#i was aiming for no kpop songs because it felt too easy but i took the easy way out with that last e heheh

[ki-limepie]

rules: make a new post and spell out your url with song titles then tag as many people as there are letters in your url

bit late, but i was tagged by @seoksao !! thank you again for tagging me 💕

k - kitchen fork by jack conte

i - impostor syndrome by sidney gish

l - lemons by shawn wasabi

i - into my arms by coin

m - mama's gun by glass animals

e - everything we used to by goldhouse

p - pride by the family crest

i - it's not living (if it's not with you) by the 1975

e - everythingoes by rm

[pasteltofus]

1 Year of Learning Korean

One of the most popular questions I’ve gotten since coming back from Korea is: Are you fluent in Korean now??*

*Spoilers: I am not. 🙃

Looking back, I probably would have become more conversational if I had just done a 3-month intensive program. Although, compared to just learning by myself in the Bay Area, being in Korea definitely gave me more opportunities and motivation. I was placed in the high intermediate class for orientation (switched to low intermediate), but I would say that I’m now truly at an intermediate level. I think my Korean’s more or less the same as my Japanese (which has regressed a lot, and I only took 3 semesters in college) but with very shaky foundations. 

Anyways, here’s a brief timeline of what I did this grant year. Let’s go~

[Initiate lock n’ load montage]

July

Korean Intensive Program (8-12pm, 1-2pm M-F) 

Because of how the program was structured, I didn’t feel like I learned very much. This is partly why my foundation is so full of holes...we skipped around here and there. 

August

Korean Intensive Program

September

Korean was put on pause due to troubles adjusting to homestay

October

Occasionally did a few chapters of Billy Go’s Korean Made Simple at school 

Studied some Korean vocab 

November

???

December

I don’t think I studied Korean at all

January

Got a wakeup call when I spent 5 minutes trying to read the back of a sign at a smoothie shop and realized how slow I was at reading

February

Vocab grind (1000 Essential Korean Words), plan was to finish by the end of March. Two weeks of intense vocabulary cramming on Quizlet (did nothing in the end lol don’t try that)

Bought the Real Life Conversations Intermediate book

Studied Korean in Kpop lyrics

Started a side coding project to help my touch typing (K-pop lyric typing game)

March

Memorized dialogues from Real Life Conversations book with Lauren

Improved reading skills slightly by listening and following along with the audio recordings that come with the book

Read through the dialogues with the Korean literature teacher in my gyomushil

Continued to learn song lyrics

Wrote sentences with each new vocabulary word, got my co-teacher and the Korean literature teacher to check them (<-this was probably the most helpful game changer...it helped a lot with my spelling too)

Continued working on the K-pop typing game

April

Stopped learning new vocab at around Chapter 11 of Essential Words, focused on retaining old vocab through Anki flash cards

Finished the Go! Billy Korean Made Simple book that I bought ages ago (tbh it was too easy for me at this point but I was just too lazy)

Finally sat down and “learned” Korean verb conjugations (I’d just been going by gut instinct before…tbh I still kind of do 😅)

Kind of dropped the typing game after finishing the MVP 😅but I’m gonna try to finish it up now that I’m back

May

Started to panic about leaving Korea in 2.5 months but still sucking at Korean

Signed up for private lessons once a week for 90 minutes (My tutor asked me to give her a shout out. Her name is 서영심 (bwv830@gmail.com). If you’re in the Cheongju/Ochang area, she comes to you! She’s very professional and you’ll get your money’s worth.)

Started at the intermediate book that focused on grammar

Learned ~5 grammar points every week

Started writing and reading a lot more and actually seeing how words are spelled. The first time I saw 여기--a super common word (yogi) that means here--written out I thought it was so strange...not that I had thought it was 요기 (also pronounced yogi) but I just didn’t have a visual of it in my head, I guess.

June

Depressed about lack of improvement

Continued with private lessons but felt like I wasn’t really retaining the grammar dump from each week

At the very least, Korean homework kept me on track and made me practice even when I didn’t want to

Started Anki again since I hadn’t actively studied vocab since April.

An old K.Will song that I hadn’t listened to for a long time came up and I realized I could suddenly understand the lyrics. That was pretty cool and one of my small win moments.  

