The only catch is that the trip has to be well thought out and not only a trip to the amusement park. We did not have to restrict ourselves to something purely cultural but we had to really plan it out and put thought into it. Then afterwards the Korean students will write a report up in Korean about their experience and the International students will do the same in English on their experience.
My suite mates and I planned to go on a trip together. In the end after a few line up changes we finally had our 9 people.
Saturday June 4, 2011
Our group consisted of my suite mates Hye Joo, Maiko & So Eun. Our other additions included Becca, Jeong Ho, Han Young, Ji Hee & Jun.
First we met up in Seoul and went straight to eat lunch at this really cool hand made wooden oven pizza place in Samcheongdong (삼청동). Samcheongdong is an area filled with traditional Korean houses and buildings that has been converted into a really neat ritzy district filled with art galleries, independent clothes/jewelry shops, cafes and restaurants.
The pizza place only has pizzas on the menu and a salad that is really delicious. It seems that vinegar based salad dressing is not too popular among a lot of Koreans that I know (maybe cause of the taste, it's not like what they are used to) but this place had a really nice vinegarette! Plus there were almonds and dried cranberries in the salad! It was also very cute because they provided you with paper and you can write a little message and post it up on their walls! This is a very popular concept in Korea either with little notes or pictures.
After we ate lunch we went to find our hanok (한옥) which is a Korean traditional styled home. At first we went to the wrong one and somehow managed to get into it. We realized there were people living there already so we checked with the company and realized ours was a bit further down. LOL, whoops.
Once we settled in we did a photo scavenger hunt around the area. Then we set off to a market to buy ingredients for our dinner that night. On the way we saw the CUTEST puppy and we walked along Cheonggyecheon for a bit.
This market was really neat. There are stores selling groceries, meat, souvenirs, junk food etc. and then in the middle aisles are tiny stands where you can buy food made right away. Almost like street food but in a more organized manner. BUT the area is still small and very limited. We ended up buying WAY more meat than needed. 5kgs to be exact...2.5kgs of samgyupsal (삼겹살) and 2.5 kgs of moksal (목살). It was very delicious though...
When we finally made it back to the hanok we had a Korean style barbeque!!! We had a great time just chatting, eating and hanging out =)
June 5, 2011
The next morning before going back to school we went back to Samcheongdong to hang out at one of the cafes. We settled on this one where they had cat themed figurines, drawings and such everywhere. Even their coasters were faces of a cat!
Some people ordered drinks, some patbingsoo - 팥빙수 (shaved us if you are Taiwanese) and I ordered an ice cream waffle (YUMMMMY). Everything was super delicious and the pricing was typical of any independent (or even some chained) coffee shops in Seoul.
Then it was time to head back to school! We went to Seoul Station (서울역) to take the Nooriro (누리로) back to SCH. BUT before we left Seoul we went to Smoothie King to kill time and I saw the cutest Korean kid sitting next to Maiko and I!
Isn't she the cutest thing??? I know in Canada I would not take pictures of random people's children but here it seems to be accepted...
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