Me and Rosie at Namsan Tower
Cheonggyecheon at night
about 10 minutes before our walking tour of Changdeokgung
about 10 minutes INTO our walking tour (it rained for the next hour and a half
walking around Insadong trying to dry our clothes
MOST delicious cheeseburgers in all of korea at the Hilton Hotel (i miss burgers so much!)
This weekend Rosie and I went to Seoul for about 24 hours exactly starting Saturday evening to Sunday night. It was the most amazing 24 hours of orientation so far. Rosie's dad hooked us up at the Hilton near Namsan Tower. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant in Namsan tower. It was a little foggy but we still got a pretty good view of Seoul once it got dark and lots of the city lights were on. The food was also sooooo delicious. I really was craving pasta! We then had amaaaazingly delicious dessert!!! We took the cable car back down to the bottom and made our way towards Cheonggyecheon.
We walked all the way from the beginning of Cheonggyecheon near the embassies towards Dongdaemun Market. It was probably around 11pm but Dongdaemun was sooo packed and crowded with lots of shoppers and other tourists. We walked around Doota for a long time and looked at a million different things. There were so many things to look at, I was so confused and distracted and it took so long to focus!!! But it was like an amazing mall and then some!!! We finally got back to our hotel around 1am and went to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up for the breakfast buffet. I looooooove breakfast buffets and this one was amaaaaazing!!! Anyway, we made our way to Changdeokgung and were really excited for our English tour and to see the secret garden. However, the sky became more and more ominous as we walked over and the SECOND our tour guide began talking it started to drizzle, then rain, then POUR all over us. I was so excited for our 1.5 hour walking tour....haha. Anyway, despite the rain the tour was really good and the palace grounds were actually probably more 멋있어 because of it.
We started walking to Insadong and the rain began to let up. Insadong was a little empty at first because of the rain but as we walked around it began to fill up with people and street stalls. Rosie and I bought little bookmarks for our teachers and fans for ourselves! We also bought a bunch of postcards to send home. Everything was pretty and sunny after a while and I was sooooo happy we weren't in Chuncheon. After Insadong, we went back to the hotel for lunch. We decided we were going to eat American food at the hotel since we'd have lots of opportunities to eat Korean food for the next year. BEST DECISION ALL DAY!!!
THE CHEESEBURGERS WERE SOOOOO GOOD!!! I was so happy and so excited and so hungry and it was just perfect. I really miss American food a lot and especially eating meat and carbs that aren't rice. =( I'm a little worried for the next year but hopefully I'll open up my palate to a lot more tastes. Also, my appetite has been shrinking, I think as a result of eating Korean/Asian food all the time. I don't like 한식 as much as my sister or some of the other students here so I think I've been eating less. =(
Anyway, we finally checked out of our hotel and headed towards a Sauna that a girl at the fan store had recommended to us. It was Rosie's first sauna/ddeh experience and it was so fun!!! We both got our ddeh exfoliated and mini-massages for 22,000 won, which is about the same as $25. It was the best money we spent all weekend. Then we had to high-tail it to the Seoul Bus Terminal to get back to Chuncheon on time for our 8:45pm meeting with our Camp Instructors for this week's lessons. We got on a 7:10 bus and got to ChunCheon at 8:40 exactly. We made it to our campus by 8:47!!! hehe, and then i had the great surprise of my CI told me my lesson plan was perfect and we didn't need to discuss it. Yayy!!
yesterday we went out for dinner with our Korean instructors! We had samgyubsal, Baskin Robbins, and then noraebang. It was a lot of fun!~ I love our two korean teachers!! One is a woman and the other is a man. They are both really sweet and funny and love to tease us. =) I'm going to be sad when orientation ends, just because we won't see them anymore.
This week has been super tiring, and kindof draining especially after such an amazing weekend. I have one more lesson on Friday and then we'll be only 1 full week away from orientation ending. kindof a bittersweet thought. the orientation has been trying and i hate living in the dorm, but also i like having all (most) of the other American students nearby and also my roommate will be far away from me once we get to our placements and I'm going to miss her. =(
2 comments:
I went to that palace in seoul the afternoon after you went to orientation and it was SOOOO hot.. i got really excited cuz i knew more about something in korea that you for once, but now that you took the tour, i guess not. darn.
you sure are doing a lot man.. so have you found out where you'll be staying yet?? imma go to the states soon.. cant wait for the food!! ill see you when i get back yeah?
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