Tag Archives: south korea

AKARAKA!!! 아카라카

I used to think Penn State had the most school spirit in the world, what with our overwhelming school gear, screaming fans at our packed football games, and our ability to never let any “We Are” go unfinished.  That is… until I studied Yonsei University for this semester.

Don’t get me wrong, Penn State is Penn State. It’s my #1. Nittany Lion forever.  A part of me felt like I was cheating on PSU when I put on my bright blue Yonsei shirt and decided to attend the annual school festival called Akaraka.

Akaraka was something that the school told us about on the very first day at our international student orientation.  Our program said it was something we definitely did not want to miss.  When the ticket sales began, it was all I ever heard about on campus.  The amount of lines I passed of students waiting for tickets was overwhelming. Lots of the international students struggled to find tickets and it was a long drawn out process for many. Luckily I didn’t have to try hard to get tickets, because my drum club got it for us.  I had to just pay 11,000 won ($11), give my student ID number, and boom. I was going to Akaraka.

But the thing is… I didn’t even know what Akaraka was.  It seemed so hyped up and overrated.  A part of me didn’t even really want to go.  A school festival?  Would it even be fun?

Why did I ever doubt Akaraka.  Why do I ever doubt if anything in Korea is going to be fun? The default assumption should always be yes. Yes yes yes.

To begin the festivities, Yonsei had a pre-game for the festival.  We’re talking a two day pregame.  Koreans go hard, to say the least. The sports stadium was completely overrun by students, performers, booths, everything!  And on a Wednesday and Thursday night.  Here are some pictures, courtesy of my girl Anne.

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(A pop up bar on campus. That’s something you don’t see in America)

Performers, friends, cheap food and drinks. What more could anyone ask for?

On Wednesday during this pre-Akaraka festival, my drum club had our big performance! In classic Korean style, we practiced every. single. day. for a total of three weeks beforehand. The preparation was intense, with the practices lasting three to four hours.  My poor feet. Even my blisters had blisters.  But it was all worth it in the end! Shoutout of my incredible club members for giving it their all, and for every single one of my friends who came to cheer us on. There’s a part of the performance where audience members come and stick money in our hats, and some of my friends gave me money! :’) That’s when you know the friendship is real.  (Also big thanks to them for these great pictures!)

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When Friday came around, I was starting to get excited for Akaraka. Although I didn’t fully know what it was, the pregame activities managed to fill me with enough school spirit.

Akaraka ended up going from 2:30 to 10:00 pm. And I stayed for the entire thing, cheering and having the time of my life. For the entire seven and a half hours!!!!! The first hour or so was school cheers (which I can’t exactly explain in words… it’s something that needs to be experienced) There are multiple cheer songs and each one comes with fun moves and dances the crowd does. It was great being with my club because I was surrounded by Yonsei students who all knew every word and every move.  When that ended, famous korean celebrities came to perform. Among those was Psy. That’s right, Mr. Gangnam Style himself. He performed for an entire hour and absolutely killed it. I felt like I was at his concert! Some other celebrities were EXO (really popular boy group), Kim Bum Soo, Rainbow, and the rapper duo Leessang 리쌍.  Once the performances were over, we finished with another hour and half of cheering!!!

Akaraka totally lived up to the hype. If I could do it all again, I would. Thanks to my drum club for entertaining me throughout the whole thing! From seeing the girls go crazy over the celebrities to having my president practically destroy me during the cheers (I fell over multiple times ㅜㅜ), it was an awesome experience..

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Location: Seoul, South Korea

You Can Call Me… Grape?

How would you feel standing up in front of a group of Koreans and telling your life story???

Monday night, that’s exactly what I did.

Perhaps now is that time when you are sitting there wondering how I managed to get myself in this situation.  I’d say that’s a fair question.

Well… it all started when I joined the – don’t laugh – traditional Korean drum and dance club. It’s called pungmul -풍물.  Have I ever played drums before? No.  Do I have any rhythm? I’m white… so no. So why did I join?  I joined for a few reasons.  1) I never had the chance to learn Korean drum, so what better place to learn than in Korea?!  2) It’d be a fun skill to say I learned while abroad 3) This could be a great chance to meet and interact with local koreans at my university. And lastly, 4) WHY NOT?!