July

Feeling pretty hopeless with Korean

However, hung out with more Korean friends that only spoke Korean and felt like I was actually able to contribute to the conversation. (3 hours of Korean Listening ...🙃)

Was able to understand 70% of the conversation at my gyomushil’s final farewell lunch for me. I contributed to the gossip! 

Went home and immediately lost 50% of my Korean skills upon touching U.S. soil. 

So basically, after my burst of inspiration in February, my confidence and motivation in Korean just kept plummeting. Even now as I write up this post I feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. But I do want to highlight the progress that I’ve made since orientation.

Korean Reading

We were all supposed to be able to read Hangul before we came to Korea. Being able to recognize the alphabet is different from being able to read and also different from knowing the pronunciation rules and where to pause in your reading. During my first semester, my eyes would automatically glaze over whenever I saw Korean text. When the second semester started, I tried to force myself to read everything I came across - storefronts, street signs, advertisements on buses, etc. Even if I didn’t know what it meant, I would force myself to read it. Right now, I can navigate a Korean shopping website and read a menu semi-comfortably. I’m still waiting for the day when I’ll see English sounding hangul and be able to read it as fast as English. Although, I will say it’s really nice to be able to read the Korean titles in Kpop videos on Youtube, especially when I come across really old songs (like Super Junior’s No Other 너 같은 사람 또 없어) and realize I now know what it means. 

Also, a new world that has opened up to me is...노래방!! Karaoke is such an adrenaline rush. I’d compare it to sight-reading or DDR/rhythm games where you know something is coming up and the satisfaction you get when you get it right with the beat of the music is 👌. It’s so gratifying to be able to sing along...거기 너 I FANCY YOU 아무나 원하지 않아 HEY! I love you (LOVE YA)!! 

Korean Writing

Back during orientation, I couldn’t spell anything on my own. I knew words every koreaboo knew like 어떻게 and 괜찮아 but I couldn’t write it because I didn’t know how spelling worked. It’s no wonder my spelling didn’t improve since a) I didn’t write and b) I didn’t even read. Even now I still make a lot of spelling mistakes, but I pay attention to words when I see them. It’s still a very slow process, but now I can picture the hangul in my head when I think of the word. 

Typing: I started orientation with around 15 wpm, then by the end of orientation I got to around 30 wpm. Currently, I’m at 60 wpm when I start cold and after I get warmed up I can go up to 80wpm. Being able to touch type is so useful, especially when I’m typing up long sentences from my textbook and I don’t have to look up.

Korean Listening

Dare I say...my Korean listening is my strongest point??? I remember when I took French listening tests in high school, I would always lament with everyone else that they spoke too fast for me to understand. But interestingly, for both Japanese and Korean, I never had that problem. If it only contains words and grammar I know, I can understand it perfectly fine even if it’s fast. I intuitively understand most Korean verb endings and exclamations so it’s not hard to know which way the conversation is flowing or when to interject with “세상에,” “맞아 맞아,” or “말도 안돼.” I used to think my poor lack of vocabulary was the number 1 thing blocking me from understanding, but then I learned more grammar and realized the things I didn’t know. I do feel like parts of the fog are being lifted...sometimes...

Korean Speaking: 

I still feel pretty embarrassed when I speak Korean because there are some sounds that I can’t pronounce. Compared to orientation, I have a few more stock phrases tucked and ready to go, but I still feel unable to express myself. Every conversation will start out fine, but they’ll all stagnate to the same topics and sentences after a while. 

Complications with other languages

I talked about how knowing some Japanese and Chinese was both an advantage and a disadvantage during my beginning stages, but this is true even now. 

Ever since I started getting more comfortable with typing and spelling Korean, I’ve started seeing the actual Hangul in my head when I think/hear Korean. I’ve also started to associate the locations of the Hangul characters with their locations on the Korean keyboard. 

One day, I was trying to text back my mom with “那是什么?” (Na Shi Shen Me/What’s that?) but was confused because those characters weren’t showing up. Then I realized I was typing “sk” instead of “na.” Some of you guys might get it....because “s” is where ㄴ(n) is and k is where ㅏ(a) is on the Korean keyboard. Clearly, my brain can’t handle it. It’s interesting because both the Japanese and Chinese keyboard uses the same alphabet placements as English.

Another time: I was watching a Talk To Me in Korean video where Hyunwoo talked about how 하다 is a very versatile verb. I immediately thought about how the Japanese equivalent is 수루 and even mentally mapped it out on the Korean keyboard...before realizing this is WRONG, WRONG, it���s する not 수루 LOUISE WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING. (They are both pronounced suru)

What’s next? 

