Saturday, August 22, 2009
Conclusion
Thank you to my dear readers for having followed through my 39 entries. I know I've been slow on updating this blog towards the end of the trip because there was just no time for everything I wanted to do in Korea. I didn't want to rush through my blogging and do substandard entries just for the sake of updating every day which I did so initially. Hence, my entries were quite backdated towards the end but nevertheless, I hope you've seen how beautiful Korea is. The country means so much to me and I have never ever made it an effort to blog everyday before. But just for this trip, I did so, so that I could remember as much as possible about my glorious time there.
My next trip to Korea will be next year, on a students exchange program to either Yonsei University or Korea University, about one year from now. So till then, take care and I'll see you again next year :)
Day 6: 30 July 2009 Thursday
My last day in Korea, my 39th day here :( It was a mad rush throughout the day.
At around 9.30am, we headed to Insadong’s Bizeun to purchase rice cakes. Chun En was right…we should have made reservations for the rice cakes in advance because when we reached the store, certain types of rice cakes that we saw in the store on Monday weren’t available. I managed to purchase a few boxes of rice cakes but I didn’t get to buy the ones that I knew my mum really wanted.
After getting the rice cakes, Garima and Chun En went back to the hotel on their own because they were taking Korean Air and their flight was in the afternoon while Mel’s and my SQ flight was in the evening. I felt bad because I didn’t really say a proper goodbye to them as we were rushing. I had no idea how long the hair stylist would take to do Melissa’s hair and we had to rush back to the hotel to check out by 2pm. So from Insadong, we took a cab to 이대 area and I brought Mel to the hair salon, Hair Club (just behind Yes A PM Building) where I had my digital perm done a month ago.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Day 5: 29 July 2009 Wednesday
Today's my second last day in Korea :(
In preparation for my imminent departure, I made a trip to the post office which is just 5 minutes away from the hotel, accompanied by my dearest friends who helped me with my 19.05kg load.
I think this yellow plastic bag of 3 Korean textbooks, 1 Korean grammar book, 1 Korean story book and 3 Korean magazines weighed 13kg.

Saturday, August 15, 2009
Day 4: 28 July 2009 Tuesday
I think today was the highlight of our Seoul Trip because...
we went to LOTTE WORLD :):):)
We reached Lotte World around 9am before the amusement park opened at 9.30am. As you can see in the picture below, there wasn't much of a queue at the entrance to the amusement park at 9am.

Day 3: 27 July 2009 Monday
A great start to the day: running on the treadmill in the hotel's gym before breakfast :)
I miss the good old treadmill! I can't believe I actually survived nearly 6 weeks with only 1 run around the university and a one-time usage of the treadmill :( And I haven't played golf for nearly 2 months! Good grief :(
Breakfast comprised of a bread and chocolate muffin from Breadtalk which is just less than a minute away from the hotel. I had my favourite sunflower seed bread but it is pricey at 2,000원 (approx. S$2.29) when I could have got it for S$1.50 back home. After breakfast, we split up: Garima and Chun En went shopping around our hotel area while Melissa accompanied me in my hunt for a spectacles shop to have a pair of spectacles made for my cousin. In the end, I went to the same one that Phyllis went to when we came to Korea 5 weeks ago (gosh, it's been so fast!). My cousin's spectacles cost 50,000원 and only took 20 minutes to make!
After meeting back in the hotel room, we set off for Insadong 인사동.
The banana milk they love but I didn't quite like. I just can't drink any milk on its own...I can only drink it with cereal.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Day 2: 26 July 2009 Sunday
Daily routine

Day 1: 25 July 2009 Saturday
It was a mad rush this morning and I was both stressed (because I was running really late) and tired (with very LITTLE sleep). The journey from Sinchon subway station all the way to Incheon International Airport was at least an hour long and I slept on the trains in between the 3 line transfers I had to make. In the end, I was 15 minutes late and the "Welcome to Korea" sign I made for Melissa wasn't put to any good use because she was already out of the customs area by the time I reached the airport. Oh well, at least my dearest friends: Garima, Chun En and Melissa arrived safe and sound in Korea to join me on the last leg of my trip :) After days and months of talking about our trip, I couldn't believe it when I finally saw them at the airport, that they're really here with me afterall!
We took bus 6015 from the airport to Hotel Ibis in Myeongdong and each bus ticket cost 9,000원 which is really cheap, compared to taking a taxi which would easily have cost us 65,000원 and above. The journey was about an hour+ long.

