Simon & Martina + Yonkojeon!!!

Okay so I don't quite remember what I did from Sept 19th and today which is the 29th. I'm sorry guys. Been kind of neglecting you. Would've been better at posting if my phone hadn't cracked, and I hadn't sold it needlessly and needlessly paid $100 in shipping because I thought my parents were sending me a new one, and I currently have an ancient smartphone because of the first two reasons. So yup. And now that that rant was over (clearly, I'm still upset) I will tell you of what I remember of my last 10 days. Might not be a lot since it's been 10 days but I'll try.

So, the 19th. I did laundry then met up with Halima at Seoul Forest. Honestly, it's not really a forest. It's more like a giant park, but it was nice nonetheless. If you minus me getting bitten by mosquitoes. After literally 30 minutes of me not being able to find her because we literally walked right by each other, I had linner (lunch/dinner). It was some interestingly sweet chicken toast (which was tasty) and I also had so noodle dish from School Food. It was supposed to be one serving but...it was more like half a serving. Considering the size of the dish, it was pretty overpriced...but delicious nonetheless. After that, we went to a place called Latte King. I ordered milk tea and Halima tried to sweet potato latte. She didn't like it. Honestly, it tasted kinda funky and she was upset about it. Then we went to the Nature Republic (a cosmetics store) in the subway station where we bought nail polish. We also got a free EXO poster. Then we went to Dongdaemun to shop but didn't stay long because things were pricey and the ajummas were kind of scary.

Moving on to the 20th. I did nothing. At night though, I went to Hongdae by myself to walk around and people-watch. No one really bothered me. However, I was called a hipster and one guy tried to convince me to go home with him which wasn't happening. He tried to entice me with the offer of buying me snacks and letting me sleep on his couch. (I know, who could refuse that right?!? I practically won the lotto!) Yeah...no.

21st me and my friends were supposed to meet up to go to an amusement park called Everland but everyone overslept so we didn't go. After sleeping all day, I woke up to meet my fiends for dinner which consisted of delicious fried chicken. Then Halima and I went to Hongdae. We walked around and people-watched, ate food (found a crepe place and it was AWESOME), met up with Thomaz, and even met Simon and Martina from EatYourKimchi! They're pretty cool people. After that, we became tag-alongs to Thomaz's group, hit up a few places, and met up with friends at a club called Papa Gorilla where mostly all the foreigners go. The club was packed, one guy was being a creep, and we left. End of  Saturday the 21st.

22nd...I went to church where the preacher preached about how what you meditate on influences your life and the decisions you make. So true right? What you think about often really does have an affect on your life. So think positive people! Positive! After the service we went to eat at a Pho place. Honestly, the Pho was okay. I've had wayyyyyyyyyyyy much better Pho but it was decent. However, I didn't order the Pho, I got rice. Which was also good but the serving size was ridiculous. Of course after dinner must come dessert so I went to Baskin Robbins and got a strawberry parfait. It was delish. Me and Halima went to Hapjeong afterwards and did a bit of shopping. Well, she mostly did. I window-shopped. And...I think that's all that went on the 22nd.

I must warn you the 23rd to the 27th didn't consist of much. As usual, I went to dance class on Monday and learned a cool hip hop piece. I also keep having evidence of how stiff I am when I dance. That's really got to change. Then the rest of the week I did nothing but go to class. (I also had tests which I will not talk about.) I also probably ate and stuff but yeah...it was mostly filled with nothingness.

Oh on Thursday, I went to a club in Gangnam for the first time. It's supposed to be the upscale part of Seoul. Considering how the cover is normally 30,000 won, I decided to dress up. Plus, it was someone's birthday. Let me tell you, high heels are overrated. I also learned I don't have as much fun when my feet are killing me. Before going to the club, we ate dinner and I got to meet some cool people. Then met up with some friends who were drinking in front of the convenient store. Then went into the club and stayed for a like two hours. (Birthday girl didn't make it into the club. Too much pre-gaming.) That's all for Thursday.

Friday (the 27th) I went out to eat with some buddies and went shopping around Ewha's Womans University. After that we went out drinking where I made a bet that I could out-drink my friend which...needless to say, I owe the boy money. Not a very good choice on my part but bleh.

