This was one of the best weekends I've had thus far in Korea. I know that's saying a lot but it really was. Kristen's friend, Jessica, flew in on Friday night. So right after our orientation dinner with the new students, Kristen and I went to Seoul to pick up Jessica and go to our hostel for the night.
SIDE NOTE: Hostels are WONDERFUL in Korea. They are cheap and clean. The two we stayed at over this weekend had really nice owners and their facilities were kept spotless. I highly recommend staying at a hostel if you are coming to visit Korea. Most of the hostels if you book a private suite will include a kitchen, some even a washer ensuite.
So Friday night we stayed at Egg Hostel, the owner doesn't speak too much English but with the combination of her English and my Korean we understood each other very well. This Hostel is in a very convenient location. It's a 2 minute walk away from Exit 2 at Hongdae Station =) At first we had problems getting to the 3rd floor so we took the creepy looking stairwell. It turns out, as we suspected, the main elevator doesn't stop on odd floors.
We took Jessica to Taco Bell, because she has been craving Western Mexican food. We also just did a short once over around Hongdae. We didn't party that night since A. Jessica has been travelling around South East Asia and was pretty exhausted. B. I was still getting over jet lag. I think I am the worst when it comes to getting over jet lag. So we settled back into our hostel pretty early and just called it a night.
Saturday we moved to our next hostel location. We booked a hostel closer to the stadium where we would see Big Bang. It was on the other side of the city at Olympic Park Stadium. The name of the place is called Phil's House and it was also about a 2 minute walk from Achasan station on Line 5. Super convenient and super clean. One of the owners Kun and his associate, who I didn't catch the name of, have really good English so there are no problems with communication whatsoever.
This was a super quaint neighbourhood, BUT I found one of the best tasting vanilla latte's in all of Korea at a coffee shop nearby.
After dropping off our stuff we were off to Olympic Park Stadium. We were going early so we can buy some official concert merchandise. Right when we got off at Olympic Park station we can feel the buzz. The station was full of women. We even lined up, for what felt like an eternity, to go to the washroom. After this we were off to find the line up for concert merchandise.
Prior to the concert we were just standing in a lot of lines. Lines for merchandise, more lines for washrooms, and then another line for the section we were sitting in. Basically be prepared to line up wherever you go.
I saw everyone holding these really nice boxes and I kept thinking no matter what was in that box I had to get it! I mean there was a price limit, but I liked that box A LOT. Luckily when Kristen went up to buy her stuff a cd + a light stick that box appeared! We found out it housed the crown light sticks. I was pretty adamant about not buying the light stick, but after finding out it came in that beautiful box I caved and bought one too. Oh how pretty packaging can sway me so...
They were really strict about cameras inside, as they should be. However, I was able to get a few shots of the stage. I really wanted to get a good shot of all the glowing light sticks. But its very dark inside and everyone is waving the light stick so its difficult to get a clear shot.
Words cannot describe how fun this concert was! If you're a fan you should definitely try to see them live at least one time. It was truly a really wonderful experience. Way too short, but they sang a lot of my favourite songs + all the ones on their new album Alive.
After a really good concert, we also had a very very good samgyupsal meal! This place their samgyupsal is a bit different, they seem to smoke it on a charcoal grill before giving it to you. Plus they have this salty leaf you eat with the meat and it tastes so good. The blend of the meat + the leaf was really delicious. I'd definitely be able to eat that every night.
Sunday before heading back to the dorm my friend Tae, and his friend took Jessica, Kristen and I to Nami Island (남이섬). I've been wanting to visit Nami Island for a while now, but just haven't made it out there. Finally I had a chance to visit here! For those that were part of the Korean Drama craze from the beginning, Nami Island is home to the scenes of the famous drama Winter Sonata.
Personally I did not watch this particular drama because I wasn't into Korean dramas at that time. But the snowman theme and the treeline streets are very popular regardless if you've seen the drama or not.
Kristen, Jessica and I actually ziplined into Nami Island. It costs 38 000 won and includes the entrance fee into the park and the boat ride back.
It was super fun "flying" into Nami Island. The weather was pretty nice when we were ziplining and I was able to wave at the passengers who were taking the boat underneath. Nami Island is kid friendly so there were a lot of families there. Of course there were the couples but I think I saw more tourists and families than anything else.
I'd recommend to go on a nice day. It doesn't matter if its winter or spring the little island has its own charm. I think as long as you go on a sunny day no matter the season it'll be nice.
At the end of the day we took Jessica back to her last hostel. I took a shot of this Garfield cat because this is exactly how I felt at the end of the day...exhausted.
I had a WONDERFUL weekend, but was so glad to just sleep when I got back to my dorm room.