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One of the traditinal drums: 장구 – Janggu

From the very first club meeting I went to, I knew I made the right decision. The people there were so kind and fun, I immediately felt welcomed.  And that’s saying a lot, considering hardly any of the club members speak English (and we all know I hardly speak any Korean).  But the best part is it doesn’t matter, most of the meetings I just spend the time laughing and learning the instruments. We can still joke around and enjoy each others presence, and I’ve really enjoyed every meeting so far.

We had our first performance this past weekend!  We went around to multiple restaurants in Sinchon 신촌, a popular area for young people that is located near our university campus, and played for the restaurant owners.  From my understanding, this tradition comes from when 풍물 players used to go to farms in the olden days and play for farmers to bring them good luck in their harvest.  We play for the restaurant owners to bring good luck to their business. In return, they gave us free food and drinks (!!!!!).

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Where there is free korean food, you will always find Paige.

When I showed up for the performance, I had no idea it was going to be such a big ordeal.  Our club has about 10-15 consistent members, but for this performance, we teamed up with other universities and played, so that there was around ~75 people.  And at first, I was literally the only non-asian. My friends from my program are Korean-American and Chinese-American, but they could still blend in.  But me? Whiter than white?  It was the first time I was really aware of my whiteness, as strange or shocking as that seems.  It was the first time I was really reminded that I was a minority, and it was… an interesting experience to say the least.

We lined up in parade form, and played all around 신촌. The drums aren’t exactly quiet as you can imagine, so it wasn’t long before people would turn to look at us and take out their cell phones to record. It was so much fun!

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We ended the night by heading over another popular young area in Seoul, called Hongdae 홍대. There we found a spot in the street and put on a full performance. Afterward, all of the university students went out and ate and drank together! With the help of my good friend soju, I was able to actually hold some conversations in Korean, which I count as a success!!! The entire experience was one I’ll never forget.

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That’s all good and fun, but now may be the time you’re wondering why I had to get up in front of everyone and tell my life story?! Get to the point already!!!

In this club, everyone goes by their nickname. They don’t call each other by their real names… ever. And in order to get a nickname, you stand up in front of all the members and tell them your life story. Your family, your friends, your dreams, your failures, your ideal man or woman, your favorites books and movies, etc etc etc. The whole ordeal takes about an hour, but it was SO much fun! Through all this, you really get to know each member. Then, at the end, potential nicknames are thrown out and everyone votes!

My nickname is 포도! Literal translation is Grape, but it comes from ‘포장되지 않은 진실된 도음” Which basically means someone who is sincere and pure in all their help, since I am someone who really enjoys volunteering and hope to work for an NGO one day. I absolutely love it, and when I was given the nickname, I truly felt like I was part of the club.

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Aren’t we the cutest club you ever saw????

(((Credit to the lovely Ashuka Xue for the pictures in this post! Thanks for the memories girl)))


Location: Seoul, South Korea

Dear America, Take Note.

As the second week of classes are coming to a close, it’s hit me that I’ve been in Korea for nearly three weeks. THREE WEEKS. How can so much happen in three weeks? How can three weeks feel like three months? (in a good way, of course)

In my three weeks in Seoul, I have noticed that Korea just gets it.  There are some parts of this culture that make so much sense I can’t believe America hasn’t jumped on board.

DEAR AMERICA, TAKE NOTE.

1.) Call Bells
Call bells are REVOLUTIONARY.  Truly.  Imagine this, dear Americans: you go to a restaurant. You look at the menu. Everyone decides what they want. Then… you press a button on the table. A waiter appears within seconds, you tell them the order, they disappear.  Soon your food is brought out. Everyone eats. Everyone is happy. But WAIT! Someone needs a refill.  And… you press the button again. Boom, waiter.  Boom, refill. So simple, so easy. This way, you don’t have a waiter interrupting your conversation every few minutes to check on you. And this way, the waiter doesn’t have to plaster on a fake smile and act as if they really care about you and your dinner.  (Added bonus: Korea isn’t about the tip life. It’s actually insulting if you give a tip.)

