September 26, 2023

For the past month or so, I've been fairly busy, and I ended up getting sick.

I haven't done too much aside from go to classes, but I did manage to make it back to Hongdae once. Here's some pictures from the past month.

Classes have been fine so far, though they've been a little strange, since most of them don't have regular assignments. For the most part, they're graded on a midterm, a final exam, and a group project. My favorite of the four so far has been 19th Century British Poetry since it has kind of forced me to read interesting poems that I wouldn't have otherwise. I thought that the poem Written at the Close of Spring by Charlotte Smith was cool. I also really enjoyed The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

September 2nd, 2023

This past week I have been figuring out living in South Korea. Admittedly, I haven't done much, though I will write about what I did do.

On the 27th, we had cheering orientation. During its games against its rival, Yongsei, Korea University has a number of song/chant type things. They're led by a team of people whose job resemble cheerleaders, though the role seems more gender neutral, and they have dances that they do to the cheers. At cheering orientation, we were led through something like 26 different cheers. The process was a bit more physical than I expected, both in terms of exertion, as well as in terms of coming into contact with other people. There was a lot of putting your arms around the people next to you to link up. It was a bit of a strange experience, though it was interesting and I'm glad I attended.

On the 28th, I didn't do much other than visit Gwangjang Market, a market more focused on tourism and street food rather than the medicinal and produce market near my Goshiwon. I also tried to visit Jongmyo Shrine, though it only had guided tours during weekdays. That evening, I visited the Dongdaemun area, though it was closing up and there wasn't much to see, other than the large and interestingly shaped Design Plaza Museum. At night, they have a large projector set up alongside speakers to project a rather surreal audio-visual piece onto the side of the building.

As for the 29th, I didn't do much other than assemble some paperwork for my Foreigner Registration card. I did find a place near KU that serves actually healthy food, however. It's a place that sells something thats kind of like Gimbap or Poke, but there was an option to have it served on salad rather than rice. I found it a nice place to get healthier food.

On the 30th, in the morning I visited Dongdaemun market, which is just down the Cheonggyecheon River from Gwangjang. I found it to be far less interesting, and there they mostly sold materials such as fabric, as well as specific goods such as hats and shoes. Visiting it did give me the opportunity to walk along the Cheonggyechon River, which is quite a pleasant space to have in the middle of a city. It is set below street level and lined with trees and greenery. That evening, one of my fellow exchange students, Kars, asked if I wanted to visit a market with him. Kars is this tall blond young man from the Netherlands. He's nice, though I haven't gotten to know him particularly well. I sugguested Gwangjang, and we met up at the subway station. I had another sort of gimbap-y meal, while he had a noodle soup with dumplings. Afterwards, we visited Dongdaemun Design Plaza since it was nearby and he had yet to see it.

On September 1st, I didn't do much other than walk around Anam and Gyongdong a bit. I didn't do much that was interesting, though while walking through Gyeongdong Market, I noticed something strange for sale in a couple places. There were a couple of stalls that sold what looked like wasp nests encased in mesh or net. There were large, live wasps inside of the nests and nets. I haven't done any research on it, but I assume they must have been selling the larvae as a delicacy or something.

Today I walked around Anam for a bit as well. I visited a Burger King, curious to see if they had anything interesting on their menu. Apparently, Burger Kings in South Korea sell shrimp burgers. I tried to get one, but the machines you order with didn't like my card, which was the first time that had happened here. Instead, I got another one of the aforementioned healty gimbap-salad type things. In the evening, I decided to visit Itaewon since I had yet to go there. Honestly, I wasn't particularly impressed. It just seemed to be a less interesting version of Hongdae. It seemed to be catering more towards foreignersw and tourists, and had many more bars and clubs than Hongdae, at least judging by the areas of Hongdae and Itaewon I visited. The area seemed to be dirtier than much of what I have seen of the city, and pretty much the entire area smelled like cigarette smoke. I think I'll stick to visiting Hongdae instead.

