These past two weeks in Korea have been fairly busy. I feel like Seoul is a city with so so much to see and do that I’m afraid I won’t have time to experience it all. Oh well, just taking it one day at a time for now. Here’s some of the especially memorable things I did this week:
Lotte World
Lotte World is one of two main amusement parks in Seoul, the other being Everland (which I did not get the chance to go to unfortunately). I jumped at the opportunity to go with some friends in late March, before the weather got too hot. It’s customary to wear school uniforms, and although we were hesitant to do it at first, it ended up being so much fun to dress up and really added to the whole amusement park experience.
Lotte World is actually the first amusement park I’ve ever been to (never had the chance to go to Disneyland or any of the ones in the U.S.). That being said, it was just a tad underwhelming. A good portion of the park was indoors and felt a little stuffy and dark at some parts. Also, this may be due to me never having been to an amusement park before, but I truly did not realize how much time at the park is simply dedicated to standing in line for rides. So make sure to go with friends you can comfortably chat with (or stand in silence with) the whole time. Or make sure your phone is fully charged and bring a battery pack. Many rides also closed as they got too busy and also had to leave space to accommodate those with reservations (we did not have any reservations). I believe you can make reservations on Klook, Trazy, or some other app but I didn’t realize this until I got there. I only went on the Gyro Drop and the Gyro Wheel, along with a couple of theater 4D-based rides.
The food was just okay. They had a Jamba Juice, tacos, churros, ice cream, etc. Also, as with many places in Korea, Lotte World had couples GALORE dressed in matching school uniforms. It seems to be a prime date spot (understandable), but just something to be aware of before you go. There’s also an aquarium that you can get a package ticket deal with along with the park ticket but I think it’s about a 10 minute walk away.
All in all, I think going to Lotte World is a worthwhile experience if you’re here on exchange or for an extended period of time. But if you only have a short trip, I recommend spending your time in Korea doing other activities. I spoke to some friends who had the chance to go to both Lotte World and Everland and they all said they would choose Everland if they could only go to one. So do with that information what you will.
Haneul Park
On Sunday, March 24th, I rolled out of bed and checked the weather to find that the high temperature for the day was at a whopping sunny 71 degrees Fahrenheit. After weeks of freezing cold temperatures that I, as a Hawaii local, was extremely unused to, it made me so happy to see this temperature. I was able to step outside without a jacket for what seemed like the first time in forever. I wanted to take full advantage of this beautiful day presented to me and quickly made plans with a friend to go to a park I’d seen on social media. It was called Haneul Park and located a short 20 minute bus ride from Yonsei University. We had to walk another 20-30 minutes up a slight incline to get to the top of the park and I felt myself actually sweating while walking, something else that had not happened in weeks.
We got to the top and were greeted with beautiful mountain views. Although all the trees in the park were still dead, it was still a nice sunset accompanied by the sight of an eMart24! We enjoyed some ramen and snacks as the sun went down. The park was also not very touristy or even very busy at all despite being a Sunday.
As I read back what I just typed, this day might sound very mundane, but I distinctly remember it as one of my most memorable days in Korea because of how happy I felt at this first hint of the coming of spring.
Homesickness
Despite all these amazing memories I’ve been making over the past month, I’ve been feeling quite homesick. Honestly, I didn’t expect to feel homesick at all. When I previously studied abroad in Taiwan for a summer, I didn’t feel like I missed Hawaii at all. But I think part of it is the cold weather and general lack of sunshine (is this what they call seasonal depression?). But I’ve been listening to my local jams playlist a lot lately and reaching out to friends from home.
Over the past two weeks, my friends and I have sought out acai bowl places in an attempt to alleviate our cravings for a small taste of home. The first one we went to was a whole 50 minute bus ride away from Yonsei but we’d hoped it would be worth it. It turned out to be just okay and was more reminiscent of thick blueberry yogurt than acai. It did have all the toppings I liked though.Our friend who was from the mainland found it satisfactory enough. The second bowl turned out to be far less satisfying than the first one (the bar was low to begin with), but this one had CORNFLAKES. I found that super weird but I guess it’s not that weird if I really think about it.
I never ended up trying another acai bowl the rest of my time in Korea. Maybe I would’ve found a better one but after this, my sense of homesickness passed a bit and I no longer sought out foods from home.
Hiking Bukhansan
Perhaps the single most active thing I did during my entire time in Korea was to go on a 3 hour hike at Bukhansan Mountain. My friend and I chose probably the worst possible day to go. It was cloudy, rainy, at one point even started HAILING (a fascinating weather occurrence that I had personally never experienced until that moment though), and last but not least, the air quality was a whopping 400+. (It’s worth noting that due to some or perhaps all of these factors, I subsequently developed a cold with a nasty cough that turned into an even nastier cough that lasted not one, not two, not three, but FOUR WEEKS afterward (pretty sure at this point I was no longer contagious, my body just hated me).
All of the Koreans who got off the same stop as us were fully decked out in elite looking hiking gear, with the full colorful parkas and ponchos, walking sticks, boots, and backpacks. They were also all mostly over the age of 40. Me, in my thin jacket, sweatpants, and $50 Asics running shoes from Amazon, was significantly less prepared.
Bukhansan has multiple peaks so there are a lot of trail options for different view experiences and difficulty levels. We were originally planning to do the main hike up to Baegundae Peak, at an elevation of 836 meters. However, once we found out at the visitor center that it would take a whopping 6 hours, we decided we did not have the time or energy for that and instead opted for the much shorter trail up to Wonhyobong Peak, which was only supposed to take 2.5 hours. However, I am very out of shape and slowed us down considerably so it ended up being closer to 3 hours. I would say the hike itself wasn’t too difficult in terms of terrain (man made stairs were provided for a large portion of the way up, but not down), although there was one part at the very top where you had to use the ropes to climb up and down a rock and I was terrified. Because of the day we went, the “view from the top” was virtually nonexistent and all we saw was heavy fog (or it could’ve been smog from the 400+ air quality that day but who knows. My friend theorized that because we were climbing and gaining elevation we were escaping the bad air quality but I’m no scientist and neither was he). Probably the best part of the hike (besides finishing it) was seeing some dogs near the top that followed us down along a wall for a while. They came quite close and didn’t seem aggressive but also would not let us pet them. We didn’t know if they were strays or official(?) park dogs.
After the hike, we enjoyed a refreshing bowl of naengmyeon (cold noodles), although probably not the most suitable dish for the weather conditions that day. My friend and I said we would come back another day when the weather was better to do the big hike to the top peak but that never ended up happening the rest of the semester. Oops. I am not built for hiking but overall it was a good experience and I’m glad I was able to do it. Definitely recommend coming to Bukhansan to hike if you are into hiking and decently in shape.
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