2.) Street Food
I could write an entire blog post declaring my love for street food. No, I could write an entire NOVEL dedicated to my love for street food. Street food is truly something special, friends.
Practically anywhere you go in the city of Seoul, there are little stands all over, all bearing some of the greatest food you will experience in Korea.  And all for around $1-$3.  Does it get any better than that?!
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Pictured above: Ice cream waffles, Fried chicken and fries, and 호떡 (hotteok) so good it will singlehandedly convince you to move to Korea (호떡 are mini pancakes with filling that will change your entire life)

3.) Karaoke
Forget all you know about karaoke, because Korea’s karaoke is not only different, but way better.
In America, many people associate karaoke with you in a crowded room or bar, rolling your eyes as someone clearly intoxicated stumbles their way to stage and sings some slurred, earsplitting rendition of “Oops I Did It Again.”
But in Korea? They have 노래방. Literal translation: Singing room. You and your friends can actually rent a ROOM, equipped with TV, fun lights, microphones, and couches. You can also get drinks if you wish. Not so that you can down them in hopes you won’t hear the next painful karaoke stranger, but so that you can drink them and have a fun time rocking out to your favorite songs with your friends. It’s one big party, and you can spot about twenty 노래방 places on one street of Seoul. They’re everywhere.

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4.) Sharing Culture
My personal condolences to any germaphobes who travel to Korea. Sharing culture is huge here. It’s very common to go out to eat and order one bowl of something, and everyone eats out of it. I’ve become so used to trying everyones food and tasting everyone’s drinks that I don’t know how I’m going to adjust back in America when that’s not really a thing. The best thing about sharing culture is dinners tend to be pretty cheap. You can end up having a bill of around $30 for a group of 7 or 8 people. And you don’t end up eating as much as you would back home, because you’re sharing it with everyone. Here are some pictures from some (crazy delicious) meals I’ve split with others…

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5.) Cheap Textbooks
I have a total of eight textbooks right now. And you know how much I spent overall? $170. For eight textbooks. $170 back in the States can’t even buy me a pdf file of one textbook. The struggle is all too real.

6.) Dessert Cafes
This is probably one of my favorite things about Korea, and I’m sure those who know me reading from back home are just shaking their heads and saying “Oh Paige…” But listen! Dessert cafes! You order your yummy dessert, share said yummy dessert with friends, and sit and talk for the next few hours in this cute, cozy cafe. Doesn’t that just sound like paradise?!

So America, I hope you were listening carefully. I expect these all to be happening when I return in June. 🙂

(Gotta give credit when credit is due… all food photos credit to Anne Feller! aka one of my fave people to discover Seoul with)

Jung (정) in Jeonju

정  – combination of compassion, empathy, and bond on a very soulful level. It is a connection that is formed between people.

정, pronounced Jung, is a word that doesn’t exactly have an English equivalent, and when I learned it in my korean class last semester, I didn’t fully understand what it meant. Now I do. Jung isn’t just a word – it’s an experience.  It’s a feeling.

This past weekend, I traveled to Jeonju, South Korea.. about a three hour bus ride from Seoul. I wasn’t too excited for it. To be honest, I was just exhausted at this point. Our program had us go go go nonstop from the moment I landed in Korea, and all I really wanted was one solid day to rest and overcome my jetlag. Yet here we were, off to Jeonju!  So drink an extra cup of coffee and pack your bags!

I hadn’t even heard of Jeonju prior to this excursion. Aside from Seoul, I had only heard of a handful of other cities in Korea.

BUT LET ME TELL YOU. JEONJU WAS WONDERFUL. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS WONDERFUL. So many people were dressed in 한복 (hanbok), korean traditional dress. There was a traditional village, side by side with the modern buildings. We even went to a Buddhist Temple, Paper Museum, and learned traditional korean drum & dance… all probably sound incredibly boring to you but I promise it wasn’t. Not even a little. I loved everything about Jeonju!

