Have you ever been to a place where you feel so at home? Of course, this would exclude the place where you live. A place where you can sing along to the songs playing while eating, shopping, or even simply walking down the street? A place where you could, sort of, understand what the locals are saying? A place where you feel the excitement of visiting the different places there is to visit? A place where you could see your favourite artists in most parts of the street? A place where you don’t want to just sit around and do nothing, but instead go walk around and see what surprises await you even if you’re already quite tired?

 

Recently, I have found the place.

 

On the sixteenth of April, I went to visit my dream destination: Seoul, South Korea. I was able to go there because of my aunt and uncle who gave my brother and I airplane tickets as our birthday presents last year. Of course, I couldn’t go alone, so my whole family also bought tickets to go. I was honestly hoping that it would only be the four of us-my father, mother, brother and I-since my two younger siblings were…still quite young. Plus, when you put my three younger siblings together, you can say it would equal to sort of a small world war. Unfortunately, all six of us went. In order to avoid this “world war”, I kept telling, or should I say pleading to, them not to have any of their fights anymore, so that we could have a peaceful and fun vacation. Anyway, the day came, and we arrived at Incheon Airport at around 7:20 PM KST. Since it was already evening, we simply ate dinner, and then we went back to our hotel.

 

The second day marked the start of our tour. We first went to Gyeongbokgung Palace where we watched the famous changing of the guards. After that, we went to the National Folklore Museum. While walking around the palace, we noticed how the ground was uneven. Our tour guide explained that it was because of two reasons. One, in order to pay respect to the king, or simply being humble to him. Since the floor was uneven, you had to look down in order not to trip. This shows the you’re being humble. Second, so that the king won’t be blinded by the sun. Since the floor was uneven, the sunlight won’t be reflected upward; instead, it would be scattered all throughout. We went to Insadong Street next. This street was full of traditional things. After walking around the street, we went to N Seoul Tower. If you’re fond of K-Dramas, then you would possibly remember the scene where Cheon Song-yi and Do Min-joon went here to do the padlock thing couples did. There was still light when we went there, and it was quite foggy, so we weren’t able to see a good view of Seoul. Our last stop was Myeongdong and Namdaemun Market. Since our hotel was in Myeongdong, we focused on Namdaemun more.

 

On the third day, we went to Everland. Everland is a theme park located in Gyeonggi Province. There were many rides there ranging from carousels to roller coasters. There was also a garden there that was filled with tulips. My father said it was like Holland, so even though I’ve never been there, I guess I can say I went to a mini version of it.

 

We went to the COEX Aquarium on the fourth day. It was filled with different kinds of fishes, and I personally think the way the aquarium was designed is very creative. There were aquariums in a phone booth, washing machine, refrigerator, stoplight, sink and many more. After that, we went to the COEX shopping mall and to the Garosu Street in Gangnam. This street was lined with trees, and the feeling while walking there was different from the feeling of walking on an ordinary street. Finally, we went on the Han River Cruise. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain for it wasn’t its schedule to go off when we went there.

 

On the fifth day, we went to Nami Island, and it was full of nature. Trees, plants, flowers can be seen everywhere. Of course, if you’ve seen Winter Sonata, this is one of your must-visit places. After this, we went to Petite France. Petite, meaning small or little, signifies it is a smaller version of France. One would immediately recognize the little boy on the sign as The Little Prince. Again, if you’re a fan of K-Dramas, you would know that Secret Garden and You Who Came from the Stars were filmed here. I guess I can say that this day was sort of a K-Drama filming site tour day.

 

Day six, we went to the Garden of Morning Calm and a strawberry farm. The garden was, of course, filled with different kinds of plants. It was really wonderful to see all those plants, but it being a garden, you should look out for some insects-especially bees. But hey, I don’t think they’re that dangerous since no one got hurt. In the strawberry farm, we made strawberry jam and picked some strawberries. Even though I haven’t watched Invincible Youth yet, just some cuts, I felt like I experienced what they were doing. I learned that when picking strawberries, you first have to turn it upside down before picking it. The strawberries were sweet and delicious, by the way.

 

On the last day of the tour, we went to Lotte World, an indoor amusement park. Well, it also has an outdoor part, too. After that, we went to Cheonggyecheon Stream. Being a SONE, when I saw the sign ‘Cheonggye Plaza’, I had a strong feeling that this was where SoShi held their fan sign event last March sixteen.

