first seoul trip

i had a chance to go to seoul on the 19th to go and see the musical RENT. and it was awesome. they had 2 of the original cast members (anthony rapp and adam pascal – the roomates roger and mark) and as we all know this is the last run of RENT and it will no longer be on broadway. i have never seen the play, but have the movie and know every song so this was SO EXCITING to attend. our seats were really great! 4th and 5th row! 

besides that, we spent some time in itaewon – which is a community in seoul that caters to foreigners. and we went out at night in the university club area. holy crap. there are so many people in seoul. 24.5 million in  the metro area. and you never forget that fact. and there are so so so so many foreigners! white people everywhere. it was really overwhelming, trying to take the subway and people all over the place. and not knowing hangul AT ALL. but it was also lots of fun. i think it is one of those places thats great to visit, but wouldnt be so rad to live in. it may be different if you had your own place though… we stayed in a hostel, so there was never a point in the weekend where i could have privacy or two minutes to myself! 

i went with my friend, sybil, and she has been a few times so she took the reins with getting around and figuring out what to do. thank god. on sunday, we went to LOTTE World. its an amusement park owned by LOTTE, and LOTTE owns what seems like half of korea. one can get a bulgogi burger from lotteria, or go shopping at lotte department store, or live in lotte castle apartments. 

anyways, lotte world was amazing. i cannot tell you enough how much i enjoyed it! it is the worlds biggest indoor theme park and only half of it is inside. i really think they had some people from disney come over and do consult work because there are so many similarities! mainly the costumes and the niceness of the rides (it was more disney than six flags, if you catch my drift.) it was super fun, and because we went after 4pm it was cheaper. only like $22 for a pass that included all of the rides. we also went through one of the scariest haunted houses i have ever been to. 

in all, my first trip to seoul was a success. i had tons of fun, spent too much money, and got ranch dressing at a restaurant. im easy to please. and i really like ranch dressing. 

speaking of, you can send packet mix and bottles of ranch to:

 

203 1449-8
dowon-dong. dalseo-gu. dae-gu.
704-803
south korea

 

just sayin!

bijindo island

two weekends ago, some friends and i went to bijindo island and went camping on the beach. it was so awesome. korea has something like 300 islands. i had no idea! theyre so pretty. we had to travel to tongyoung and took a short ferry from there to the island. i went to e-mart and got a 40l backpack and sleeping bag for the occasion and i am so glad that i did!

we slept in tents on the beach. it got pretty chilly at night. there were a dozen or so people, mostly from tongyoung, in the group. i can say for sure that i am totally glad that i came to daegu and not a smaller or bigger city. while it was a really cool area, there just isnt as much to do. and the expat community is soooo small. its nothing for me to see white people walking around town here. there, everyone knows eachother because there is only like 20 of them. they explained it as not getting along with people but not having a choice. yuck! there are a couple of people i have met in daegu that i didnt ‘click’ with but i never see them! a smaller town would super suck.