Friday at last!

So today started out early- I left the house before anyone was awake to go to the middle school I visited earlier. We had been helping them with a project but since I wasn't there last time I kind of just hung out with the students. It was fun, but I also felt obliged to go at least one more time because I had joined a group the day of the tour! We talked with a few of the students and had snacks and stuff, which was cool. I also *ahem* took some snacks for class since the students didn't finish them. No running to the mini stop between classes= 2$ saved. I also saw this really disturbing picture about reducing cows to save the environment on the wall of the classroom.

After the middle school we walked to Sinchon and had lunch in the Hyundai department store. We had Mos Burger, which is a Japanese burger chain and it's so good! I had a teriyaki chicken sandwich and Melon soda and it was a nice change! I haven't had a sandwich in a while so I enjoyed it!

After lunch we went to class and had a nice time there! We were doing improv speeches about our schedule, which was a little nerve wracking but the topic was simple so it wasn't too bad. It's just hard to come up with things on the spot! 

After class a group of is hit up Idae for a little shopping and stuff. I bought a few gifts and some clothes/makeup and then went home. I did buy one if the infamous milkshakes-in-a-pouch ice creams for seven eleven on the way home from the subway station and it was delicious haha. Highly recommend! Why doesn't he US have such good convenience store ice cream? Anyways, I'm excited for tomorrow and the weekend and the stuff I have planned so early sleep tonight! 

Haircut!

So today was a lot of fun, as usual. First we met up with our supporter group and another supporter group to experience traditional Korean natural dyeing (or something like that). Basically we tie dyed with a natural dye called indigo blue, which has been used here for centuries. Natural dyeing is an "intangible" part of Korean heritage so the government wants to keep it alive even though it's not as visible as the palaces and old architecture around the city. Therefore the guy we met today who taught us about the dyeing process was actually appointed by the government to help carry on the tradition! Cool, right? But anyways indigo blue is a fermented dye so it smelled a little weird but he told us that "we would look like miss universe if we used it on our skin" because it's healthy for you. Also, you would look like a smurf. But whatever.

Some people from the state department who were visiting Korea dropped by to say hi and check out what we were doing, and then we went out to lunch! We had a feast, it was ridiculous and awesome and delicious and I can't believe we ate that. It was at an actual legit alleyway Korean restaurant and it was beautiful and the food was on point omg. 

After lunch we dd our studying and recording and then headed back on the subway to class. It was raining all day, which sucks and meant my socks got all wet, but it was also pretty fun. 

After class I did the unthinkable- I got a haircut. It wasn't extreme or anything I just got a trim, but he didn't speak any English and I didn't speak much Korean so I just used hand gestures to tell him how I wanted my hair. He actually took off a lot more than I wanted him to but I think it was because A. I had a ton of dead ends and B. My frizzy summer hair looks completely dead compared to glossy Korean hair so he probably cut it more because he thought my hair was in pretty bad shape. Also, I got awesome layers and side bangs. Also, he curled it and blow dried it. Also, it was about 45 minutes and ONLY COST 15$! Ridiculous. Plus you don't tip in Korea so it really was fifteen dollars haha. It looks so much better now that it is a little cleaned up and I'm happy I went! The place we went to was right next to school and mostly targeted towards guys but I asked if they did girl hair cuts and they said yes so we just went for it! It turned out pretty well too so I'm happy! 

After haircuts I went home and ate dinner with the host family, etc. it was a pretty good day~ 

노래방!

So today was a lot of fun, and actually quite relaxing.

Because I had the phone interview OPI this morning, I got to sleep late! My interview was at 10:40 and I woke up at 10:00, had a nice lesuirely breakfast, changed, and then waited for the call. No one was home at my house so I didn't feel awkward answering questions in Korean in front if them. After the interview I met up with a few other NSLIYians at the subway station and we had kimbap at a place right next to the school. The great thing about taking classes at a college is that all of the restaurants in the area are super cheap! We ate at "Tomato Kimbap" (which contains no tomatoes btw) and it was $1.50 for lunch. I couldn't even finish the whole kimbap roll. Craziness. 

(This is my half eaten roll of kimbap) 

Then we had a little time so we grabbed bubble tea after lunch. I got mint chocolate chip bubble tea and despite how weird it sounds, it was really good, especially since I was craving ice cream (but when am I not craving ice cream?). 

Class was pretty good today, the usual. 

After class my supporter took my group and a couple other NSLIY people out to karaoke! It was my first time going to karaoke (which is super popular here- walk down one street and you'll see multiple signs for 노래방) in Korea and it was a lot of fun! We sang in Korean, English, Spanish, and Chinese. Our nsliy group is very linguistically diverse haha. After karaoke I had to go home so I could get back for curfew, so I bought a pizza type thing from Paris Baguette and are on the subway on the way home. It was a little awkward because I'm pretty sure no Korean person ever has eaten on the subway before. I hardly even see people drink stuff on the subway. It's crazy. 

