December{12/1-12/15} 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚

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Monthly Favorites

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Moods:

Excited, Adventurous, Curious, Studious, Relaxed, Stressed

Future Message to Myself: In December me and my friends went to Nuldam Space to write letters to ourselves in the future. I planned my letter to be shipped in December 2025 as that would be the month I graduate from university. The process was completely easy as the staff members will guide you on how the mailing procedure works. I cannot wait until that letter arrives so that I can reflect on my time here on my study abroad journey. This moment was quite special as we were nearing the end of my exchange semester. If you are interested in doing this yourself, the cafe is located in Insadong near Gyeongbokgung Palace. Welcome to the December Blog!

During this month I went to a lot of cafes as it was a popular place to study for students during final week. My experience is that I see why local students love to study in cafes as it is a scenic place to lock in. I was often distracted by the food and the interior designs though so studying was a bit over the place for me. However, I do recommend going to cafes as you have access to free Wi-Fi and nearby eats so that you can stay for long periods. I also had a roommate so studying at my dorm was not going to be as quiet as I would like it to be. I had a total of three exams as I recently finished one of them during the end of November. Similar to my midterm most of my exams were open book so I again dedicated my time to studying the closed-book one to maximize my knowledge for that class. My favorite cafes to study at would have to be Koriko Cafe as well as Forest Outing, which was a cafe located in Goyang; it was a bit of a commute, but the interior of this cafe is just so beautiful and well worth visiting in my opinion. 

Gwangjang Market: I visited the Gwangjang Market as it was famous for having a documentary on Netflix. The market itself still holds hype to the citizens and tourists as it was super busy when I and my friends went. I enjoyed my experience here as there was a lot of food to choose and pick from and most of the meal itself was street vendor style which I barely had any interaction with so far. My favorite foods in this place would have to be the fish cake skewers and hotteok which is like a brown sugar pancake that is fried. Both of these meals were the ideal thing to eat during the cold weather season. Known to be a tourist trap I do still think it is well worth visiting at least once on your trip to Korea. 

Korea University Tour: One of my friends who I have been traveling with this whole time and a fellow Freeman scholar goes to Korea University! As such presented an opportunity to visit her school. I previously saw the sights at Yonsei and Ewha, so Korea University was next. It was a pretty fun adventure I would say as we started the day exploring Anam and eating at a famous (to me) place for lunch called Kuma Kitchen. If you guys ever are in the Anam area, this place serves amazing tonkatsu and soba noodles that you would never believe. As the end of the day approached, we visited the University at night. I enjoyed the architecture as it had a castle-like feel to each of the buildings in KU. I highly recommend going campus hopping as there are a ton of universities in South Korea to explore. 

Spa Day at Goyang: Aquafield is a well-known spa location in South Korea hosting various saunas and pools. My friends and I went to the Goyang location as it was the nearest one to our universities. The location is located inside the Starfield Mall and so I initially thought that the place was going to be small, but it was not! The place was huge, and I felt like I was inside a mall within a mall. I had to be careful where I go inside this place as I recently got my hair permed so I needed to take good care of it. With those thoughts at the back of my mind, I enjoyed this experience as the saunas had various temperatures and so it was perm safe for me. The food inside the Aquafield was simply delicious, cheap, and of huge proportions that we had a bit of trouble finishing our meals. I see why local citizens go to these spas as it is a relaxing place to go to if you're feeling stressed out from work, school, or just daily life. I recommend going to these places when you go abroad as personally it relaxed me before my final exam week happened. Which we will talk about in December part two!

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Locations:

Incheon, South Korea

Seoul, South Korea

Goyang, South Korea