Namsan Tower and the Han River (again?)

So I woke up early this morning to write this post about yesterday because I've been about one day behind on all of my blog posts recently and I think I write then better when they are fresh in my memory. One reason why I'm writing these is so I can remember what I did each day- I'm so scared I'm going to forget about something, forget about how the day made me feel, forget what I was like to be in Korea. It's finally starting to hit that I'm not staying here forever, and it's really sad. I had a dream last night that I came home from Korea and didn't being back any mementos and forgot everything :(

But yesterday was an awesome day and it was one of those days that are just so good that it makes your heart ache that every day can't be like this. The afternoon was a little hot/hard because of the humidity but the Han river adventure pt. 2 was amazing. 

First, the most important thing, was that I slept in until 10:30, which felt awesome. I hadn't slept that late in a while, and since I had nothing planned for the morning I didn't feel guilty about it at all. Then I left the house and met my supporter group in Myeongdong where we would eat lunch and walk to Namsan Tower. One of the people in my group also brought  host family- friends, who happened to be students from the high school we toured (I guess it would make sense since his host dad arranged the tour). 

Our supporter took us to a famous restaurant in the area and we ordered the dish the restaurant is known for- some sort of noodle- type creation. I started eating mine immediately before taking a picture so I had to take a picture of someone else's lol. 

This is another dish from the restaurant: 

After lunch we walked (a very long, hot walk) up to the cable car building so we could take it up the mountain. To get to Namsan Tower you can either walk up the mountain, take a bus up, or ride the cable car, which is the most expensive way but also the fastest with the best view! It did look really nice coming up the mountain, the only bad part was it was quite foggy today so it was hard to see a lot of stuff. 

Finally at the top! 

These were apparently signal towers used during wars in Korea- they would light different number of them to signal different things. 

After arriving on the cable car we walked up to the tower. The view was nice but again, a bit foggy. 

As we were heading towards the cable car when we were leaving we saw a place where you could try on Hanbok for free! Of course we did it. Hanboks are beautiful and all but they are really not flattering like other traditional dresses haha. 

After trying on Hanbok we walked back to the subway station and headed towards the meeting area for the river. We got a bit lost on the way there so we were late, but it was okay! 

First we met up with the group at the subway station and then we walked to a bridge that led to the island we were visiting. Apparently it is a famous "hot date" spot in Korea, and I now I see why. It was a giant garden with tons of waterfalls and flowers and beautiful scenery. We had our paparazzi/NSLIY photographer with us so we took so many adorable pictures. I haven't downloaded them yet, but when I do I'll just tack them on to the end of a post somewhere. The place was beautiful so of course I took some pictures of my own as well. We also found a piano there (there are a couple painted ones in areas in Seoul! There's a blue one in Sinchon) and so we made those who were good at piano play! 

We all look awful and hot and sweaty but who cares it was a fun day

Then we walked back over the bridge and rented bikes. This was hands down one of my all time favorite moments in Korea. It just made me feel so nostalgic, biking with a group of awesome friends, enjoying beautiful park scenery while looking out over the skyline of the city I have fallen in love with. I know I'm really lucky to be here, but sometimes it just hits you really hard. As I rode that bike all I could think about was how much I really didn't want to leave. Seoul is the best. NSLIY is the best. I can't bear thinking about leaving all of my friends and I definitely can't bare thinking about leaving Seoul. Today (Monday) marks the halfway point in our program and it makes me really sad. Anyways, here's a picture of our "biker gang" to cheer me up:

Where my heart is <3 

We biked to the area we had eaten chicken before and guess what?!? We ordered chicken and pizza again! Also, a lot of Pepsi and powerade haha. We hung out for a bit and then walked over to the edge to enjoy the city skyline a little bit and to enjoy street musicians. By the river there are a lot of musicians, especially under the bridges because the acoustics there are better. 

Overall, great day. I will never be able to describe the exact feelings I have at the river because I just can't put then into words- in English or Korean.