Friday, August 7, 2009
Day 26: 24 July 2009 Friday
My final exam went quite smoothly and I wasn't that nervous for the oral exam. The oral exam comprised of 2 different role play situations and 1 directions-giving situation. The first role play situation was something I've been doing almost everyday in Korea: shopping for clothes and a typical conversation I'll hold with the sales assistant. The second one was a telephone conversation which we've practised quite a number of times back in NUS, and the third component was giving directions which was quite alright. As for the essay writing, we were given 2 options: our favourite place and our life in Korea 한국 생활. Naturally, I picked the latter because I've already done the first essay in class before and I didn't feel like doing it again. Furthermore, if 홍선생님 remembered what I wrote previously, she would be able to identify the vast difference in my standard of writing with and without help from her and my electronic dictionary. I felt that it was quite apt to write about my life in Korea given that it was the last day at Yonsei University for us.
It was a really busy day for me. After the exam ended at 1pm, we had a farewell/program completion party of sorts in our classroom. My Korean language teacher 홍선생님 bought us donuts and fruits and drinks. Yes, fruits! I've a serious lack of fruits consumption since I came to Korea because over here, there are only seasonal fruits like watermelon, grapes, plums and banana. I didn't see any apples! Ok, maybe it's just because I didn't go to the correct places that sell the fruits I wanted. But whatever the case is, I didn't eat much fruits here in Korea and I certainly miss eating them. Back in Singapore, I eat a big plate of fruits every night.
The 2 ladies sent by 홍선생님 brought us donuts and fruits and drinks.

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Day 25: 23 July 2009 Thursday
I didn't do much today after class because I spent the better half of the day packing my luggage in my room. When I was on the plane to Seoul on 21st June, I thought that my 6 weeks stay was going to be really LONG. But before I knew it, time passed so fast that my 5th week here is soon coming to an end. Today was the last day of Korean language class. We'll be having our final exam tomorrow but I don't think I'll be studying much for it, other than memorising the stuff for giving directions.
I'll miss Room 315. I've actually come to love this room, the dormitory (despite the hill we have to climb up and down every day when I don't take the taxi), and Yonsei. I hate farewells.

Day 24: 22 July 2009 Wednesday
Most of the ABKs didn't attend the cookery class today because they went for the one yesterday so the kitchen was rather empty and quite a number of us worked alone. I did the cooking by myself because my Morrocan cooking partner wasn't here today and it was quite disastrous -_-
Before the lesson started...

Monday, July 27, 2009
Day 23: 21 July 2009 Tuesday
This 아저씨 is 1 of the 2 security guards in the Mu-Ak Housing Complex I stay in and he's nicer of the 2. We took turns taking photos with him this morning and Sarah asked him to smile more :p

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 22: 20 July 2009 Monday
I had a wonderful day :)
Lunch was at the 2nd Coffee Prince Cafe in Hongdae 홍대.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day 20: 18 July 2009 Saturday
At 4pm today, we assembled at the KLI for the homestay orientation where we met our host families, did self introduction and played 2 games before we left with our host families.
The mother of my host family (이모), the twin daughters Min-A 민아 & Young A 영아 and their best friend 선희 came down to Yonsei to pick me up. When I met them, they gave me a handmade fan with writings and decorations all over it as a welcome gift :) After we were done with the orientation, I followed my host family out of school. They stay in Paju 파주시 which is at least a 1hr bus ride away from Sinchon so before we took the bus to Paju, we had donuts and tea at Dunkin Donuts.
On the bus to Paju

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Day 19: 17 July 2009 Friday
Today, I went to Anguk 안국 with Jeannie.
Remember that I said that different subway stations have different themes according to the location? Well, this is Anguk Station which is near Changdeokgung Palace 창덕궁.

