Highlights of Week 3 😸
10 SEPTEMBER 2022
THE RETURN TO HONGDAE AND THE SEARCH FOR ANIME GOODS 😻
11 SEPTEMBER 2022
THE JOURNEY TO GANGNAM 😻
11 – 12 SEPTEMBER 2022
HOLDEN GOES TO THE ER (Emergency Response) 😿
14 – 16 SEPTEMBER 2022
INVITATION TO MUNDANE LIFE AND TAKING CARE OF HOLDEN🙂
THE RETURN TO HONGDAE AND THE SEARCH FOR ANIME GOODS
Setting off on our full day shopping spree and anime hunt 🤩 PS: It was super hot that day.
After taking bus 8100 and transiting to bus 273. We finally reached Hongdae. First we went to visit Yong Lin’s favorite store Sunflower. The girl is now a loyal customer.
Since it was the first day of the Chuseok Festival, the streets were highly empty and there were mostly foreigners there. Most of the stores are open despite it being a national holiday. We suggest coming around this period.
Interesting thing about Hongdae, it has a very strong busking culture so there are many young people dancing and performing along the street. There are also a lot of tarot card reading services there.
After going into every clothing store and snatching up all the amazing deals and fashion. We went to find all the anime stores in Korea as apparently Korea has a very underground anime and weeb culture. All anime stores are concentrated in Hongdae but they are very well hidden. Too well hidden in fact….
After scouring the internet, I finally managed to locate all the stores in Seoul. Your girl is missing her anime stuff ok. You can take the weeb out of Singapore but you cannot take the weebness out of the weeb.🤪
First stop, A&K Plaza. Do not be fooled by its normal mall like exterior and stores on the other floor.
There is a Cinnamoroll themed cafe on the 3rd floor btw. Anyways, the 5th floor was the only important floor to me. 😆
I went insane in there. Though they did not have a lot of the newer anime and game goods. (QWQ No Genshin Impact) They had an amazing collection and variety of series. Animate is awesome as it has everything a weeb can over ask for !
Items it sells : Manga, BL😏, figures, merchandise, albums(I wanted to buy the Ado x Uta album but me poor QWQ), art books etc.
The 5th floor also has a second hand merch store, League of Legends store, Nintendo and lots of themed cafes such as the famous One Piece Cafe. 😻. At this point in time, they were having a Bungo Stray Dogs Casino Cafe. I even got to take a picture with a Dazai Cosplayer. SLAYYYY 🔥🔥🔥
I also went crazy over the League of Legends figures. I got myself my favorite duo. 🥰
Overall it was an awesome day, afterwards we just went to more clothes stores and towards the end. We went to find the Aniplus Cafe which is located at B1 of a very interesting mall. On the way back to school, we caught the gorgeous golden hour sunset of Korea. Truly a wonderful day.
THE JOURNEY TO GANGNAM 😻
We invited some other girls to join us on our adventure to Gangnam Underground shopping district as well as to the Starfield Library.
First stop, we headed to the Line and Kakao Friends Flagship store. OMG both the stores were huge and most stores in Korea are 3-6 stories big.
At the Line Store with the girls ❤️
We then headed to the Coex Mall to grab lunch and visit the Starfield Library. The library was simply breathtaking and gorgeous. Despite being located in the center of the mall, the second you enter it, everyone seems to suddenly become quite. It is truly quite miraculous. Coex Mall also has the famous Gangnam Style monument built there to commemorate one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time as well as the song that put K-pop on the international map, Gangnam Style by PSY.
PS: There is a speaker there, constantly playing Gangnam Style on repeat. Everyone there was grooving to the catchy song.
After a hearty lunch and visiting two of Seoul’s iconic landmarks. We took the subway to Gangnam’s Famous Underground Shopping District. Though it isn’t as big as Myeongdong and Hongdae (Which I do prefer), it was truly quite a sight.