But what I loved the most was the atmosphere, and the people. It was just entirely different from Seoul. Like night and day. Seoul is great, and I love it a lot. But it’s crazy busy to the point where it can be overwhelming. People are all on a mission. They’re going to work, they’re going clubbing, they’re going shopping. They energetic and busy and all over the place at every hour of the day.

But Jeonju is more slow pace. They have smaller shops. People are out and about just for the sake of it. I referred to them as the “little Jeonju people” at one point.. because that’s what they were to me! Just sweet little Jeonju people going about their day. The city (if it can even be called a city?) was so cute and quiet and lovely.

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On Friday night for dinner, my group of friends and I were struggling to find a place to eat… which never really happens in Seoul. In Seoul, you turn down one street and there is ten food places. You turn down another and there’s fifteen more. In Jeonju, the food places were a bit more spread out and hidden. When we were passing by one, an 아줌마 (ahjumma – older lady) came out of the restaurant and gestured us towards her. We quickly learned that she didn’t speak any english, but she was so sweet and excited to see a group of foreigners that we really couldn’t say no.

We entered and saw that we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor at one of the low set tables. I love when I encounter experiences like this. It’s cool to come across parts of a culture that are so different from my own, and I’m always eager to give it a try.

We ate bulgogi, which is marinated beef and happens to be my all time favorite food in the history of ever (yes, ever). I was stoked when I saw they had it. When we finally got all our food, I was more than ready to dig in!

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That’s when the 아줌마 came up next to me, a huge grin on her face, and began to prep my food for me. I tried to tell her I was okay, I didn’t need help, but before I knew it she was holding the food up to my mouth and literally feeding me.  When I took a bite, she laughed loudly and slapped my bum. I kid you not. I feel as though in that moment I gained a korean grandmother and all was right in the world.

That, my friends, is 정. We were also given free soda drinks for dinner without even asking, and they didn’t charge us any extra for the extra bowls of rice we ate. 정 정 정!

Ahhhh, Jeonju. I was very sad to leave so soon, but I will be back before I return to America. I miss the little Jeonju people already!

More information on the concept of Jung if you are interested!


Location: Jeonju, South Korea

En Route to Seoul!

It’s been a long time coming, but I am FINALLY on my way to Seoul, South Korea! My past few months have consisted of me sitting at home pathetically missing Penn State, religiously keeping up with all the adventures on this geoblog, and enduring a constant stream of “North or South?” jokes by anyone who finds out I’m studying in Korea.

Unfortunately, traveling to the other side of the world isn’t exactly the easiest. Currently I’m on a four hour layover in Detroit – proudly wearing my THON hat – and then I head to Seattle for the night. Tomorrow morning starts my official eleven hour flight to Korea! (Thank God for Netflix, amiright?!)

I’m definitely a firm believer in journaling and blogging, so I intend on taking you all on this four month journey with me, if you let me.  Like I said, this trip has been a long time coming. I’m not talking about the past two months at home by myself. I’m not even talking about since last summer when I got accepted to study at Yonsei University. I’m talking about since 2011 when I first became interested in the Korean culture. I used to stay up all night and just dream about visiting Seoul… and now I can’t believe that in just a day I’ll be living there! High School Paige is so jealous right now. It’s surreal and scary and crazy and ridiculous. If I’m being honest, I was starting to have cold feet this past week. Big time. But here I am in Detroit, so I might as well fly all the way!

I still haven’t figured out if the next few months will pass quickly or not, but I have decided that I don’t want to waste a single day.  I only have four months.  I want to make the most of every second.

I have two major goals, and I am determined to complete them:

1 – Have an entire conversation in Korean. I will never stop being amazed by people who are multilingual, and I hope to join them one day. I have been studying the language since my freshman year, taking four semesters. Although my 선생님들 (professors) have been angels sent directly from heaven, I still struggle with the language. It’s a really fun language, and I love learning it, but I get very shy when I speak it. I’m not capable of having a conversation in all Korean just yet, so when that day finally comes, I will let you all know.  There will probably be lots of caps lock and exclamation marks in that blog post.