 

On our last day in Seoul, we walked around the city and shopped a bit since our flight was still eight in the evening.

 

Myeongdong

 

When you hear the word ‘Myeongdong’, one word comes to mind-shopping! Myeongdong is definitely filled with shops-mostly cosmetic shops-Nature Republic, innisfree, banila co., Mamonde, Aritaum, The Face Shop, Etude House, Uniqlo, Holika Holika, Music Korea and many more. What’s interesting is that these shops appear almost once in every turn at a corner. Let’s say I saw a Nature Republic shop on this street. When I turn the corner, I would see another Nature Republic shop or even a Nature Republic building! Also, you would see the posters or stands of the models of these brands. For Nature Republic, Taeyeon and EXO; innisfree, Yoona; banila co., Jessica; Mamonde, Yuri; The Face Shop, Suzy; Etude House, Sulli and SHINee. Oh, and for Kim Soo-hyun fans, I’ve seen a lot of Kim Soo-hyun-posters, stands, magazines, etc.

 

While walking along the streets of Myeongdong, one could also hear K-Pop songs being played. If you’re a fan, you could surely sing along. I’ve heard EXO’s Wolf and 3.6.5.; Huh Gak’s Tears Like Today; and of course SoShi’s Mr.Mr., Goodbye, Wait a Minute and Back Hug. I was really happy that for the first time in forever~ uh…ehem… As I was saying, I was able to sing along to songs I love while shopping, eating and walking on the streets. It was fun. Really. A good experience.

 

There are also food stalls and other small shops on the street where you could buy K-Drama DVDs and K-Pop merchandise. As for the food stalls, there are stalls that sell ice cream, fruits, fruit juices/shakes and potatoes. These potatoes are sliced and put on a stick, then cooked. It’s really delicious, and I strongly recommend that you try it.

 

K-Pop

 

As for K-Pop… There is a K-Pop Mall and everysing in Myeongdong, both of which I failed to visit during this trip. Sad…

 

Anyway, there are many other shops where you could buy merch like albums, photo books, posters, light sticks, postcards and many more. You could find a lot of these shops just by walking in Myeongdong or even the shops near the subway.

 

I was able to buy some merch along the way, but my quest for the completion of my collection has not ended yet. I still have a lot of merch to collect, but I guess that’s where the joy of collecting merch is. You know that there would always be more and more merch waiting for you to be bought.

 

The Sinking of the MV Sewol

 

A ferry called Sewol capsized and sank on April sixteen. I saw the news of the sinking, but I didn’t really pay attention to it. One thing caught my attention though-I kept hearing the word ‘haksaeng’, meaning student.

 

I heard later on from our tour guide that the ferry was carrying students in order to go on an excursion to Jeju Island.

 

I did some research and found out that it was carrying 476 people, 325 of which are second year students from Danwon High School in Ansan City. As far as I’ve heard, only 75 students have survived. It is truly tragic to hear this kind of news. So many lives were lost, and they were mostly still so young.

 

Although many point the blame on the captain and some crew members, some silent acts of heroism by the crew-and some students-have been told. There was a crew member who helped passengers escape even when the water was already up to her chest. She wasn’t even wearing a life vest. When students asked her why she wasn’t wearing one, she said that crew members were supposed to stay on the ship until all passengers are safe. (Something like that.) There was also one student who gave his life vest to his friend in order to save him.

 

There are many more stories out there. Stories that would touch your heart; stories that would make you cry; stories that would make you feel that not all people are selfish-there are some who would make a choice, a hard decision, to sacrifice themselves in order to save others.

 

Some say that what was once a race against time to save lives has become a race against time to retrieve the missing bodies. Still, many people have not lost hope that a miracle would happen. Many still believe that there would still be people that would be rescued.

 

Overall

 

Overall?

 

This trip might not have been the perfect dream come true trip, but it has its good sides.

 

My siblings might have still quarrelled…

 

                                      …but I was still able to buy merch!

 

My siblings might have ruined our shopping because of the famous “I need to pee”…

 

…but I was still able to see and hear SoShi! (posters and songs, that is…)

 

I might not know how to speak and understand Korean much…

 

…but I was able to communicate with a local!

(Just a four-sentence conversation, though.)

 

Well… I can say that I love Korea, I love my family, and I love SoShi!

 

Oh, and I will definitely come back. ^^