KOREAN FOLK VILLAGE @GYEONGGI

Yesterday we had our first trip organized by our school's culture club. The destination was Korean Folk Village, approximately an hour away from our university in Seoul. It is a traditional Korean village portraying the time of Joseon dynasty, which ruled from 1392 to 1910. I didn't really have a lot of expectations about the place, which turned out to be a good thing since I was really positively surprised! The place was really nice, there was a lot to see ranging from different performances and traditional village houses to a beautiful and peaceful buddhist temple. The food was very good, we ate bulgogi-bibimbap and kimchi pancake at the food court. Me and my friend also tasted some really spicy tea from a traditional Korean herb pharmacy.
For an activity we could choose either traditional paper doll making or pottery making. I chose pottery and you can see the result from the last photo :D We get our own creations to ourselves in one month when they have baked them in an oven.

 

SCHOOL FOOD

At first the school food here felt really strange compared to Finland. You get many different small dishes at once, you don't get to take your own food, instead the cafeteria staff puts the food to the plates and you just pick one plate of each food item. The prices are pretty much the same as in Finland; 2,500-3,900W (2-3€). However, it varies a lot whether I eat at a school cafeteria or at a restaurant near by our university campus, because there are a lot of choices and the prices at most restaurants are only a little bit more expensive than at school.
There are three school cafeterias we have tried so far. First one is in the same building as our dormitory, and the other is in the next dormitory building where we can go through an inside corridor. The third one, in my opinion, is the best one, located in the brand new business & economics building. Last two pictures are from there and the first two pictures are from our dormitory's cafeteria.
    

Lunch during Chuseok last week. There were these traditional rice cakes (white and green in the picture) which were really good! I heard that there are some traditional rice shops where you can get these. Luckily a Korean friend also brought us some more of them to eat from her holiday at home :) Otherwise lunch consisted of sweet potatoes, kimchi, veery spicy pork and some soup that was quite good.

 

Spicy but good, tteokbokki (also rice cakes) is one of my absolute favorite foods here! This time at lunch there was also some pork, seaweed soup which I didn't really like, rice, very spicy kimchi, some noodles and radish.

 

The new cafeteria at business & economics building serves more international kind of food. Usually at lunch there are some kind of cutlets, either meat, fish or chicken, some salad with a very sweet dressing, usually strawberry, rice and - my favourite -  spinach soup!

So in conclusion, I mostly like the school food here, it's only difficult when sometimes the food is so spicy you literally almost cannot eat it. But you can get used to it bit by it, I think. And one other thing about all of the food here is that there is no salt whatsoever. Even if you order fries at the nearby McDonalds', they are not salty :D But it's a bit healthier that way, since at least in Finland salt is used a lot in all foods.

LOTTEWORLD

This week we've had a holiday from Wednesday to Friday since it was Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok. We celebrated it by planning different activities and trips, one of which was going to Lotteworld, an amusement park in Seoul. It was so cool and so different from Finnish amusement parks, which are quite small compared to Lotteworld. There was a Thanksgiving/Halloween special for foreigners, so we got in for half price and there was also a zombie island with performances from actors dressed as zombies :D

 

I recommend going to Lotteworld when visiting Seoul, although you'll have to be prepared to wait in long lines for the rides! It's best to start the day there early, 'cause there were far less people there in the morning :)

STREETFOOD

I just had to do a separate post on the street food of Seoul! It's so delicious and different from, for example, restaurant foods. Especially if you happen to visit Myeong-Dong and the shopping street there, you'll find different booths offering for example dumplings, potato sticks, tteokbokki, chicken, ice cream waffles, egg pastries, fresh squeezed orange juice, light bulb drinks and noodles. The prices are also quite reasonable, ranging from 2,000 won to 5,000 won (around 1,60-4€).
Me and my roommate spent this first day of Chuseok holiday (Korean thanksgiving) tasting different street foods and later we went to Namsan tower but more of that later :) Now it's time to go to sleep! I'll need lots of energy tomorrow, since we're going to Lotteworld!

 

ABOUT APPEARANCES & COSMETICS

Compared to Finland, Korea is a more appearance-centered country. People put a lot of effort into their looks. It's also acceptable for boys to wear makeup without their sexuality or preferences being questioned. Commenting on other people's appearance is also quite common here. For example in class during the introductions I have heard a couple of times a student calling the professor 'cute' :D That would never happen in Finland but here it's totally normal. I have also heard comments about my blonde hair and blue eyes, of course, since they are quite distinctive features here. My roommate, who is also from Finland, has gotten many comments about her pale skin. The comments can also be very straightforward, for example about gaining weight, which can be mistaken as rude but are not considered that way here.
 

