So, yeah. Terribly sorry for the long delay guys. I’ve been busy nonstop for the past three weeks. I’ve been constantly traveling between Hanyang to Ilsan to Namtaeryung to Yong-In to Sadang to Teukseom and back to Hanyang. And repeat that several times. I literally spent more time on the subway and bus then anything else. This post may be a bit long so I apologize! I should be able to keep up my weekly posts starting next week!
So, first off. I met up with Young Soo hyung! We caught up on each other’s lives and ate at a really cool Korean BBQ restaurant. It was amazing! Then we went to SulBing and ate some bingsoo.
The next day I met my roommate. He’s a nice fellow who is apparently from London. We went out and ate some cheap but great Korean food! That night was International Students Night at a local bar. At the party I met a various people from all over the world! Since the drinks and food was free, we just drank and ate until we couldn’t anymore. I made some new friends who are from Europe at this party. Learned a bit of German and Danish. Hopefully I can further improve my foreign language skills.
Next, my cousin took me to an amazing burger place called “Burger B.” It was MOUTHWATERINGLY AWESOME! I’ll say that it could contend with Hopdoddys. I will definitely be visiting this place again in the near future.
So, then I went to see my cousin’s husband get some acupuncture done on himself. It looked so painful and weird. I didn’t really understand much about it, but apparently my cousin’s husband felt “alot” better afterwards. After that we took a stroll around Hongdae and had some coffee.
So next, I met up with my aunt and uncle and had a haircut. Love Korea. You can get a nice haircut done with all the shampooing and styling for just 5,000 won. Then we went to AK mall. It is a relatively small mall compared to other malls in Korea but it had splendid interior designs, and it wasn’t really that crowded. We then went to a Galbi restaurant. OMG! The pork Galbi was amazing! So juicy and delicious, but it was the GalbiTang that made my mind blow! Apparently the restaurant only makes a certain amount of GalbiTang everyday, and once it’s sold out you can’t order anymore. Lucky for us, we one of the last bowls left. I’m guessing that they cooked it all day cause the broth was so strong and amazing! The meat was also soft and flavorful! I will definitely recommend people to try the GalbiTang here if they have the chance.
I then took some photos of Hanyang University. It is a pretty large campus with a unique mixture of new and old looking buildings. I couldn’t take much photos since I was either busy trying to find my class or was too exhausted from climbing so many stairs. I will be uploading more photos of Hanyang University soon though!
I then went to Chung-Ang University to meet up with some friends I made last semester when Professor Gerald took myself and two dancers to Chung-Ang to do a collaboration with Chung-Ang students. I met up and caught up with a hyung I became friends with before. He then treated me to some amazing Japanese food and coffee. I couldn’t meet up with the other people at Chung-Ang since they were either too busy or weren’t there, so I’ll be going there again to catch up with everyone!
I then met up with Ahyeon and Bora! Lol, it’s pretty funny to meet up with them in Korea. We talked alot about random things and then they treated me to chicken! Man, it was some pretty soft flavorful chicken. To explain the texture, just imagine the chicken being softer than a boneless buffalo wing with a crunchier fried layer.
The next day was a solo day. I got myself some New York hot dog, which wasn’t really what I expected but was pretty good still. I then went to the bank to make my student ID card. Man, did you know that the ID cards here can be used as debit cards, bus/subway passes, T-money, etc. UT needs to learn from Korea and start making things like these cause they are SO convenient! I then went to Wangsimni and had a hanwoo burger at lotteria. It was pretty good but not really worth the money I’ll say. I’ll rather order a Big Mac for the same price. I then went and purchased a movie ticket for TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)! I still had some spare time left so I went to an arcade room nearby and played some extreme tetris. LOL. Then I went into the movie only to find that I’m surrounded by little kids everywhere and that I won’t stop talking or trying to copy every move the turtles made in the movie. It was a good experience I’ll say. Then I went to a church meeting that Ahyeon invited me to. The people there were friendly and great. They also were really good at table tennis. We then had a short sermon and bible study lesson.
So, I had some awesome mudfish soup the next day! Then some pizza also! The next day, my aunt took me to Twosome for some great breakfast and coffee. I loved their Egg Benedicts! I then went to a Chinese restaurant with my grandparents and my other aunt’s family to celebrate my aunt’s birthday. The food was amazing. I literally ate way too much that I had trouble getting into the taxi for the ride back home.
The next day I had some amazing Soondae and SoondaeGukBap, which are Stuffed Intestines and Stuffed Intestines Rice Soup! This is another “hangover” soup that Koreans love to eat after a heavy night of drinking. It was so refreshing and good! I really liked it!
