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Day 50 (Saturday, August 5): Being One with Nature
OOTD: black and white one piece bathing suit , black shorts, black Boy London shoes/tan sandals
WHOOOW! Day one of our trip. I was up pretty up as usual so waking up at about 6am was kind of torture. But no worries. We got out of the house and got to the bus pickup location (Express Bus Terminal) at the right time. Met up with my sis and was happy she got to meet Dorothy (for the second time) and Lindy (for the first time). We got on the bus and a few hours we were finally at our first stop Hanbando Jihyeong. We hiked up this foresty area to a higher spot where we were able to see a famous land formation that resembles the Korean peninsula. Pretty nifty. We then ate at a restaurant that was known for its wild vegetable bibimbap aka there was no meat but it was realllllllly delicious. Would eat again.
We were supposed to go to the Gossi Cave next but because of some scheduling conflict we weren’t able to go. Tbh I was kind of relieved since caves make me feel unsettled hahaha. The next part of the day was probably the highlight of the day. We did some white water rafting along the Eorayeon Valley, I was constantly in awe as I was surrounded by moutnains, greenery, and rushing water. It was calming and so freeing. Looking up to the beautiful sky with sunlight peering through the clouds, I couldn’t help but feel so blessed in that moment. I t all felt surreal. Being in Korea this summer. Being out in nature. Being free from the suffocating ay-to-day pressures of school and work. It also had a lot with our group as we counted with every row stroke. Our leader would yell out “1,2” and we would follow with “3,4.” It was super fun since we counted in multiple languages: English, Portugese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean. It was fabulous. It also didn’t hurt that so many of the rafting instructors were super cute. Haha. I was about to be in a group with one but I had to switch out to be with my sister. Sad face. Oh the sacrifices I make for my sister. #sistersbeforemisters
For dinner, we ate outside at this restaurant where we had unlimited samgyeopsal which was super yummy although I was totally destroyed by the mosquitoes. UGHHHHHHH. I honestly don’t know why they exist. What benefit do they bring to the world. Please do tell. Well anyways, after dinner e got to know some members on our trip a little better on the bus. I had to combat the awkward conversation of where I went to school. I honestly don’t like talking about where I go to school because no matter what I say, it always feel like I come off as pretentious or people will automatically have an image/perception of me that will be totally inaccurate because I definitely don’t fit the whole (insert my school name) model student (whatever that is). I spent the rest of the night with sis in our motel room (it was sketchy but at least our room was kind of decent?). We talked, did face masks, and meditated before falling asleep.
Day 51 (Sunday, August 6): Living on the Edge
OOTD: black and white one piece bathing suit, Apple shirt, purple athletic shorts sandals;
Day two and final day of our trip we had to be up and ready to go by 7:50am. I had a blueberry muffin for breakfast and bought some orange juice and water at the convenience store. I gotta have my juice y’all. Our first stop of the day was Cheongryeongpo where ing Danjong was exiled to when King Danjong was overthrown and demoted to prince. The place itself is beautiful and peaceful with so many trees but oh my goodness I can’t imagine being exiled. I would be so bored out of my mind. Oh and the heat? Not a fan if there’s no fan. Hehehe see what I did there?
Our next stop after a few hours on on the bus (where I napped) is Jangho Beach where we did some snorkeling and canoeing I would say the water activities themselves weren’t that intense but the area we were swimming was pretty rocky. Getting into the water itself was difficult since we had to navigate and walk upon a bunch of huge rocks. Also because I didn’t have my glasses, this proved to be an even greater challenge. I would say snorkeling was alright. It was super cool that I was able to breathe underwater for longs amount of time. I felt like I had some sort of cool superpower. Hehehe. But I somehow got salt water in my throat which is ew and the sight of huge rocks below me as I was swimming was more terrifying than breathtakingly beautiful. Canoeing was a lot more fun with my sis, Dorothy, and Lindy. We were the trendsetters since we crossed one of the marked lines and everyone followed suit. Hehehe. For lunch I had some rice with tuna, spam, and mayo. Petty goo but I enjoyed the kalbi barbecue my sister had. Bless my sister for sharing some with me. Hehehe. After frolicking and spending time at this beach, we were finally heading back to Seoul. It took longer than expected so we didn’t get home until almost 10pm but bless the bus driver added a stop at Samgakji which made our lives much easier. For dinner, I threw together some spam, mushrooms, onions, green onions, garlic, soy sauce and ate that with rice. Yay to eating at home again.
I would say that despite the disorganized and sometimes frustrating leadership, the weekend trip was overall was pretty good. I’m glad I got to spend time with my sister and friends and that I was able to get out of Seoul and see all of the beautiful nature Korea had to offer. Still awestruck.