Now that I’m back in the States, it’s going to take even more determination and self-discipline to keep up with my Korean. But I really don’t want everything I’ve worked towards to just wash down the drain. I’ll aim to finish my intermediate grammar textbook and grind anki flashcards. Hopefully, I can find a language partner or a study group. We’ll see! 

[fytaem]

Sorry bothering with this but I can’t take it anymore Jonghyun and Taemin being compared who is most successful as soloist. For God’s sake is as if you make a comparison between Leonard Cohen and Michael Jackson who was most successful, geez. I know stupidity / ignorance / immatureness can have an excuse but on top of that being wicked, that hasn’t any excuse so could you make a statement regarding this matter in your straight style, please. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.

Anon, I’ve written like hundreds of opinions about both of them and people still won’t change their minds because they find easier to be bitter rats than cool shawols. But here we go again, lmao. A very long text, no joke.

SHINee hasn’t become a successful group because they are five identical human beings with same thoughts, they’re 5 different individuals who have found the best way to use their similarities and differences to go directly for one and only aim. I’m pretty sure there’s still people out there who truly appreciates SHINee’s music, because they keep doing amazing music, quality music, and after 5 years as a shawol I can’t believe in anything but in their artistic progress. And when we talk about individuals, we also talk about different contents as artists when they go solo. We don’t even have to think about Jonghyun and Taemin, we can think about all the stages that SHINee members got in Dome stages. They’re all truly different, but amazing in their own ways: there’s not only the SHINee vision about art, but also Onew’s, Jonghyun’s, Key’s, Minho’s and Taemin’s. They’re able to express art, to express their feelings, to express their sensations in their own ways and that’s an amazing progress. We would truly be kinda bored of them if it wasn’t for their individual and different projects. It’s truly amazing not only that they’ve remained in the industry together for 9 years, but also how they want to develope their individual work without leaving behind the SHINee aim. Not many people in the industry has this same attitude, so at first we’re EXTREMELY lucky for having all of them right here, right now. And I feel so thankful every single day.

Now to jump to talk about Jonghyun and Taemin (if any day you want me to talk about Onew, Key and Minho, please ask me for it because I’m living for them too): personally I believe Jonghyun was born to be an artist. Of course he has developed a professional work since he became a SHINee member, but the fact that he has such a sensitivity, such an imagination since such a young age it amazes me so much, I feel so attracted to Jonghyun’s artistic side. He has started to composing only some years ago, but he has been writing, imagining songs, imagining texts - even books - since forever. Not everyone has this magic art inside since so young, and Jonghyun is that kind of extraordinary human being. He has found a way to share his soul with us, because he’s not afraid of exposing his inners thoughts, emotions and fears, he has opened his soul a lot to us and I think people still doesn’t appreciate this fact. You can get this feeling, for example, in Story Op.2: Elevator and Let Me Out (my favorite is Fireplace, Fireplace is my life, please love this song more ty) hide SO much of Jonghyun’s living experience, hide a lot of powerful feelings. Maybe some people haven’t developed yet a special sensitivity to appreciate music, but personally I’ve felt truly attracted to music since very young, and since Jonghyun started to be a soloist and a composer he has touched every single spot of my soul. He does REAL music. And we’re not talking about success in charts, we’re talking of real music, of music that can also reach every spot of your heart too; he does music to please sensitivity, to please sensuality, he can truly activate lots of feelings in you, and you don’t even need to know the lyrics, only to stay quiet, to listen to his voice and the melody being his mate, and the magic calmly starts. But Jonghyun isn’t only a sensitive singer, but a very funny and powerful singer and performer. She Is is the album that shows all of his different sides too. He knows he can transform his sensitivity into songs that can also make us go crazy, as White T-shirt, Dress Up, but be back to his soft and private side with songs as Moon and Suit Up. (My favorite is Aurora ok. My life jam. MY LIFE JAM. I’m gonna play it rn.)

