themidstofmy-seoul

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Yeouido Park - 여의도 공원

Yeouido is an island in the Han River and definitely where you should go for the change in seasons. The park is a great place for all kinds of activities - sports, walks or picnics. 

Even a statue of King Sejong!

#여의도공원 #seoul #korea #travel #cherryblossoms #벚꽃 #Yeouidopark

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Yeouido Flowers - 여의도 벚꽃

#Yeouido #여의도벚꽃축제 #Cherry blossoms #Seoul #Korea #travel

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Yonsei University 연세대학교

If you like visiting University campuses, this is one of the top private universities in Korea. The scene changes according to seasons and I happened to catch this one during the cherry blossom blooms in spring! They have really nice people here :) also open to foreign exchanges!

#Yonsei University #seoul #korea #travel #연세대학교 #서울

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Dongdaemun 동대문

My first experience of a major shopping district in Seoul! With massive amounts of buildings, this is a great place to do some shopping bargaining for any item you can think of. The subway stop is Dongdaemun History & Culture Park on the light blue line (line 4). Don’t be fooled, they are nothing like your average Western malls. Inside are vendors with their own small and designated shops, specializing in certain items, which means the atmosphere is intense and competitive. It also gets a little cramped due to high traffic.

Late at nights, street vendors will pop up. One popular street will fill up with yellow tents. Warning: I witnessed them up prices for tourists. They tend to do that but just follow your gut. There are backstreets behind the malls where more vendors set up so just explore.

There is also a Design Plaza that is just too big for me to get a good picture, but seen on the left here. A big silver UFO.

Inside is a bunch of artsy gadgets and displays for good entertainment (the flower lights). I mean, they had chairs that you could just spin around in so pretty advanced stuff here.

Bonus: Good street food! Here is a corndog covered in French Fries but they offer a bunch more delicious Korean treats.

#Seoul #서울 #Dongdaemun #dongdaemundesignplaza #동대문 #동대문디자인플라자 #streetfood #streetshopping #travel #Korea

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Revival.

Due to multiple requests, I will be using this space to recommend places I have been to and good foods to eat! If you ever want to visit Seoul, this is for you :)

#Seoul #서울 #travel #Korea #recommendations

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Throwback to Seoul Lantern Festival.

Also the day the cold began...

#seoullanternfestival #서울빛초롱축제 #포로로 #lights

[themidstofmy-seoul]

My class clown working hard.

#grade 3 #bestclass

[themidstofmy-seoul]

#럽버덕프로젝트

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Now that it's getting colder, the kids can't play outside as much. This gem was caught back in the colourful days of autumn.

I wish I could watch them grow up for a little longer.

#childhood #귀여운 애기들 #나의 사랑스러운 학생들 #보고싶을거야

[themidstofmy-seoul]

#youngandfree

[themidstofmy-seoul]

The halls I walk.

#독립문초등학교 #서울 #smoe #englishteacher #battlefield

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Happy Halloween!

#forthekids #leagueoflegendssummoner #racoon

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Yongmasan Hiking

Waited for weeks to post this...back in the first long weekend of October, my super stoked friends and I went on a hike up Yongmasan (용마산), one of the easier trails in Seoul. We headed out of Yongmasan station, exit 2 and into all the apartments (it got quite confusing). We thought simply heading upwards would take us to the trail but we hit a dead end. Glad we did because we would have missed this:

At the bottom of the mountain is a man-made 3-waterfall park. Unfortunately, it wasn't running at this time ㅠㅠ.

So to actually find the real trail, we cut through an open mini-park with benches where you can sit and rest (east of the waterfall park). We finally found the stairs leading to up the mountain:

So we got started on our way to a supposedly easy trail. In the beginning, easy indeed. Evident by our bright smiles:

Then the happiness ended. The trail was really rocky - running shoes were not well-suited for this place (especially my thin Nike frees) and I recommend shoes with a thick sole. If you're not careful, you could easily roll your ankle on the steep and poorly-spaced rocks.

Eventually, we reached this part of the trail where the steps were evenly cemented in so that you could just hold on to the rope and walk up - so nice! There was a pavilion for a nice lookout point:

And an outdoor gym to work your muscles even more! Main hangout place for the 아저씨들 (older men). 

You can also have a picnic and take a break.

We thought we were done but we were actually only halfway...the second part was still rocky but much easier to climb than the first leg. Once near the top, you'll finally get the view of the city you were waiting for:

Except this still wasn't the end!! We had more to climb up. The only way to know for sure you've reached the end is due to ice-cream-man who lugged up that whole fridge on his back to sell it. To further signify the end of the journey, there's a rock that everyone takes pictures with. No nice photo of it because it was so crowded (it being a holiday...and it being Seoul in general).

On the way back down, there was another outdoor gym with weights and sit-up boards. They had an acupuncture hula hoop (which hurt like crazy) and this big metal hula hoop. My friend was actually able to hula with it and garnered quite the audience. She also gave me the opportunity for this wonderful ending shot:

[themidstofmy-seoul]

The Wiffy Connection.

I have been trying to update here for two weeks but my Internet has been shady. Can't upload pictures, couldn't refresh a web page.

Finally when I have a stranger coming to my one-room apartment to install some new set-up, it starts to work again.

#screwyouinternet

[themidstofmy-seoul]

My friends.

So stoked!!!

#hiking #yongmasan #용마산 #sewexcited!

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Free Festivals.

The Seoul Firework Festival was last week and I kid you not, the whole city came out to watch.

The subway was incredibly packed. 

See this endless flow of people below. Then imagine that for a couple hours. There were people monitoring the subways, pushing people inside carts and even police officers directing the flow. The officers literally used their bodies as walls to create a manageable entrance into the subway. Note: In Korea, always go to big events hours early unless you want to be smashed up against strangers. 

My video of the fireworks is quite low quality since my view was a little hindered so here's all of that good stuff + me. #seriouslydough #letmetakeaselfie

[themidstofmy-seoul]

Morning Hikes.

개천절. Korea's Foundational Day!

Did a morning hike up 우면산 and this is the view (mountain near Nambu Express Terminal)

- nice and 'easy' trail. Unfortunately, all the springs were dried up but we made it to 소망탑. Actually felt like I had a productive start to this holiday. 

Note: Walk towards the Seoul Arts Centre and you'll see something like this - go this way:

Do not pass by trippy wall of leaves because you're going the wrong way.

#morninghikes #gettingexercise #isthisreallife #우면산 #개천절