2 – Educate the rest of the world on how cool South Korea is. When I tell people I’m interested in Korea, I normally get a lot of Kim Jong Un jokes. (I mean, a lot). Which is all good and fun(ish), but then I realize that people genuinely don’t know a lot about Korea. I had someone ask me if I was going to have running water where I going! Seoul is comparable to New York City. It’s truly the city that never sleeps. Of course I could never blame people for not knowing much about Seoul or South Korea… I mean, thinking about it, there are so many countries in this world that I know nothing about.  Up until a few years ago, I knew nothing about Korea as well. I just got a fortune cookie the other day that read “Every wise man started out by asking many questions.” So fear not friends, I will take you on this journey with me and by the end of it all, you’ll all want to travel to Korea for yourself!

Next blog post will come at you from the other side of the world! And I’ll be sure to incorporate a seoul pun title so painful it’ll have you all rolling your eyes. Until then, 안녕 (Annyeong)! 🙂

페이지 / Paige


Location: Seoul, South Korea

Coffee Shop Heaven

Hi everyone! So today was my first day in Seoul. I just finished window shopping near Ewha Women’s University, which has a lot of cute little clothing and make up shops, and now I am cooling down in my room.
Let me go back a little bit and update you on my journey here. The flight was fine, albiet, very lenghthy. I started off at Pittsburgh at 7a.m. and then moved onto Toronto and then to Vancouver on Air Canada. Everything went smoothly and all my connecting flights were on time and I honestly couldn’t ask for a better flight. I was sitting next to a Canadian college student named Megan who was on her way to visit her friend. After I got to Incheon Airport, I went through customs painlessly and then got onto one of the airport buses into Seoul for about nine dollars. From the airport to Seoul it takes about thirty to forty minutes and I was all ready to get to my guesthouse which was a two minute walk from the bus stop, except I started talking to this Australian college student sitting next to me on the bus and I must’ve missed it. Whoops. After getting off at a random bus stop and debating on what to do, especially since it was starting to get dark, I awkwardly hailed a taxi. Luckily, the driver was really nice and knew where Ewha Women’s University was and I figured if I could get there, then I could find my guesthouse. On the way there, the taxi driver was very friendly and even tried to communicate with me in English, while I tried to communicate back in the little Korean I know. He even gave me candy (yes, Mom, I know I am not supposed to take candy from strangers) and pointed out monuments on the way there. When I got there, it had gotten really dark and there were still crowds of people walking around, but with some spotty GPS navigation, I finally made it to the guesthouse. However, I was disheartened to see that after they kind of adventure I had that day, I would have to walk up two flights of stairs with outrageously overpacked suitcase. Then out of nowhere, like an angel of light and goodness, a little old woman came and grabbed one end of my suitcase, and helped me carry it up they stairs. As quickly as she had appeared to rescue me, she was gone. Okay, maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that, but I was touched nonetheless. The receptionist at the gueshouse was also very nice and I was grateful that my room had air conditioning. By the time I flopped down on my bed, a sweaty, hot mess, I remembered the haunting words of the stewardess telling me not to go to sleep until you would normally go to sleep. I groaned as a looked at the 7:20 p.m. on my phone and reluctantly cleaned up, unpacked a little and headed out again. I walked up and down the street, but ended up getting some triangle kimbap and a couple of cans of soda at the convenience store next to the guesthouse. I was so exhausted and I wasn’t even that hungry, but I went up to my room and ate one of the triangle kimbaps and tried, but failed to watch an episode of the X-Files (in Korea, Hulu and Netflix are blocked, but I subscribed to a VPN hiding service so I could cheat and still watch it). By the time, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, the clock read 9:30, but I called it “close enough” and with that I was out for the count.
When I woke up feeling more than refreshed, and texted my Dad for a good twenty minutes. I then laughed metaphorically in the face of the stewardess who told me to not go to bed so early. I work the graveyard shift, so I am going to go ahead and brag and say jetlag is no obstacle for me. I showered and got dressed and went down in the common area for a breakfast of toast and hardboiled eggs and after that I went out again, this time in daylight. Since Sogang is about two blocks away from my guesthouse, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to scout it out for tomorrow. The campus was relatively big for being in a city and it has a huge soccer field in the middle where I watched some guys playing soccer. After that, as I said before I just did A LOT of window shopping, and resisted the urge to buy everything. I did indulge in some make up and a bracelet. I safely crossed the bridge that is ordering food at a restaurant in another language (phew) and I had some hot, but delicious bowl of udon. I even went and got probably the best manicure of my life (the nail salon girl must’ve spent thirty minutes on my cuticles!). 
