WOW, it has been a busy time for me here in Seoul and it's only about to get busier (this week is midterm week).
So Thursday was supposed to be my presentation day so I wore my adorable dress from Belk and got many many compliments for it (which I totally didn't expect). Notice how I said supposed to be up there? Well... Our professor forgot about our presentation and rescheduled it for today. Woohoo. BUT I guess I don't mind either way after all the compliments he gave us post-presentation and telling us we got an A+ on it.
After class on Thursday I went with my friend Katie to experience the cafeteria food for an evening... and ended up being required to buy 3 meals, so I suppose I'll be heading back there soon.
This weekend was jam-packed with things to do! Starting with Friday, we went on a little bus tour in Seoul and got to see the Blue House of Korea (like the White House in America for those wondering) and were greeted (*in a museum exhibit) by the president of Korea. The US needs to get up to speed and elect a female president....
After that excursion, we made our way through a maze of alleys in Insadong to experience some bibimbap together which was interesting and quite delicious.
Then my favorite part of my day: we went and learned how to make kimchi and we got to bring it home, so sometime this week my friends and I get to eat the kimchi we made. I'll let you know how it is when I indulge in it.
After kimchi making we headed to a Taekwondo gym and got dressed to watch a performance (http://youtu.be/znUenVMBaO4), learn how to do some kicks, and then break boards with our dreams on them with our fists to symbolize breaking through the barriers to our dreams. QUITE an enjoyable experience.
We returned to the uni to head straight to the afterparty where I tried makgeolli (rice wine) for the first time. It was alright, better than soju, but I will definitely go back to my rum and real whiskey when I get back to the states.
There wasn't much food at that meal so when Janelle asked me to go to dinner with her I gladly accepted. We went to a Japanese restaurant in Anam and then headed to Hongdae to check out the night life. I found sandals in my size there on the first try and we hitched the last train to Anam again. Quite a fun night.
Saturday we went shopping in Insadong, found a temple there, found the templestay info center where we ended up participating in a color therapy session: aka painting handkerchiefs. We also got ice cream in really interesting cones and wandered around the business world of Gangnam which was quite fun for me.
Sunday Janelle and I were going to try this cute coffee shop at the bottom of our hill, but found it was closed on Sundays. :( We had to visit a different shop, called Anouk. I was excited because Anouk is a character in one of my favorite books.
Then we hopped on the train to Myeong-dong for shopping and wandering. We found a puppy adopting shop and oh my goodness, these puppies are the cutest things ever. Around nightfall we went to N Seoul Tower to try to take sunset and night lights pictures. The problem? Seoul was far too smoggy to take good pictures and once it got dark, there was too much glare on the windows to get good pictures. I was very sad...
At N Seoul Tower, couples are highly promoted so Janelle and I got a movie bucket of popcorn and medium sized drink each for only $1 extra on the admission price for each of us. So naturally we joked the whole time that we were a couple.
Today was back to the grind of classes which was really difficult for me, but I got up and made it to class. And now it it time to go study.