Kate in Korea -- Light Fellowship

After class, I had some snacks in my room before going to Hanok Langsom for a chocolate-cherry cake and my favorite lemon drink. I then went to the Seoul Museum of History. I enjoyed that there were models of Korean apartments and restaurants from the 1980s that you could walk around in, and the giant model of the city was very cool to look at. I went back to the dorm for a while next before going to Myeongdong Kyoja and having their bibimguksu. I then tried the famous ice cream s'mores street food, which consists of a cube of ice cream coated in marshmallow, which was roasted on the spot. I have been wanting to try it for a while and I enjoyed it and its unique texture.

After class, I had lunch at Waffle It Up while I worked on my workbook assignment. I then went back to the dorm and studied for my vocabulary test before working on my State Department application. I had a sushi dinner and Melona for dessert before going back to the dorm.

This morning, I went to class and then had lunch at Greek Day. I took the subway to the National Hangeul Museum. It was really interesting to learn about the origins of the Korean alphabet, how it has evolved over time, and the impact it had on people when it was first created. I also went to an exhibition about dialects in Korea. The exhibition was mostly in Korean, but it also included some texts written by Americans describing Korean dialects which I enjoyed seeing. I went back to the dorm next and did some homework before having dumplings for dinner.

After talking to Bailey, Mom, and Dad this morning, I met up with Izzie in Myeongdong and we took a bus up to Namsan Tower. She leaves Seoul in a week and hadn't been yet, so I offered to join her. We went up to Namsan and looked at the views before getting a lunch of naengmyeon and dumplings. We talked for a while and then walked down the mountain and went our separate ways. I went to Hongdae for some bingsu at Snowing Forest Dessert Cafe. I went there with Mom and Dad a few weeks ago and it was delicious so I went back. It was very refreshing given that it was 90 degrees today! I went into some stores and walked around Hongdae for a while before going back to the dorm to do a bit of homework. I then went to Aangan, an Indian restaurant near Ewha with really good reviews. I had prawn biryani and some amazing garlic naan before getting Melona and going back to the dorm.

This morning, I did some homework and then met up with Sonia, Sandi, and Adeline in Myeongdong. We went to Myeongdong Kyoja for lunch and had their dumplings and two noodle dishes. It was very rainy so we went to a movie theater in Myeongdong and watched the new Despicable Me movie. I enjoyed it, and it was also interesting to read the subtitles and see how the dialogue was translated because in a lot of cases it wasn't a direct translation. After the movie, it was raining even harder, so we stopped in the Lotte Young Department store until we finally had to head over to the Seoul Tourism Plaza for a dance class. It was a free class with about 15 other foreigners, and over the course of the hour we learned the dance for TWS's song "plot twist." It was a lot of fun and I was surprised by how quickly we learned it because whenever I learn choreography by myself it takes me a very long time! We went our separate ways after the class, and given the rain and the fact that

After class today, I went to Dear My Love, a tiny cafe near Ewha that serves souffle pancakes. I got a peach souffle alongside a peach drink. I then took the subway to Namsangol Hanok Village, a recreated traditional village with several hanoks lots of beautiful outdoor areas with ponds and waterfalls. I walked around the area for a while before heading back to my dorm. At night, I went to Cha Hwa Dang for my favorite tteokbokki for dinner, and then headed back to the dorm and ate Melona while talking to Agomoni.