It is now 3:45 p.m. as I write this, and since starting this blog entry, I have cooled down sufficiently and I am ready to go back out again. Since it is kind of late, I am not feeling confident enough to try the subway quite yet. I just want to note that everyone I have encountered so far have been more than friendly and I am beyond grateful for that. The fact that people have been trying to speak to me in English (without me asking if they knew how) makes me want to learn more Korean. 
When you read other blog posts, they always tell you to beware of culture shock, like it’s some sort of disease or paralysis that you can catch while you’re away from home and by all means I am not saying that it doesn’t exist. Except rather than call it culture shock, I would call it something else. I feel like it’s something in between culture shock and wonder lust. I mean, it’s only my first full day here and I am a little overwhelmed, but in a good way and not at all in a frightened or I miss the way things are back home kind of way. It’s only 8:20p.m, but I think I am ready to call it a night. Not because I am tired, but more because I want to kind of take it all in a little bit (and because it’s raining right now). Before I came back to the guesthouse, I went to a coffeeshop called Coffine Gurunaru, finished reading the Ocean at the End of the Lake by Neil Gaiman, which is a short, but not short enough to be a short story, novel. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has an afternoon on the sun porch, with a glass of sweet tea, to spare. It was kind of quirky, but it was the kind of novel that had a lot of hidden backstory, so you wish it went on forever. However, I think if it did go on forever, it would lose its magic. As I sidenote, though, maybe it’s because I am in university-type of area, but there are coffeeshops EVERYWHERE and a lot of them are open until around midnight (hint hint nudge nudge, Irvings). 
Okay, I think I will finally bring this blog post to an end. I am glad I applied to the Geoblogging program, because even though I am not huge on keeping journals, I have at least thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog post. I hope it wasn’t too informal. I just took an copyediting class this past semester, so I am really concious about typos now, but since I am writing this on the go and I don’t have my handy dandy blue editing pencil with me and I couldn’t fit the Chicago Manual of Style in my suitcase, you will have to excuse any errors that slipped through probably only one read through. I am really not trying to sound pretentious, I’m pretty sure I got a B- in that class. Film majors often say that being a film major has ruined movies for them because now they just have to overanalyze them. Well, I can say with confidence that being an English major hasn’t ruined books for me, but it has made me extremely paranoid and given me a strong sense of inferiority in comparison to my peers who have far more interesting blog posts than myself. 
Tomorrow I check into the dorms, so this is goodnight! I hope to post more about that soon. 

Location: Seoul, South Korea

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WE ARE PENN STATE!

 

Hello, my dear GeoBlog readers. Sorry my first post is so late.. I will keep you guys updated as much as possible from now on. As my first blog post, I will be telling you guys a little about myself and the country where I will be studying at. Hopefully you guys will have fun reading it!



My name is Angela Ji Young Kim, currently fourth semester Pre-med major at The Pennsylvania State University. I am South Korean, born in

YonseiUniversityEmblem.pngGangnam(a.k.a. Gangnam Style-Psy), South Korea. I had immigrated to the United States at the age of 6. Most of my family members still live in Korea, where I will be studying at this semester! I am thrilled to go back to see my grandmother, aunts, uncles, and my niece.


South Korea is where I was born and also the place where I will be studying “abroad”. My host university in Korea is Yonsei University, which is located in Sinchon (a.k.a the heart of Seoul). My move in date for Yonsei University is the 13th of February but I will be flying out TODAY 9:15AM to explore my homeland beforehand. I am indescribably excited and worried to explore the unknown at the same time!


I will keep you guys updated as my journey goes on, so talk to you soon! BYE AMERICA, I WILL DEFINITELY MISS YOU LOTS.


Location: Philadelphia, PA