Day 18: 16 July 2009 Thursday
Just as Garima told me, the weather was great today.
Walking out via the East Gate 동문 from the KLI. i'm learning more about the area around Yonsei everyday and this is the fastest way to Ewha.

Day 17: 15 July 2009 Wednesday
During 1 of the 3 short breaks we have during our 9am-1pm Korean lesson.

Friday, July 17, 2009
Day 16: 14 July 2009 Tuesday
It poured really heavily THE WHOLE DAY. It was raining when I was up at 7am and it was still raining when I slept at around 12am midnight. My Converse sneakers were completely soaked, my Longchamp half soaked, my jeans 3/4 soaked, and a very wet hair. It was flooded in quite a few areas. Just right outside Sinchon Subway Station where I took the Yonsei University Shuttle Bus back to the dormitory, it was flooded and a guy dropped one side of his slippers as he was trying to walk through the flooded area to board the bus via the back door. If I were him, I'd forget about the other side and just board the bus, but he actually went around the bus to search for his slipper and thankfully, he found it!
I spent the rest of the day in my room, trying to upload my photos unto facebook without much success until around 10pm when I finally figured out why I couldn't do so. So yup, most of the photos are up, but I still have to edit some.
Day 15: 13 July 2009 Monday
Today, we (Yong Kang, Jeannie and I) went to Apgujeong 앞구정 where there are plastic surgery clinics almost everywhere. There are even plastic surgery advertisements in the subway station!
(*** some photos are taken from Yong Kang; thanks!)

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Day 14: 12 July 2009 Sunday
What a day. Initially, about 7 other friends wanted to join us for our trip down to Paju 파주's English Village 영어마을. But because of the rainy season 장마철, it rained/drizzled the whole day and only Jeannie and I made it to the Village.
It was a long journey to Paju because I had to take the subway to Daehwa Station 대화 which is 22 stops away from Sinchon Station.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Day 13: 11 July 2009 Saturday
In the morning, I went to Hongdae 홍대 with Alpha and Yi Hui.
Walking out to the main road from the dormitory.

Day 12: 10 July 2009 Friday
I finally went to new places today :)
At 3.30pm, Alpha and I met Indra (who came from Daejeon's KAIST program) and Zheng Tian (studying Korean 4 at SNU) at Sinchon 신촌전철역. We went to Hongdae 홍대's Coffee Prince Cafe which was rather difficult to find and we had to keep asking for directions along the way. Zheng Tian did most of the work since he's so good in Korean now!
I love the ambience at the cafe but the f&b there is rather pricey. Each person must order something so we ordered 2 drinks and 2 cakes to share. Alpha and I shared a ice raspberry latte which cost 7,000원. I didn't bring my dslr out so the photos I took are on my blackberry which I can only upload when I'm back in Singapore.
We met Jeannie at 6.30pm in Myeongdong 명동 where we had a drink at Starbucks and shopped around before meeting the rest of the girls in my immersion program near Hotel Prince. We went to Namsan Tower 남산 타워 which was quite pretty but unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera so here are the photos taken with Jeannie's and Minqi's cameras.
Our cable car ticket to Namsan Tower 남산 타워 for 7,000원.

