Flashback Friday - Our First Week in Seoul!

Well, it’s been a whirlwind of an adventure in Seoul this summer! As we board our flights back home to our normal lives, we’d love to share with you some of our favorite moments from past 3 weeks.  Read on to find out what we’ve been up to!

Week 1 Highlights

From exploring the mountainous Yonsei University campus, to visiting Nami Island, and getting to know our K-Pop Professor, we dove headfirst into our Seoul summer from the moment we arrived.

After our orientations took place, we were challenged to navigate the city in a scavenger hunt with a top secret special prize for the winning group. Students were split up into groups by Program leader armed only with a T-money metrocard and maps of the city, and challenged to first locate some famous landmarks in Seoul and then take a creative photo at the site. The team with the most creative photos would be declared the winner. With some friendly competitive banter amongst the program leader and their team, we were off! Here are some shots of the winning team.

Dinner and a show! The Bibap Performance was a roaring good time. As an audience participation show filled with singing, dancing, and beat boxing, we laughed until we cried and then laughed some more when some of our group members were invited up on stage!

An early bus ride on a Thursday morning took us to the mystical Nami Island, an island in the North Han River. As the filming location of an incredibly popular Korean drama, Nami Island had its own unique charm that took hours to explore.

On Saturday, we got the chance to meet and hang out around Seoul with local Korean high school students. After a brief getting-to-know-you session in our classroom, we set off to MBC World, an indoor theme park. At the same time we were there, a Korean music broadcasting program was being recorded, so we were in the vicinity of some of our favorite k-pop stars (even if we didn't see them personally).

Our day ended with a short hike up to N-Seoul Tower for some breathtaking night views of Seoul.

Perhaps the most anticipated day in our schedule for this week was a visit to SM Artium and Museum in COEX Mall, an SM fan’s paradise. Accompanied by our new friends, surrounded by SM merchandise, exhibitions, and impossibly giant posters of our favorite artists. The icing on the top of this glorious day was a surround viewing of an EXO concert, complete with lightsticks.

We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our adventures in Korea! If you’d like to see these activities from the students’ perspective, follow us on the Instagram page for this program here!