The weather has begun warming up considerably and most days I’m able to go outside without a jacket. The sun hits different in Korea and somehow feels a lot stronger. I’ve been wearing sunglasses outside a lot lately.
PC bangs
A recent hobby of mine (if you can even call it that) has been going to the PC cafe, aka PC bang. There’s one close to my goshiwon in Sinchon that’s pretty cheap, although it does smell like smoke (SNS PC). Something about doing work on a desktop computer with a huge monitor and clicky keyboard feels very satisfying. PC bangs are mostly for gamers (you’ll hear a lot of swearing and see a lot of League of Legends players) but I used this time to check for concert tickets over and over again, log my day-to-day expenses in Korea, and watch Netflix.
Second trip to Busan
I went to Busan a second time with some friends visiting from Hawaii and got to do a lot of things I didn’t have the chance to the first time I went.
Things we did:
Jagalchi Market - it was actually quite expensive because you pay not just for the seafood but also for the preparation of it so things added up quickly. Also they only accept cash. We got a rockfish, raw octopus (the ones that are still moving when you eat it), and some clams.
Haeundae Sky Capsule - make sure to book your tickets in advance! We forgot to book tickets until the day we arrived (Friday morning), and were lucky enough to secure one of the last slots on Monday night. The times fill up quickly, especially around sunset which is one of the best times to ride the capsule.
Star Wars day - We went May 3rd to May 7th, so just in time for Star Wars day if you’re a fan like me. They had several popups on Haeundae beach, along with some cool sandart. Lee Jungjae from Squid Game is starring in the newest Star Wars show on Disney+ called the Acolyte, and apparently he made a surprise appearance at the beach. Unfortunately, I was not there and only went the day after.
Shinsegae Centum City - this is the largest department store in the world. We decided to do some indoor shopping since it was incredibly rainy one day. We visited the Casetify store, thisisneverthat store, Gentle Monster, and more.
Gwangalli Beach - this beach featured a cool drone light show over the water and light features on the beach.
Gamcheon Culture Village - I went there the first time I came to Busan but it was nice to visit again. They have a lot of small shops with little trinkets and merchandise. They also have some kpop shops and BTS murals (Jimin and Jungkook are from Busan).
Suwon
Suwon is a city right outside of Seoul and the perfect place for a short day trip. It takes about 1.5 hours to get there by train or bus. I absolutely loved it here; it felt like a nice relief to get out of the city with all of the tall looming buildings, and into a more peaceful and suburban area. We spent about 7 hours here getting lunch, visiting cafes, and exploring kdrama filming sites.
Chicken Street: Suwon is famous for its fried chicken street. The place we went to was called Jinmi Fried Chicken. We shared two plates of chicken among three people and it was quite affordable.
Hwaseong Fortress: this historical wall stretches to surround the city center and provides beautiful views and photo opportunities.
Cafes:
Onyuyeowol Cafe - this cafe was designed like a hanok (traditional Korean house) and had great vibes. The lighting was immaculate and it wasn’t too crowded.
Red Brick Coffee House - another cool cafe we visited later in the day, although I think their cheesecake gave me a stomachache
Kdrama filming locations:
Bridge from Twenty-Five Twenty-One
320-2 Yeonghwa-Dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-do
Kimbap shop from Extraordinary Attorney Woo:
61 Sinpungro23gil, Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do
Choi Ung’s house from Our Beloved Summer
09-1 Jangan-dong, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do
DMZ Tour
My friends and I booked a tour to the DMZ through Trazy for about $48 each. The bus picked up at exit 3 of Hongik University Station. The tour made several stops and our tour guide Chloe gave very detailed explanations about each of the locations. The most notable stop was the Third Tunnel, where we got to descend into a steep underground passageway that was secretly dug by North Korea for the purpose of infiltrating South Korea (no electronics were allowed so I have no photos of it). They gave us hard hats and I hit my head on the tunnel ceiling several times (apparently North Koreans are really short). We also got to visit the observatory where we could use binoculars to see into North Korea.
Le Sserafim fanmeeting
Before coming to Korea, I always told myself that I would try to see as many kpop performances as I could. However, I didn’t actually figure out the whole ticketing process until about halfway through the semester. After failing to get tickets during the general admission sale for SHINee’s concert, I resolved that I would see at least one group, even if I wasn’t a huge fan of them. My other friends were planning to see Le Sserafim and when I checked the website, there were actually a ton of seats available.
The main thing I learned from this experience is the major difference between fanmeetings and concerts, something that should’ve been obvious in hindsight. Fanmeetings have much less singing and performing, and are mostly just the artists playing games and chatting with each other. Basically 75% talking and 25% singing. Whereas concerts are the other way around. As someone who does not speak a single bit of Korean, I found myself quite bored throughout the fanmeeting, once the initial excitement of seeing celebrities IRL had worn off. In conclusion, would I spend $77 again to sit there and not understand anything? Probably not. But it was cool to see them perform the songs they did sing (honestly I only knew like 4 of their songs anyway and they did perform them all).
Fun fact also: we booked the DMZ tour for the same day as the Le Sserafim fanmeeting (due to weather reasons). We had to rush to catch the subway to Jamsil Stadium right after the DMZ bus dropped us back at the station. It was a very busy 12 hour day for us (DMZ tour 8 am - 2:30 pm, fanmeeting 5 pm - 8 pm).
Ping pong and archery
Recently, I have taken an interest in doing more “active” activities. These have consisted of trips to the archery cafe and also to a ping pong club. The archery cafe is called Robinhood Sinchon, recommended by some friends who previously studied abroad in Korea. The owner is a huge IU fan, so the cafe is decorated with lots of IU merch and basically his entire magazine and album collection is on display there. I probably only went to the archery cafe three times the whole semester, but on my last visit I was finally able to achieve “VIP” status, with a score of 321 out of 360. The VIP score gets you a discount of 20% every time you go and 10% for family and friends. I was quite proud of this accomplishment and I think if I ever go back to Korea I’ll definitely be stopping by here again.
I also enjoyed going to the ping pong club, also located in Sinchon. While I suck at tennis and pickleball, I am okay-ish at ping pong and find it very fun. The couple of times I did go, it was pretty empty except for some middle aged people who were REALLY good at ping pong.
Honestly, I wish I got to do more sporty things while in Korea but it wasn’t a huge priority for me at the time since I was mostly focused on shopping and eating.
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