Weekend In Busan

This last weekend I spent a couple days in Busan, Korea's second largest city. It's on the very southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula and is absolutely beautiful. The food is consistent with typical Korean fair, and incorporates tons of the fresh fish they have in the area. It has been one of my favorite stopping off points and you can check out all of the places I visited with the link below.

I also have a couple interesting stories and wanted to recount some more person tails of what the trip felt like and the sights and sounds of the city itself.

The weekend that I went as at the end of midterm week and there happened to be a party at a club in Itaewon to celebrate the conclusion of all the studying and test taking. That party lasted well into the mid hours of the morning. I caught the first subway back home around 5:45am and was able to crash in bed by 6:30am. The train I had booked left at 12:30pm, so I didn't have much time to recover properly in my sleep cycle. I barely woke up at 11:30am. At that point in time I was still not packed and needed to get ready.

I got to the subway station near the University at 11:45am, so it was going to be tight. To get to the train station, i.e. Seoul Station, you have to take one line 4 or 5 stops down, then transfer to another line that is another 6 or 7 stops. All-in-all, if you can time it just right, the trip takes around 22 minutes. That meant that I would get to the station at 12:07pm, and I did. However, I hadn't been to the station, so I had no clue how to check in and how long it would take to get on the train.

I basically sped walked faster than an olympic speed walking champion up to the ticketing gate. The line looked long and I thought I was going to have to jump off a bridge. Fast forward to 12:25, and I'm at the counter, I got the ticket, and I have 5 minuted to get on that train before it leaves and I have a worthless ticket.

I just start following people until I could see a big sigh for KTX, which is the train system I was riding on, I hungover-hustled down the stairs and was next to the train. I had one hot minute to find my car and, luckily for me, it was the one right next to the stairs. I'm not on the train for more than 30 seconds before it starts rolling down the tracks. What can I say? I guess I don't like wasting time.

The train ride was relatively quick, it took only two and a half hours to reach Busan and then after that I was set free into the city. The first place I stopped of was the fish market where I was able to watch some of these incredible booth owners prepare fish in mere seconds. Somewhat grotesque in fashion, but interesting none the less. Outside of the market there was almost a mile long market that ran down a narrow old street. This place was packed with small restaurants that had maybe two or three tables, and that's where I had my first culinary excursion in the city.

It was a mixture of fish, kimchi, and other vegetables, oh and it had some squid on it as well. It was pretty good and wasn't exactly what I was asking for but it was still pretty good. The lady might have just given me what she was already making in a big batch. It was still pretty good.

After that, I went up to a park where you could see much of the city and Busan Tower. The views were incredible and I included some pictures of them to back up that claim. I also spent some time walking around the area near Kyungsung University, which had tons of great bars and restaurants. I stopped of for a couple of drinks at a local watering hole and grabbed a quick snack on the way to one of the three beaches I visited during my time there.   

The beaches were great and I don't think I have any funny stories from those treks. However, I did try to visit a park that was a little out of the way, which I thought was like a botanical garden. To see this place I rode out on the subway for about 30 minutes, I get there and walk a couple of blocks. I was pretty hyped about seeing some Korean botany, but it turned out to literally just be a park. One with like little league baseball, jogging paths, and soccer fields. The whole journey out there was literally pointless and there was absolutely nothing to see. The pictures online make it seem like it would be a pretty cool place. It just goes to show that you can't trust what you read on the internet. (except for this, you can trust me)

I think the coolest part of the trip was Songdo Beach. It's much more southern than the other two beaches I visited- Haeundae and Gwagalli. It just had so much around it. There was a lighthouse poking into the bay with massive ships out in the distance, and in the reverse direction there was a picturesque beach and tons of lively activity. 

They had some interesting street food with some sort of larva as well. I caught a picture of it but I didn't have the stomach to try it at that point in time. 

I had the chance to see a lot in a short time and walked over 45 miles around city, not included the countless miles I took on the subway and buses. I think it was worth it but I slept for quite a while after than. 

The trip was short but it was good. Two days isn't enough to see everything, but what I saw was awesome and I got a sweet new sweatshirt too, so it was a major victory. Now I'm back to spending a lot time in the library and reading. I had one class that mandated 600 pages of material for the midterm. I was so sick of reading after last week. Guess what I did on the train? I read some more. 

