- The stairway to heaven?
So, it’s officially the halfway point of my stay here in Korea. I have two months left. At this point, I am tempted to do two things: 1) reflect on what I’ve done so far and 2) mope over all I haven’t done and won’t be able to do in the remaining two months.
But I will not do such things. I CANNOT do such things. My remaining time here is limited, and I must make the most of it. The simplest things here, such as the plethora of beautiful cafes, random food sellers on the street, cutesy accessory and clothes stores, and the simple existence of Asians (especially Koreans) everywhere, make me so happy and make me feel that no matter what I was doing here in the future, I would love to live here in Seoul.
Something I’ve been feeling lately – I’m so close to everything (kpop stars are living a couple subway stops from me! There are so many Korean guys but I’m too shy to actually talk to them!) but at the same time, so far away. What did I come here to do? There are so many things I wanted to do when thinking about coming here, but I really haven’t done a great many of those things. Sometimes I feel a little bit disappointed about my experience here so far – I have friends who have actually seen kpop stars up close, I have friends who have actually gotten into live music shows, I have friends who have had Korean guys actually taken in interest in them, and the list could go on and on, but I know this is really destructive behavior and that I should just stop right here.
The solution to this all is to just stay here. But I know I can’t do that…at least not for now. My plan for now is to go back to the States after this semester and finish my bachelor’s degree and then come back here to teach English while taking intensive Korean classes. And then I will pursue my acting career here. I’m still a bit iffy about this – it will take more than a little bit of perseverance and dedication to make it as an actress here, and I know myself more than anyone else – I have a weak will. My heart yearns for so much, but my body can only handle so much. Therein lies my greatest dilemma. Stay in the States and have it easy or come back to Seoul and live in what someone told me yesterday was a “exciting hell”? So true, so true – Seoul is exciting in so many ways, but at the same time, its fast-paced atmosphere can sometimes become overwhelming.
I went to Myeongdong with my friend Simon last Friday. Here are some happy pictures and we had kalguksu at a really famous place! It’s really well-prepared noodles with mandu :) And the kimchi was amazing!
Really expensive green tea cake/tiramisu/ice cream place we wanted to go to -__-;;
Simon trying on a farmer/hipster hat ;)
How cute are the eyelashes?
The most delicious kalguksu and mandu :)
What am I doing here? Where am I going? These days I feel really lost and without answers…but maybe that’s the point…
So following that depressing previous post about how much KU/Korea sucks, I wanted to write a post about what I liked about Seoul so far. Seoul is split up into many different neighborhoods. Seriously, they’re all different and I’ve really enjoyed visiting all of them. I’ll do a small review of what these neighborhoods are like.
Myeongdong: The quintessential chic shopping locale. We went at night, and the lights were beautiful. It consists of long streets intermixed with smaller streets, and the stores are located close together. It was similar to the nice upscale shopping districts of Shanghai. The clothe stores are rather expensive, however, and I found many stores whose clothes I loved but were waaaay too expensive for me. I will definitely be making a visit or two back to Myeongdong because I really enjoyed it (as an avid shopper).
Namdaemun: This place is a market (open from morning until 5 pm) – some open stores and some closed stores. No upscale designer clothing, but a lot of cheap stores with bags, kpop paraphernalia (that were actually quite expensive), and street vendor food. Fun once in a while, but I wouldn’t come back regularly.
Apgujeong: Similar to Myeongdong, except more Beverly Hills. Supposedly a lot of celebrities hang out in Apgujeong. There’s a SM Everysing here and I plan on coming back later to audition :) The SM Everysing building is really pretty and it has a lot of noraebang rooms that are just gorgeous. I will update everything with pictures once I get my lazy ass back in gear and start taking pictures once again.
Itaewon: This is the “foreigner’s district” and to be honest, I was quite disappointed. It looked, as my friend Jei said, like New York City – at the dirty parts. There were a lot of American food chains, like Taco Bell, Subway, Outback Steakhouse, and since I’m not a bit fan of American or fast food, I’m not a huge fan of the place. One good thing is that they do speak English better in Itaewon than just about anywhere else in Seoul. It’d be good to come back here if I start getting homesick.
Like I said, I’m being so freaking lazy about taking pictures because my camera’s heavy to carry around, and it’s just annoying taking pictures when I’m trying to go around and enjoy everything with friends. So I’ll take pictures later.
Here’s a picture my friend Carol took of us trying to get drinks at a vending machine at a temple in Busan (forgot the name).
karainseoul 