Student blog: Last days in South Korea!

Our next blog is from Kenzie and Savannah!(:

Reporting about our last 2 days in Seoul, South Korea

Day 8

Monday: 

We had a good night's sleep after our trip to Busan, and woke up excited to return to class with Sammi! The class started at 10:00 am, and we were lucky to meet two students who had left North Korea in their teens. Sammi had us submit our questions the week before they came in so that we could build the most meaningful and respectful environment for them to share their experiences. Both their stories were insightful and unexpectedly unique(they were even surprised by each other’s stories because everyone’s experience is different). Afterward, our Seoulmates joined us for lunch at a traditional North Korean restaurant called Neungra. 

It was interesting, but honestly… our pallets weren’t sophisticated enough for the food. There, we tried two types of North Korean bibimbap: scallion pancakes, potato dumplings, and other side dishes. When we left the restaurant, someone (Le) FAILED to inform us we were leaving a different way than we came, so we hiked down the mountain(a small hill) for nothing and had to climb back up. After our tremendous experiences overcoming adversity, we went to a traditional hanbok store and fulfilled our lifelong dream of dressing like princesses (even the boys). 

We strolled down the street to the palace to learn about the history of Seoul, of course… or maybe just to take photos. After sweltering in 200-degree heat, combined with the 30,000 layers to the hanbok, we ended the experience at a cafe, grilling our Seoul mates on the best skincare products to buy at Olive Young. 

For dinner, the girls got American food (sticking to their roots ), and the boys went to get some street food but ate the girls’ leftovers as their second meal. 

Day 9

Tuesday: 

Now that we’ve consistently woken up at 7:30 am every day, we couldn’t break the streak even on our last day in Seoul! We went to class at 10:00 am and got ready for the finale of our South Korean courses. 

Sammi started the lesson by separating us into groups, and we had to make up a pretend culture/society. Kenzie and Savannah were in the Hwachae group (we’ve recently been obsessed with the Korean dessert). There was also a Fortnite and colorful group (the Hwachae group was the best, though). Anyway, we completed the activity and finished the lesson by revising the mind maps we made on the first day. After class, we only had a little time for lunch, so the girls went to Divya and Moon's room to eat pan-fried dumplings while the boys raced to nearby restaurants. After lunch, we went to a museum, remembering the harsh reality that was comfort women. It was devastating to hear their stories, but the museum also made us hopeful that people were looking to reconcile the wrongs of the past. 

We stayed there for a few hours and ended the day at a buffet bridging Western and Eastern cultures. If you have a sweet tooth, it’ll be heaven for you. Even the salad was sweet… we were a little confused. Kenzie cheffed it up and invented the waffle ice cream whipped cream chocolate sandwich! Le was impressed (first time for everything). Finally, we said farewell to the Seoul staff: SJ, Jihwan, Jennifer, and Sammi. But our night didn’t end there! Ahren ate it up and carried a twenty-pound watermelon through the streets of Seoul just so we could make hwachae! 

It tasted horrible but it was worth the experience. We shared it with everyone.

 (The extra watermelon was donated to the K-pop group- thanks Ryan, Grace, and Malak for taking it off our hands)

 Goodbye Seoul- Hello Taipei! 🇹🇼

-- Kenzie & Savannah

Stay tuned for our Taiwan adventures!(: