Seoul | Seoul National University & Nakseongdae

Hola!

Figured I should start blogging about this 6-weeks summer program at Seoul National University (SNU) before I get lazy and procrastinate like how I did for my previous travels. Basically this program is for international students all over the world to come to the top university in Korea and well... study. The Uni provides a couple of modules for you to choose and depending on the course, you either have to take a test, come up with a product or write an essay to pass and 'graduate'. I think I made it sound a little daunting but I highly doubt it is difficult at all to be honest hahaha *fingers crossed*, I mean it is during our summer holidays anyway. Of course, SNU is not the only University in Korea that offers such a program! Oh, in case you are wondering, I'm taking Korean Language and Arts & Ceramics here. You might probably think like "wtf why these courses" well because I had enough of theory and business-related modules and it is my summer holiday so I just wanna chill and do what I like. Never the best in arts-related stuff but have always been interested in it so why not right? Then I can be like those Korean actresses in cheesy romantic drama series when I play with clay and look artistic L O L.

Oh and I only took 2 courses out of 3 because I really just want to enjoy my time here and explore Korea as much as I can!

Surprisingly though, there are tons of Korean-American students here, in fact I think majority of the students in this program are from America. One thing I realised is that it is easier to communicate with American students because it is easier for them to understand the Singaporean accent or something, Idk, could be just me. I remembered having to repeat my sentences a couple of times whenever I speak to British-educated students. But of course, the British accent hails above all la. Funny thing is, the Americans tend to say "Ohhhh no wonder you have an accent." after I told them that I study in England but I SWEAR I do not have it, maybe for certain words but that's rarely the case. It's just the Singaporean accent man but not the kind with the Chinese slang in it, lol ok I think I don't make sense now but I hope you get the drift. There's a couple of Singaporeans students as well, mostly from NUS this year, so yeah it is nice to know you have your fellow country men here with you even though we don't hang out in the same group haha.

So I've been meeting up with Inhye ever since I've arrived and it really makes things a lot easier because she does all the talking with the staff and all that -yay- hahaha first time having an international friend so I'm a bit excited. But the downside is that she will be heading off to Maldives in early July for placement so I am probably not going to see her for an extremely long time #internationalfriendsproblems

I had a pretty damn good flight on Asiana Airlines because the plane was practically empty thus I had an available seat beside me. Transformed it into a makeshift bed and had one of the best 6-hours non-disturbed sleep in a plane. But for some odd reason I was still shit ass tired when I got to SNU and crashed for 4 hours before meeting Inhye for dinner at Nakseongdae. The rooms here are all shared dorms so I am staying with this other girl who studies in U.S. We were really amazed by this bind thing in our rooms because it separates the 2 beds and gives us the privacy we need damn cool. And also, the dorms have the room mates names and pictures outside their rooms?! Don't know if that's a good thing though haha.

I told myself not to finish that bread but I succumbed to my love for carbs and down it all lol. 

The airport shuttle to SNU's dormitory

The dorm (spot the bind in between!)

Nakseongdae is like the bustling area in Gwanak where the Uni is located, it is about a 20 minutes bus ride down from the dorm I think? Got lost because Google Maps is extremely ineffective in Korea (but it is not like I could download other better navigating apps because they are all in Korean and I understand no shit) and her phone died so after a good 30 minutes we finally found each other. We kept walking to find a legit restaurant because Inhye wanted to give me a memorable first meal HAHA, finally settled on this random restaurant right beside the road called Chung Won for dinner.

Ordered the pan fried octopus, pork belly and teokkbokki and it came with several side dishes like kimchi, seaweed and steamed egg, as well as cold noodles (naengmyeon). WAS FREAKING GOOD MAN the octoupus was very chewy, the pork belly wasn't dry and the cold noodles was really tasty and ON POINT. The noodles are quite similar to Japanese's soba noodles but it's thinner. Damn sedap.

Flavoured soju was recently introduced in Korea not too long ago and it has been a big hit with the locals so here's Ms. Alcoholic showing off our blueberry soju which was indeed, really good. 

And then we had patbingsu for dessert at this cafe called Lga Coffee. Matcha ice cream with red azuki bean paste. Hot damn.

Oh yeah, and then there's the whole MERS situation. Like what I have been telling my friends even prior to this trip, media loves to blow things up man. There were quite a number of people wearing masks at the airport so I took out mine to blend in but once I was out of it and into central Seoul, I swear no one gives a shit hahahaha. Everyone's without masks except for the older people and yeah it is as though MERS never really happened.

But yeah here's a shameless selfie of me trying to blend in with the crowd at the airport.

Ok that's all for Day 1, bye!