August 26, 2023

(Note: The Hangul onsite still seems to be broken. It's saved and works in my code editor, so I'll keep writing with it until I figure out how to display it correctly.)

Today I did a lot. I started it with a triangle kimbap (삼각김밥) and a pre-packaged coffee I bought at the 7/11 downstairs from my Goshiwon the night before. While eating, I did some research. I looked through a list of a ton of tourist destinations, popular and niche, as well as a list of the three most tourist friendly temples in the city. While doing research, I learned about a convention center. I tried to find out if there would be a comicon or anime convention, only to learn that Seoul Popcon was on for this weekend. With that in mind, I set out on a 45 minute busride and ended up south of the Han river.

I found the convention center and made it in easily enough. It was full of cosplayers, places to take pictures, and places to buy merchandise and figures. As for cosplay, Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail seemed to be the most common. I guess the Hoyoverse games have really taken off in South Korea. That said, there were also quite a few people cosplaying characters from Blue Archive, V-Tubers such as Gawra Gura, and many Links and Zeldas. I was personally quite happy to see a number of Fate/Grand Order costumes.

While exploring, I found an official ufotable booth. While it mostly stocked Demon Slayer goods, it did have some Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel items. I bought two mystery charms and saved them to open later. The convention was pretty fun, and it as really fun to see people cosplaying some of my favorite characters. I personally wished it had a larger selection of independent artists selling their own work and self-made charms, however.

After leaving the convention, I decided to visit one of the temples on my list since it was only about 10 minutes away by foot. While exiting the hall, however, I saw something rather amusing. I noticed the large golden statue of crossed golden hands on my way in, but I didn't pay it much mind. When passing it again, I realized that it had "GANGNAM STYLE" written on it, and next to it was a screen and speakers which showed the Gangnam Style music video and played the song. Tourists came up and did the funny Gangam Style dance in front of it too. Apparently I had made my way to the Gangnam (강남구) neighborhood without realizing it.

After reeling from the shock of seeing a real life meme, I made my way to Bongeunsa Temple (봉은사). I quite enjoyed the large statues of the four heavenly kings in the temple's entrance. The main walkway up to the temple was lined with paper lanterns and plants growing in pools of water. In a pond along the way, I noticed a Buddha statue with a small bowl in front of it. The statue and bowl were dotted with coins, so I decided to throw one of my own in. On my first toss, I landed it on a pedestal on the Buddha's feet, my coin knocking another into his bowl. I don't know if that was good luck or if I ruined (or improved) someone else's good luck, but oh well. The main body of the temple seemed to be busy with an event or silent prayer, and not wanting to disturb anything, I took my leave.

By then, it was lunchtime, so I decided to head to another nearby area on my list, a shopping center built out of repurposed shipping containers called Common Ground. I'm not a big shopper so I didn't buy anything, but on the top floor I found a wall of gachapon machines and spun a couple. I managed to pull a figure of a sleeping Plusle and a Magikarp charm that I decided to put on my phone. It seems a little unwieldy, so I may end up putting it on my backpack instead. I ended up eating at a restaurant in Common Ground called Analogue Kitchen, where I ate some sort of bacon cream pasta and opened my Fate/Stay Night mystery charms from the convention. I ended up getting one of Illya and one of Irisveil. Not my favorite characters, but I'll take them. While going through my bag, I noticed a small card that I must have also gotten at the ufotable booth, and it had the address of a ufotable cafe. Plugging it into Naver Maps, it was over in Hongdae (홍대), the neighborhood I was in last night. Since I was planning on going there tonight again, I decided to give it a visit. After a quick walk through Seoul Forest (I will have to visit it again to explore it more and visit the insectarium) and 45 minute subway ride, I found myself in Hongdae once again. This time, I happened to be on the subway during rush hour, so it was quite crowded, though not as bad as I had expected. Maybe because it was a weekend.

