[Part 2] 024. 25 August 2010 Wednesday

Today was the last day of orientation.
I met Zechy in the morning and we headed to the Democracy Square together to join the rest of the exchange students for our Seoul City Tour. My group took bus 6 and Alex was my bus partner :)

Alex with my shades

Alex with my umbrella

Our first stop for the City Tour was the National Folk Museum beside Gyeongbokgung Palace and I was assigned to Yeonju. Only 4 buddies per group could join the City Tour as seats were limited and my buddy, Jaehyun, wasn't one of them :( But Yeonju's really nice! I made more new friends and toured the museum together with Alex and Jimmy (a Korean studying in Toronto).

Alex becomes my bodyguard whenever he wears this jacket.

We had a lunch in a restaurant in Insadong. I sat with Jimmy (Jinsung), Alex and Kristian (a graduate student from Copenhagen) at a table and it was interesting watching Alex and Kristian try the different side dishes. I almost died from eating the green pepper too. It was way too spicy and left my tongue sizzling.

Jimmy and Kristian

Caught Zechy waiting outside

Alex trying seaweed for the first time and loving it

We spent about 1hr+ walking around in Insadong and coincidentally, went to the same dragon beard candy stall where the guy recognized me, after seeing me for the 3rd time in a month. The on-off drizzled dampened the mood of shopping again and we were soon bored with nowhere else to go until Jaeho, our group leader, suggested bringing us to check out musical instruments in this building near the end of the street. I saw many flutes and felt tempted to get a new flute and go for refresher lessons again. I think I'll get a Miyazawa flute next time.

Alexandre, Adriana and Kristian trying the dragon beard candy that Jimmy bought

Alex with the Korean version of Red Bull

He finally got his much needed dosage of drums playing

Jaeho, our group leader

After everyone had assembled at the meeting point, we walked over to the theatre to watch the "Jump" show which I've already watched before. But this time round, we went to the studio on the highest level instead of the one on the lowest level which I went to earlier this month. Somehow, we're almost always the last group to do anything. We were the last to enter the studio and were left with seats right at the back. Initially, we were on the right side but managed to shift our seats to the middle section but I ended up sitting behind a very tall guy and had to lean forward to watch the show. i think the 1st show that I had watched was better. Apparently, the actress playing the "daughter" character got injured during the opening segment which explains why she didn't appear after the 1st scene. As a result, some scenes were cut out and some scenes involving her were replaced by the actress playing the "mother" role so I guess it didn't make much sense for the rest watching.

Cafe Themselves just beside the theatre

People watching time

Jimmy, Alex, Adriana and I

My view

I was so tired after the show that I slept throughout the journey back to KU and Alex woke me up just as the bus was turning into the school. He's my bodyguard when he wears his big jacket and my brother when he's without his jacket :) He even offered me his jacket as a pillow when I hit my head against the window as I slept. Most members of our group had other plans after the tour so it was just 3 exchange students and 3 buddies left. We went to a multi room (where you can sing or play wii, etc.) which is just 1 minute away from my room. That's how convenient my place is! I could even go back to use the toilet and deposit some of my belongings before going back to join the rest. We played Wii games like swimming, snow boarding, ice skating, and curling which I'm terrible at because I didn't even know that such a game existed.

I left to meet Zechy for dinner at 8pm but we couldn't settle on what to eat so we walked around. i walked past Aritaum and decided to check out the Laneige product prices. My original plan was to check out the prices in standard Aritaum shops and compare them with Myeongdong's. Also, I thought that more samples and freebies would be given out if I were to purchase from Myeongdong. The sales assistant serving me in the Aritaum shop overheard me talking about Myeongdong and she told me that if I were to purchase from her today, she would give me a good price. And she did! She gave me a 10% discount so I paid 108,000KRW for a skin refiner, balancing emulsion, water bank essence and gel cream instead of 120,000KRW. She gave me many other samples as well as a nice bag. Very good deal indeed :) Perhaps the trick is to mention Myeongdong!
Eventually, we went to Mcdonalds for dinner where we had the bulgogi set.

My bag of products to better skin

After dinner, I went back to my room to look at my beautiful bottles of Laniege products and showed them to Jeannie via skype before we realised we were late in meeting Junho at Anam Station. We asked him to meet us at Baskin Robbins instead and it was weird choosing and buying a ice cream birthday cake for him when we were right in front of him and trying hard to be discreet! We eventually settled for a double chocolate cake for 22,000KRW. Happy 26th birthday, 오빠!

Kospi is down (indicated by the blue light)

The business school

I had pre-departure blues but now that I've more or less settled into this country, I'm beginning to feel comfortable here, surrounded by very good Singaporean and Korean friends and even though I miss my family and friends back in Singapore, I don't want to leave Korea. I've spent nearly a month here and I only have another 4 months left. Time, please pass slowly!!!! Coming back here again next time for work or holiday will never be the same as my stay here for exchange. I should start making the best out of everyday and ensure that I blog for every single day to remember each day.
Anyway, after the mini celebration, we walked to Junho's place to collect my hand luggage. We took a cab back and wanted Junho to join us because our plan was to put my luggage back in my room and then go for drinks or something (yeah, even though I don't drink much). But Junho declined so we thought he was tired or something. As the night was still early and we didn't have anything on the next morning so we decided to go to a noraebang. We managed to get Zechy to join us. We didn't know that Junho was actually touched by our mini belated birthday celebration for him until he sent me an sms when we were in the noraebang to express his gratitude. We'll definitely be lifelong friends! You're one of the closest Korean friends I have and I'm so glad that I'm in Korea with people like you :) After I told him that we were in a noraebang in Anam, he cabbed over to join us! He's a really great singer and I nearly melted when he sang a song from the Stairway to Heaven drama OST. It was indeed a crazy night...each of us paid 5,000KRW for 1 hour of singing but we were given so much free time that we sang from 11pm+ to 3am. I nearly lost my voice but it was good because I realised that I need to sing crazily for about an hour or so before I am able to sing better.

After our crazy singing session, we went for drinks at some place nearby. We had fruit soju and I drank like 4 or 5 shots. Not bad right? After my 4th or 5th shot, I started faking with a soda drink. Well Junho did it first. He poured soju for the rest but gave me the soda so thereafter, I took the initiative to pour myself soda whenever he poured soju for the rest :) By the time I got back to my room, bathed and sorted out some stuff, I ended up sleeping at 6am :( I really need to start sleeping earlier!