Midterms, Bukchon Hanok Village, and more

So, it's been a crazy few weeks for me and this will cover the first part of those few weeks. I wanted to start out with a funny story that I think some may like:

There's really only one thing in this world that I've ever been allergic to. No it's not medicine, no real food, not figurative either, it's this one family of wild grasses that makes me cough and sneeze and itch for a couple of weeks each one. One that I've never actually paid any attention to what it looks like or how to identify it, I just knew that I was allergic to it. Well, this is where the fun begins. On campus there are a couple of cafeterias that I eat at every now and again. Sometimes the food is pretty good, other times it's really bad, but that's not really important. What is important is that one day, they have some new dishes up and I was feeling adventurous, per usual, and decided to sample one of these new dishes.

This one dish was some thin strips of pork and what looked like some sort of grass shavings. Now, I'm not sure if it was actually grass, but I thought it looked pretty interesting and obviously something that I must try to determine if it was actually what I thought it was. So, I get my food and I go to have a seat, I then try a few things and get to this grass looking material. Believe me, I really wish I had a picture so that I could show you. Anyway, I take a large bit and it tasted very familiar, almost like the smell of fresh cut grass on a summer day hitting the back of your tongue. I thought, "that can't be right, it has to be all the paprika on top that gave it that strange taste." I then proceed to go back for bight number two, which was rather large and it tasted relatively the same. I thought, "well I'm never getting that again," and went on with my day.

Well, unbeknownst to me that meal was not done with me. I was sitting in the library and started to itch under my watch. I thought that it was weird and I must've just been wearing the watch too long and it was too hot outside. Wrong. Soon, my arms began to itch as a massive case of hives swept across my body, covering my entire torso at one point. I'm a tough s.o.b. so the itching was only pretty unbearable for a while. That's not the end of it. I had this meal at dinner and had a job interview later in the evening. So while I was interviewing the hives were exploding and dissipating in waves, which made for an incredibly interesting time over the phone. Thanks heavens I wasn't on Skype.

Still cannot confirm 100% it was grass, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.

After that episode, I've had more time to check out the city and study for midterms, then take midterms, and let me tell you something that format is new to me. I've never had two test account for 100% of my grade before in my life and that's all this was. Usually there are two or three exams, maybe even some homework. Most of my classes the only grades come from the midterm and the final. Oh boy, what fun, am I right or am I right?

So I studied for a pretty extended period of time, might still have done terribly. I'm not sure, I haven't gotten my scores back so I get to remain in the hot-seat. Check that, I went and checked after I wrote. There's one class that looks like it's going to be pretty damn difficult down the stretch. When I say that, it's only pass or fail so go ahead and connect those dots. Yeah.

Koreans are studious. The biggest take away is that if I'm in a position to hire somebody someday, and there are some Korean educated individuals with high GPAs then I am going to hire those people. No doubt in my mind. They are crazy focused. I wish I could get myself to focus that much sometimes without having to gear myself up. Maybe something I need to work on? Uh yeah, probably. I think I may have just found my New Year's resolution (that way I don't have to start it until January- see what I did there).

In between the studying and now crying over a low score, I had the chance to hit up some cool places in Seoul. One of which is Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an old, historically built and maintained Korean village right near the downtown area of the city. It's a short walk in between the two large palace areas and has some spectacular views of all these old houses and the city. The neighborhood, that it's across from is Insadong, which has a lot of tourist shopping and some decent street food.

That's another thing, I eat a lot of street food. If it's out there I'm going to try it. I've had everything from fried minicrab to squid, then maybe some weird gelatinous cornbread. It's pretty incredible to see the variety and try everything there is to try. I mean, there's stuff that I didn't even imagine seeing out there and it's all pretty good.

Usually, around my neighborhood, Anam, there some good restaurants and it's a university area so it's not a bad time either. There are a few bars that I think are trying to cater to the foreign students, which is kind of nice. $2.80 for a beer is a pretty good deal in my opinion. Oh, and turns out soju has like 400 calories a bottle so I will be toning down the consumption of that beverage for the time being. Especially since it has caused me to forget to set up my fantasy line up multiple times. 

I've also figured out the entire process to leave the country, so watch out Asia, I'm coming for you. If you have any sweet suggestions of where to go then please hit me up. 

Chuseok and Seafood

Climbed Some Mountains and Swam in the Sea of Japan, oh and turned 22. (cue the Taylor Swift) 

So, it's been a while since my last post, but in that time I've been all over the place. Still haven't been able to see Pyongyang in the North though. Heard it's nice. Not too crowded. 

A couple weeks ago I went on a trip with some friends to the East Coast of Korea. It involved a lot of seafood, some beaches, and a hungover hike where I thought I was going to die. We ventured up to Sokcho on the first day, which was actually a cool place. There, I hopped into the Sea of Japan and got sand all in my pants- you could've called me Sandy Cheeks, that's for sure. Side note- sea crab is super expensive, like $110 a pound. I did not eat that but tried some whole fish, some squid, oysters, and a whole lot more. Plus plenty of the usual soju. That was just the first night, and you can bet I kept up a significant pace for most of the week/ weekend. 