I’m still surprised that only a few of us shawols can understand Jonghyun on stage. I wasn’t able to follow many of Jonghyun’s stages for The Letter (I must backtrack a lot, sobs), but for example I’ve found some fanaccounts that show pretty clear how he wants to be on stage. Jonghyun, for example, has wanted to do direct contact eye with some shawols during his performances. Even shawols got extremely shy, but Jonghyun asked them to not be afraid, because that’s what he wants to do as a performer, as a singer and as an artist: to stay in touch with people, to make fans know that he’s also one of us, a human being with all the things that involve to be one. Also Jonghyun doesn’t talk openly about his thoughts, feelings and past experiences because he randomly wants to, but because he wants to continue giving us more of himself, because he wants us to understand his art, not only to listen and to look at it, but to understand. In Kpop industry, many fans just come to get a simple product that they can enjoy, but Jonghyun goes beyond that, he truly makes us think about what he’s doing, he wants us to truly feel what he’s singing about - and this kind of fans don’t want to think, so they get mad, that’s the real thing. This is why his stages don’t need anything but to listen and watch him, because the magic comes from him. Jonghyun doesn’t even like dancing, but still he gives us amazing dancing performances, because he knows that the true quality of an artist must be showed in different ways, not only through a good voice.

Basically, Jonghyun is an artist that was born inside the Kpop industry, but he’s going beyond the barries of Kpop to do music that doesn’t search only for a success in the industry and money, but to show real art of a person that’s not usual between Kpop singers. And I know it will be still to hard to people to understand his art and they will keep rejecting Jonghyun because he doesn’t make it easy for everybody. But personally I love it so much. I love Jonghyun, I love his vision of the world, I love his art and his sensitivity, his warm soul, his good taste in music. So yes, all these bitter individuals can continue coming here to bash Jonghyun and repeat the same bullshit all the time to try to convince me, but I love Jonghyun so much because I’ve learned to understand his world and I love his world so, so much, that much that he has become part of my own world.

These last days I’ve read a youtube comment that said something like “don’t say Taemin is talented, because he wasn’t born with talent, because what he is today is the result of years of hard work”, and being totally honest they were truly right. Taemin wasn’t born being a talented person. Let’s say Taemin did born with a connection with ambition, because someone who looks normally at Kpop idols doesn’t start to practice individually to develope a dancing talent, and that’s what actually Taemin did when he started watching artists as Rain and Michael Jackson. He was accepted in SM castings because he trained all by HIMSELF, without any dancing or singing education. So, only with that, you could know already that Taemin since a very young age was determined to only one objective, and that determination, that ambition took him to get into the castings. And things haven’t changed at all: his determination and ambition both are the real clue of Taemin’s success. He didn’t know how to sing, he only had some dancing skills that he learned alone... did he give up? No, he kept working. He is where he is nowadays because of work, only work, hard work every day of his life. He didn’t leave for being behind, but decided to keep working to reach the high level of SHINee members. Taemin wasn’t born being a talented person, but his hard work made him become able to be a real artist. Now he truly knows what he’s able to do, now he’s able to express himself, to make us know more about Lee Taemin. I feel many people believed that when Taemin released Danger he would keep moving in the same line of music, but that wasn’t true. If you all watched Taemin’s solo concert, you’ve noticed how much he has changed as an artist but also as a person.

Taemin has such a big ambition that he got what he actually wanted: a round stage so everyone could watch him. He wants all eyes on him, and not because he wants to be the center of attention, but because he wants people to appreciate every detail of his performance, every detail of his voice. Taemin is an electric, energetic, surprising performer, he’s showing us his passion for music in this amazing way but still he won’t lose the class, he’s still performing inside of very determined ideas because of Taemin’s kind of perfectionism. Still with all of those amazing song that make us go crazy, he has started to show his most sensitive and artistic side, and surely we’re all thinking about DOOR stage now. Not everyone can perform a stage like that with such intensity, with such passion. Taemin has become an artist that is growing up every day and showing to us all his different sides, and we should be thinking a lot about this, because we’re talking about a person that’s EXTREMELY introvert and still manages to use music to set free many of his experiences and feelings. That’s truly complicated as an introvert that I am, and the fact that he’s using his voice and his body to express all of his dreams and ambitions is a very admirable exercise as a human being. It’s still hard for him, for example, to compose music, but definitely because he wants his words and music to be perfect, this is why he picked Soldier, because it probably completed all of Taemin’s expectations, and maybe Cry For Me didn’t. 

