Six Miguks Walk Into a Texas Roadhouse in Korea on Thanksgiving…Among Other Things

Less than 20 days. I don’t want to think about it. What I would like to think about (and what you can read about) is Thanksgiving at Texas Roadhouse, discovering why spicy food makes me dizzy, bracing 15-degree weather in the snow, and going up the sixth-highest building in the world.

November 23rd

Wednesday after classes, my friend and I headed to Bomun (really closer to Sungshin Women’s University) for dinner. We ended up at Ho Pasta, this cute Italian restaurant that had handmade pasta. It was delicious. They also had dinner rolls, which may seem pretty basic, but it's something we’ve been missing. After eating, we walked around the area and stumbled upon a bustling street full of shops and restaurants (including an Art Box we didn’t know existed). We were understandably upset that we were only finding out about this spot so close to us with such little time left.

November 24th

Thanksgiving in Korea! It was definitely weird to be away for Thanksgiving for the first time- especially in another country. However, in our best efforts to feel at home, my friends and I ventured an hour away to Texas Roadhouse. It half started out as a joke, but we still somehow ended up there. Unfortunately, we only got there an hour before closing, so we were in a rush. The soft, warm dinner rolls and cinnamon honey butter were exactly what we wanted. I ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich, which was HUGE but tasty. By the time we got our food, we only had about 30 minutes left to eat, which was a feat considering it was Texas-portioned food. Somehow we managed. After spending way too long at a nearby playground we discovered had a zipline, we reached the bus stop and headed home. Overall, I would say it was probably the most unique Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.

November 25th

On Friday, my friend and I headed to Ikseon-dong, an area with a bunch of boutiques and cute restaurants that we went to earlier in the semester. This time we went to a tteokbokki restaurant since we’d only had the actual dish once before in our entire time here (although a lot of other Korean dishes have just tteok, the rice cake, in it). We ordered the rose tteokbokki that came with egg, ramen, noodles, tteok, two types of sausage, green onion, and cheese. After we managed to cook the ingredients with minimal spillage, we dug in. It was good but wow it had a kick. Even my friend with a much higher spice tolerance commented on it.

Here is where I will quickly diverge. While eating this very spicy dish, I commented that I felt a little lightheaded. When my friend looked concerned, I dismissed it, explaining it wasn’t uncommon for me to get a little dizzy when I eat something this spicy. However, little did I realize, this is not the average experience. Apparently, most people don’t feel this way. So I did a little research to discover that I am in fact not alone in this phenomenon. Basically, most spicy foods have capsaicin (a chemical that makes chili peppers spicy). When some people experience the burning sensation in their mouth that the chemical creates, their body releases endogenous opiates which can produce this dizzy feeling, also known as a ‘chili high’. All that to say, I got lightheaded, and while it may sound weird, it is actually not a medical issue and just a thing some people’s bodies do. I would also like to say this does not stop me from enjoying spicy food, it’s just an interesting side effect.

Anyways, the food was good but something about the level of spiciness and the amount of sauce made it a struggle for both of us to finish. After we finished what we could, we walked around the area and looked at a bunch of clothing, art, and jewelry shops. We wrapped up the evening by getting souffle pancakes from Flippers. Souffle pancakes are fluffy masterpieces and just all-around amazing, especially with the cream and fruit we got on ours.

November 26th

On Saturday, we spent most of our time at Cafe Baum studying (I had a 12-page paper to write). After getting a satisfactory amount of work done, we went to Keuchi Chicken nearby, where we got the soy sauce and spicy chicken. Little did we know that this chicken was bone-in, and that we are not particularly gifted at removing chicken from the bone. Regardless, it was delicious.

November 30th

Wednesday was the beginning of extremely cold weather in Seoul. I’m talking the low was 15 degrees Fahrenheit without considering the wind. Needless to say, I was terrified. Texas did very little to prepare me for temperatures this low. After doing my best to layer, I donned my letterman, gloves, and beanie, and then braced myself for the walk to class. It was quite literally below freezing, but honestly, not unbearable. I definitely wouldn’t want to be stuck outside in it, but as long as I had a nearby destination inside, I was fine. Later that night, my friend and I returned to Myeongdong for some Christmas shopping. We, of course, got some delimanjoo when we saw it at the subway station. The main street was now decorated with Christmas lights and a tall Christmas tree which were really pretty at night.

December 1st

Surprise! I got another tattoo! Although it took around 3 hours and I was absolutely freezing by the time it was done, I’m super happy with how it turned out. Not to mention it was somehow only $35.

December 2nd

Friday, my friends and I headed to I’Park Mall, where they have a bunch of toy stores my friends wanted to visit. For lunch, my friends and I got some classic fried Korean food- a corndog and fried cheese. We also got donuts from Old Ferry Donut. I got the creme brulee one, which was delicious but probably overfilled with cream. The mall was huge, it had these giant Nintendo and Marvel stores that I’m sure any kid would go crazy in. After we exhausted ourselves in the mall, we met our friends near Hyehwa station for dinner, drinks, and karaoke. Only after we got back home did we realize that the Korean soccer team had just somehow beaten the Portugal team in the FIFA World Cup, saving our cup dreams.

December 3rd

Saturday morning, my friends and I headed to the Lotte World Tower for the TEAN farewell lunch. We woke up to realize it had begun snowing the night before and still was. Although it wasn’t that much, any snow to me was amazing. It was especially pretty seeing all of it collect on the trees surrounding our dorm. However, once you got more into the city, the warmth from the cars and buildings had melted any evidence of the snow.

For our farewell lunch, TEAN took us to Ashley Queens, an American food buffet. There was an almost overwhelming amount of options- mac and cheese, BBQ, pasta, chicken, soup, pizza, bread- you name it, they probably had it. We were all really excited to try some of the foods we missed from home, and if nothing else, have some more salt than usual. However, as is probably typical for all buffets, the food was a little disappointing. Excluding the BBQ, most of the food was average or less. However, I absolutely loved the oranges (we don’t have fruit much here okay) and the little robot you could call over to put your plate in. After we finished eating, we had a couple of hours to wander around the mall. We found an aquarium cafe and this funny shop called ZIZONE, which had a character named Pingo who was apparently obsessed with donuts.

A bit later, we went up to the observation deck of the tower with TEAN, 123 floors up in the 6th tallest building in the world. It was crazy to be so high up, however, because of the earlier weather, it was pretty cloudy. Regardless, it was cool to be able to stand on the glass floor and see how far down the street was below you (in my opinion at least). My friends and I also finally took photobooth pictures again, which we haven’t done since like the first week in Seoul.

December 6th

Tuesday was both a good and sad day. It was unfortunately the last day of my Korean speaking class, whose professor was one of my favorites. In his goodbye to us, he told us that our class was like a charging station for him. It was very sweet and very sad. On a happier note, after diplomacy, my friends and I headed to Kuma Kitchen. Much earlier in the semester, my friend had converted me into a Kuma Kitchen fan. Now we were finally getting around to converting our other friend. It was a success. I ordered a tonkatsu egg rice bowl that came with shrimp tempura on the side. It was delicious, but a lot of food.

Coming to an End

As our time starts to wrap up, we’ve started making lists of all the places and food we need to have before we leave. It’s honestly crazy how fast time has gone by and to think about going back home. This weekend, my friend and I will be heading to Japan, which is super exciting, but also emphasizes how much less time we have left in Korea itself. Not only that, but the next twoish weeks are filled with finals for all of us, so we’re trying our best to balance taking advantage of the time left and getting the work done that we need to. I've just been trying to take in every moment I have left and not take any of the unique aspects of Korean culture or Seoul for granted.