Many of the stores had our favorite 4 letter word plastered on the front 😏. SALE!!!
Best part, you can bargain to lower the price.
PS: By the end of the trip, Yong Lin has already became a bargaining expert and managed to get many of the store owners to reduce the price of what they were selling her by $10-15.
SLAYYYYY GIRL 🔥🔥🔥
HOLDEN GOES TO THE ER (Emergency Response) 😿
After our long trip to Gangnam, as Yong Lin and I were getting ready to settle in and rest for the night. We were suddenly alerted to shocking news.
Holden’s chest pains had gotten so bad that he was curled into a ball from the excruciating pain and gasping for air as he was unable to breathe.
Yong Lin and I immediately rushed out to his aid and even contacted the president of the exchange students, Sam Chae
Sam rushed Holden to the hospital on his motorbike. Mingy, Holden’s buddy also rushed down to the hospital and was already there when he arrived. Yong Lin and I managed to haul a taxi and sped down to the hospital as well.
Mingy helping Holden fill up his details since everything is in Korean.
Due to Covid restrictions and rules, only one person could enter the ER with Holden. Yong Lin and I knew that we would be unable to help him if we went in with him since most Koreans do not know English.
In the end, Mingy went in with him and kept us posted as we waited for the results. We were all very worried for him as we were all clueless as to what could be bringing him so much pain. 😿
Sam was pacing back and forth and constantly asking for updates from Mingy, Yong Lin and I were updating Holden’s mom who was super worried for him as well as updating the teachers in-change.
We waited for a really long time, to make matters worse, Yong Lin and I were already exhausted from our Gangnam outing. I don’t remember much as I passed out on the bench while waiting. Oops…
PS: 4th pic is proof that I was out cold 🥲
After waiting for about 2.5hrs, Sam informed Yong Lin and a very sleepy me that we could head back to the dorm first while he would stay until Holden was discharged.
However, unlike in Singapore. There were no taxis available at 2am QWQ. In the end, Sam decided to chauffeur Yong Lin and I one by one on his motorbike.
Pic: Sam getting his motorbike.
This was such a once in a lifetime experience as both of us have never ridden a motorbike before.
The cold breeze brushing across our faces, the empty silent streets, the dimly lit streets, luminated only by the glow of the traffic lights. Plus the fact that we were being chauffeured by the president of the exchange students on his very own pimp motorbike.
This was truly such a surreal experience and I would keep it with me for as long as I live.
PS: Now even I want to get my own motorbike.
AN INVITATION TO MUNDANE LIFE AND TAKING CARE OF HOLDEN🙂
In a blink of an eye, week 3 rolls around and classes have started for real. Week is is an especially crucial week for us exchange students as it is the last week for us to add and drop classes before the final drop date on 19 September.
Most of this week was spent on playing the catch up game for our newly added classes as we had to self study 3 weeks worth of content that we had missed as we had joined the class.
And now Yong Lin and I have a new added responsibility of taking care of the big baby Holden who seems to have not learnt his lesson despite being sent to ER and being in pain. 🙄
TLDR: We didn’t do much for the rest of the week. 😑
Here are some pictures of stuff I found funny or interesting, affordable and delicious meals that we discovered near school and more classes bleh.
Just the beauty of everyday life in Korea. 😸
PS: During this period, Dankook was also having its CCA Festival. The ambience was so vibrant and the aura of excitement and eagerness in the air was so strong that it rubbed off both Yong Lin and I. There were performances and music everywhere, as well as food vendors but we didn’t get anything as everything was more than $10 QWQ.
Closing: Writer’s Thoughts
Anyways, that is all from me. I am glad that the 3 of us are now finally starting to settle down in Korea. And am looking forward to the rest of the time here. I wonder what new things will we discover. 😸
Next week’s blog will be done by Holden. See all of y’all again 💕.
Signing off,
Megane😸
(NYP -> DKU) Exchange Program 