In Hongdae, I managed to find the ufotable Cafe, though with some difficulty. From the card I was given, it seemed as though there were a number of locations in Japan, but only one in South Korea. At the cafe, they served character drinks, but they seemed to only be for Demon Slayer characters. Clearly this is an indication that ufotable should reanimate the Fate/Stay Night route in order to further popluarize Fate, but I digress. I didn't get a drink, but I noticed that they sold more mystery charms. Not wanting to leave empty-handed, I got another one, which turned out to be a duplicate of the Illya one I got at the convention. Perhaps whatever happened with the Buddha statue ended up being bad luck. I may have to go back to the cafe to try a Demon Slayer character drink, and try again to get a charm of a character I like more such as Medusa, Shriou, or Rin.

Next up, I decided to give another shot at visiting clubAOR, but I found it to be rather full, so I ended up heading to Live Club BBang again. Tonight, they had four different bands playing, those being Greenvilla, Paper River, igloo, and Band Giraffe. Of the four, igloo ended up being my favorite, though the other three were pretty good. I managed to (with some difficutly) find them all on Spotify, and I've put together a playlist of some of their music. Spotify link. By the time the music ended, it was 9:30, so I grabbed some street Takoyaki, walked around Hongdae a bit more, before heading home.

Small Correction [Aug 27, 2023] The band in the video linked below was actually igloo, performing the song "Big Wave." Spotify Link

Aug 25, 2023

(Note: The Hangul onsite seems to be broken. Just pretend it isn't there until I fix it.)

For the last few days, I ended up being rather busy with orientation for Korea University. On the 23rd, I didn't end up doing very much, though I was able to do some exploring of the area around my Goshiwon.

It turns out that my Goshiwon is located in the middle of a self-described "oriental medicine"/alternative healing market area. All around it are pharmacies selling alternative medicine. Large plastic bags of mushrooms, tree bark and foot long roots soaking in large glass jars of yellow fluid. The very air in the area smells like licorice.

Additionally, my accomodations are located just across the street from the massive Gyeongdong Market (경동시장). A massive market, covered some with a roof and some by tarps and tents, filled to the brim with market stalls, selling cuts of meat, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, street food, piles of spices and grains, massive bags of dried chili peppers, as well as live eels, turtles, and crabs.

One thing I noticed about this area is that there are not very many young people. Hakki, my mother's former student who helped my move into my Goshiwon, said that it was because the type of shopping in a market such as Gyeongdong, instead preferring more convenient options and shopping at department stores.

Korea University campus is about 20 minutes away by foot and 10 by bus. I've been trying to walk when I have time to do so in order to learn the area better. The Korea university seems very strange to me. It is composed mostly of large, castle-like stone brick buildings, a far cry from the modern concrete, glass, and steel buildings of Arizona State. The area is also very green, with well-manicured gardens and lawns. One major difference I noticed is that at KU, the lawns are roped off and very much appear to be geared towards decoration, rather than the ASU lawns which students walk and sit on all the time.

Orientation (which was on August 4th) was a little boring, composed of a lot of waiting around and being presented with information I didn't find very useful. That said, I did meet a number of other exchange students, who are interesting. These include Lisa from Italy, Jessie from Maryland, Kars from the Netherlands, Cord, Tim, and David from Germany, Phil from France, and Tahlia from Germany.

Orientation's afterparty, however, was a lot of fun. We began the night at a fried chicken place (which appear to be common) near Anam junction. We were presented with large plates of fried chicken (garlic, spicy, and plain) and french fries, alongside mugs of beer and small cups of soju. Afterwards, we went to another location, where we had some sort of soupy thing, as well as more soju. There I got to know some of my fellow exchange students fairly well.

One thing I learned during orientation, though perhaps it should have been expected, is that K-Pop is rather popular within the exchange student body. As such, I have made it a goal to discover a K-Pop group I truly enjoy during my stay here, which shouldn't be too hard. Edrick also asked me to "share the good ear cleaning music you are exposed to me specifically" so I have been putting together a playlist of K-Pop music that I have discovered and shazamed. Spotify link.