The next day I woke up with a pretty bad hangover and decided to have some milk. Well, after that milk and some cereal we went for a hike. That hike was pretty long and also hot. I #milkboyz'd myself- did not feel great during that hike. Actually felt pretty bad. Luckily made it through it without dying and climbed one of the tallest mountains in Korea. Tbh they're all pretty short, the tallest mountain is like 6,000ft. I heard that you're suppose to see North Korea from the top but that's still not confirmed. I can definitely confirm how terrible I felt during most of that hike. There were some cool points too, a Buddhist temple carved into the side of a mountain was probably the coolest. I also attempted to push over a boulder, one that people have been trying to push down the mountain for years. They made it halfway down, but not any further. I can attest that this is a heavy rock, I can usually lift a lot but not that much. 

Well, got done with that hike, then had some nice chicken on a stick an some ice cream as a snack. Yes a snack, I'm a pretty big guy. The hangover started to go away a little bit, then had some mad sashimi, hangover gone. The rice wine also helped the hangover go away a little bit. Honestly, the rice wine tastes great and I could easily drink it with every meal. After dinner we headed down to a couple more costal cities, and saw a lake that use to be clear but the Japanese diverted a canal to make it muddy. What assholes. Like what was the point in doing that? Apparently, it use to be beautiful, pristine, and clear. 

Outside of the natural wonders, I sang so much karaoke that my throat got sore and I thought I was losing my voice. Karaoke is a huge fan favorite. One of the places the karaoke jam session went down was a small, interesting little town, that was basically the complete opposite of Seoul- very small and some old, old buildings. That town was honestly pretty awesome, and had some great seafood. The beach was great for a few night beers and sending some lanterns out over the sea. If they ended up going north I bet it freaked out the Kimjung Un family across the border. Like seriously, he probably thought it was an eminent attack. 

Overall, great week. The week after got even more wild cause now I'm #feeling22. It was also the weekend of games between Korea University and Yonsei, where the schools play each other in five sports. I caught a baseball game. The pitcher was throwing some sick 50 mile an hour fast balls- probably on his way to the majors. I mean I can barely get a ball over home plate and this dude is rocking 50mph fast balls!! You don't see that everyday!! After the games were over I got to participate in what has been one of my favorite tradition so far, a train/ conga line that went through the local neighborhood. In that line you would go from store to store and yell chants, then you'd get some free beer and maybe some soju. Absolutely fantastic. 

I also had a huge meal of Korean BBQ and Pork Belly- a little word to the wise, the small hidden shops are definitely the best. Birthday night was a challenge, one that I gladly accepted. It was filled with tons of soju and beer, karaoke, and some drunken ice cream cones and Korean chow. 

On the flip side, school has been interesting. I've made it through a month of class and it's still going strong. Not having a student ID to get into any reading spaces or the library has been incredibly frustrating, but hopefully that get resolved before I actually leave. Until next time, everyone!

Buddhism, Class, and Unlimited Soju

What have I done to myself?

I don't even know where to start. This is my second time writing this post because I was hungover and closed out all my work without saving it last time. Oops, what a great move by me. Since my last post I've been all over the city and classes are in full swing. Let's start with the classes. So some of the courses at Korea University are suppose to be taught in English for exchange students. Well, even when they are marked as "english" sometimes they aren't. Two of my classes I had to be able to read Korean. Uhhhh not happening. I can read like a dozen words and I'm pretty sure not many of them would be in an academic periodical. 

The best class story that I have so far is along the same lines as the Korean reading ones. However, in this one I was sitting in the lecture hall, the professor was lecturing fully in Korean, and I thought he was just explaining something. Well he wasn't, he was teaching in Korean. Low and behold, forty-five minutes later I have absolutely no clue what the hell is going on. That sense of cluelessness must have shown clearly on my face because the professor stopped what he was doing, proceeded to turn to me, and ask "do you understand Korean?" "Uhh a little," is what I managed to murmur back. Well that just made the whole class bust a gut. I dropped that class like it was hot. Bye bye.

Besides that, not too many interesting stories have come out of class. Look on the flip side and I've been going a little goofy with the hopping around and the night life. Seoul night life is lit and it is real. The bars don't close and everyone just stays out until the subway opens back up at 5:30am. So it's pretty normal to drink for twelve hours. Pace. Yo. Self. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. I still like to hit a couple of sprinting sections during that marathon, it's only natural.