Taemin worked hard to become an idol, but he has gone beyond that too and he’s developing a precious art. His music isn’t also a random thing: his music is as much as electric he is. He has done amazing songs that make us dance, but the existence of ballads in his discography isn’t only to give variety to his music, because Taemin is someone who truly appreciates slow songs, he truly loves them, and probably one of the reasons is because through them is the best way he can show his most soft and sensitive side as he can show his incredible development as a singer. 

So I’ve been writing this for a long time already and Flame of Love’s dance version has been released. Just watch it and contemplate how a beautiful and artistic man he has become. When I discovered SHINee for the first time I was impressed by Taemin’s presence, and years keep coming, time continues its own path, and Taemin’s presence is still beautiful and magic. That’s how hard work can truly make you become the best person you want to be.

I totally understand if people don’t feel attracted to Jonghyun’s or Taemin’s music, because you might not feel attracted to all types of music as I do. Still, it’s so ugly that still nowadays people decide to fight who’s more successful, when through all this (infinite) text we’ve been thinking about how they had two different stories and how they decided to express their art in different ways. People that still believe Jonghyun and Taemin must compete against each other are only people that are interested in the Kpop industry: popularity and money. Jonghyun and Taemin have gone beyond that. Also, no matter if they’ve lived in different ways, they’ve learned from each other a lot, and this is why they constantly talk with each other about their development as artists, because they’ve found out that no matter which is the kind they offer, they both want to show us their art and they learn from each other. This is an amazing friendship, they love each other so much. So yeah, bitter people can still fight each other if they still believe being in SHINee means a competition against each other, when they had personally showed they’re interested in deeper and more beautiful ways of expressing their art than fighting only for what random individuals believe because they can only focus on one person and not enjoy every beautiful member of SHINee.

To all those bitter individuals, that still won’t get the meaning of everything that I’ve written: grow up or leave.

[v-le]

My Trip to S. Korea (5/25/16 - 6/2/16)

Hello, friends!! I am back! Ahaha I have several posts that I’ve been wanting to make, but this one in particular has been fueling my interest more than ever these days. Rather than a review or a rant, this post is simply.. a log? :)

On May 25th of last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Korea as a 16 year old junior. I left school a week and a half earlier than everyone else, but it wasn’t just for fun. I was a part of IVSBP, the Interact Vietnam Soccer Ball Project (s/o to my wonderful team: Rotarians Nick, Marriane, Avis, and Sue, Roteractor Oliver, & fellow Interactors Gina and Abdul), a service project that aimed to bring the power of play to less fortunate children in Vietnam. In 2016, the Rotary International Convention (RICON) was being held in Korea, and I was blessed enough to be a part of the team that represented IVSBP with its very own booth at RICON. In this place, over 45,000 Rotarians from all over the world would gather for several special days. 

Each and every day, I documented my journey by quickly (and messily) scribbling each entry onto a currency conversion diagram paper that was partially cut up for reasons I cannot recall. Here is my 7-day “diary”, as transcribed word for word from the paper itself, with extra commentary below each entry:

Day 1

Arrive in Seoul Incheon + struggle tremendously to find driver. Astounded/fascinated/freaked out by tons of tall apts. Notes smog. Eat funky dinner w/ ppl, walked late at night.

Yes, I was admittedly spooked by the massive apartments that stretched on and on for as long as the eye could see LOL. The drive from Incheon to Seoul was one that I will never forget. That foreign feeling of being in a country that I dreamed about so many times makes my heart bulge with longing excitement. Also, our lodging was an Airbnb located in the heart of Gangnam. And so, our first night-walk was one that I wished could last forever.

Day 2

Wake at 6:45 am. Go to convention to set up. Kintex was rly cool. Cooler empty. Ate lunch (self-service). slow business. Went home to rest. Took metro home b/c no shuttles running. Took a long ass time & struggled little bit but managed to get it down. Went to COEX. Good shops, not enough time. Son Hoyoung fansigning + mini stage. Ate kbbq alone + did well even though scary. Home @ 11:30. 1:30 am sleep.

