After a While

안녕!!!

Ergh I know it's really been a while since I last posted. You wanna know what happened? University happened. HA HA yeah no kidding. I mean it is hard but thanks to IB I could get by just fine. Buttttttt (there's always a but) I was too lazy to study thinking that "oh, it's still my first year" "oh, I need some time off after those 2 years oh hell IB" So yeah... my not so good grades are the result ㅠㅠ

During the time that I haven't posted anything here, a loooootttttt of things happened. And I really mean A LOT. Maybe this post is gonna be something like a summary of my first semester here in Seoul National University. There are ups and downs for sure but I think I've had more ups this semester. I'm so thankful for that and thinking about it now, I won't trade it for anything else. Even though sometimes I think to myself "why didn't I go to a university that uses English as a medium of instruction?" But hey, where's the fun in that? Learning a new language is also one of the perks of studying in university that doesn't use English. People say that later when I apply for a job, it's a plus point for me to be able to use more than one language. So yeah...

The last time I posted was around August and since then, Seoul has experienced three different weathers. August was the end of summer and September was the beginning of autumn. Too bad I don't have an authentic photo of fall in Seoul. I took some snapchat shots but you know how they disappear after 24 hours and I forgot to save some. They're of bad quality anyway so whatever haha. I'm sure if you search it on google you'll find lots of beautiful pictures. For December, it's the beginning of winter!!!! I've been waiting for winter ever since I got here so I was really excited. That's why I have some photos of the snow in Seoul National University

I think for this post pictures speak more than words so I'll try to post pictures and give a little bit of description:

Performances in Hongdae

I'm really sorry but I don't know who they are....I just passed by and there were a crowd of people looking at them performing so I just took a video without knowing who they are. I'm truly sorry to all their fans outside ㅠㅠ If you know who they are maybe you can enlighten me and tell me who they are!

I was walking the streets of Hongdae when I heard those girly screams and I thought "ooh who's hereee?" Then I walked to where the crowd was and there they're! Wait who are they....? Yeah I didn't know who they're. But thanks to my skills I found out they're N.Flying! I know one of their songs but when I was there, they're singing g.o.d's old song and the crowd was singing along too!!!

FOOD!!!

During those 3 and a half months, I found some of the best food in Seoul! Like this place called Kimpira has Cheese Fondue Tteokbokki, Fries Pizza and Beef Ramyun. They're very very very good omg. Like the one who created these is a genius...

Then who can forget the delivery in Seoul. There's this application called "Yogiyo" and you just need to make a few clicks and voila! you've ordered something. I know the famous food that comes to mind when people say delivery is chicken, but look at this pizza and pasta from Pizza Alvolo

Mouth watering? I still have more!!!! This one is sweet potato cheese gratin if I'm not mistaken. It's from a cafe in Hongdae called The Bridge

I didn't know goguma (sweet potato in Korean) can be this good when paired with cheese and sausage. Definitely something to go back to...

Now who says Seoul doesn't have good Mexican food? You're terribly wrong! Taco & Rice in Ewha Womans University Area is the absolute hidden gem. Many people may not know about this, especially tourists but they serve absolutely good food. I always eat them whenever I go to Edae (short for Ewha daehakgyo/Ewha Womans University). They're to die for!

Well, saving the best for the last? Obviously. Remember what my blog name is? Eating hot ramyun. So what's better than ramyun?! This is my personal favorite and it is something the GS25 produces. GS25 is a minimarket chain here in Korea and you can find them everywhere. They sell things for quite a cheap price and they usually have promo like 2+1

Bewareeeee this ramyun is spicy but it is the absolute best. For me, this is spicier than the spicy ramyun from Samyang with the black cup that everyone raves about. That one is spicy as well but I don't know why this tastes spicier for me. For the Samyang one you can only taste the spiciness but for some reason this ramyun smells like seafood soup, as it says on the package. It says haemul (seafood).

I'm starting to get hungry... Aren't you? There are quite a lot of other food that taste very good but sadly I don't have the picture. Like just now I ate in a pasta place and it's so soooo good. Plus they're quite cheap for a pasta place. Maybe next time I go there I'll take a picture and post it here.