Friday, July 10, 2009
Day 11: 9 July 2009 Thursday
It rained really heavily in Seoul 서울 today and I felt so tempted to get the 20,000원 rain boots I saw on http://dahong.co.kr.
From now onwards, I'll never say "I'm going to jog tomorrow" because everytime I say that, it will rain heavily for (nearly) the whole day the next day. And when it rains, I just don't feel like going out.
Back in Singapore, I could always find things to buy on Gmarket. But now that I'm in Korea, somehow, I just can't find anything else to buy :(
Today, I walked from the dormitory 기숙사 all the way to Sinchon Subway Station 신촌 지하철 역. It took me about 40 minutes but I walked as slowly as I could because I was supposed to meet Jeannie and the rest at 9pm but I left hostel around 7.30pm before it got dark. Even though it's summer in Korea now, because of the heavy downpour earlier in the day, the weather was really cooling at night; maybe the temperature was 22/23 degree Celsius or something?
I waited for them for 1 hour+. During my wait, I met Minqi, Prise, Sarah and Peiyan. And then, I met Yi Hui and she joined us. At long last, around 10pm+, everyone else arrived and we went to the place my buddy 용준오빠 brought us to the other day for 소주. We couldn't just order the 소주 alone and we had to order something else. Since we were not hungry, we just ordered a plate of fruits which cost 13,000원! But the lady gave us free instant noodles as well. We tried the strawberry soju 딸기 소주, grape soju 포도 소주 (it's better than the strawberry one and my Korean teacher 홍선생님's favourite) and apple soju 사과 소주. All in, it was 23,000원 which was split among the 6 of us.
Next stop: Dongdaemun 동대문 again but this time round, we went to the wholesale market which is only opened at night. Our main objective was to check out the shoes market but it wasn't opened when we were there at 1am. So we shopped around the wholesale market and ate 오뎅. Halfway, Jeannie and Xing Mei went off to join the rest of their KU friends at Migliore while Yi Hui and I stayed at the wholesale market to check out the place. The stuff there is definitely cheaper than those in Migliore, Doota, Hello A Pm, Good Morning City and Ewha and it's even cheaper if you buy the items in bulk.
The shoes market was open by the time Yi Hui and I walked back to the area around 4am. But it was quite a disappointment because nothing caught my eye except for a pair of rain boots which is practical here and you won't get stared at; but so not practical and way too weird back in Singapore. So all I bought was a belt for 10,000원.
At around 5am, we took a cab back to Yonsei so that was our super long day.
I'll edit this post once I get the pictures from Jeannie and Xing Mei. My D40's too heavy to bring around :(
Day 10: 8 July 2009 Wednesday
I'm glad I didn't skip the cookery class today because I made a new friend and learnt how to make the 떡볶이 닭갈비. Yong Kang (my cookery class partner) was sick and didn't attend class so I partnered a girl from Morocco instead.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Day 8: 6 July 2009 Monday
It was a rainy afternoon. I hate it when it rains because my shoes get soaked and my umbrella's too tiny. I've yet to find the perfect umbrella print! Oh wells. What to do since I'm in Korea during the 장마철 (rainy spell)?

Monday, July 6, 2009
Day 7: 5 July 2009 Sunday
Post-shopping at Artbox: Melissa, I found the perfect ribbon sticker! It's pink actually, I hate the flash on my camera :(

Sunday, July 5, 2009
Day 6: 4 July 2009 Saturday
Checked back at 11am and I got my dress, but I couldn't get back to sleep. I just lazed around in my room and talked to my friends before heading to Dongdaemun 동대문 to shop on my own. I was quite confused and nearly lost my way because the area is so big and there are so many exits in the subway station.
I met Wan Ling at 8.30pm at Yongsan 용산 because she was supposed to bring Jeannie and I to get our electronic dictionaries. Unfortunately, the shops were closing then so Jeannie didn't join us and Wan Ling and I went back to Dongdaemun 동대문.
Dinner was at a small Korean eatery near Migliore shopping centre where I had 냉면 for 5,000원. It was a little spicy and I've concluded I don't like 냉면. I like 비빔밥 and 자장면. Shopping was great today :) even though things were pricey. I love Doota Shopping Mall too, other than the fact that the stuff there are pricey as well.
I can't wait till next Saturday. 왜요? 현주언니를 만날 거에요 ^ㅁ^. 토요일, 빨리 와요.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Day 5: 3 July 2009 Friday
So I thought I wouldn't have a happening day afterall today because Wan Ling wanted to join the rest and go to Lotte World but I didn't want to because I want to spend the whole day there and not go there from 3pm-11pm+. So Melissa, Garima and Chun En, let's go there when you guys come over! And hopefully, it won't rain!
But in the end, there was a change of plan and it sure was an exciting night! I had lunch with the rest at Sinchon's McDonalds: a bulgogi 불고기 burger for 2,800원 which was delicious :)