RICON was not held in Seoul, but rather in Goyang, which is a city about an hour away from Seoul. Kintex is the convention center, a massive two-structure building, with its own restaurants inside. To this day, I have spotted several shows / dramas / music videos that were filmed at Kintex as well. The Korean metro system is hands down my favorite part about Korea. It is very affordable, convenient, & easy to use once you get the hang of it. My team and I struggled a little bit at first because we were confused by the questionable red/green colors for some stops & routes, but I quickly realized it simply meant express versus “all-stop”. Myself and two others managed to go to the COEX Mall by metro, which was about a mile from our own apartment. One of my goals for Korea was to see a celebrity randomly, and it just so happened on our first full day! I was shopping in Aland with my friend when she suddenly ran up to me and said “Vanessa, Vanessa come look over here, come with me, there is someone singing outside!!”. We hurried outside, and there was Son Hoyoung, promoting his solo album with a mini fansigning event! After shopping, we wandered the streets of Gangnam once again, settling on a random bbq place for dinner. We were just 3 measly American high schoolers in a foreign country, but we ordered, ate, and paid for everything with ease. It was quite an exhilarating experience.

Day 3

Wake 6:45 am. Preconvention. Slow business. (BTW saw Music Works notice about Song yoo bin busking the night before --> day goal: leave & get to COEX by 6 pm) Talked to lotsa ppl. Managed to rush to shuttle station 9 @ 5 pm. Very late bus out of all 20 stations. Eventually wound up @ COEX at 7:20 pm w/ a very distraught heart. Went & finished COEX shopping. Struggled to eat stew at place w/o menu. Abdul + soju = dafuq is wrong w/ you; gtfo. 1:30 am sleep.

Ah yes, this day will go down as one of the most frustrating/ stressful/ depressing days I have ever experienced. RICON offers 20 different shuttle stations, each w/ their own buses & unique routes that run all throughout Seoul. The one that was crucial for me that day was Station 9, specifically at 5 pm. I remember stressing out the entire day about how we could get permission to leave early enough, which route to use, and simply making it to Song Yubin’s event with ease. And yes, I was able to successfully figure all that out throughout the day’s activities. It was just up to the bus to take us there. Unfortunately, although each station should have had buses running every 15 minutes starting from 5 pm & onward, Station 9′s bus was late to begin with. In fact, there was just one bus at first, but it filled quickly, and with only 3 seats left, we didn’t want to separate our group of 4, so we decided to wait for the next bus that would come in “5″ minutes. Those “5″ minutes trickled into the longest hour of my life. I remember standing in the burning sun, looking towards the end of the street the entire time, keeping my eyes peeled, standing on my tippie toes, my forehead sweating, my face twisting into distress as each minute passed. We finally made it onto the bus around 6:10. Yubin’s event started at 6. I remember falling asleep on the bus ride there, but waking up every ten minutes or so, just to see if we could still make it. By the time we walked out into COEX’s exhibition hall (the same one that Son Hoyoung was at the day before), it was completely empty. I didn’t cry because I wasn’t that petty, but.... I definitely felt extremely down. I had completely missed a once in a lifetime opportunity. To see one of my favorite, young & talented vocalists before he became popular and ventured into the kpop-idol scene. There was just some terrible kinda fate happening that day, in which the world just really didn’t want me to see him. For dinner, us 4 wandered around Gangnam again, but settled for something closer to our apt. It had no English menus nor pictures at all. And so once again (the other time would be the metro debacle), my handy dandy Korean-reading skills helped us out, and we barely managed to order various ... ingredients?? (only ones that I understood, though) that all went together in some sort of soup... To this day, I’m not really sure what we ate, but I remember it tasted delicious nonetheless.

Day 4

Same wake. Opening ceremony cool = k-tigers + Lena Park. Sleep-inducing speeches. Arrived back to booth @ 1 pm. Mango six yucky bubble tea. Left to Namsan. Actually used diff shuttle route + taxi to end up @ Namsan cable car. Went to tower. Managed to wander into Myeongdong. V cool. Metro home.

RICON officially begins! Lena Park performed and I was awestruck. At the convention, there are hundreds of different kind of volunteers, and some of them aid convention-goers with travels going to and from Kintex. We asked about getting to COEX the day before, and this time, we came back to ask about getting to Namsan, because my friend especially wanted to go there. I remember hearing the girls behind the table whisper about how we were just using them for our own personal, mini adventures, and I started to feel a bit embarrassed ahah. Regardless, the shuttle we took didn’t take us directly to the cable car site; we had to take a taxi after it dropped us off. I remember we struggled immensely with flagging it down and relaying our destination, but the driver thankfully understood perfectly, and took us right to the cable cars. From there, it was smooth sailing to the tower. It was very dreamlike, arriving at the top as the sun was setting, and leaving when the night had settled in completely. I remember taking a panoramic picture of the view, which I later used (and still use) as my facebook cover photo LOL. Wandering to Myeongdong was also quite the adventure, for we tried asking a civilian about “Myeongdong market” or something, but could not receive any helpful advice. If anything, I think we simply wandered farther into the city around Namsan, and *poof* there we stood in the middle of all the stores. And of course, we conveniently used the metro to make our way back home from there.