Hm that's it for now. Since this is winter, dress warmly for some of you! For the rest, I know it may be hot there wherever you are, so stay hydrated!!

Becoming a Tourist

안녕!!!

For the last weeks, I have been living my life as a tourist here in South Korea. I visited tourist attractions and.... I don't know. I think I did almost all things a typical tourist does. So... without further ado, let's begin!

National Palace Museum of Korea

The best thing about this museum is that it's free to get in! You don't need to buy ticket or anything, so just go inside and see what they offer. Since this museum is called the National Palace Museum of Korea, you guess it! This museum is filled with everything related to palaces. If you like to watch historical dramas, then I guarantee you'll enjoy your trip in this museum. To show you what it looks like inside, I have some photos below!

The only thing missing from this place is English explanation. Well, they have English explanation for each big rooms that contain exhibitions(?) but they don't provide English explanation for every exhibition(?). They only state the English name. It's too bad, in my opinion, because who knows...some tourists also want to learn history instead of just taking pictures ;)

*BONUS!

This museum is located near Gyeongbokgung, so if you are done visiting the museum, you can immediately head to the ticket office and make your way to Gyeongbokgung! I visited the palace once, 2 years ago, so I decided not to at that time. I only took a picture of the big gate that you can see from the streets.

Bukchon Hanok Village

This place is not that far from Gyeongbokgung, but I didn't really know the location so I had to blindly go around and stupidly turn around until I found the place. I think it would be best if you ask someone where it is located.

What's Bukchon Hanok Village, you ask? Well it's an area filled with houses that still look traditional. Not really that traditional but still...traditional. If you don't get what I mean then take a look at the picture below.

There are people who live inside these houses so make sure you don't make loud noises around this place. You can't really do much except for sightseeing and taking pictures, but it was a good experience nonetheless :D

The Story of King Sejong and Admiral Yi Sun Shin

If you walk a few meters from Gyeongbokgung, you can see a statue of King Sejong. He is the one who invented the Hangeul system (Korean alphabet), so he is called The Great King Sejong. If you're curious about his life story, you can go to this place under the statue. The place looks like a museum and inside you can also use some latest technologies to kind of learn Hangeul.

Connected to this place is another place that looks like a museum, dedicated to Admiral Yi Sun Shin. According to my lame historical knowledge, he is the one who leads Korea towards freedom and victory for several times. Well, you can always Google who he is. He also has this biggggg ship...

Turtle Ship

...and because Admiral Yi Sun Shin was always preparing for battles, it was said that he was too lonely. Hence, he wrote a journal...

You can use this screen to browse through Admiral Yi Sun Shin's diary if you want to...I don't see anything wrong with that but maybe you're going to spend hours there...

Namsangol Hanok Village

If you want to go here, you can get off at the Chungmuro subway station and walk a few meters. Again, going inside here is free so you can save that money to eat later ;) In this place, the houses are really traditional, unlike those in Bukchon Hanok Village. The houses in Namsangol Hanok Village are said to be replicas of houses built back in the days. Here's an example of what the house looks like inside.

Doesn't it look like those rooms where the ladies plot evil plans? Haha if you've watched a historical drama, you'll get what I mean. In case you're really interested in those kind of things, you can pay if you want to wear traditional clothes and get your picture taken!

Namsan Tower/Namsan Park

Behold..........the official place where couples date! Yeah really, I'm not even kidding. Everywhere you go, you can always spot a couple there. If you're a depressed happy and single man/woman, then just ignore those couples and enjoy the view instead!!

Breathtaking isn't it?

But if you come with your partner, then be sure to check this out!

Yes! The eversofamous love padlocks. You can buy them in the souvenir shop or you can bring it yourselves. I saw some phone cases among the padlocks so I guess you can use whatever you want there. 

And that is all for this post! If you want to go to the places mentioned above (or any other place), be sure to check http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto This website provides you with information about the places that you want to visit and the transportation that you can take to get there. Happy travelling!!!

Starting Life in Korea

안녕!!!

Since I'm going to leave in Korea for quite a long period of time and I'm currently doing nothing, I'm preparing myself for what I have to go through while living in Korea. So what's important? First, buying basic necessities. Second, taking public transportation. Obviously, I can't live without basic necessities and I'll die out of boredom if I can't go anywhere. So, yeah. In this post I'm going to talk about those things.