I then went to my great grandparents burial site to pay my respects, (something people do on passing away anniversaries and during Chusuk holiday). The whole burial site amazed me and the area gave off a serene feel to it. I guess you can say that this is probably one of the few moment I actually had deep thoughts about life and stuff. Lol. Well, I celebrated Chusuk with my grandparents and other family members and ate a WHOLE lot of traditional Korean food.
I then went to Yong-In to visit my other aunt and uncle. My cousin came also and we celebrated her birthday! We then went to a KalKookSoo restaurant and had some awesome KalKookSoo and DonGaSe (Pork Cutlet). We then went to an amazing cafe that was also an art museum. The interior was cool and “hip.” It reminded me of Austin but just a simpler and neater version. Lol. Then my cousin and her husband took me to watch “Lucy.” Loved the movie but felt like it ended too quickly. What was more amazing than the movie was the fries! There were 4 different kinds and each one of them was so warm and flavorful!
The next day we went to a BuckWheat restaurant to meet up with my dad. This restaurant only specializes in BuckWheat and literally everything they serve is made from BuckWheat. Lol. We went for a full course, and I’ll say that everything single dish was tasteful and had that distinct BuckWheat taste and smooth texture. We then had some coffee as we caught up with each other’s lives.
The next day my dad and I went out to eat GopChang (Grilled Intestines)! It was actually pretty good considering how the food looked. I’ll say that if you imagine an expensive wurst and regular sausage had a baby, then GopChang will be it.
The next day my dad and I had some coffee and tiramisu and went to Mr. Huh’s house. Man, I was surprised to see a HUGE rabbit in front of me when we opened the door. It was pretty cute though. My dad on the other hand seemed more interested in the massage chair and spent a good 30 minutes playing around with it. We then went to Mr. Jo’s house to eat dinner. They prepared a feast for the kings! So many meat and seafood and other delicious things all over the table! I just ate and ate and ate. Lol.
The next day my dad and I went to VIPS, a high class steak buffet restaurant, to meet up with my dad’s cousins. Since my dad’s cousins are all around my dad’s age and that they have a heavy Busan accent, I didn’t really talk much with them. But I didn’t really need to as I ate amazing dishes of food dish after dish. By the time I was done eating it was time to go to church for the Yerang Church meeting.
The next day my dad and I met up with another pastor at a cool cafe. I REALLY liked the interior of this cafe as there were books and trees and an awesome chill atmosphere overall. I also loved their peppermint tea! We then went to another high class chinese restaurant and ordered some chinese food that usually are pretty cheap, but apparently at this place it’s a bit pricey. I loved it but couldn’t really tell a huge difference from the street food Jachamyun with this restaurant style one. Lol. We then met up with Sangmi nuna and her husband and CUTE baby! We went to Choco Bini Cafe. This place had some awesome interior design and had a huge second floor study area.
The next day I ate some bread and coffee at Paris Baguette for breakfast while my dad chose to eat SoondaeGukBap. I’ll say that both are pretty good but it was a weird combination to have in one morning. That evening, Mrs. Lee took my dad and myself to an AMAZING SoySauce Crab Restaurant! These crabs are literally the best I had in my life! I literally wanted to cry from the amazing tastes I get from every large chunk of crab meat. This place will be one of those unforgettable memories. If you want to taste seafood heaven then please visit this place.
Ah, I forgot. During all this I also went to school and took classes. Well, lots of things happened also in my classes. First off, in my “Presentational English Skill” class, the professor noticed that my english was way too good when I made my 2 minute self introduction speech, so then she found that I was an exchange student. She then told me that I would be the only one in the class who will be making speeches and presentations in Korean. Lol. FML. Then, in my US History Class, the professor needed a class captain. Well the requirements for being class captain are pretty strict, such as having a GPA higher than 3.5, being fluent in English, living on campus, etc. So, even though I didn’t really want it I became class captain since I was the only student who met all the requirements. Lol. So now I have to consistently email back and forth between students and the professor. My other classes are really interesting and fun. My American Drama class professor is SUPER emotional about plays and dramas. He makes class entertaining and time passes by pretty quick. My physical education class just plays basketball or soccer, neither which I’m good at, but I’m having fun learning and just hanging out with some friends. My survival Korean class was pretty interesting in that everyone in the class was a foreign exchange student who didn’t know any Korean, but the professor himself didn’t know any English. So, I kind of became the “TA” and translated most of the things the professor said. Luckily, on the bright side, the professor was willing to teach me HanCha and will be teaching me little by little throughout the semester.
So that was how I spent the last three weeks! Sorry that I couldn’t write beforehand! I will be doing so starting next week since things have truly settled down. I will also be embedding pictures into the posts also starting next week (Just too much of a work to do that for this post). Hope this was an interesting read for you all! I will be trying to continue my adventurous trips and experiences and share them with you all! Thanks for taking your time and consideration in reading this post!
-Moses Park-
Moses Travel Adventures 