Friday, July 3, 2009
Day 4: 2 July 2009 Thursday
Happy 20th birthday, JEANNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, I didn't do much today and I didn't take any photos. After class, I came back to my room to wait for the rain to stop so that I could go for a run around the campus. I sent my clothes to the laundry and I actually managed to post all the backdated blog entries, and I'm now just left with some photos I took (which are with Jeannie) to upload for Day 3's entries.
So the rain finally stopped at around 5/6pm. I can't remember whether I looked at my laptop's clock timing (Singapore timing) or my watch (Korean timing). Wan Ling can only run on flat ground so I had to run alone. I can't stand it. I hope Korea University's dormitory's gym has a treadmill because Yonsei University's doesn't! I need a treadmill. So yeah, after not having exercised for nearly 2 weeks, I finally burned some calories and I totally hate the slopes in school!
Alright, it's now 12.14am Korean time and I've finally done all the backdated entries and everything's now up-to-date. I've no idea where I'm going after school tomorrow. Next week, I'll be meeting 용준오빠 for our next buddy session, and hopefully, I can meet 기홍오빠하고 현주언니하고 윤미언니! 보고 싶어요 ㅠ_ㅠ.
Day 3: 1 July 2009 Wednesday- will be edited with more photos
Yet another long 4 hours in the morning! After Korean lesson, we had a 1 hour break before our cookery lesson and we rushed to the Student Union Building to have our passport-sized photos taken for the making of our student ID cards before heading to the stationery store for our supplies. We had a quick lunch before jogging/walking really fast back to the Korean Language Institute (KLI) for our cookery class at B107 Cooking Studio, for which, we were obviously late.

Day 2: 30 June 2009 Tuesday
4 hours seemed to pass really slowly today, from 9am-1pm.
Well at least it didn't rain today and it was quite cooling.
I met my buddy at 1.30pm in front of the Underwood Hall. We had lunch at the school cafeteria. He showed me around the student union building and we chatted quite abit.
At around 4pm or so (I can't remember), I met Wan Ling outside Yonsei University and we took a bus to 이대 again because I wanted to ask my hair stylist how to twirl my curls since I never ever get the technique right. We alighted one stop too late and ended up in some living quarters area but it was cool, seeing another side of Seoul.
Bought 2 t-shirts for 4,000원 and 5,000원. Ewha Uni’s library is BEAUTIFUL. A pity I was too lazy and tired to lug my dslr along today so I couldn’t take photos of it. For once, I didn't bring my camera out! I’ll go back again soon to take a picture! Oh yes, and I fell in love with a beautiful 73,000원 brown luggage handbag in Kosney. Should I get it???? Mel?????
In the evening, we met Jasmine and Wei Ling and cabbed back to the dormitory. I'm way too lazy to walk up the slope back to the dormitory!
Day 1: 29 June 2009 Monday
Today was the 1st day of our NUS-Yonsei Immersion Program.
We didn't quite know where to go to in the morning because we aren't in the summer program as the rest of the foreigners so we just stood around in the entrance area of the Korean Language Institute (KLI) where we met 조선생님. She came to Yonsei University just to make sure we got to the right places and stuff. I like 조선생님. Our classroom's at 218호 and our Korean language teacher is 홍선생님.
From 9am-9.50am or so, we had our placement test which was obviously difficult for me since I hadn't touched my books after finals ended.
At around 10am, we were brought to a room on Level 1 for the commencement of the Yonsei-NUS Korean Language Immersion program and introduced to our buddies. My buddy's 박용준. I didn’t expect to get a male buddy because from the conversations we have had with 지선생님 prior to the trip, we were given the impression that we would be getting buddies of the same gender.
From 11am-1pm, we did self-introduction and that was the end of today's lesson. I wouldn't really say we had a proper Korean lesson today since we only did self-introduction. But anyway, the real fun began after school.
Once the lesson ended, I rushed back to my room with Wan Ling to dump my books and get ready to head down to 이대 Ewha Women’s University Shopping Street. Along the way, I stopped by Etude House and you know what happened. I like Ewha Women’s University Shopping Street because there are many cool boutiques and shops along the street.
Why is it that their subway station is so pretty?

Day 7: 28 June 2009 Sunday
Breakfast was at SeaCloud Hotel's Dunkin Donuts where I had 2 donuts.

