Today my friends and I headed to the In the Soop pop-up store located at the Hyundai Seoul. In the Soop is a mini show series where BTS and Seventeen went to a secluded area as with their band mates to enjoy a relaxing week of being able to do whatever they wanted. Like many things, their company decided to come up with special merch to commemorate the show and even create a pop-up store to allow fans to be able to purchase the merch! Luckily, my friends and I went a couple days after the pop-up store opened and on a weekday, therefore, there was no line to get into the store (unlike where we heard from some people that they waited 2 hours to get into the store). The store was very aesthetically decorated and the staff were very nice that they even took a picture for us! i had a great time looking and shopping as normally I would only be able to see these special pop-up stores online since they are mainly held in locations such as Seoul, Singapore, LA, etc! Knowing that this is only the beginning of many kpop adventures to come, I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the future :)
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Let the semester begin Classes officially started on September 1st! It's kind of unfortunate that all my lectures are pre-recorded so they're all asynchronous. On the other hand, I'm telling myself that it'll hopefully give me more opportunities to explore Korea! I'll provide a more in depth update at the end of the month :) This week's food guide My two food highlights of this week was being able to go to Din Tai Fung (myeongdong location) and Ikea! At Din Tai Fung, Natalie and I ended up getting the xiao long bao sampler which had five different flavors (crab, chicken, pork, shrimp, and mushroom), fried rice with eggs & crab meat in xo sauce, sautéed green beans & beef with oyster sauce, and spicy vegetable and pork wonton. We ended up clearing all of our dishes and were very satisfied with our meal. On my trip to Ikea with Michelle, I was so happy to be able to eat the popular Ikea meatball again! It's pretty interesting to see that Ikea's in different countries have their own unique speciality. Being in Korea, the Ikea here had kimchee fried rice but we didn't get it as we went there for the famous meatballs. They were good as expected! They also had their special hej twist cone, which was a banana and blueberry flavored twist! It was an interesting combination of flavors but fairly enjoyable, especially for only 1000 won. I thought it was also amazing how they also had an ice cream bar where you could make your own sundae! Other places I went this week were 무아국수집 (located in Anam, near Korea University) and 구미마을 bbq village (in sinchon)! Exploring Gangnam During one of our free days, we (Michelle, JJ, Dakota, and I) decided to take a trip out to Gangnam, a popular shopping, food, nightlife area in Seoul. We started our day at 유정식당 Yoojung Sikdang, a restaurant that BTS frequently went to during their trainee days. Not only is this a great place for BTS fans but they also had great food! They're known for their pork wrapped in vegetables, which Dakota and JJ got and looked amazing. Michelle and I got the bibimbap, which was equally as amazing with the stir fried pork and hot stone pot. We were also very lucky that we went around Jungkook's (one of the BTS members) birthday so they gave us photo cards and cup sleeves (a popular item provided for idols)! From there, we explored around Gangnam, where we went down the Gangnam Star Road, Seolleung/Jeongneung Royal Tomb, and the famous Gangnam Style hands outside COEX. It was most definitely an eventful and amazing day to be able to see all of these kpop related and historical locations in person. My two favorite m's: matcha & mango
With my love for matcha, I had to find a matcha place in South Korea. I was very happy when I found out about Osulloc Tea (오설록), a popular tea shop from Jeju. The main store is located in Jeju but they do have multiple locations around South Korea! I tried the matcha einspanner, which was so creamy yet rich with the matcha taste! They had a variety of drinks so you'll definitely be able to try a new drink every time you go back! There were also a variety of tea leaves and other items to buy to satisfy any tea cravings! As for my mango cravings, I was able to find Go Mango (I went to the Hongdae location but there are several around Seoul)! I got a strawberry mango smoothie and it was only 2900 won! The drink was very flavorful and it even came with frozen strawberries and mango on the top! They have about 5 different drinks to try, so I definitely can't wait to try them all while I'm here! Happy Birthday Jungkook! Today, September 1st is JK's birthday so my friends and I decided to go around Seoul and find things that were set up in honor of his birthday. Our first stop was going to the Yongsan area as we heard that around HYBE (entertainment company of BTS) there will be displays and cafes! To our surprise, we found a well decorated cafe, a 35 meter wall with just Jungkook, and street poles decorated with his banners! After checking out the area, we headed to I-Park Mall, which is located at Yongsan station, where we saw a decoration dedicated to one of his singles Still with You. The statue was 7 m tall and was so pretty to see in person! After exploring the Yongsan area, we headed toward Gangnam, an area we heard that would have plenty of billboards. Not only was there one but there were multiple in one area! Since COEX mall was near the area, we also stopped by there, where to our surprise practically all the billboards would show Jungkook on every other ad! It honestly amazes me to see how much effort fans put in to celebrate their favorite idols. *Fun fact: Jungkook is one of the most celebrated idols! He also set the new record for 'most birthday hashtags' with 1 million mentions and a total of 10 trending hashtags :0* As we wrapped up the night, I was very impressed with everything I've seen to celebrate his birthday and barely could fathom everything that was happening. What amazed me the most was that these celebrations were happening around the world in countries such as the US, Japan, Singapore, and UK to name a few.
*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 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!
As I wrap up my time in Singapore, here are my list of 10 helpful things to know if any of you were planning to visit :)
*I apologize on the length but I promise it will be helpful*
Packing... (May 9th): Last day in my dorm, which meant packing and cleaning... After getting used to living in my room for the past five months, I was actually kinda sad that I was leaving my dorm because it meant that my time at NUS was coming to an end. I made wonderful new friends and made memories that I will remember forever. One realization I had while packing was how much stuff I actually had. I honestly thought I didn't buy that many things but I guess I was wrong 😅. Luckily, since I'm not leaving Singapore yet, the weight issue will be a problem for another day!
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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
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