Last Weeks in South Korea
When December approached, I realized that I needed to plan my days more carefully since I was running out of time. I also had to take in consideration my friend’s exam schedule so that we can both spend time together. On the other hand, I also planned more solo adventures to visit places that suited me most.🍰 Cafes
There’s never an end to visiting new cafes. One place on my bucket list was called Nuldam Space. At this cafe, I got to write a letter to my future self. The letter will be sent to my address in one year. The idea of this cafe was extremely neat, so I decided to go back the second time with more friends. We wrote letters to each other, and I won’t know what my friend wrote to me until this upcoming summer.
Another nearby cafe was 신이도가, located in Hongdae! My favorite menu item of any dessert cafe is definitely the croffle (croissant waffle) with ice cream on top. The texture of this pastry was very crisp and there’s a nice balance of sweetness with the scoop of sesame ice cream. I recommend looking for places on Tiktok and Instagram because the algorithm eventually gave me some pretty nice recommendations after a while!
☁️ HiKR Ground
To my surprise, I also found this place on social media and the entire exhibition was free. This is a promotion center that allows people, mostly tourists, to learn more about Korean pop culture. I was mostly fascinated by their wellness center, where I got to take a health test from the Omnifit machine. The omnifit analyzes stress and brain health by collecting bio-signals (so I had a device wrapped around my head). My autonomic nerve age was 17 (I am 21), while my friend’s nerve age was 12. Some things I found interesting was that my brain imbalance level is balanced, concentration is average, fatigue/stress is very low, while brain stress is very high. There was plenty of data collected regarding my brain health, and this motivated me to take care of myself as I am still young.
🛒 Costco Wholesale
One of my goals was to visit Costco in South Korea! Luckily, one of our friends had a U.S. Costco card. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t buy anything, I’ve always loved grocery shopping. It was fun to see the winter clothing line as prices were not so bad. My friends and I ate bulgogi pizza and I bought a strawberry smoothie as a refreshment. This was a nice and memorable experience.
🎡 Everland Theme Park
As our last bonding trip outside of Seoul, my friends and I took a 2-hour bus to Everland Theme Park! We bought the Shuttle Bus package for convenience. I highly recommend this route because it’s less stressful to get to the destination rather than having to take the subway/bus with multiple transfers. This place felt like a winter wonderland and I had a great time making memories with my friends! It was definitely too cold for the rides, but we went on a few to make the most of our time. I recommend visiting Everland during the summer or fall so that you can enjoy more outdoor rides.
📋 Stationery in Seoul
One of my favorite Christmas shopping experiences was buying plenty of cards to prepare for the holidays. I also bought many cards for future birthdays as well! Aside from postcards, I’ve always loved the art style of particular artists that I would look up to on Instagram. Luckily, I found the shop that sold these cards and I was thrilled to see them in person. Here are some of my favorite stores for stationery and miscellaneous items!
Artbox
Chanibear Station
OnemorebagKR
Theday.bom
Mazzzzy
Malling Booth
Recorder Factory
These are just a couple that come to me off the top of my head, but there are undoubtedly more to see. I suggest wandering through Yeonnam-dong in order to stumble upon interesting shops.
Overall
After the unforeseen pandemic, I never imagined that my dream of studying abroad would come true, but I had the time of my life in South Korea. I will miss the daily routine of taekwondo every other afternoon, riding bikes at the park, stopping by the board game cafe after dinner with friends, trying new cultural foods (both Korean and other international cultures), and meeting new people from all over the world in my classes. I was also worried about group projects since I didn’t know anyone, but working collaboratively turned out well because we planned accordingly to meet up. From studying abroad, I am more motivated than ever to continuously get out of my comfort zone and learn from new experiences.