Day 6: 27 June 2009, Saturday
This morning, Jeannie, Pauline and Phyllis left for Busan Station 부산역 to take their KTX train to Seoul 서울 at around 5am.
After packing my luggages (yet again), Yong Kang and I went out for breakfast. We wanted to try the American breakfast offered by the hotel but the café only opened at 2pm on Saturdays so we ventured out and found Breeze Burn’s. As we were too early for brunch, we went to Angel-in-us coffee nearby to get a drink and used the internet. The weather was perfect this morning- cooling. If only Singapore’s weather is like that!

Day 5: 26 June 2009, Friday
I guess everyone was really tired, with most of us running a sleep debt since the trip started. I couldn’t sleep after 9am so Pauline and I left the hotel to explore the area while the rest slept.

Thursday, July 2, 2009
Day 4: 25 June 2009, Thursday
Our last day/morning in Jeju. View from our room:

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Day 3: 24 June 2009, Wednesday
It was a tiring day for all of us. With 5 of us sharing a room, by the time we had bathed, it was really late. I slept at 1am and woke up at 2am, wondering whether I should wake everyone else to prepare to leave for Sunrise Peak. But everyone was tired so I thought I might as well just wake them up at 3am but I didn’t really sleep at all. So yup, 1hr+ of sleep only!
Seongsan Ilchulbong 산일출(Sunrise Peak)
Configuring the GPS to get to Sunrise Peak

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sinchon Hair Salon
I should be getting my internet cable tonight so I'll be able to upload the photos from my Jeju and Busan trip. I miss Busan for the weather. The weather in Seoul is just bad. It's either rainy or too hot. As told by our teacher 홍선생님, today's the 1st day of the 장마철.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Day 2: 23 June 2009, Tuesday
Ocean Grand Hotel

Day 1: 22 June 2009, Monday
My night seemed really long. 6 hours seemed like forever. Just after the plane took off, I fell asleep. But one hour later, I was up and awake and I just couldn’t sleep even though I was dead tired. I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic and managed to get a little sleep, but I kept waking up at every x:22am. Maybe I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about my family, about how much I’ll miss them since I’ve never been apart from them for such a long period before.
I reached Incheon International Airport at around 7.20am and after clearing the customs and collecting my HEAVY luggage, I met Pauline, Phyllis and Jeannie at Starbucks before we took the AREX to Gimpo Airport to deposit our luggages.

Thursday, June 25, 2009
With love from Jeju-do 제주도
I'm alive, in Jeju-do 제주도 and I'm great :)
In just 3 days, I have taken 1300+ photos and I'm doing my best to prepare the posts.
Here's a sneak preview of what's to come:







I've got to sleep now. 5 hours later, it'll be time to wake up and prepare to leave 제주도 for Busan 부산.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Pre-departure Blues
But it's alright.
I'll go back to Jeju again one day: BMW convertible + Shangri-la Yacht + Shilla Hotel.
Sad stuff aside, I'm leaving soon and I haven't packed.
Are you counting down with me? :p
Friday, April 24, 2009
A day out with my Korean friends

A day out with my Korean friends 한국 친구 before they return to South Korea.
This semester was quite a tough one for me, having to adjust my mindset to settling down in Singapore and trying to let go of the fact that I gave up my place in medical school in Australia.
But I'm thankful for the friends who have helped, encouraged and cheered me up. And I'm thankful for the opportunities given to me to make more Korean friends.
To 현주 언니 who might read this: 항상 도와줘서 정말 고마워요. 행복하세요! I will miss you, my 1st Korean friend whom I've known for 8 months :( Have a safe flight back to 한국!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Introduction
KOREAN LANGUAGE 한국어 IMMERSION 2009
Leaving Singapore on 21 June 2009, Sunday 11.50pm SQ.
Part I: 22/6~28/6 Jeju-do + Busan [6월22일부터 6월28일까지 제주도와 부산에 갈 거예요]
Part 2: 29/6~24/7 Seoul- Yonsei University [6월29일부터 7월24일까지 서울의 연세대학교에 다닐 거예요]
Part 3: 25/7~30/7 Seoul [7월25일부터 7월30일까지 서울에서 쇼핑을 할 거예요]
SEP to KU/YU 2010- TENTATIVE
Fall/Winter semester



Formspring