Saturday I went to Yonkojeon which is a big sports festival/rivalry against Korea University. It actually started Friday but I had class so I didn't go. Anywho, Saturday was soccer and rugdby. (There were 5 sports: soccer, rugby, ice hockey, basketball, and baseball.) We won 2 of the games and tied one which is pretty good I guess. It was really fun. Kinda like a regular college sports event but with a lot more organized cheering and fireworks. Fireworks shot off every time someone scored (I know, cool right?) and each school had like school cheers and dances that go along with them. You'd have to be there for it to make sense really. After the games I ate meat for dinner, hung out downtown where a bunch of crazy drunk college kids were acting crazy in the rain. And...that's it.

Today, Sunday the 29th, I went to church where I learned about what it meant to steal from God, ate jajangmyun and convenient store food, and neglected to do homework to watch Youtube videos and write on my blog. And thus, I am caught up. Woot! Hehe ^^

Sunday Dinner at a Faux Viet Restaurant

After Dinner Polaroid

Baskin Robin's Parfait

My View from the Subway

Monday Breakfast at Burger n Shake

Seoul Forest

Food at Seoul Forest and Latte King Art

Hongdae, Crepes, and Simon & Martina

Gangnam Outfit

Big Band and Seven at the Chicken Place

Fruit Bingsu (It tastes like Suno)

Yonkojeon

Steak w/ the Sunbaes

Like I said in the other post, I didn't have class until 4:00PM Tuesday Sept 17th. Which, was pretty amazing. Due to the Chuseok Holiday here, class will not be in session the rest of this week. Cool ain't it? I don't know what to do yet but I plan to do something. Some people are going to Jeju, others are going to Japan, and some Busan. My roomie is going to Busan. Why aren't I going? Well I was going to go to Japan or Vietnam to visit my relatives but the plane tickets are jacked up sky high so I decided against that. I just ain't bout that life. Plus, I used the money I would've spent for that on a new phone. Cuz you know, breaking phones has become my hobby lately. > . < Anywho, moving on.

I had class, ate dinner with my roomie, and went to this campus ministry where I sang a lot and cried a lot. It was pretty emotional...We ate chicken afterwards and then I got a strawberry oreo McFlurry from Mickey D's. Stuff happened in between but...I don't want to write why I got all emotional and stuff so I will omit that detail.

Then yesterday, Wednesday the 18th, I went over to one of my dance sunbaes house for dinner. We had steak, salad, potatoes and for dessert we had Tim Tam Slams. What are Tim Tam Slams? The best way to eat Tim Tams ever. After dinner we played some game that involved cards with fruit (I was bad at that one), Monopoly Deal (also sucked at that game), and Rummikub (I won once). Me and my friends loitered at his house for like 6 hours and afterwards we had a mini photoshoot where I made a bunch of ridiculous faces. Oh, btw, my sunbae likes photography. 

And...today, the 19th, I did laundry. Done.

So let me start attaching names to people so you don't get confused because I'm starting to feel confused myself. So...here are the people I've met or talked about thus far:

Roomies = Anabel, and Lilli

My roommate is Ana, or Anabel for short. She's nice, buys me food, puts up with me keeping her awake at night, and listens to me rant about nonsense.

Lilli is my old roommate but she's pretty cool. She's in my Japanese class, thinks I'm the strongest person she's ever met, and shares bread with me whenever she has it. (All she ate was bread for a while.)

Dance Sunbaes = Thomaz (that's how his name is spelled) and Daniel

Thomaz usually teaches the hiphop classes I attend.

Daniel took the photos on Weds, and it was his house we loitered at.

Friends that Dance = Halima, Kevin, Edward, and Natalie

Halima is kinda like me except less extra and she can dance...a skill I haven't mastered.

Kevin can also dance and he's hilarious.

Natalie is a sweet girl who claims she can't dance but she can, and she usually records the dance classes.

Edward is Korean and he also claims he can't dance but you just have to find the right song.

More Friends = Carmen, Nneka, Najin, Susan, Elwin, and Juan

Carmen is Australian and she never fails to crack me up. She also has awesome hair and knows people. LoL

Nneka is straight up the coolest person ever. She's not afraid to voice how she feels and I think that's great.

