Week 5 & 6 (3/22 to 4/5)
- Jul 29
- 3 min read
Week 5: Exploring More of Korea
Week five of being in Korea, was filled with a lot of fun and exploring. During this fifth week, I explored a different area around the Sinchon area, had a friend from Hawaii come and visit, and did a day trip outside of Seoul to Suwon.
As I have gotten more into a routine in Korea, I felt like it was time to explore around Sinchon more and expand my horizons to outside of Hongdae. So I explored what is now my favorite area in Seoul, Yeonnam! Yeonnam is great, there are so many restaurants, cafes, cute photobooths, and so many boutiques. I went to a really cute cafe called cafe Brady’s Coffee Bar which is now my favorite cafe I’ve been to. I ate the best salt bread ever there and had the best experience with the staff I absolutely loved it!
In addition to exploring more, I had another friend come a visit me! My middle school friend from Hawaii was visiting Korea for her spring break and I got to meet up with her and my other middle school friend from back home who was studying at Korea University. We ate KBBQ in Myeongdong and walked around the food stalls. It was so much fun and I had such a good time getting to walk around with my friends that I’ve known for so long and get to catch up with them over delicious food.
Now to end this week in Korea, I finally left Seoul. Last minute a group of my friends in Korea decide we wanted to do a day trip to Suwon, which is a city about an hour outside of Seoul. It was such a nice place to go as it felt like a calmer version of Seoul. That day we went to a really cute cafe, went to the famous Starfield Library saw a taekwondo performance, walked around the mall that the library was in, and went to Hwaseong Fortress for sunset which was absolutely beautiful and such a great way to end our day trip in Suwon. It was truly such a great day.
Week 6: Touching Grass (Cherry Blossoms & Hiking Bukhansan)
During week six in Korea, I probably did the most outdoorsy things as the cherry blossoms were basically at full bloom so it was the perfect time to be outside. Of course I went to Yeonnam again to go and see the cherry blossoms as there were streets lined with cherry blossoms all over Yeonnam. I also went to Banpo Hangang Park with Michelle and Joy (a fellow Shidler student), where they have a water and light show at night off of the Banpo Bridge and it was very beautiful but extremely cold. Then the next day I went cafe hopping in Hongdae with Michelle and Joy, where after Joy and I met up with her friends from her university to walk around Seokchon Lake Park, as it is a very well known spot for viewing cherry blossoms.
Then after that, the next day was a early start to go hiking. I am not much of a hiker, I barely ever hike anywhere, however one of my friends really wanted to go hiking so a group of us decided lets go!!! So my friend who wanted to go hiking did some light research and decided she wanted to hike Bukhansan. We ended up hiking all the way to the tip top to Baegundae Peak, which is the highest point in Seoul. None of us were prepared for this, we spent over 3 hours hiking to this peak and it was one of the scariest and most beautiful experiences. The hiking path was goregous and the weather that day was absolutely beautiful, there were also wild dogs and cool architecture along the trail. However, at one point on the hike getting to the peak it’s just a ledge and a railing which was truly frightening because one wrong moved and there is nothing catching you. I think at that point in the hike my entire group had gone silent and put 100% focus into walking up this mountain. It was so scary, definitely the scariest hike I’ve been on but so worth it once we got to the top. It was the most beautiful view ever and I don’t think I could have gotten a better view of Seoul anywhere else. It was such a cool experience and I never thought I would go hiking in Korea but I am really glad I did, definitely a memorable experience.
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