Today, the 25th, ended up being a rather busy day. It started somewhat early with a City Tour. As with the orientation, we ended up doing a lot of standing around and waiting, but eventually busses showed up, and took us to the Insa-dong (인사동) neighborhood. There, we saw a live performance of 'NANTA' which is a little difficult to explain. It was a semi-musical performance that reminded me somewhat of the Blue Man Group, though less horrifying. It was about several chefs doing musical performances in the kitchen whilst cooking.

Afterwards, we walked through Insa-dong for a little while, before eating lunch at Pyeongyang Grilled Meat Restaurant (평양고깃집) which was delicious. A table of four of us (Tim and Thore from Germany and Kars from the Netherlands) were given a boiling bowl of broth in which we placed mushrooms, bean sprouts, and very thinly cut strips of pork, and later on, a plate of raw noodles. By the end, the broth was rich and tasted extremely good. We messed up a little bit though, as we passed around a bowl of rice and ate from it, as well as cracked our egg into our broth. We were supposed to save those for the end once there was only broth left and use the rice and egg to make a kind of porridge from it, but oh well. It was great anyway.

Having finished lunch, we walked to Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁). Despite our group probably numbering over 100, I ended up walking around the place mostly on my own. It was a large imperial palace dating back to the Joseon era of Korean history, featuring large, intracately painted wooden gates and structures with tiled roofs. I especially enjoyed the pavilions that had been built over water features. Generally the city tour was good, but it would have been better with more organized, smaller groups, and if we hadn't had to just wait around for so long.

By the time we made it back to KU, it was already like 5:30. Some other students and I went to a SIM card shop, since they provide discounts if you come in groups, for some reason. With that, I finally got a sim card ironed out for the rest of my stay. Afterwards, I took the bus back to my Goshiwon. Some other students were talking about a large party, but I decided to skip that and do some research.

For some reason, on the bus ride back, I found myself very much wanting to find a small venue where live music was being played as part of an underground indie scene. Through my research, I managed to find several venues in the city, though many appear to be located in Hongdae (홍대) a neighborhood encompassing Hongik University arts school. Having prepared myself, I set out on finding clubAOR (AOR standing for "All of Rock"), which is about 45 minutes away from my Goshiwon and KU by subway. After a short period of befuddlement, I figured out the subway, and made it to Hongdae. I picked up a small package of Gimbap at the subway station and ate it as I walked.

I did manage to find clubAOR, but by the time I made it there, it seemed to just be people standing outside of it, packing up equipment such as electronic keyboards. Being too nervous to try to ask if it was still open, I decided to make my way to Hongdae Street at the center of the neighborhood. On my way, however, I discovered Club BBang, one that I had read about during my research, but was unable to find on Naver Maps. Hearing live rock music from below a real estate agency, I descended the staircase and found myself in the Club. I made my way to the bar and tried to pay the entrance fee, but one of the club's employees told me that the performance is almost over, so that I should just buy a drink and we'd call it even. I bought a beer and sat down, and listened to the music. I had no idea who was playing or what they were singing about, but it was really my first time going to such a concert, and though it didn't last very long, I thought it was fun.

Afterwards, I continued towards Hongdae street. It was incredibly different from the oriental medicine and Gyeongdong Market area of my Goshiwon. Rather than a traditional market selling raw foods and traditional medicine, it was much more geared towards the youth. Chain coffee shops and convenience stores, street food, shops selling phone cases, keychains, and vapes. I tried my luck at a claw machine at an arcade, trying for a small plush of the Pokemon Eevee, but to no avail, and bought myself a chocloate shake. By that time, it was about 11, so I decided to venture home before the subway closed for the night.

I very much enjoyed my outing to Hongdae and I would very much like to go again, and show up earlier so I can listen to more live music. It made me think a lot about public transit and how that effects the culture of cities. Would Tempe, Arizona have a place similar to Hongdae, if not for its crippling car dependency? It also made me feel like I need to get cooler. On the subway to Hongdae, I saw a young woman in a bright white and blue kimono dotted with light blue skulls and crossbones. Her hair and eyeliner matched the blue and pink color scheme, and she wore neon green fuzzy slippers. She left the train arm in arm with a goth guy, clad in multiple dark shades of demin, who had a safety pin as a piercing in his lip. Along my Hongdae street walk, I saw another girl with piercings on her upper lip that made it look like she had metal vampire fangs. It made me feel like I need to develop a better fashion sense and present myself in a more interesting way, though I'm not sure how or where to start.