Najin is the cutest Korean girl I know. She's older than me and shows us where the yummy places to eat are. She's also kind of the translator.

Susan is also a really sweet girl. She's really caring and when we go out, she drinks water or milk.

Elwin is a funny guy and if you want to know where to go in Gangnam, he's your man. He also knows people, like Carmen.

Juan is hispanic and he's also hilarious. (Most of the people I meet are funny.) He and Edward apparently know the local convenient store workers, as well as the Mickey D's workers, and the local restaurant ajummas. (Gotta have those connections.)

Well, that's all. Enjoy my pictures below. ^ . ^

Dinner with the Roomie (Spicy Pork w/ Rice and Side Dishes)

Shopping Center in Hapjeong (Someone Famous Lives in the Apt Building)

Steak Dinner

Thomaz Cooking Steak, Kevin Washing Dishes, Daniel Chopping Onions & Potatoes, and Halima Making Salad (I Babysat)

Uhhh...What Happened?

So this post basically starts on the night of Friday the 13th and ends tonight, September 16. And must I say, it really was Friday the 13th because some crazy stuff happened. I won't go into too much detail because...well...I just won't; but it went something like this...

Me and my friends went to eat dinner in Hongdae. It was delicious and seriously, you guys should've been there. There were a bajillion dishes I don't know the names of and now I know I don't really like sundae (which are blood sausage). It has a supper weird taste...I don't know...not really my cup of tea. My other friend happens to really like it though. But anywho, we had food and then we went to this playground where everything was grafittied up and people were drinking. Honestly, kids shouldn't play there. It was basically a place everyone sat and drank. Interesting to say the least...

After sitting around and watching this drunk ajusshi dance, we went club hopping. It was actually really fun and the music was good (they played music I liked). Toward the end of the night, everything was a big blur. It rained and me and my friends got home by subway. That's it.

Saturday night, I also went out. One of my dance sunbaes had a performance and there was an after party afterwards so me and friends went to that. It was awkward at first, but then more people came and there was a dance-off (I was not a participant). I saw many dance styles and everyone was really cool. Now if only people would stop smoking in the clubs here and destroying my lungs. > . <

Sunday, I woke up early and went to church with my friend. Yeah, I know I'm Buddhist but I still went to church to learn and see what it was like. And I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I'm not Christian and don't believe in their particular God, the sermon was good and it opened my eyes to the commandment "Thou shall not steal." I think most of my friends would've really enjoyed it as well. I also met some cool people.

Hmmmm let's see...today I went to class. It was...class. And I'm pretty sure I have senioritis. I also went to a free hiphop class taught by one of my sunbaes and it was fun. Apparently, I did really well so I was happy. :) That's all folks! I don't have class til 4:00PM tomorrow so woot woot!

Random Exercise Equipment by the River, Jajangmyun, and Delicious Pork

Friday Dinner and Drunk Ajusshi

525,600 Minutes...

So this post is supposed to tell you about my week from Sept 8th til today, Friday the 13th.

I can honestly say, I don't remember what I did really, aside from the usual eating, sleeping, and homework. Like I said, my days are all running together at this point. I know one day this week (Tuesday?), me and a couple of friends went to this cute restaurant and I had mandu soup. The soup was okay. The mandu was a tad bit too peppery for my taste.

Wednesday, I went to see RENT with my roomie and one of my classmates. It was a school production of the musical and it was great! However, it was in Korean so I had absolutely no idea what was going on 98.9% of the time. I just knew which songs the were singing due to the melody. After the musical, we went to this chicken place in Sinchon that has bomb-a** chicken. It was delicious.

Thursday was just my wander-around day. I went shopping near Ewha Womans University (yes I spelled that correctly), and bought a cardigan, a dress, and a shirt. The cardigan was over-priced and made for males (but I like it), the dress is kinda weird but it was cheap (not sure how I feel about it), and I really like the shirt. I also went to hip-hop dance class again. I can follow the dance steps okay but my execution leaves something to be desired. However, it's really fun so I think I'm gonna keep going regularly all semester...even if my money is steadily dwindling down. Had tacos again for dinner and the hot-dog guy is a really handsome flirtatious man. (Which, I don't mind but I'm pretty sure I made it super obvious I think he's nifty.)