Those nights usually lead to some grand stories. Soju is cheap and it is everywhere. Like $1.50 for a bottle. Those cheap bottles lead to good times. They have caused me to fall asleep on the subway a couple times on the way back home. After that I learned my lesson and made myself stand when I road the subway after that. If I fall asleep standing up I'll just fall over and wake myself up.  It's a full proof plan! 

In the time I've been in Seoul, I've run into more people I knew here than I did in Seattle. Wild stuff. Each has been a great time. One turned into a drinking marathon that lasted from 1pm in the afternoon until 7am the next day. Shout out to my Uncle Leo and buddy Colin. I've also had another night where I've run into some old Korean guys and we just sat and drank soju while sharing pictures. I had no clue what they were saying. It was still a great time. That night lead me to a market at like 4:30am where I got breakfast and what looked like the garment district. It was about three city blocks that were just covered feet high with bags of fabrics and clothing. Absolutely incredible site. People were loading these bags into carts, on scooters, and in vans. I have no clue how they could even tell what was what but they were making things happen. 

The food here is a mix between killer and interesting. I've seen some fried squid patties, had some mini-crab crackers, and devoured some squid tentacles. I would recommend all of it, I'm a big food tourist. I'd probably try just about anything to be honest. I'm going to try to include some more pictures of the weirder stuff I've run into next time. 

Anyway, thanks for checking out this blog post! I'm going to try and update every Friday, so check back when you get a chance!

First Week in Seoul

The Rundown

It's been an interesting few days since I landed at Incheon International Airport, about an hour outside of Seoul. The weather is not nearly as temperate this time of year as it is in Seattle, where I spent this summer, so the sweat started almost immediately and has continued through this writing. If you're thinking about flying into Korea I highly suggest shorts. Pants are just a terrible idea this time of year. But enough about the formalities of pants vs shorts (shorts rule), I want this story, and many more, to highlight some of the interesting situations I find myself in, especially the misfortunate ones- which strangely seem to end being some of the most interesting ones.

Speaking no Korean and having to search for language options on every ATM, ticketing machine, and sign has been hilarious. The first few times I really felt like I was five years old again, trying to figure out how to read a book that was a little above my reading level. I looked so confused in fact that I had, let's count them, not one but THREE taxi drivers come up to me and try to get me to take an hour and a half taxi ride to the city. Not happening bub. Not paying a billion Won (South Korean Currency) to take a taxi. I'm also kind of stubborn sometimes, so I was pretty determined to get that bus ticket.

Well I got one, folks! I had gone to a ticketing station but couldn't figure that out, so at the second station of self service machines (which you should definitely use- super easy and cheap) I finally got a ticket to my hotel. I lugged my 100 lbs of gear to the stop and hopped on. The bus driver didn't speak english, or at least he didn't to me, so when I got yelled at for not buckling up it took me a second to realize what he was talking about. The ride lasted for an hour or so and was pretty nice/ air conditioned. Praise Zeus. 

The hotel that I got to wasn't bad at all but checking in was a great situation. The person at the late night desk didn't speak great English, which is sweet because I don't speak great Korean. 10/10 situation. So after saying hello in two different languages it seemed we were out of mutually understandable words. This became an issue because there was a problem with my booking and she couldn't find the confirmation. I then proceeded to whip out my fancy confirmation email and we began a half hour of pointing at things on different documents and saying "aahhh," we got the issue resolved. Still not sure how. 

The next day I got up and had some nice preloaded directions and used the subway. Thanks to my proficiency at getting a bus ticket I was pretty damn good at getting that subway ticket the next day. Nailed it. Then had to have some people help me figure out how to use the ticket, but that's a different story. Just let it be known I said "thank you" quite a bit. After that nice subway ride I took a taxi to the wrong spot. Great work by me. After that I decided to walk the rest of the way to campus, which was an absolutely terrible idea. It was too hilly and the bags were too heavy for that. At least I got a good workout in, right? But seriously, it sucked.

That was the end of my hopping around adventures and the beginning of my goofy attempts at trying to order food. I've tried to stay away from western chains that are around Seoul, like McDonalds and TacoBell. I've stuck to Korean food, which has been a great tasting decision but difficult in the execution. I've had to order a lot of things by saying "one," pointing at a picture or word, and then saying "please." I still haven't starved so I think I'm doing pretty well. Hopefully that trend continues. 

If I had to describe Korea University, the facilities, and orientation I would describe it as gucci-money-swag. If it gets interesting and funny I'll probably talk about it at some point, but I don't want to bore anybody with mediocre storylines.

So, that's about it for now. In my next post I'll talk about some good food and good company I had in Itaewon as well as a really strange walk I had across some parts of Seoul in the early morning. I've included some night-time teaser pictures from the trek.