Day 5

6 am wake WTF?!?! Still left @ 7:30 anyway. V tired today. Kept falling asleep + lightheaded. Ate 떡볶이 & fell asleep disgustingly. Waited excruciatingly long for Nick to decide to go home. Left @ 5:30. Got back to station @ 7:15. Ate expensive bbq. 쌈 so good. Ate the snow w/ signatures like 정유미, 인순이, 박서준, 유아인 etc. 100% milk! Very nice lady :) . Gong cha jumbo. cool. Night @ 12 am for once.

By this time, the long days were getting to us, and we were thoroughly exhausted. However, dinner was quite fun, we ate with other convention-goers from the Bay Area as well. To this day, whenever I eat 쌈(ssam), it never compares to the kind I ate in Korea, and I have immediate withdrawals. And im not sure why i decided to write those names in Korean, but yes, the bingsoo place we stopped by had various signatures of celebs plastered around the walls, like Jung Yoo Mi, Insooni, Park Seo Joon, Yoo Ah In, and more. The “ice” was made of 100% milk, which was the entire shop’s selling point, & it was delish. Also, I, of course, had to get my pmt fix at the gong cha located near our apt. too.

Day 6

STOP waking us @ 6!!! Went about the usual day. Learned about fire w/ DC advisers :( . Ate frozen sticky dog for lunch. Fell asleep a lot still. Oliver felt much better: Myeongdong! The travel/transportation ladies seemed to dislike us so we managed to find proper shuttle. Shopped for a while. Felt rly sad that I couldn’t find good stuff for EZ. Going broke. Ate 김치 볶음밥! Yummy! w/ cheeseee. So full; couldn’t finish. Store ppl are scary. Very late. Everyone exhausted except for me. Got home 12:30. Slept 2:15. *written on the side* Gina lost her phone :( . 

Not a super eventful day, but we went back to Myeongdong again because we felt like we didn’t have enough time to fully explore the first time we were there. Once again, whenever I eat some form of kimchi fried rice here in the states, it never ever ever compares to the kind we had that night. Literally the best fried rice I ever had. Cheap and generously filled, too. Our team was dead tired by the night, as in they kept falling asleep on the subway LOL. Except I stayed alert, out of duty, amusement, and just pure excitement for another deep night in Seoul.

Day 7

Leftovers for breakfast. Very slow day @ convention. Left later than usual. Fell asleep @ booth a lot. Closing ceremony PSY, but everyone else was p lame. Ravi’s speech was very sleep-inducing; I’m sorry :( . Went to shuttle + left @ 8 pm. Ate super expensive dinner beef 한우 w/ M & N. They r weird. Service 짬뽕! But too spicy. Large Gong cha @ 10 pm; only 5 bucks left :( . But Nick paid for the pmt. Its 1:30 am rn but we gotta wake at 3 am b/c flight @ 7:30 am. I GOT MY PERIOD, FUCK!!!

And that, is how I ended my last log in Korea LOL. The leftovers for breakfast refer to the kimchi fried rice leftovers ahaha. Getting to see PSY was also pretty cool. I’m not sure why I said “beef 한우(hanwoo)“, but yes, it was quite expensive, where like 1 of the slabs of meat costed about 50,000 won! But this restaurant was also where I finally got to experience the concept of “service” in which they gave us free food :’) Also,I’m not sure why I said 5 bucks, but I meant 5,000 won ahaha. Having a flight late at night was quite exciting, for the Seoul nights were my favorite kind of memory overall. Or rather, they were all I really had since I spent all my days at RICON.

Welp, this ended up wayyyy longer than i anticipated, but it was honestly really refreshing to go over some memories that happened over a year ago. Although this trip was mainly for RICON, I had the amazing opportunity to delve into the culture that I had only seen countless times through a computer screen. As Oliver had said, we were volunteers by day, & tourists by night. I enjoyed my time more than I ever expected, and I have promised myself that I will go back. Soon.

Thank you, sk, for treating us so well.