TGIF~

Yeah another friday has arrived and its time for play~ Met up with 2 friendly koreans, BonHong and MinJae who went to SMU for exchange last semeser, this time. As usual, there were 3 rounds of activities for a typical night out.

Session 1: Dinner

We ate traditional korean dishes for dinner, which consisted of pa-chon (korean pancake fried with sotong, assorted vegetables and tastes delicious... similar Singapore's or-lwa), bbq pork trotters (I did not really enjoy it. The taste is alright, just that it is kind of fatty) and a pot of korean rice wine. The rice wine is definitely much nicer than soju and beer, its slightly sweet and light in taste. In addition, there were other korean side dishes to go with the main dishes, so we had a satisfying meal.

Session 2: Drinks

We went to a pub for drinks next and played drinking games. I think I'm really bad at playing reaction and number games, drank till i felt sleepy. But luckily, the next session of activity woke me up!

Session 3: Ktv at Noraebang

And the last session of the night, Ktv. I had a fun time playing with the tamborine. MinJae told us the ktv etiquette here is to sing only happy songs. No sad or slow songs are allowed! Look at Bonhong sing... It was obvious that koreans enjoy singing alot~

Pizza in Seoul

We went for dinner in this pizza chain called Mr Pizza at Sinchon due to our cravings for pizza. We decided to try something different and ordered 2 large pizzas: Bulgogi (korean style bbq beef) and Potato King (which has ingredients such as potato, sweet potato and such) and were pleasantly surprised by their good taste, especially the potato pizza which is so special. Though its fattening for its high carbohydrates, we still could not resist it.

And thanks to my sis for sending me stuff. Look at my happy face when receiving the parcel. Heh~ Hope to receive more in future... =)

First Day of School

School has finally started so I'll have to start waking up early for lessons. Fortunately my classrooms are all near my hall so I wont have to travel long distances like what I did in NTU. I'm taking 3 subjects here and one of them is Strategic Management.





My prof is a Korean who's educated in the States, so he speaks American ascented English. I'm taking this subject at Yonsei's Business School ( I heard it is quite famous in Korea), so there's a mix of Korean and exchange students. I'm glad that I'm in the same class as Flora and RX as I have companions to go for lessons together and we'll be doing projects in a group too.


The other 2 subjects I'm taking are Topics on Korean Language and Culture and The United Nations and International Organizations. These are taken at the Division of International Exchange and Education, so my classmates are all exchange students. I hope it will be quite slack as there is no exams for this 2 subjects, so that I can relax and enjoy this semester.

The days that snowed

The weather had been cold for the past week. I heard that it gets especially chilly in the first week of spring, so I hope the weather will turn warmer by next week. It snowed thrice here in Seoul since I arrived, so here's some pictures to share.

The snowfall on Monday was very light. But we were still very happy and excited to see the snow flakes falling, so we just dashed out from our hall without changing into warmer clothes to take pictures. As it was too cold to walk any further, we had instant rice with korean dishes for lunch.

On Wednesday, it snowed again and this time the snowfall was heavier.

It really felt good to see the snow falling and walk around in it even though we were freezing cold. Our ears and hands felt numb as though they were going to fall off anytime. But we had a great time playing with the snow and taking pictures. I think its really nice to live in countries with different seasons. My friend told me people living in these places have good complexion and whats more, they get to change their wardrobes every season. Isn't it great if Singapore has 4 seasons too?

Weekend Outing again~

We met up with the Korea University people again last weekend afternoon. This time we also had sn, my roomie, with us as well. The first place we visited was Myeong-dong. At Myeong-dong we went to Shinsegae, a high class shopping mall selling luxury brands. The place is really posh, so we had a good time window shopping there. Myeong-dong is a place where many Japanese visit in search of luxury goods, so the place has strong Japanese influence in terms of service, product display and packaging of products.




Next up is Namdaemun...

We also walked pass Seoul train station and took some pictures.

In the evening, we visited Korea University with the guide of the KU exchange students. The school is nice as it has beautiful scenery and some buildings really look like palaces.

To end off the day, we had a cosy dinner of hot plate (which consists of ramen, vegetables, ham, beef and spicy sauce fried in a pan) at an eatery called Biya just outside KU.