Basic Necessities

Food

What basic necessity is the most important? YAS, IT'S FOOD... I haven't really explore all the food available in Korea but I think I have a good picture about it. I have tried several kinds of food, as you can see in my previous post. In my opinion, food in Korea is not that expensive. I'll try to make a list of food I've bought and the prices below:

• A box of sweet and spicy chicken with ddeok: 12,000 won
• Jjajangmyeon + tangsuyuk (sweet and sour fried pork): 5,500 won
• A cup of chicken and ddeok (sold in Myeongdong): 5,000 won
• A roll of cheese kimbab (about 15cm long): 3,500 won
• A serving of ddeokbokki and 2 twigim (fried food): 3,000 won
• A hot bar (sold in Myeongdong): 3,000 won
• A hot bar (sold in Inheon Market): 2,000 won

The price of food varies according to where you buy it. Food sold in downtown/tourist areas may be more expensive than those sold in other areas. But don't let the prices stop you from buying the food! At least try them once in a while ;)

Hot Bar!!!

Inheon Market

Other times, you may get bored of the food sold in restaurants or street vendors. In that case you'll buy food from the supermarket right? Yeah I've been to two supermarkets. One is called GS25. GS25 not only manages supermarkets but it also opens minimarts. If you come to Korea, you'll most likely find GS25 everywhere you go. The other supermarket that I've visited is called One Mart. I don't think this market is as wide-spread as GS25, but it's definitely cheaper to shop in One Mart. Again, the prices of food sold in supermarkets vary. It's up to you what you want to buy. The cheaper ones or the more expensive ones. I'm currently training myself to live the college life so I opt for the cheaper ones mehehe. This time I'm not going to list the prices because my blog doesn't serve as a supermarket catalogue or something... I'm just going to write what I consider cheap and what I consider expensive.

Cheap:

• Vegetables
• Processed meat like sausages, ham and fish cakes
• Alcoholic drinks
• Canned food
• Instant food (like 3-minute curry, ramyeon etc.)
• *These things can be expensive as well*

Expensive:

• Fruits
• Fresh meat
• Kimchi...    I'd rather eat free kimchi given as a side dish in restaurants
• Chips and biscuits (maybe it's not considered as expensive in Korea but those sold in my home country are way cheaper so I still think they're quite expensive)

Other Necessities

Besides food, you need clothes. Again, the price of clothes depends on where you buy them. Those sold in malls or outlets are very very expensive. On the other hand, those sold in markets or street vendors can be very very cheap. But remember, you also need to see the quality of those clothes no matter how cheap they are. Don't regret it when you see a hole in your pants a week after you bought them ;P

Now that we've discussed clothes, what else do we need? Right, shampoo and soap. I think they are ridiculously expensive... Well, compared to those sold in my home country. I see that the shampoo and soap sold in supermarkets come in big bottles so maybe that's why they seem expensive.

Lastly... badum badum!!! PADS. I really don't get why pads are freaking expensive here. Are they made of silk or something? Do they ensure that we're going to be comfortable all day long? No matter how good the pads are, nothing's going to change the fact that we. are. bleeding. So why make it expensive? We need it! Why is it so hard to live as a girl? As for tampons, I don't know... I'm not a tampon type of girl so I didn't check out the prices of tampons. But if you want to know, let me know and I'll try to check it.

Another Place Besides Supermarkets

...is Daiso! You must be familiar with Daiso, I'm sure... I was surprised to find that things sold in Daiso here don't have the same price. Isn't that what's unique about Daiso? Everything for the same price. Apparently that's not the case here. 

But the most important thing about Daiso is still here. CHEAP! Yay cheap hahaha. You'll be more surprised to see that some things are as cheap as 1,000 won. WOW right? Sadly, I didn't need anything at that time so I couldn't enjoy the sensation of saving money while shopping...

Transportation

The first thing you need in order to be able to commute around is the T-money card. This card can be used to pay bus fare, subway fare and taxi fare... The T-money card looks like this

You can buy the card from the card vending machine located in every subway station. The process is very simple. You just need to touch the buttons on the machine and voila! your card is there (the machine provides English service so you don't have to worry). The card costs 3,000 and you can recharge it anytime you want with another machine that's also available in every subway station.

