Reflecting on a Month in Seoul

This past week marks a whole month of being in Seoul- time flies. So, after this long, here are some of the things I’ve learned about Korea:

• It is so beautiful. In a way that can probably only be truly appreciated in person. The amount of green and mountainous scenery that can be seen throughout the city is incredible.

• A good 98% of the food here is delicious (the other 2% probably just comes down to my own preference), and this applies beyond Korean restaurants. They’ve clearly learned how to master a wide variety of cuisines.

• The napkins here are really small. Like ¼ the size of those in the states.

• How to master the art of chopsticks (kind of). Korean chopsticks are metal and thin, so they can be seriously difficult to maneuver, but I would like to think I’ve gotten the hang of it.

• Although not a guarantee, and I always feel bad about butchering my orders at stores, most people in Seoul know at least a little bit of English. I will forever advocate for schools in the U.S. to start teaching other languages earlier.

• The culture here is a lot more trusting than it is in the U.S., and, thankfully, there’s a noticeable lack of people taking advantage of it.

• Experiencing and appreciating another culture- this applies to studying abroad in general. I cannot recommend going abroad enough, especially if you’re able to do it for a semester. There’s nothing that really helps you understand a place better than having to live and study there long-term.

This doesn’t even come close to including everything I’ve learned, but I’ll end this part of the blog here. Don’t worry, you can still read my unnecessarily detailed, daily recap of my week below.

September 19th

Monday was a typical, busy school day for me here, so unfortunately I don’t have much excitement to report. I had both Beginner’s Korean and the American Empire in person. Recently in my Korean classes, I learned about how important using the correct greeting is in Korea. This is most crucial when greeting those who are older or of higher social status than you- it’s considered good manners to greet first with a lower bow and the formal version of hello. It has definitely made me more conscious of how I am interacting with others when I’m speaking in Korean. I followed up classes by eating at a restaurant on campus called Mom’s Touch, which serves crispy chicken sandwiches. I ordered the basic one (chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayo) and it was pretty good, just a feat to eat (see picture below). After this linner, I studied and got an early night’s sleep.

September 20th

Tuesday was a bit more exciting, as I had my favorite class- Korean Diplomacy. Our guest lecturer this week was Dr. Jun Bong-geun, an expert on Korean nuclear and unification issues, having visited the DPRK and held numerous government positions. His lecture was fascinating. I won’t lie, I had never realized that Korea hoped or expected to reunify with North Korea. But through this class, I learned more about the importance the idea of a whole peninsula has in Korean culture and history. Nuclear doctrines and security issues have always been interesting to me, and it was especially interesting to hear about them from his perspective.

After class, my friend and I went to Kuma Kitchen- a tonkatsu place she’s been raving about since the first week. I ordered the cheese hamburg steak meal, which was basically a cut of beef fried tonkatsu-style, covered in melted cheese, and sitting in a rose sauce. There was also corn, green beans, and hashbrowns in the pot along with rice and miso soup on the side. I’ll be honest, it was a pretty Western dish for me to order, but it was incredible. So much so that now both my friend and I are on a mission to convert all of our other friends into Kuma Kitchen fans.

September 21st

Wednesday I had my first in-person class for International Politics in Northeast Asia. After accidentally showing up in the wrong classroom and getting to the class right as it started, I had a great time. I already knew I was interested in the class from the online lectures, but it got even better once we started the discussion. I half expected the discussion to be dry or a hassle to get going, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone in class appeared to be as passionate as I am on the subject, and it was fascinating to hear people from all over the world discuss their views on international relations.

After all of our classes, my friends and I headed to the Wolgok area to visit Home Plus and do some walking around. We finally got to try something we’ve been anxiously anticipating- Korean corndogs. Corndogs in the states are usually pretty simple, but they take it to another level here. We all tried the half hot dog, half mozzarella corndog that was coated in panko and covered in cubed potatoes. It, of course, came with the option to be covered in sugar, but we politely declined. It was SO good. The cheese was so stringy and the breading was sweet in the best way possible (they use yeasted dough or rice flour instead of cornmeal here). We then headed to the area around Sungshin Women’s University to do some shopping. For the first time, we took the Ui-Sinseol LRT, a light rail that’s connected to the subway system. Even during rush hour, the subway systems around Seoul have been pretty roomy. I don’t know if the light rail is always like this, or if we just got on at a bad time, but it was packed. I’m talking New York City subway on the way to a Red Sox versus Yankees game packed. Elbow to elbow, no room to move. We made it to our destination fine, it was just a shock to see in comparison to the rest of our subway experience here. After realizing the store we wanted to visit was permanently closed (oops), we walked around until we found a self-serve ice cream store. I mentioned this earlier, but it’s amazing how much more trusting they are in Korea, apparently for good reason, than we are in the states. It’s pretty common to find self-serve stores with no one inside where you just choose what you want and use a self-checkout there. All of our first reactions were shock that no one was watching or stealing wasn’t more common, but apparently, that isn’t an issue in Korea. Anyways, perhaps more notable is the fact that one of my friends got corn ice cream. Corn is a big thing here, and thus so are all things flavored corn. The ice cream had an outer cone shaped like a corn cob, and the ice cream included frozen corn kernels and chocolate. Let me tell you, the corn smell was strong. I didn’t have any, but my friend thought that it was actually pretty tasty.