Day 52 (Monday, August 7): Artbox = Heaven
OOTD: “Girls, Girls, Girls” shirt, light wash blue jeans, black Boy London shoes
For lunch, I made myself an omelette with spam, mushrooms, and onions. YUM. After work today, the girls and I headed over to the gomtang restaurant nearby where I had some mandu gomtang = yum yum yum. I would describe the mandu flavor as deep. Not sure if it’s comprehensible but that’s the only word that comes to mind. Afterwards we jumped on the subway and headed on over to Namdaemun Market area in hopes of getting some cheap groceries. Sadly the markets we went to last time were on holiday and wouldn’t be returning until the next day. What a bummer. We ended up just wandering one and I ended by two new baseball caps. I also got Jay Park’s album “Everything You Wanted.” Yay~~~~ since I’ve been looking to buy it for awhile now. We spotted an Artbox store and figured we would only be there for a few minutes since we’ve been to Artbox WE WERE WRONG.
We ended up staying there for a few hours and going on a total shopping spree. My friend Lindy spent WAYYY more than me since she bought a bunch of gifts for her family. Also bless her soul because she ended up paying for for the night since I was an idiot and left my wallet at home. Lindy’s coming in clutch. As for my purchases, I got a small umbrella (lost mine during the weekend trip, sad face), sunglasses (so in love with them), and 2 divider folder thingies that have super cute graphics. After a much successful shopping day for all of us, we all returned home happily ever after. We will definitely be coming again and will be missing it dearly when we go back to the US. SAD FACE.
Day 53 (Tuesday, August 8): Bougie Sinsa
OOTD: off the shoulder cactus shirt, light wash blue jeans, black Boy London shoes – later in evening changed into flowy white floral tank top and see through white top
Whipped up spam, mushrooms, garlic, green inions, rice, and soy sauce for lunch. Yummy~ And there goes my last bit of rice until I ask Lindy to make me some more. Skip forward to after work. The girls and I headed over to E-mart where I restocked on my orange juice, dumplings, spam and additionally got kimchi and canned tuna. Excited to try out new combos. I’ve done a pretty good job of not repeating any meals yet so whoow~ After grocery shopping, I came home to change my clothes and put on makeup to go hang out with my friend Cindy. I realize that I really dig the whole mesh/see-through top aesthetic. So glad I have some f these tops in my wardrobe now. Yay for wardrobe upgrade~
Cindy and I met up Sinsa where we wandered around for a bit debating what we ended for dinner since we’re both pretty indecisive. #nothelpfulbutitsokay We ended up going to one of the seafood restaurants where the owner spoke Chinese so Cindy took charge in ordering. Everything on the menu was pretty pricey so we just ended up splitting crab bibimbap which probably made the owners a little mad hahaha. Oh well. What do you expect from broke/cheap college students. The bibimbap was yummy and so were the various side dishes. It was nice to catch up on the various things that have been happening in our lives. Got to rant about frustrating things and share happy things.
Afterward we head over to Bistopping, a ice cream shop for it’s super cute creations. Can confirm that the ice cream is cute but also pricey. In general, today was quite the pricey, I should have figured since we were in Sinsa. I got the milk ice cream with an ice cream cone decorated with fruity pebbles that was topped off with star made of chocolate, some waffle cookies, drizzle with some mint sauce. It was yummy but it was also a struggle for Cindy and I to take cute pics since the ice cream was melting so quickly. Honestly it was getting all over my stuff. But it’s chill we had fun taking pic and enjoying the ice cream as well as the aesthetic of the shop. After finishing our ice cream, we walked around near the subway station to see if we wanted to get anything. We ended up not getting anything but we did spend quality time together! I was also flattered when Cindy said she liked my bangs since she hasn’t seen me with bangs in person yet.
After I got home, I ended making myself some mandu since I was pretty hungry since that crab bibimbap and aesthetic ice cream just wasn’t going to cut it in satisfying my tummy. Hehehe.
Day 54 (Wednesday, August 9): Reel 2 Real #3
OOTD: flowy blue floral tank top, black mesh top, black jeans, black Boy London shoes, diamond hoop earrings
Another long day of filming today! I had a Google Hangout meeting with my PubCo team today and although I was nervous about it, I was happy to find it to be chill and lowkey. That’s what I’m all about hahaha. I was flattered that one of my committee members complimented me on my hair hehehe. Yay to happy changes with my hair! I want to get rid of my potatoes so I ended up making potatoes with veggies and samgyupsal for lunch.
We were off to our filming! First stop was Sinchon Graffiti Tunnel where the Goblin and Great Repair did a parody of their epic hero wall from earrings in the series. We got there with no problems and we made a hilarious parody of our own. I thoroughly enjoyed. Hahaha. On our way there we passed by a theater that had a poster with a Charlie Chaplin quote saying “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”
Our next step was Lotte Mall and Tower since that was where the Goblin bought Eun Tak a Goblin doll. Sadly we couldn’t find the doll he bought her. But on the bright side, the MA is super pretty and the bathrooms were suuuuuuper nice. We weren’t there for a long time since we got pretty hungry.
