It’s been more than a year now that I’ve come back from the United States from Korea. I still keep up with my Korean popular culture. I’ll write more about it in future posts. This summer I met up with a friend, I made in Korea, in NYC. We’ll probably be life long friends and traveling buddies. One of the many reasons I’m grateful for my study abroad experience in Korea. I will try to keep the posts rolling on this blog! Happy holidays!

The pains of studying...

Ok, so the picture above isn’t from when I was studying, it was from when I went to a sauna in Seoul; apparently this is a fun way to break open a hard-boiled egg, a favorite at saunas.

I’m back in Cincinnati, Ohio now but I still haven’t updated with new posts. My last week in Korea was quite hectic, with studying for exams–and taking them–and packing on top of trying to buy last minute souvenirs. The flight back wasn’t too bad. I’m now studying for my MCAT so I haven’t had the chance to write much. However, don’t fret! As soon as I’m done with my test I will catch up on unwritten posts, thoughts on Korea, tips on surviving Korea and Korea University, and lifestyle changes as a result of my Korea experience. Coming to a blog near you–which is this blog, if you haven’t guess it–July 18!

Working at my favorite cafe

Hello all, I’ve been quite busy with school and preparation for going back to the States–only 10 more days! As a result, I haven’t been posting much of anything. I have many many things I want to write about, so don’t worry about the fact that there’s a dry spell of posts right now, there will be a huge downpour in the days to come! Going to go back to studying now. Wish me luck on my exams!

Floats at a river in the middle of Seoul

Buddha’s birthday was on May 21st. Since half of the population in South Korea is Buddhist, it was a big deal and a national holiday. On this day, people flock to temples to pay tribute and pray. There were also parades in the streets of Seoul near Insadong and City Hall. It’s a fun and festive holiday!

Meditating on mushroom chairs

Big Bang!

Today at Korea University there was a “Big Concert” kicking off the week of the Ipselenti festival. This concert was about “Go Korea” and the 2010 World Cup. Big Bang, an uber-popular Korean boy band, came first at around 5:45PM. Big Bang sang their Shouting Korea song and did another song. Then the school student government put on some performances.

Tablo of Epik High

At around 8PM, Epik High came and it was THE BEST performance of the night. The crowd was soooooo pumped. If you don’t already know them, LOOK THEM UP!

KARA!

Around 9PM KARA came, performed their songs: Lupin, Mister, and another one. It was a SHOW! And the boys totally went wild.

Check out the videos on the right side bar.

Dream Concert 2010!

Dream Concert 2010 happened on Saturday May 22 at 7PM. I didn’t have tickets, but my friends and I came a couple of hours before it started, and somehow there were some people who had tickets and they sold them to us for the original price (5,000 won) in return for an interview for their school project. They were pretty awesome seats too! I got to see all the big Korean singers like Rain (Bi/비) and Lee Hyori. There were about 20 different singers/groups, including B2ST, Shinee, 4Minute, Kara, T-ara, After School, Super Junior, SNSD/Girls Generation, SS501, DBSK, Lee Hyori, Rain, MBLAQ, U-KISS, and more!

Cultural Difference: Even though this was/is the biggest concert of the year with the biggest stars in Korea, the (World Cup) stadium wasn’t filled. People don’t stand or dance at concerts here, they sit the whole time–totally different from American concerts.

Nevertheless, it was still awesome! I got to see Lee Hyori and Bi, and that’s all that matters!

Check out my videos of the performances in the right side bar!

My man, Rain/Bi!

During his "Hip Song" performance

SNSD/Girl's Generation Fans/Banner

The banners light up at night!

The first performance: U-Kiss

Bukhansan Mt.

As you might or might not know, Korea is very mountainous. As a result, hiking is very popular here in Seoul. This is one of my favorite parts of Korea, the nature. Best of all, it’s free for everyone to enjoy! I’ve been hiking twice: once at In Wang Mountain, and another at Buk Han Mountain. San(산) means mountain in Korean, so that would be Inwangsan (이왕산) and bukhansan (북한산). Bukhansan was quite far, and the hike took me around 4 hours to do. Bukhansan is located near the Suyu Subway Station, then you’d have to take a bus to the mountain. There were many many people hiking up and down this mountain, especially on Sundays.

A hiker w/all their gear

The scenery is to die for. On that note, the hike was also kind of dangerous–make sure you have the right shoes.

February 14: Valentines Day (women give presents/candy to men)

March 14: White Day (Men give presents/candy to women)

April 14: Black Day (singles eat jjajangmyeon)

May 14: Rose Day (couples give each other roses)

May 17: Adultery Day (guys give roses to girls (21 yrs old, with boyfriends)

My ticket to the game!

Baseball games in Korea are much more fun than soccer games. Koreans love their baseball. There’s four baseball games everyday except for Mondays, only one or two of the games are in Seoul. I went to the the LG Twins (Seoul) vs the Lotte Giants (Busan). The ticket costs 7,000 won for a seat in the outfield. It was still a pretty good view. Baseball games here aren’t like the ones in the U.S. in terms of the crowd. They have cheerleaders and performances to pump up the crowd. It’s quite strange that when one of their batter is up, they shout and scream the whole time, not letting them concentrate. Just like soccer, the baseball teams are owned by huge conglomerates/monopolies and they have their company names in the team name to prove it. Take a look at the names:

Team/City

Doosan Bears/Seoul

Hanwha Eagles/Daejeon

Kia Tigers/Gwanju

Lotte Giants/Busan

LG Twins/Seoul

Samsung Lions/Daegu

SK Wyverns/Incheon

Nexen Heroes/Seoul

The Stage

Every year in May, Korea University and Yonsei University each host their own festival/concert. Yonsei had theirs first. The line up of singers include many famous Korean celebrities including Hyuna (and 4Minute), BEAST, After School and many others. If you’re into Korean pop music you’d know that these are big names. At the festival, you have to wear the school color, crimson if you’re a KU-er and blue if you’re a Yonsei student. Yonsei and Korea University are known as rivals, but from my perspective it’s more like a sibling rivalry than an all out arch-nemesis kind of rivalry. There were many cheers/fight songs. Apparently freshmen have to go through two hours just to learn the cheers during orientation. I only caught the end part of the concert but it was still really fun.

The Korea University festival called “Ipselent” is set to happen on Friday May 28th! I will update with the list of stars that are going to perform. I guess I better go learn all the cheers too.

Check out the videos of the festival on the right side bar and the pictures below!

Part of Yonsei University