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

Day 22: 20 July 2009 Monday

I had a wonderful day :)

Lunch was at the 2nd Coffee Prince Cafe in Hongdae 홍대.

Day 21: 19 July 2009 Sunday

I slept in the same room as 영아 and 민아 for the night.

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

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.

Day 16: 14 July 2009 Tuesday

There is nothing much to blog about today other than the fact that it was a terrible day to be out and I did because I wanted to get items from TheFaceShop and Skinfood for my cousin and my contact lens solution which I had ran out of.

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!)

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.

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.

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.

Day 9: 7 July 2009 Tuesday

Today, we (Alpha, Yi Hui, Yuek Ling and I) went to Dongdaemun 동대문.

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)?

Day 7: 5 July 2009 Sunday

I finally had 8 hours of sleep today!

Post-shopping at Artbox: Melissa, I found the perfect ribbon sticker! It's pink actually, I hate the flash on my camera :(

Day 6: 4 July 2009 Saturday

Well I didn't do much today because I was tired. I was woken up at  10am because of a call from the Gmarket seller's delivery man asking me to go down to the lobby to collect my parcel at 10.30am. I waited from 10.20am to 10.40am and he wasn't there!

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.

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 :)

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.

Day 4: 25 June 2009, Thursday

Our last day/morning in Jeju. View from our room:

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