The card comes in a box and in the box there's some kind of a brochure but it's not really a brochure. There are lots of coupons that you can use when you visit tourist attractions. I haven't had the chance to use those coupons yet, unfortunately...

Keeping true to it's cute image, Korea made this inside the box...

I don't know. Maybe you're going to get bored waiting for the bus and sitting in the subway alone... Then you might want to open the box and play with the maze...

The transportation fare in Korea is very cheap. You can see why I said so in these websites:

Bus: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=257573

Subway: http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/TR/TR_EN_5_1_4.jsp

As you can see in those websites, the fare is constant if you travel less than 10km. The plus side, it's cheaper if you go somewhere far. The negative side, it's expensive if you take the bus/subway only for a short period.

If you don't want to spend that much money for a few stops, then you can always walk to your destinations. Who knows you might find your new favorite restaurant, shops and scenery!

TIP: If you are a foreigner who wants to go to Korea, try not to think about how much things cost in your home country. Try not to compare the prices of those things because you'll spend a lot of time thinking whether you should buy it or not. If you're worried about things being expensive, then try to find the cheapest ones. Maybe it'll make you feel like you save a lot of money... teehee!

First

안녕!!!

It's been a week since I arrived in Korea and there are lots of things that I want to write here. So, WARNING, this post is going to be long. It's a mix of my experience, my rants and some review of the products I've bought here.

First Week

As soon as I got here, I was greeted by a not-so-friendly taxi driver. I gave him an address and he input it in his GPS. Guess what? He couldn't find the address and he threw a tantrum. He got so pissed at me because I couldn't explain the address properly. Well, hellooo? I just got here and I don't live here so why were you mad at me. If you didn't want this to happen then why did you wait for customers in the airport, where most people don't know the place well? Duh.

Ok moving on... I was asked by Seoul National University (SNU) to take an English test called TEPS (Test of English Proficiency developed by Seoul National University). The result of the test will determine which English class I'm going to enrol to, so I have to take it. While really, it doesn't make any sense for me. I took TOEFL and gave them the result but I have to take another test? Ridiculous if you ask me. Why don't they determine my skills using my TOEFL score?

To make things worse, I couldn't register for the test from the internet. Why? Because I don't have any Korean credit card. Instead I had to register on the test day and pay a higher fee. Not being able to register online wasn't my fault so why do I have to pay higher? Besides that, I spent around two weeks prior to the test worrying whether I'm going to get a seat. But oh well, what can I do about it. I ended up getting a seat so okay...

On the bright side, I was able to see what Korean schools are like

Doesn't it look like those schools in K-dramas? I just watched School 2015 - Who Are You so the school atmosphere still lingers in my head ;)

Another place that I visited is Itaewon. This area is known as the heaven for foreigners. If you are in this area, you can see lots of foreigners wherever you go. Most restaurants and shops provide English service as well so you don't have to worry about not being able to communicate.

In Itaewon, I went to Olleh Global Store because I was looking for a prepaid SIM card that I can use temporarily. I also asked about the phone contract that's available. FYI, phone contract means you pay monthly for the data subscription as well as paying for the phone itself (correct me if I'm wrong here). The person there said that if I want to use a prepaid SIM card, my phone has to be unlocked or something. And if I am interested in the phone contract, it's better for me to proceed with the contract immediately. Unfortunately, I don't have an Alien Registration Card (identification for foreigners staying in Korea for more than 90 days) yet, so I have to wait...

Food :9

Behold.....the sooper dooper delicious food from Korea

Cheese Kimbab!!!

Jjajangmyeon + Tangsuyuk (Sweet & Sour Fried Pork)

Sweet and Spicy Fried Chicken

Don't you just loooove to see the food? Or did you just drool all over the place? But wait, now it's time for my personal favorite!

RAMYUN!!!!!!! Oh my God... this ramyun is just perfection. This ramyun doesn't have any soup and the seasoning is made up of honey and cheese (you guessed it). The special thing? It's the jalapeno oil! It makes the ramyun spicy and sooooo mouth watering. I love it!! 