And on our way back, we bought face masks on the streets that cost 1000krw ($1.60) for 3 pieces. It was really a bargain as the quality of the mask is good and they smell nice too. Really satisfied with the buys~ =)

Ski Trip

I went to ski at LG Gangchon Resort with the girls (sn, rx and flora), sq and his korean friend, Bon Hong who was also our ski instructor for the day. The weather was sunny, a great day to ski! Although this was my second time skiing (my first time was coincidently in Korea too, at Yong Pyong Resort a few years back), I was still very bad at it, so it was basically quite tiring as I kept falling down. Getting up required alot of effort as the slopes are slippery and the ski gear was big and heavy, so it really hindered my movements.

Pictures of our ski instructor and rx, and the 3 of us (my roomie kindly helped us take this picture)

During lunch I was casually asking Bon Hong if he was tired from teaching us ski but he could not understand what I meant. He replied "Huh, I'm not on a diet". It was quite awkward and funny so all of us began laughing as we realised our Singlish is really bad. The people here speak proper US style English, so we have to speak properly in order for them to understand us. Haha.

After lunch we continued skiing and the weather had turned warmer by then, so the snow began melting abit and the slopes became even more slippery. On the final slope back to the ski house, rx skidded and rolled down the slope. She had to stitch up her wounds and her face was also bruised as she landed on her head. The whole incident was quite scary when it happened, so I decided to only ski on the gentle slopes if I get the chance to ski again next time.

A picture of rx at the hospital getting her wound stitched up. Looks scary isn't it?

Night out with the Singaporeans

Had a fun night out with fellow singaporeans from SMU and NUS today. Met up with Gillian, Eng Teck and OonWah from Korea University as well as Joshua from Yonsei but staying off campus for a Saturday night of activities.

Session 1: BBQ pork dinner

Dinner was delicious! San Cen Rou fried with cabbage, bean sprouts, kimchi, mushrooms and spicy sauce. No porky smell at all! Heh.

Session 2: KTV at a Noraebang ( KTV room)

Singing is definitely more fun with the tambourines because it is more noisy! The ktv here has a selection of chinese, english, japanese and korean songs but they are in midi format, so the sound quality is quite lousy. Nonethless, we had a good time singing and laughing.

Session 3: Drinking session

Drinks are really cheap here, soju (local vodka) and beer being most popular. Pubbing is the typical activity for koreans after a meal rather than going to cafes as coffee is much more expensive.

After 3 sessions of activities till late, we finally headed back to hall. Here's 1 last shot to conclude our night. Plans were also made for more of such outings in future. So stay tuned! =)

On the roads

After topping up our student cards (which is also our ezlink), we were finally able to explore other parts of seoul by bus and train. We visited Dongdaemun which is really a shopping haven for both koreans and foreigners; the Seoul Olympic Stadium to catch dbsk's concert (we didnt have the tickets so we could only hang around the place to feel the atmosphere... haiz) and finally settled our alien registration. All foreigners residing in Korea for more than 90days are required to apply an alien ID.

On the bus and train...

There are 8 subway lines in Korea and dozens of interchange stations to transfer, so it gets rather confusing for foreigners to travel around. And it gets really crowded during peak hours so you wont even need to walk into the carriage as there will be people behind pushing you in. And also, there's seats on every carriage specially reserved for the elderly, disabled and pregnant ladies. Its the protocol that you give up your seats for them or you will be scolded/hit on the head by them, especially the aunties and uncles who are known to be very fierce. Haha.

Walking on Seoul's streets

For the past few days, I've been exloring my school area with my exchange mates from NTU namely Shen Nan, Rouxin and Flora; and Shaoqin, another Singaporean from SMU we met in our exchange university.There are 3 universities in the vicinity and 1 of them is the world largest women university, hence the streets are filled with students and there are lots of restaurants, clothing stores, cafes, cosmetics stores, hair salons etc that cater to their tastes and needs. The stores here close late too, at 11 pm or later. So its always bustling with activites all day and night.

Some familiar stores...

Things from the face shop are selling very cheap here, so do other korean brands such as Laneige, Skin Food, Missha etc. Imported brands on the other hand cost significantly higher so we've been buying korean brand toiletrettes here.

We've been eating tradional korean food for the past days so we got kind of sick as its either rice with soup, ramen or kimbap (korean sushi). There are many roadside stalls along the streets where we can get fried rice cakes and other snacks conveniently and cheaply whenever we feel hungry. Meat is really expensive here so we will only eat bbq pork, fried chicken and other meats once in awhile, during the weekends.