Looking for the River

So we decided to go to Gwanghwamun today and look for the stream (Cheonggyecheong) but we didn't really know where this river was...so we ended up wandering around to look for it and saw some spiffy stuff...

First thing we saw when we got out of the subway tunnel was this famous statue of King Sejong, with this lovely mountain in the background. I was so excited! I remember seeing this statue in tons of dramas and movies, it was so cool finally seeing it in person! I didn't even know it was in Gwanghwamun! So cool! 

King Sejong + Mountain in the smog

 By the way, the weather was absolutely beautiful today! It definitely reached 70! It was windy and lovely...the only problem was that it was still really smoggy. I need to buy a couple cheap masks for when it gets bad, I'm not sure if my throat is a little rough from all the singing last night, or the smog today...

A sculpture with an old tram: you could go inside and take pics :P She's trying to give a lunch to her son inside the tram

apparently there's a Tim Burton exhibit at the Art Museum...We'll come back and see it soon!

This is for you, Beloit!

 We finally made it back around to where we got off the subway and asked at a tourist info spot where the river was...and it was across the street near the spirally shell thing (in the pic below) where we were originally gonna go... -__-

Cheonggyecheong

Popular place for parents to help their adorable toddlers jump across the stones <3

  WE SAW BIGBANG ON A BUS AND I HAD TO TAKE A PICTURE OF MY BEAUTIFUL MEN, AND THEN A HUGE GD PIC IN A STORE AND OF COURSE I HAD TO TAKE ANOTHER PHOTO <3

 The End

Here's a pretty photo of the flower wall at the Ewha Gates

First trip to Hongdae

For me and my friends, our class schedules worked out so we don't have classes on Friday, so for our first weekend adventure, we decided to have street food for lunch, go to the Raintree Cafe near Ewha after, and then have dinner and fun in Hongdae.

Kimbap, Cheese Tonkatsu, and Ddeokbokki

Flower wall at Ewha Gate

A random protest at Ewha. So many people!

 They have drinks from various places around the world, and specialize in pancakes. Among us, we ordered a green tea smoothie, an americano, a cappuccino, and a Real Hot Chocolate (for me)... The coffee was cheap and good, and the hot chocolate was literally melted chocolate with steamed milk that you add in to make it milky and good to drink. It was probably the best hot chocolate I've had in my life.

Hot Chocolate with added milk and foam

 It was such a cozy cafe, with only a few tables, some near the ground with cushions to sit on, and these lovely curtains making a nice relaxing beautiful environment. They also had photo albums around from all the trips the owners had gone on, so you could look through them if you wanted to. I just wanted to chill and take a nap here once I was full of hot cocoa and pancake ^_^

Decorative tree with lights near the cafe's free computer, guest starring my friends

 By the way...I need to make a visit to Caribou Coffee one of these days...

How is there a Caribou Coffee in Korea but not in Homewood?!

 We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner in Hongdae...

Gorgonzola Pizza, and two pastas

 Uh...I also noticed that the waiter was attending to the table with the rest of our group, and I couldn't resist taking this stealthy photo of his bum :P

Scandalous!

We liked the creamy pasta the best

 I liked the Gorgonzola Pizza the best. It was really thin, but apparently that's so you can roll it up and dip it.

apparently you roll the pizza up and dip it in the maple syrup. IT WAS DELICIOUS

Delicious Sweet Wine

Street performers in Hongdae

I found Minho!

And the rest of SHINee!!

I really want to visit this Hookah bar...I took a picture cos we couldn't go that night

Then we went to a Noraebang! It was so cool! We almost wanted to drink a little beforehand so we weren't so shy to sing...but we decided not to, and we had a lot of fun anyways!  It was only afterwards that we realized that the rooms really aren't soundproof at all, so anyone outside our room, including the cashier, could hear all of our horrible singing, as well as the perhaps embarrassing (but FUN) tunes we sang to...

And...here's some short videos of the karaoke :P hopefully its too dark to see anyone, but this is just to give you a taste of the kinds of songs we sang. We sang both Kpop and American pop. It was so much fun! Almost lost my voice even! As soon as we tried singing our favorite Kpop songs though...I quickly realized I didn't know them as well as I thought! I really need to go and memorize them now :P

We also found the Hello Kitty Cafe!

So much pink! >_<

 OH we also spent too too much of our time wandering around trying desperately to find the Eat Your Kimchi studio! We didn't find it that night, but once we got back a friend looked it up and if we'd only made a different turn we would have found it! DRAT! Ha, good thing we're gonna go back and try to meet Simon and Martina! YEAHHHH!
Mkay, I'm about to go make another post with all the funny engrish and stuff we found as well...