Uh...today, Friday, I haven't done much but go to class. I had a hiragana quiz and it was...well...it could've gone better. I knew the characters but couldn't complete the quiz in the allotted time. So unfair. I think I'm going to go out tonight but I'm not too sure yet. Guess I'll see what tonight has in store after this last class. Bleh...

Tomato Sausage Spaghetti, Curry Cutlet Dosirak, and Mandu Soup

Green Tea Frappe & Crazy Ramen (Which Wasn't All that Crazy)

RENT! And the Most Delicious Cream Chicken Ever

Dance Class

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling twenty...one. =P

Okay so I'm not longer going to separate blog posts by days because well...my days are getting mixed it. Instead, I will update you on stuff that's happened and highlights and stuff. Because well, you don't really need to know what I do everyday right? Some days are more eventful than others cuz I'm dull and boring and lazy and me. Anywho, this is what happened Sept 4th-7th.

Honestly, I don't really remember all I did. All I really know is that I ate a lot. I don't think I did much on the 4th besides getting a drink to bring in my birthday at midnight and some random folks wished me a happy birthday outside the convenient store. I think I did something else that day but I can't remember at this point in time. I probably ate... Hopefully nothing especially memorable happened because I'd remember it...Oh yeah! I went out to dinner with some friends at a chicken place that had really spicy overpriced wings then had the best red bean buns ever. I ate like 6 of them.

Anyway, it was my birthday on the 5th! I'm now 21 and old as dirt. I had a drink at 1:00PM as well because that's when it was midnight in America. Had ramen for lunch (it was yummy) and then after classes I went to a dance class taught by one of my sundaes. The dance was relatively easy, I'm just not good at dancing. But moving on. Afterwards we went out for tacos and hot dogs and they were the best taco and hot dog I've ever had in my life. Like seriously. The chef was super good looking and I made a complete fool out of myself. I know, flirting fail. Actually more like flirting disaster. But that concluded my night.

So Saturday the 6th was an interesting day. I went to class then had my birthday dinner with a couple of awesome friends. We had samgyupsal (basically, grilled pork) with a bunch of side dishes and it was amazing. After that we went to a bar in Hongdae called Ho Bar. One of many Ho Bars in Seoul. Like, there's a bajillion of them. At the bar they played electronic music and I had some type of cocktail. Got bored so we went clubbing. Okay, this is the part where things get...weird.

Show up at the club and it gets packed super fast. I wore these high heels so I was taller than most people there and no one danced with me because I guess they were intimidated? I don't know but this club (NB2) played hiphop electronic music. After a while, we decided to go check out the other clubs. (Apparently here, depending on where you go, the cover for one club gets you into 1 or 2 other clubs as well.) So we go next door to Club Harlem which had NO ONE in it. It was playing all electronic music. Quite frankly, I felt bad for the DJ. Naturally, we leave and head to Club NB1 which played all hiphop. I loved the music they played there but...no one was there either. And so I learned that almost all of the people here like electronic hiphop music which I personally don't enjoy. But I guess when in Seoul...

Head back to NB2 and it was more packed than when we left. I changed from heels to flipflops and ended up dancing with some sleazy guys. That wasn't very fun...one actually tried to get me to leave with him. (Yeah...that didn't happen.) Never actually experienced something like that before...it was...gross. Besides that, I had fun dancing with friends and stuff. Oh and most people at the club also just stood there and did nothing...especially the people on the stage. And I found 50,000 won on the ground. That was the best part. Haha Overall, clubbing in Seoul for the first time was definitely an interesting experience.

Most of our group went back home at 2am but me and a couple of girls and one guy stayed and continued to walk around Hongdae. Went to a couple of bars where were filthy and a club called Papa Gorilla which was an "international" club. To sum up it up, there were a bunch of really intoxicated girls on this platform dancing with large pitchers of beer. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to be standing near there in case something should happen. At the end of the night, we caught a cab back.

Catching a cab here takes a lot of effort. Because depending on where you want to go, you have to catch a cab at a certain street going a certain way. Yeah...confusing, I know. But yup! That was my birthday!