This ramyun is made by Samyang. For those of you who are familiar with this brand, you know they make the super spicy ramyun with the black packaging. But I was told that there is a ramyun spicier than that one... Oh no...

Myeongdong

Who doesn't know Myeongdong? It's the capital of shopping! I went there and it was so packed with people. No wonder because I went there on Friday night... For the things that I bought, I'm going to talk about it later. Now it's time for food again!!!

HOT Bar! (sorry this pic is blurry because I was holding too many shopping bags... :/)

Fried Chicken with Sauce and Ddeok/Rice Cake

Hotteok (pancake filled with honey and I don't know what....)

Everything in Myeongdong is just delicious~~ But in my opinion, they can be quite pricey. So be prepared to have your pocket 'robbed' by the food and the stores :p

Things I Bought!!

In The Face Shop store, I bought a super size toner and a cleansing foam (shown below).

And you know how Korean beauty stores are so generous... because they gave me these samples!

The cotton box is from Skin Food. The green mask, small green bottles and brown sachets are from Nature Republic. The rest, including the cute fans, are from The Face Shop. Is there any person in this world who's not happy with these? I bet there's none.

Out of all the things I bought, I have tried the toner, the cleansing foam and the brown sachets. After using the toner and the cleansing foam, I haven't seen much change so I can't really write a review about them. But upon first use, they both feel great on my skin.

For the brown sachets, they are shampoo made of argan oil. I've heard that argan oil is good for hair so these samples are a great way for me to try. They made my hair reallllyyy soft. As a person who usually uses conditioner, I don't have to use one when I'm using this shampoo.

*UPDATE: I have a problem with hair fall and two weeks ago the problem was okay to handle. I didn't shed that much hair but after using the argan oil shampoo, I can see lots of hair on the bed on the floor and on my hands D': so I decided to use my previous shampoo and conditioner...

Lastly, I bought these pairs of very cute socks in Namdaemun market, where there was a big crowd of people.

they are irresistibly cute right???

Socks are also the thing in Korea as I've seen many people use socks with their shoes and sandals or whatever... So if you are in need of a pair of socks, you can go anywhere in Korea and find them. They are also super cheap, they make you want to buy more!

That's it for now. I'll try to update my blog again if I have time!

Hello!!

안녕!!!

Hi there! This is my first post so I'm going to introduce myself and this blog! Get ready...

Ok I know it's not funny but at least I tried :')

So.....I'm an Indonesian girl who loooooves Korea. Anything about Korea. The k-pop, the culture, the movies, the dramas, the beautiful places and of course the hot guys people. That's why I'm heading to Korea soon to study there. Yay me! I can finally meet hot guys! Or....maybe I can study my a$$ off. Yeah.

Since I'm gonna study there, I figured out I can use this blog to give you guys a picture of what it's like to study and live there. There are lots of blogs telling stories about living in Korea but most of them are told by exchange students. Now, here I am as a degree-seeking student trying to help other international students who want to study in Korea as other degree-seeking students!!

As a short intro, education in Korea is considered to be rigorous, so the students there work hard and fight their way to get into the most prestigious universities. These universities are known as the SKY, short of Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University. I applied to those three universities, aspiring to major electrical engineering. I'm not trying to brag here but I got accepted to the three universities :) So if you have anything to ask, I'm always here!

I heard it's easier for foreigners to get into SKY universities compared to Koreans. You wanna know why? It's because the universities want to be more globalised so they accept more and more foreigners throughout the year.

There's also a famous university, which is KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). KAIST is young compared to the SKY universities because it's still under 50 years old. As far as I know, KAIST is also the only university in Korea that uses 100% English for its lectures. I applied there with the hope of studying electrical engineering too but I got rejected....

Thankfully I did quite well with the rejection....

For those of you who are interested in studying in these universities, I put the link to their websites down below if you want to check it out. If you are also interested in other universities, just google it!

Seoul National University: en.snu.ac.kr

Korea University: oia.korea.ac.kr

Yonsei University: yonsei.ac.kr/eng

KAIST: http://www.kaist.ac.kr/html/en/

That's it for now. When I arrive in Korea, I'll try to update this blog. Maybe not regularly but I'll try my best to keep you guys posted. Once again, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask me!