*not my usual content but thought i'd share all my kpop related content separately :)*
In South Korea and other countries who have a strong kpop idol presence, there will be cafes, billboards, and train stations decorated for their birthday. I was very happy as my first experience was going to be celebrating Jungkook's (BTS) birthday, my bias 😌. Natalie and I met two other girls from Yonsei and adventured out to cafe hop to find all the decorations and gifts. During this day we ended up visiting SIX different cafes (although we only bought things at about four cafes. For some context, these cafes have decorated their stores with pictures of the idol, in this case Jungkook, and have special drink sets that come with a drink, photos, cups, etc. At first I was wondering how the day would go but after seeing the amount of items I received on top of my drink, I was very satisfied. The best part was that some of these cafes even had freebies for customers to take! Which meant I definitely took some for my BTS loving friends back home :) Overall, I was very satisfied with my day and I couldn't be more happier to be in South Korea during JK's birthday 💜✨ *Cafe list: Tone&Manner, Lovin' her, Aside., Lovinidol
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Finally freeee~ I'm finally out of quarantine!! It was such a wonderful feeling to finally be able to begin exploring the city. This trip, I decided to write more about the highlights that occurred and the places I went instead of a day by day breakdown because let's be real, if I did that, my blog posts would be too long 😌. *Fair Warning: appetizing food ahead* This first week was so eventful due to the fact that my friends and I felt the need to be outside after being inside for way too long. However, the gathering restrictions did make it difficult for us to spend the whole day together (4 people before 6 pm and 2 people after 6 pm). Food 😇 Let's be real, this is one of the best parts of visiting a foreign country. My first meal out was Mom's Touch (a chain chicken burger store) with Michelle. Yes, it's not Korean food but after 14 days of straight Korean food, I needed a variety (and honestly some fried food hehe). I had a spicy crispy chicken burger set and it was so good. It was also nice that they had the kiosk ordering so I didn't have to worry about a language barrier! Another easy favorite was Cochon Tonkatsu! For those of you who watch Mikey Chen, aka Stricly Dumpling on Youtube, this was in one of his videos! The best part is that the tonkatsu meal is 3000 won which is ~$2.60 😮😮! This whole corner has restaurants that range from 3000 - 5000 won, which is pretty affordable. Following Mikey's recommendations, we also went to a seolleongtang store in that same area and it was amazing as well. Some other restaurant highlights of the week were Yookssam Naengmyeon, Sinmigyeong Spicy Stir-fried Chicken (dakgalbi restaurant, English speaking waiters!), Choe Gojip Hongik Branch (really good lunch specials. 7000-8000 won meat + jjigae set), Ez India Sinchon Branch (authentic Indian food cooked by Indian chefs), and bb.q Chicken & Beer (as seen in many kdramas). Lastly, can't forget about the dessert and boba I've had this week! I was so excited to be able to have Sulbing again that I went two times this week! I had their seasonal melon bingsu and injeolmi bingsu. If you are looking for something not too sweet, I highly recommend the injeolmi one. As for boba, I'm so happy to be living in a place with Gong cha again because that means I can have my milk foam (I was quite avid drinker of it back in Singapore) 🥰! On the other hand, I also discovered a new boba place Palgong, which I will now be a frequent visitor of when I am in the Ewha/Sinchon area as their drinks mostly range from 2000 - 3000 won!! Also as an ice cream lover, I thoroughly enjoyed the 100 flavor Baskin Robbins at Coex! There's so many to choose from that I ended up sharing a 10 flavor sampler! Out and about! The energy of finally being able to be outside definitely carried out the entire week. From visiting stores around Sinchon to going to Gangnam, it was very adventurous! Majority of this week's highlights were definitely all the different stores I went to. From the last time I visited Korea, I definitely missed Sigonggan. It is a jewelry store located in Sinchon (with other branches located around Seoul) and popular for their aesthetic store interior but also affordable jewelry! Another one of my favorites are definitely Line Friends and Kakao Friends! It's sooo convenient that they're located a couple minutes from each other. Their characters such as the BT21 collection at Line Friends and Ryan/Apeach at Kakao Friends are so cute, it's pretty hard to resist (pictured below is me with a super big baby RJ I wish I could bring home 🥺). Also not to mention I probably went to them both like 3 days in a row with 3 different groups of people hehe :). Another must see location is COEX mall with the Starfield library. Due to covid, the