After class, I ate at Greek Day for lunch before taking a long subway ride to Incheon. I was supposed to meet Veronica and Maddox there in the afternoon because they have a long layover there, but it turned out they weren't able to leave the airport so I just explored the city by myself. My first stop there was the Jjajangmyeon Museum. Jjajangmyeon is one of my favorite Korean foods and Incheon is the birthplace of jjajangmyeon, so I was very excited to go to the museum. It was mostly in Korean, but I tried my best to understand the descriptions on my own and also used some translating apps to understand. It was interesting to learn about how jjajangmyeon came to exist in Korea through the fusion of Chinese and Korean culinary culture, how jjajangmyeon used to be stored in wooden and iron boxes for delivery, and the development of instant jjajangmyeon.  After the museum, I walked to Incheon Art Platform, a complex of galleries. I went into a few, one of which had an exhibition that

After class this morning, I went to the cafe Cheese Industry and had a brie cheesecake and a delicious peach yogurt smoothie. I then walked from Ikseondong to the Kumho Museum of Art to see their latest exhibitions. One exhibition was a collection of works by artists who stayed together on Gapado Island in Korea and used the island as their inspiration. It was interesting to see how the artists used the island in their works; one of the artists was more literal and made prints depicting the water around the island, while another put together squares covered in plant pulp and pigments found in the island's nature to form a grid on a canvas. The other exhibition was abstract, colorful, and had a lot of impasto. There were tons of different colors used in each painting, and the paint was layered on very thickly. It was really cool to be able to see these paintings in person because of how much dimension there was. I went back to the dorm next and did some homework and reading before g

After class today, I went to Greek Day for lunch and then took the subway to the City Hall area. I was still a bit hungry, so I stopped for a strawberry yogurt drink and an earl gray donut at Cafe Knotted before walking to the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. There, I went to an exhibition about the U.S.-Korea alliance and another one (that was mainly in Korean so I couldn't understand much) about the history of coal industry in Korea. Finally, I went to the museum's permanent collection, which looked at Korean history from the late 1800s to the present day. It was a lot of content that I have learned before, but it was nice to get a review. I went on a walk around the area after spending a couple of hours at the museum, and then went back to my dorm. I did some homework before going out to Hongdae, where I had stone-cooked bibimbap at Tera Gimbap. I walked around Hongdae before going back to my dorm and having an ice cream and red bean dessert.

This morning after class it was incredibly rainy and stormy, so I ate lunch in the dorm and talked to Skylar and Agomoni for a while. I did some homework and did a lot of reading before eventually going out for dinner at Noodle Kimbap, where I had beef kimbap. I went back to my dorm, did some more studying and watched some TV before going to bed. 

This morning, I slept in a bit before talking to Mom and Dad and doing some homework. In the afternoon, I went to Tteuran, a traditional teahouse in a hanok. I had a set of pumpkin rice cakes and mugwort rice cakes with a honey-like syrup to dip them in alongside a cup of omija tea, a traditional Korean tea also known as "five flavor berry tea" because it is simultaneously salty, bitter, spicy, sweet, and sour. After eating at the teahouse, I went to Gyeongbukgung Palace, the main royal palace in the Joseon dynasty. I went to Gyeongbukgung on both of my previous trips to Korea, but because it is one of the biggest attractions in Seoul and because it is so beautiful I thought I would go for a third time. The palace grounds were a lot bigger than I remembered from last time; it was really impressive how expansive they are. I loved seeing all of the colorful paintings on the roofs of the buildings and the nature in the area, but my favorite part was the Hyangwonjeong Pavilion, w

This morning, I did some homework before meeting up with Sandi, Sonia, and Adeline in Insadong. When I got there, they were sampling Kkul-tarae (a type of candy with nuts inside) from a street vendor, and we got to see a demonstration of how the candies are made. We bought some candy and all got to enjoy some afterwards! We had a lunch of dumplings and naengmyeon next before going to some stores where we were able to get free samples. We went to a yakgwa store full of uniquely decorated yakgwa, and also went to a store with red bean bars of different flavors that were packaged beautifully. We then went to the next door Anyeong Insadong Mall. We stopped by several stores looking for souvenirs before walking to HiKR GROUND. HiKR GROUND has various sets that resemble those of K-pop music videos, and while we were there we saw a dance group of kids recording a music video. In all of the rooms, you could customize the lighting and the song that was playing. Other than the K-pop sets, there