For dinner we headed over to Daecheong to Olive Chicken Barbecue aka Sunny’s restaurant. It was quite surreal being in that restaurant. It looked exactly like the restaurant and there were drama posters and autographs on the wall. We also got excited because the snacks that Sunny always snacked on was also served! Whoow~ We ended up ordering go guns stick (which were super yum), shrimp pizza and honey garlic chicken. Tbh the pizza could have had more shrimp on the pizza and everything was a little bit too sweet for me but I enjoyed the meal nonetheless. The owner was also super nice and he asked us if we liked BTS so that he could grab BTS photo cards for us. We all ended up getting Rap Mon. Hahaha. On the way home, we spotted Subway aka the restaurant that is alwaysssss in dramas. Welp. The locations we went to were all IN Seoul and pretty close together so we got to go to different places in a short amount of time which was great! Another long but fun day!
UPDATE: Watch the video here~
Day 55 (Thursday, August 10): Trim
OOTD: “Love with side effect” red and blue stripe shirt, medium dark wash jeans, black Boy London shoes
For lunch, I made another dish that utilized potatoes with spam. Oh did I mentioned that I have ran out of my batch of rice at this point. That’s why rice -> potatoes. Well anyways, I just mainly worked on editing the footage we filmed yesterday at work today. After work, I headed home to rest for a bit while Lindy went to Emart. Also Emart randomly had avocados on sale so Lindy bought six and I paid her to bring 4 of them home. Wow yay for fruit and especially avocados! I haven’t bought fruit since coming here sine they’re so expensive. Anyways, I had to go over to Lindy’s house so she could make me more rice. Hahaha. I was originally planning to work on the video but ended up rewatching Goblin stuff. Hahaha.
When I finally headed over to Lindy house, she cooked me some rice and then we talked about how excited we were to be learning EXO’s “Ko Ko Bop” and “The Eve” tomorrow. We watched the dance videos and got excited all over again. She also taught me more makeup stuff and trimmed my bangs. Thankful to have her!
For dinner, I made tuna, rice, soy sauce, garlic, onion, and green onions. SO YUMMYYYYY. Buying tuna was a great choice. I was still hungry so I ate more rice with soy sauce and seaweed. Sounds super simple but it was mighty good! I spent the rest of the night just browsing the Internet and not being productive aka editing the video or blogging. I’m so behind and it’s taking me forever to catch up on my blogging. Ahhhhhhh.
Day 56 (Friday, August 11): Feeling Badass
OOTD: black crop top shirt, black leggings, jade bomber jacket (tied around waist), tropical triangle earrings – later in evening changed into long dark wash denim skirt and dangly star earrings
Had to be at the dance studio at 10pm in Apgujeong area so no cooking lunch today. Plus we were going to have a team lunch so more reason to not cook. We got to the studio and man were we excited. The instructor was so adorable but super cool when she started dancing. She also was wearing the “Black” cool top I bought before. Although I was super nervous about learning both ”Ko Ko Bop” and “The Eve” are both difficult for different reasons, the first because of the fast speed and need to hit the moves sharply and the second for because of the need to have the right groove/feel. Needless to say, it was super nerve-wracking because we were being recorded for our broadcast show/YouTube channel. WELP. Even though I wasn’t perfect and kept messing up with the timing and moves, I had so much fun and it felt so good to be dancing again. I can finally say that I can dance at least a part of an EXO dance. HOW BADASS AND COOL IS THAT?! I sure felt like that when I dancing to their songs. Hahaha. Now I gotta go home and practice and perfect the moves.
For our team lunch, we ended up eating at Nene Chicken which was pretty good. I’m pretty sure this is where I went to eat chicken once during my time in Korea three years ago. After spending a few hours at the Newsade office killing time by editing our Goblin video,Lindy and I headed over to Itaewon with other members of our team to do some street interviews talking about hidden cameras and a recent controversy relating to that as well as the hole Trump vs. North Korea dilemna. Tbh a little worried abut my safety but praying that everything and everyone will be alright. We honestly don’t need more hatred and chaos in the word but I guess I’m not the ones to decide that am I? I will try my best in the actions I do and words I speak everyday to lessen the darkness that looms in our world and society. Got all poetic-y there. Hahaha. Anyway the interviews went well although I was more there for moral support and the initial topics brainstorming process.
My roomie and I decided to have a roomie date night so we headed on over to Dongdaemun. We ventured around the DDP where there was night festival event going on with food trucks and artists with their creations on display for sale. None of the food trucks really caught our eye so we went back to the chicken kalbi place we went during week 1 of our internship. Oh how much things have changed. We reminisced on how much we’ve gotten closer and the memories we’ve made thus far. We still can’t believe we only have a few weeks left. Time flies when you’re having so much fun! We got the seafood version this time and added cheese and the cheese ddeok once again.
After dinner we wandered into the Hello apm mall in hopes of going to the studio theme park thing there but sadly it was already closed. We then headed over to the Lotte Duty Free mall where Dorothy ventured around and did more looking then I did. I was too tired and just chilled at one of the benches as I rewatched the dance videos from earlier in the morning. Still can’t get over them. Hahaha.
After I got home and showered and whatnot, I once again spent the rest of my night doing who knows what and not blogging like I should be. Welp.
[Something] for the Seoul 