Here's a first for the journal page, a gallery! Remember to view images in a new tab to see them full sized.

Aug 22, 2023

Quite a few things have happened since my last journal update. A couple weeks ago my father and I visited my grandmother in Nevada for the weekend. It is always nice to see her. We also met my cousin's wife and their six or so week old baby. Babies are weird, it's kind of messed up how those are people.

After we got back, I got a booster vaccine for Covid and a flu shot. I personally fon't react well to Covid boosters, and spent a couple of days sick in bed. Better than a week (or longer) of the actual thing, I suppose.

Yesterday, on the 20th/21st, I flew out from home. I'm beginning a semester abroad in South Korea, which will mean I will be away from home for four months. I'm admittedly a little nervous about being away from home for so long, in a country I know little about with a language that I do not speak. I'd be more nervous if not for my program in Dublin and trip to Italy earlier this summer.

Last night, I landed in Seoul, made my way through customs (which I thought would be harder a process than it actually was) and was driven to a hotel. I dropped off my bags and walked around the general area for a little bit. I'm located near Seoul's big train station, and can see Seoullo 707 from my window. It seems to be an old freeway overpass that's been turned into a pedestrian walkway, crossing over Seoul's huge train station. I somehow managed to find a good looking, not too fill restauraunt, and ordered food. I had a plate of dumplings in some sort of glass noodle wrapping. They were really good and along with the small plates of kimchi and noodles that came with my order, were enough for dinner. The cutlery was a little strange. In addition to using chopsticks, they also use a long spoon. I watched someone else use the chopsticks in one hand and the spoon in the other to cut up a long piece of kimchi, so I did the same. Overall, my meal was only 8,000 Korean Won, which is like 6 USD.

Afterwards, I went back to my hotel room and got some sleep. Today I will meet one of my mother's former students who lives in South Korea. He is going to help me find accomodations not too far from the university. He's been a great help for this trip already, and I've only been here a night. Shoutouts to Hakki!

I'm not entirely sure how busy I'll end up being this semester. If I end up swamped with homework and things to do, it might be hard to keep this blog updated. I suppose we'll just have to see how things go.

Aug 4, 2023

Currently, I'm on break for the summer. I did a program abroad in Dublin, Ireland earlier this summer through my university, and afterwards I spent a couple of weeks traveling Italy with my cousin.

I haven't done too much the past few weeks since I've been back. I messed around with Blender a bit and learned the basics of 3D modeling. Maybe I'll post some of the models I made on this blog at some point. Other than that, I've done a bit of drawing and learned the basics of HTML to make this website.

I'm signed up to spend the next semester abroad in South Korea, though I'm waiting on the embassy in Los Angeles (which has jurisdiction over my state) to get back to me with a visa. If I don't get that in time, I may not be able to go, which would suck.

Today, aside from spending time on my site here, I visited the bank with my mother to get some financial details worked out. I also spent most of the day cooking, since I had a friend from high school over for dinner.

I, with the help of my mother, made a Paul Hollywood recipe. It was trencher bread (a kind of hard, flatbread that would kind of serve as a plate in medieval times) topped with an arugula, green onion, and raddish salad, strips of grilled lamb, and a sauce made of creme fraiche, lemon juice, and mustard. As a side, I made ratatouille. The recipe had me start by warming up onions and garlic in a pot, before adding eggplant and cooking it uncovered in the oven. Once it was done, it had me mush that up, mix in zuchinni and bell peppers, and cook it for a bit longer.

Overall, the dinner was pretty good. The trencher bread turned out a little hard though, so it was kind of like a big cracker, and the ratatouille was a little watery. For desert, we had grilled pineapple and peaches topped with vanilla ice cream.