And today I slept tile 2:00PM, laid on my bed and watched shows on my laptop, and went to eat dinner with my roommate. Dinner was paid for by her because it was part of my birthday present and well...she drank all the beer...and ate the cheese. (We had chitato dakgalbi, which is chicken, cheese, and potatoey deliciousness.) She also gave me a BEAST poster, which she got for buying the CD but still, isn't she awesome? Oh and I saw the most dumbest fight/argument break out in the middle of the street...and the Ho Bar in Sinchon apparently had a zombie theme going on tonight. The zombie dudes were fighting though, two separate things.

That sums up this post. Check out my photos below and as always, thanks for reading!

Chitatoe Dakgalbi

Best Hotdog, Taco, and Burger Ever!

Samgyupsal and Dwegigogi B-Day Dinner

Cake, Ramen, and Drinks

Birthday Gifts!

Day 12 (Sept 3rd)

Okay so...first off I wanna say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! To my bestie Chatela. I love that girl and I hope she has a wonderful 22nd.

Now onto what I did today.

Basically I went to this Cultural Psych class hoping I'll be able to register. The Professor was totally suave an bada** and only had 15 slots in the class left and there were like 30 people who needed the class. He chose you based on major and junk and since I was a Criminal Justice major I was super scared I wouldn't get into the class because the other people that needed it besides me were Psych majors. From the way he explained the layout of the class, I felt I'd thoroughly enjoy it so I really wanted to be accepted. And I was. So woot woot!

Then I went to the activities fair and "met" the fencing club/team. My first impression of them weren't very good so I shall not speak of them.

Had lunch. It was pork cutlet and crouqette (aka a hashbrown) and it was delicious. Then watched TV and went to see the result of my Korean placement test. Turns out I have to learn Korean all over again which I'm very displeased about. Like...super upset. I cried in the class due to frustration.

So after two hours of ahhhhhing and ooooohing and uhhhhhhing all over again, I went to have dinner with a group of girls and it was magnificent. We had girl talk, I laughed a great deal, and dessert was awesome. I'm so glad I'm meeting such awesome people here. It has really been a good experience so far...minus the disappointing parts but I guess I'll make the best of it. Oh and I have a new roommate. Yeah...long story. Actually not really but I just don't wanna get into it.

Cutlet & Croquette, Berry Bingsu, and Tiramasu

AMAZING BBQ Meat

Parking in Seoul

Day 9 & 10 & 11 (Aug 31st, Sept 1st & 2nd)

Okay not gonna lie, my days are running together so I have no idea what I did. But I'm pretty sure all I did on Saturday was lay on my bed and read manga and watch shows on youtube. Oh! I did go to this "Vietnamese" restaurant for dinner and had "Vietnamese food." I ordered bun bo sao which was SUPPOSED to be sauteed beef with noodles but instead I had vermicelli with imitation beef, garnished with ice, mangos, and pineapples. Yeah...I don't know either. It was overpriced and needless to say, I was not pleased.

Uhhhhh yesterday (Sunday), I did pretty much the same thing except I went to Burger and Shake for linner. They have the BEST burgers. Except I didn't get that this time. I got the cheese melt and hot chili fries and strawberry shake. Everything was delicious and the fries were really spicy. I took a picture of it.

Today was the first day of classes. My first class was Beginning Japanese I. Although it was supposed to be a course taught in English, my teacher spoke no English. However, the textbook is in English and a couple of my classmates translated so I guess it will be okay. I ate lunch after that and had "Chicken Gratin Omu-Rice" which is basically rice with chicken and tomato sauce with melted cheese and egg on top. It was AMAZING! And also like $4. Then I took a nap and went to take a placement test for my Korean class.

I shall no talk about the placement test...

Afterwards I ate with some buddies at this strawberry restaurant with this very sweet ajumma. I had kimchi fried rice. It was also very yummy. And then went to a dance class. Yeah I know. Me and dance in the same sentence? Surprisingly, it turned out okay and I met some pretty chill people. I must say, my time in Korea has been fun. Hopefully the second day of class is good and I get into the last class I need.

Sorry my blog hasn't been as entertaining lately you guys. All I've been doing is stuffing my face...

"Vietnamese" Restaurant

Chicken Gratin Omurice

Kimchi Fried Rice