But anyways, it was a really fun day! And I caught up on sleep, arguably the most important thing haha. 

Study day

One of the main things about the nsliy program that people forget is that the majority of your time during the weekday is spent in class or studying, so it's not all sightseeing and traveling. Today was just one of those days.

First we met up with our supporter in a study cafe and studied for quite a while. Tomorrow we have our OPI phone interview (aka a mid term assessment test) and we had to prepare a little for that as well as review the material we have already learned. These study cafés are really cool though, the US definitely needs some of these. Also, sticker pictures. Also, bingsu. I was joking to my pen pal yesterday that I should open a bingsu shop where you could take sticker pictures. Maybe it should be a bingsu study cafe with sticker picture booths lol. Anyways, it wasn't too bad and semi helpful. 

After studying we went out for lunch- we ate special 떡뻑이 (the rice cakes) and it was also really good. A little spicy, but still good. 

After lunch we traveled back to school and had class. I was extremely tired since I went to bed a little late the night before, but it was alright. During break I ran to get ice cream, because why not. It's ice cream. 

After school we had a meeting with a lady from the state department and it went alright. We talked a lot about the plus and minuses of the program this year and got some things off our chest about how things are being done. It made me a little depressed afterwards and I was feeling all gross and emotional in the subway but my host mom cooked me good food for dinner so it was alright. 

Also, it rained really hard today on my walk home! It was kind of cool and I enjoyed it, except for getting everything soaking wet. Pro tip: keep your textbooks in a binder or something in your bag so even if your book bag gets wet your books won't melt. They gave us a free zip up binder when we arrived here and I kept it and put it to good use because I'm brilliant. 

Then I studied some more tonight and now I'm typing this, ready to go to bed. Tomorrow is the oral test,  wish me luck! 

Namsan Tower part 2 (with the best)

So today was really good, but it had a bittersweet ending.

First, we had our weekly meeting. A weird coincidence happened though- I was getting on the subway from the station by my house and as I walked onto the train car, a NSLIY student was sitting in the seat right in front of me! The lady next to her moved over and we talked the entire way, basically in awe at the coincidence of me getting on the same train, same car, same line as her, and entering through the door that let me see her. Weird things happen here. Small world. 

But we walked to the office and then had the meeting. Since it was the mid program meeting we read the letters we had written to ourself during orientation, and basically all of them were cheesy encouragement letters telling us to keep going even though it might get hard. Then we wrote a mid program goal/evaluation paper for ourselves and got our stipend money! Of course we took money selfies. 

This is the richest I've ever been hahaha. 

After the meeting we went and got food- ice cream and croquettes (so healthy) but I also bought chicken to take back to class so I at least had some protein lol. We also went and raided a daiso (essentially a dollar store) and found beautiful Engrish pencil cases that of course I bought. 

Class was fun- we have a substitute teacher which is something different! It actually went by pretty fast today, maybe because I was feeling a little more energetic after sleeping late yesterday. I needed that sleep though- right after school I ran to the subway station to meet my pen pal. She is from another city in Seoul and traveled four hours to get here! I'm really sad that we could only spend a few hours with each other since I had to get home by curfew, but it was so nice to get to see her. We have been pen pals for over a year, and I never thought that we'd actually get to meet in real life. Leaving her after only a few hours was so sad. But anyways, we went up to namsan tower on the cable car, but since it was really foggy we didn't go up the actual elevator and instead just hung out outside and enjoyed the view. She even brought a lock to hang on the fences full of locks (a really famous spot in Seoul- couples, friends, everyone goes here and puts a lock on the fence. It's been in so many dramas it's crazy!). But it was super cute! Then we hung out by a nice view place and she called her friend because her friend wanted to talk to me. She was so funny haha xD. She stopped the conversation because she said she had to record this because it was her first time talking to a foreigner LOL. I had seen her from my pen pals snapchats and it was really nice to talk to her xP. 

Our little lock~ 

After our little adventure at the tower we went back down in the cable car and walked into Myeongdong. Since we had both wanted to take sticker pictures together, we took them! She had already found the place and it was a lot of fun haha. She was so sweet >.< it felt so unreal just hanging out with her and stuff since we've been talking for so long. 

After sticker pictures pictures we went out to eat! We had soba (Japanese cold noodles) and they were really good! The only bad part was they were really difficult to eat so I totally embarrassed myself haha. 

After dinner it was time to say goodbye, which was really sad, but we promised to meet again one day. I still can't believe we met and I'm really glad that we did! We will definitely remain friends for a long time~ 

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.