My final week in Korea is here! I'm both excited to get back home to go hiking in the Rockies again and also sad to leave the people, foods, and cultural aspects I've gotten to know this summer. I'm spending this week in Seoul, staying with my friend Kelsey in her Goshiwon near Seoul National University (thanks, Kelsey!). We've gone exploring in several parts of the city, and got to spend some time with friends from our EAPSI cohort before they left for home or other adventures. There was also a closing ceremony for our program in which we all gave presentations about our research projects and cultural experiences while we were in Korea, and talked with the group coordinators about any issues we had while in Korea so that the program could be improved next year.
One of my favorite views we've seen in Seoul so far is this amazing array of rainbow umbrellas that are hung up above a courtyard outside the Hapjeong metro station --so pretty!
Kelsey took some really great pictures and lots of me while I've been in Seoul, which she's given to me to use on this blog ---thanks again, Kelsey! We had a full day of presentations at the Seoul Finance Center on Friday (about 24 ten-minute talks). It was a long day, but we had a wide variety of research projects in our group, from language learning to robotic hand grasping technology to algal biofuel studies. One girl was able to even find a new species of copepod (a micro-critter found in water) and named it after her family. Kelsey has been extremely successful as well, and will be publishing about 11 papers from her work here, including two first-author papers and one that will be in the prestigious journal, Science. Wow!
This was actually a week before I left HUFS, when I came to see everyone in Seoul: here are Nicole, Shawn, and Dave after a tasty meal of deokkboki (rice sticks in sauce) and ochingeo (squid) that we cooked over an open flame at our table.
Kelsey took me out for some delicious nakchi bokkum (or something like it --stir friend octopus), and we happened to get some of these funky, crunchy anchovies on our plate as well. There were mini squid mixed in, too. Salty!
Here's me and the tasty octopus meal. Although some restaurants in Korea may not look like much from the outside, appearances can be very deceiving here. This place in Nokdu is amazing!
Seoul is a great city for traveling around as a tourist because you can get pretty much anywhere during the day using the metro/subway system. This is a picturesque shot from the train on our way between the south and north parts of the city, going over the Han River.
We end up spending lots of time in the subway stations because this is such a great way to get around (also, we stop and browse the very cheap clothes and goodies that are in the stations).
One of my favorite places in Seoul so far is Hongdae, since there's so much to do for people our age --shopping, eating, dancing, and of course drinking. It's expensive and usually very packed, but Dan (in the hat on the right in this picture) is a local here and takes us to places that are a little less expensive and very cool. He plays the pandero and other percussion instruments, so he's made some friends here who play music, too. Unfortunately, Dan got a terrible case of appendicitis this summer, which was discovered last week. He had an appendectomy and has been in the hospital for almost a week now, eating only rice gruel and somehow entertaining himself... he's getting out today, though! We're going to go to Insadong, an area with good traditional item shopping and tea houses. His brother, Brandon, is also visiting and has been going with us on little adventures around the city.
Dan showed us this great kettle corn ice cream place --yum!
And this makkoli place with tasty little popped corn treats that I can't get enough of (me, Kelsey, and Dan are in this picture).
Kelsey and I also spend a lot of time in coffee shops, working and drinking the various amazing treats they have here. They make juice drinks by blending fruit and ice --that's it!
One of the other EAPSI students who's with us in Seoul this week is Jon, who's going to OSU (go Beavers!). He's a great travel partner.
Although he's already gone home and he hates having his picture taken so I don't have any photos of him, Deekei from our EAPSI group has been a great friend as well. He's Korean and has gotten me out of some tough spots, including when I didn't have an address to take a cab back to Kelsey's goshiwon. He took us to this beautiful tea museum in Insadong on our last night together --we tried some absolutely delicious fruit teas that were so think they were like juice! We talked about the beginnings of universes and cosmology since he works on associating background light sources in the universe with major events such as the first stars.
This green ball is a shaved ice dessert, green tea flavored and soooo good!
...And of course we do a lot of sitting around reading guidebooks and looking at Google maps to figure out our next activity...
Jon and I went to the main palace and the newest palace in Seoul on Saturday of this past weekend. These are collections of buildings that had specific uses for the royal families in Korea: the receiving hall with a great throne showing the five important mountains in Korea, living quarters, and even chambers for the courtesans.
On Sunday, we went biking on the Han River --again, some pretty flat tires, but really fun!! In this picture are me, Brandon (Dan's brother), and Jon.
There were lots of people out enjoying the mostly cloudy, not-too-hot day along the Han. Many of the people have tents to sit in, and the kids were jumping around in the water and sliding down into the pools. You can also see the north side of Seoul in the distance.
Here's me on my little purple cruiser bike, and the 63 building in the background (it has an art gallery on the top floor, cinemas, and even an aquarium inside somewhere).
From the riverside, it actually kind of looks like Portland!
After biking, we re-emerged from the subway to find it absolutely pouring outside and ran for cover in a building on a floating island that was built and anchored to the bottom of the Han. Inside there are restaurants and cafes --we ended up going to this pub with some beers from the US and very tasty but expensive french fries! What a view.
Here are Jon, Kelsey, and Brandon at the island pub.
...More to come soon!
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