(๑˘ᵕ˘) Gyeongbokgung Palace, Museums, Class shenanigans, and Dongdaemun Plaza!
- Lia <3
- Apr 20, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: May 12, 2022
Just a little side note: I'm going to be explaining events out of chronological order because it makes uploading the photos a lot easier. Just know that each blog post happened within the same 1-2 weeks.
For our cultural excursion, we went to 경복궁 (Gyungbokgung Palace) and rented 한복 (Korean traditional clothes) to wear!
^ The 아주마 at the rental shop also did our hair!
At this time the 벛꽃 (cherry blossoms) were just starting to bloom.
One of the coolest things I learned during our palace tour was the significance of the colors. Each color represents a harmonic part of Korean society, and when put together all balance out. For example, the king was said to be represented by yellow. The same colors can be found in the famous Korean dish, bibimbap. Here, yellow egg yolk is usually placed last on top of all of the colorful vegetables, just as the king oversees his kingdom beneath him.
We also visited the National Museum of Korea, as well as the Hangeul Museum.
I'm a little backed up on my blogging, so I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what these exhibits showcased. I'm pretty sure the picture on the right is an instrumental that works similarly to a piano.
^ This was my favorite exhibit. It was an immersive gallery. It brought traditional Korean artwork and music to life and surrounded the viewer in all of its magnificence.
One of the most incredible things I saw at the museum was how Koreans fought to keep their culture and traditions alive during Japanese colonization. I also found it really interesting how hangul changed over time. Most of the alphabet is the same, except for a few letters. I felt so special being able to read the writings of people from hundreds of years ago.
Then, we had a pottery class where we painted our own plates! It was really fun. Painting the plates was so relaxing and doing it all together was so fun.
Below are all of the cohort's plates. Mine is the butterfly and flower one that says "감사합니다," see if you can spot it!
Sometime after that, Lianna and I then went to Dongdaemun Plaza!
< Here's me sitting in a heart.
There were little shops inside, places to eat, and a study/work area that we explored for a bit. This is also where Seoul Fashion Week takes place every year. Unfortunately, Seoul Fashion Week was virtual this year due to covid.
There was also the SM store and the Kakao Friends store in the plaza. I bought a really cute SHINee pin from the SM store. No regrets.
The 정계천 stream was also right by, so we walked along it for a little bit to visit 광장시장, a traditional market.
This market was HUGE. People everywhere. The shop owners were also pretty pushy but that made walking around a kind of fun in a way.
We got dumplings and some really delicious fresh fruit smoothies. The smoothies were so good. I got like a kiwi banana one and Lianna got like 6 different fruits in hers I think.
The market didn't only sell food, though. There were shops selling carpets, clothes, bags, hats, shoes, and jewelry.
There were also stations with live fish, where the shop owner would kill it and cut it up right in front of you.
We also visited our old teacher over the weekend! We had zoom classes with her when NSLI-Y was still virtual. It was so nice to finally meet her in person.
The following week was April Fool's day at school! I didn't know the students celebrated it so intensely. As a joke on my own classmates, Ryan and I decided to switch classes for the day. So, I attended the Chinese class, and he went to my Japanese class. We were watching a movie in the Chinese class, which I have to admit, was pretty boring, when two people slooooooowly open the door and whispered,
"Lia! Lia! Come, come!"
It was two of my classmates! So I just slipped out of the Chinese class in the middle of the movie and followed them BACK into the Japanese class next door.
It was so chaotic. Our Japanese teacher was showing the students how to play this card game using one of the Japanese alphabets, and everyone was yelling. It was really fun though. I also got my fortune read by one of my classmates because the cards doubled as tarot cards-ish?
Then we all turned the desks on their sides and laid on the ground.
Very chaotic. Very fun.
I love my classmates so much.
^ Me and 규리 caught snoozin'
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