September 22nd

On Thursday, after learning more about basic greetings and grammar in Korean, my friends and I headed to an Indian restaurant across the street from campus. We walked down to the basement of a building and were immediately hit with the smell of fresh, garlic naan being cooked and knew we were in the right place. Both my friends got the chicken curry and naan, but I opted for the chicken shawarma (which I haven’t had since I was back in San Antonio). Although I had to wait a bit longer since they barbeque the meat, it was worth it. The shawarma had chicken, cabbage, some other vegetables, and a spicy-sweet sauce. After lunch, my friend and I walked to a coffee shop on the corner that we’d been wanting to try. The inside is full of cute, random decorations, and it has a nice bench outside the windows if you want to sit outside. We both ordered iced vanilla lattes and relaxed in the sun while practicing our Korean reading skills on passing cars and nearby signs.

September 23rd

As usual, since my friends and I don’t have classes on Friday, we had plans to explore. We started at a brunch place we’d heard great things about called Planty. First off, the inside was super cute and bright, with lots of plants and interesting decorations. Second, the food. It was immaculate. No matter how good the picture of it looks, I promise you it tasted better. My favorite part was the pancakes- they were fluffy and light and came with a delicious, sweet jam. Like so many other places, we have made plans to return soon. After eating as much as we could, we headed to Hongdae to check out the Sanrio Lovers Club. Sanrio is a Japanese company that is best known for creating Hello Kitty. They have a cafe on the second floor, but unfortunately, you had to make reservations to eat there. Instead, we were able to look around the merch store, order Hello Kitty-themed food to-go, and take photo booth pictures. Although I’m not as big of a Hello Kitty stan as my friends, it was still pretty cool to see. Afterward, we made our way to the Starbucks Reserve store in Jongro Tower near Jonggak Station. This is one of the biggest Starbucks stores in Korea (with an 82 ft long coffee bar- the longest one in the country) and had a beautiful design. The ceiling was covered in criss-cross wooden beams and had six different seating areas all inspired by Korean culture. Beyond the typical Starbucks drinks, they also had several you could only get at that location, as well as locally-sourced Korean pastries and desserts. I ordered the Youthberry Rose Breeze tea, which came with actual rose petals and was super refreshing. For dinner, we grabbed a quick bite to eat a Subway and then headed back home.

September 24th

On Saturday, we had another TEAN trip to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This palace was built back in 1395 and is the largest palace in South Korea. Before going in, however, TEAN arranged for us to rent hanbok, which is the traditional dress in South Korea. My friends and I all had a tiny moral crisis when we realized that this was part of the itinerary, as we didn’t want to do anything that could be offensive. However, through extensive research and conversations with local Koreans, we found that it is actually encouraged for foreigners visiting Korea, and specifically, palaces, to wear hanbok (it even makes admission free). For Koreans, as long as it is done respectfully, it is seen as a gesture of cultural exchange and appreciation. Although hanbok used to be worn daily in Korea, now it is typically only worn for special occasions. For women, it consists of the jeogori (top) and the chima (skirt). The store we rented our hanbok from was full of so many different colors and designs, we all had a difficult time choosing. Thankfully, those working there assisted us in choosing the right sizes and getting changed. First, you put on an underskirt (called a sokchima) with a structure that helps puff out the overskirt. The chima is then fastened with straps over your shoulders and goes all the way down to your feet. Then the jeogori is put on like a jacket and tied around your upper body. After we all changed, the store also styled your hair, tying part of it back in a traditional Korean ribbon (called daenggi) and attaching hair ornaments (dwikkoji). I’m not sure what I expected, but it was actually so comfortable. The style of the skirt made it pretty easy to move around in, despite how wide the lower half of the skirt is. After my group was done getting ready, we walked over to the palace. From far away it’s clear that the palace is pretty big, but it becomes extremely evident once the walls are towering over you. Coincidentally, once we entered, they were holding a change of guard ceremony. This was accompanied by the new guard marching in with colorful flags and music. We then had about 4 hours to wander around the palace, and it was all needed. The grounds were extensive. The decorations along the edge of all the walls and gates were so beautiful. The design is incredibly intricate and colorful. Walking around and seeing the massive gates and buildings set against the green mountains and blue sky was surreal. It literally felt like we were in a movie. You could tell everyone there felt the same way. Older Koreans would call out “예뻐요” (pretty in Korean) when we walked by, and people even stopped us to ask for pictures. My favorite part was a lake surrounded by green trees with a pavilion in the middle. There wasn’t a single part of the palace that wasn’t gorgeous- all of it was astounding.

After we finished exploring the palace, we returned our hanbok to the rental shop. Walking down the street, we saw a vendor serving these pastries that looked absolutely delicious. They turned out to be gyeran-ppang, a common Korean street food also known as egg bread. It was as delicious as it looked. After, we wandered around the streets near the palace until we came across a cool place called Kili Bang Bang. Here, we wrapped up our evening with a drink, cheese fries, and a couple of rounds of a card game.

September 25th

After a long day of walking around on Saturday, we took it easy on Sunday. My friends and I met up at the Coffee Bean (my favorite study spot) to eat breakfast/lunch and study. We also attempted to plan and book tickets to Jeju, but difficulties using overseas cards in Korea have temporarily put that trip on the back burner. Before long, it was already 6 PM. For dinner, we returned to the place I had that amazing ramen last week. As always, it was busy but we were lucky enough to get a table. Once again, I ordered ramen but got a separate order of dumplings rather than getting some in the ramen itself. In retrospect, it was definitely too much food but still so good. After walking up the hill (which I’m happy to report is getting easier), I set to work memorizing the Korean number system, called my parents, and prepared for the week ahead.

Reflecting

It is absolutely insane to me that I’ve been in Seoul for a month. It simultaneously feels like I’ve been here so much longer and shorter than that. Regardless, I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend a whole semester here in Korea. The people, the food, the culture- all of it- is amazing. It’s worth saying again- travel to new places (in my totally unbiased opinion, Seoul should be at the top of your list), especially ones with a culture different than your own. You won’t regret it, I promise.