seating areas around the library are closed off but there still is a corner to get your Instagram worthy pics :> Lastly, some of my friends and I also got to visit the famous Han River (get off at Yeouinaru station, where we got to take pictures with the "I SEOUL U" sign and relax. The only issue was that due to the current restrictions, we had to sit in pairs, sit separate, and basically pretend we didn't know each other as there were volunteer patrollers walking around to find those that were in groups (it was kind of uneasy most times as we would see some groups getting separated but the uncomfortable part was that the patrollers would take photos of the groups without consent and it seemed like they were sending it through text to someone). *EXTRA CONTENT*
Natalie, Michelle, and I encountered a pink bear in while walking around Sinchon, little did we know it was a very popular bear in South Korea known for scaring people around the street! So go check out our (more like Natalie's)15 seconds of fame in Korea through their Youtube video and Tiktok :) Oh and did I mention we're the thumbnail for the Youtube video :> 14 days honestly went by pretty quickly! Throughout the days it was nice to catch up on a lot of missed sleep and just relax for the first time in a while. I booked my quarantine through Global E&S, which is the government quarantine system. I was very fortunate to get a pretty decent hotel room and food during my quarantine time (compared to some of my friends :)). It was very interesting to be isolated in only a room for the entire time but it made me further appreciate going out when we went to go get our covid tests (the day after we arrived and 2 days before the end of quarantine).
Since I am also taking classes at UH Manoa this semester, classes also started the day I was able to get out of quarantine! It was nice to be able to work on some of my assignments as I was only able to leave at 12 pm! Anyway, now that I'm out of quarantine time to go adventure Korea before I start my classes at Ewha (exploring safely of course <3)! Photos: Here are some of my favorite meals from quarantine! Also along with the numerous amount of drinks (the peach and mango juice were the best ones) and snacks they gave with every meal haha :) Finally made it to South Korea (however, none of us were expecting the wait ahead)! Upon leaving our plane (at 6:45 pm), we were faced with a superrrr long line of people. With no explanation by any staff we patiently waited not knowing what the line was for (we just assumed it was for some sort of paperwork). After about 2 hours of waiting in this initial line, we got to the front, where we found out it was a covid test check to make sure we all had negative PCR tests. Woohoo, we all thought we were all set to go, big mistake... there was another line waiting for us. Now it was the quarantine check line, which took another 3 hours to get through :(( FINALLY 5 hours later, we finally got to our bags and got through the exit.
Upon exiting, we went to check in with someone who was in charge of Global E&S, the government quarantine facility organizers. After checking in with them, we were told to wait on the side for our ride. During that time, we decide to go to CU (one of the many Korean convenience stores) and I got to buy some drinks! I ended up waiting another 5 hours (along with my other friend JJ) for our ride as the cars could only shuttle 3 people at a time and there were also many students that arrived the same day with only about 2 cars going to our hotel 😣. Once we were able to get a ride, it took 1 hour from Incheon Airport to arrive at our quarantine facility. Finally, after a very long journey of a 10 hour plane ride and an 11 hour wait/travel time (it really took longer than the plane ride), I have finally made it and settled down at around 5:30 am ><. On a positive note, I'm glad that I didn't have to go through this alone and had 10 other friends to go through this experience together. Not going to lie, it was a very rough trip getting here but looking forward to being able to get some well needed rest the next 14 days in quarantine! Hi everyone, I'm back! I hope you all have been well and staying safe through this pandemic. Over a year later I am BACK and now with a new adventure :) This semester I'll be heading out to Korea to study at Ewha Womans University! Truthfully, I am a little sad that I won't be heading back to NUS for my second semester there BUT I am sooo excited to be going to Korea, especially being able to visit with some of my closest friends 🤗 To everyone back home: I will miss you guys so much the next several months but please stay safe! Can't wait to see you all very soon :) In the mean time, stay updated on my adventures through my blog!
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kelsFrom traveling to tips, I hope to share my experiences with you all and motivate you to explore your kuriosities :) Archives
October 2021
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