Before coming to Korea, I knew a bit about the good reputation of the cosmetics here. After exploring Seoul for a few weeks now, I can totally agree with that. The range of different cosmetic shops and products is huge here and you can literally find them around every corner. One of my favorite products is the sheet skin masks. They are relatively cheap here, and usually every brand has their own with different ingredients, like plants and fruits. So far the brands I have tried are Skinfood and It's skin, which are both really good. here are also sheets and patches for eyes, lips, nose, feet, hands.. Almost everything you can think of.
I also love the cute packages of the cosmetics here. For example, Tonymoly has a collection of different creams and cleansers with Pokémon characters in the packages. I bought the hand cream package from them. Marketing-wise I would say it's pretty clever and also a fast reaction to the ongoing Pókemon trend. As a Finnish person I also have to mention how the Moomin characters are a big hit here. In addition to the packages of cosmetics products, the Moomin can, for example, be seen in pens, notebooks, bags and as stuffed animals. One Korean girl in my class joked that she's coming back to Finland with me because of the Moomin :D
I don't count myself as a cosmetic freak, but if even I am super excited about the products here, I can imagine how for someone generally more interested in them, this is a cosmetics heaven :)

STUDYING @ CAU

So by now I've gone at least once to all of my classes here at Chung-Ang and thought I'd do a post about the courses I chose and what they seem to be like. My major is here business (in Finland I study in Turku School of Economics). The Cau business courses are competitive and you had to be very quick when registering (at 4am in Finland may I add). Exchange students got to register before the regular students, but there were limitations on how many exchange students can fit to a certain course. The recommendation is 5 courses per semester, which equals 15 credits and the limit is 19 credits. I chose a couple business courses and a few general education courses that I thought could be a good fit to my major and department.



About the timetable: the classes are usually 3 x 50 minutes once a week, with the exception of some 75 minute classes once or twice a week. I have Monday free and on Tuesday I only have one 75 minute class, but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are longer days with the earlier classes, free periods in the middle and then the classes continuing until 17:30.




My courses are:

Business Communication

This course is kind of a basic course about writing different things in English and also about discussing things together in class. I don't know how much of this is actually new compared to the courses I've already taken in Finland but let's see. I don't think I am keeping the course though if I'm not able to include at least some of the credits to my degree. Many assignments through the semester but no exams.

Korean History & Culture

The professor in this course seems fun, he was really impressed about me being from Finland :D He also stated that the classroom we were in was "bullshitty" (it really was), so from now on the class is in the nice new business school -building. Seems like an interesting course, from what I've browsed the materials.

Korean and Global Business

I like this course a lot actually, a lot of interesting information about the history of Korean economy and politics, the professor is 80 years old (!!) and has studied in The US and taught in universities all around Asia. A loot of reading to do for each lesson though, but not so many assignments - only two essays and a final exam.

Organizational Behavior

This course seems very interesting. I think it shows the difference between Finnish and Korean culture very well, since majority of the students are from Korea, and also seems to be kind of competitive. For example, on the first lesson we had 10 minutes to prepare a 1 minute presentation in front of the class of 80 students about ourselves. In addition to midterm and final exams, there's a group project and individual assignments coming up, and attendance is closely monitored: 4 absences and you're out, and if you're late from the class twice, it equals one absence. Nice, since my previous class ends only 15 minutes earlier and the transition takes usually at least that. This class is also conveniently on Friday 15-17:30 since the professor wants to ensure high motivation..

Elementary Korean

I've only had an introductory class on this course, but it seems like we are starting slow and beginning by properly learning Hangul (the Korean alphabets). On the first lesson we had to once again just introduce ourselves and tell why we want to learn Korean. Few quizzes and a midterm and final exam.

International Relations

This is the only graduate-level course I have here. Yet another professor who has studied in the US, and he seems really excited about his subject. Another very interesting course, and one I think is structured well. There are parts I and II, after which we have a midterm exam, and after that part III, and a final exam. We also have to do an international news summary for each week.


So far all of my courses seem very interesting and I like them, but we'll see if the workload of six courses becomes too much at some point. 

SHOPPING IN SEOUL

I thought I'd do a separate post about shopping in Seoul so far, since during this first week I've been here, I've had time to explore a bit and go shopping before the studying actually starts taking more time. It was a big surprise to me how good the possibilities to shop here are! From high-class brand stores to chain stores and local markets. I have been shopping in a few different areas so far, and each of them is different from the other.

Gangnam

 

Gangnam is one of my favorite areas in Seoul. The place is what it would be like if the companies of Wall Street and the apartments from Upper East Side would be combined and put together in one area. Stylish people, expensive apartments and openly advertised places for plastic surgery. I like the general feeling of the place a lot and there is just so much to explore! I've been there twice, once on one of the busy shopping streets and once at the underground shopping mall at Gangnam station. There's really everything in Gangnam; luxury brands, chain stores, Korean shops, you name it. I can't wait to also experience the nightlife, maybe next weekend :) In addition, all the most expensive cars can also be seen at the streets of Gangnam.

Myeong-Dong

The day I visited Myeong-Dong was really rainy, so I only explored a part of the area. I got my Korean sim card there with help from a friend and we also shopped a little at Forever 21 and the Korean brand stores. We also ate something that so far, has been the best food in here! You can see it in the picture. Can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was next to Forever 21. I will do a post about Korean food later :) This area also has a lot of Korean cosmetics shops and a cool Korean music store on the second floor of one of the Nature Republic stores.

Hongdae

Another one of my favorite places in Seoul to shop is Hongdae. Even though the area is known for its  busy nightlife (which I experienced last weekend but more of that later), there are also some really good shops and little 'market' areas. You can find chain stores like H&M, Forever 21 and Bershka there, but also the small Korean shops with quirky shirts and only "one size fits all" clothes. There are also many cosmetics shops, from Korean stores like The Face Shop and La Biotte where I bought a lip tint that looks like a wine bottle, to international brands like Lush where me and my roommate bought a such a good smelling soap for our dorm room. There are also cat cafes! We went to Ycat Cafe. The entrance fee was 9,000W and you get one free drink and a lot of cute cats to pet :)