! And from there, we took a bus up to a different city – Mulchi, up north – so we could go to Seorak Mountain! Unfortunately most of the paths were covered by snow, so we couldn’t hike or anything – just walked around and looked at scenery and temples and things.

Such pretty scenery~

You can drink it! It tasted pretty good!

After a few hours of that, we took a taxi down into the city area, found a place to eat, found our way back to the Mulchi bus terminal, took a bus back to Gangneung, and from there took another bus to Donghae – a city in the south which we planned to explore the following day. By the time we reached Donghae it was getting late, so we found ourselves a jjimjilbang in the area. Funny story: at around 3AM, when we and everyone else were fast asleep, the ALARM goes off. Sirens and a voice-over and everything. It was chaos; everyone was freaking out and running to the locker rooms to go outside. Eventually we find out it was a false alarm and go back inside, but it took them forever to turn the alarm off. Definitely ruined what could have been a good night’s sleep.

So much food!

At the jjimjjilbang!

First on the to-do list the next day in Donghae was to explore a cave. Looking at the map, we chose the closest one to us and found our way there by walking. We arrived at Cheon-gok cave within an hour, payed the ₩2,000 fee to enter, and… received helmets? We soon found out why – this cave required lots of ducking down, and had lots of random rocks jutting out that you could easily bump your head on. It was a relatively small cave, but it was fun. From there, we were trying to find a bus that would take us to a cool-looking area, but based on the schedule it didn’t seem like it would be coming anytime soon, and we had a schedule to stick to. So, instead, we ended up choosing the closest beach to us on the map, and began walking there. This one was called Hanseom Beach, and it was much nicer than the other one. Really pretty scenery, and lots of photo opportunities, and paths to explore!

So pretty and peaceful!

No idea what these are…

Captain Morgan?

We’re still amused by snow on the beach.

A pretty path that ran above the beach.

So we played there for a while, then in the late afternoon found our way back to the Donghae bus terminal, took a bus back up to Gangneung, and finally ended up back at the ski resort to be picked up by the bus at 6 PM to go back to Seoul. ‘Twas an exhausting trip in which a lot of things did not go as planned, but was still really fun! Well of course it would be – I went with Roger. : P

Take advantage of those free buses if you are in Seoul! Explore explore explore!

JYP, Sistar, 2AM Mini-Concert

On February 11th, there was a mini-concert really close by, outside Hello apM (a fashion mall) in the 이대 (Edae) area. It was for advertising purposes, so it was free! JYP, Sistar, and 2AM performed. I’m not a huge fan of any of them (though I do like 2AM’s songs), but when you can see celebrities for free, why not? I mostly remember how incredibly cold it was. Even with gloves, scarf, and jacket, it was absolutely freezing. But it was fun – took pictures, sang along with 2AM… and afterwards promptly went into Hello apM just for warmth.

Sistar~

2AM!

Yonsei Front Gate!

Finally took the picture that every student at Yonsei seems to eventually take – at the front gate of Yonsei where the name and logo of the school is displayed! ‘Bout time!

I'm a true Yonsei student now.

Roger and Hye-Jin took one too! Hye-Jin is a friend from our dance classes last semester.

I Fail at Blogging

Totally been lacking on the updates, I know. But my laziness ends now. My excuse is that I had specifically planned for my next post to be about the apartment I’m living in now, which meant posting up apartment photos, which meant picking a day to tidy up (NOT that it’s super messy or anything, it’s truly not!) and actually take nice-looking photos… and that just didn’t happen. And because of the queue I had in my head, I didn’t want to move on and post about other stuff until I did that. But at this point, I really need to catch up, so I’ll post details about the apartment at some indefinite point in the future, and for now, will be posting about everything I did before school started, and since it has started!