Seoul

Hello, all! It’s me again 😀 I bet you’re all so excited! (not)

Today I would like to share with you my experience in Seoul last June.

I decided to go to South Korea for all of last summer as my last hoorah before I graduated college, and I am so glad I did. The trip there completely changed my life (for the best), and ever since, I’ve never been happier, healthier, or more sure of myself and what I am doing.

Last summer, South Korea became my most favorite place on earth, and I have been itching to go back ever since I got on the plane to come home. Scratch that. I’ve been dying to go back ever since I had about a week left in that country. I honestly didn’t wanna come home. It is such a marvelous place, and I can’t wait to finally bring you on my adventure through it.

Let’s begin with the room I stayed in:

it was literally the size of a shoebox, and I somehow managed to live there for almost a month. With a shared kitchen, shared bathroom, and shared shower. I died a little on the inside. And I actually shared the room with my friend for about two weeks, which turned the shoebox into a matchbox 😦

Ps, I was staying in Hongdae, which is the club/party/college area. So the other guests renting rooms made it very hard to sleep at night due to their drunken capades.

But even though my living situation was quite bleak, the city itself was pretty cool and fun.

I don’t have any pictures of the city skyline or anything like that because, to be honest, I didn’t really see the skyline once. I didn’t make it to Seoul Tower while I was there, so it was impossible to get far enough away from the city to be able to capture it all. Seoul has some MAJOR magnitude, something else that made my time there a bit intimidating — especially my time alone.

It’s hands down the biggest, most crowded city I’ve ever been (NYC has nothing on it). During my week and a half of being alone, I did a lot of wandering around and ended up getting very lost a few times. It wasn’t the best experience, and if you’re not great at navigating swarms of people yelling in a different language, I highly recommend getting a roaming plan so you can use the GPS on your phone. It would have been a great investment.

Now for food, because that’s what people really care about when they’re traveling.

To be honest, while I was in the city by myself, I didn’t really eat anything. Why? Because it’s almost impossible to eat alone in this country. Everything is served family style, which makes you have to go hungry if you don’t have a grocery sore nearby (like me!). I survived on a free bowl of instant ramen that the landlord provided every few days and some crackers I brought with me on the plane. What a life.

But then lovely people came to my rescue, and I actually started having meals:

(Ps here is where the picture size changes cause I’m getting lazy.)

Didn’t mean for that rando pic of me to get thrown in there lol.

But yes, the food was glorious ❤

I won’t tell you what every single thing was, but it was all phenomenal. I literally didn’t have one bad meal this summer. Korea has food down, and you need to eat everything you possibly can if you’re ever there.

Except dog. Omg please don’t eat dog.

Anyway, moving on again, Seoul has a thing for street art, which I found fascinating. I was surprised by how much graffiti was everywhere, but it sort of made the city a little more homey and welcoming.

And finally, here are some pictures (and selfies) of me throughout the city:

That was a lie. It was mostly selfies of me in my shoebox room.

One thing I hated was that I had to wear a mask a lot of the time when I went outside in Seoul. I have terrible outdoor allergies, and the air quality made me practically unable to breathe without a mask. So if you also have bad allergies, be prepared.

And that is all! Seoul was actually my least favorite place in Korea, but it was still pretty fun. There are a couple of places in Seoul I am going to recommend specifically in separate posts, but in general, if you’re in Seoul at all, check anything out. It’s all quite wonderful, and you will have a good time no matter what.

Thanks for reading, and if you’ve also been to Seoul, tell me where your favorite place is. I’m curious for the future when I go back.

Until next time ❤