trip to Seoul

I got back to Daegu a few hours ago from a trip to Seoul. Kathryn and I left Friday evening after work. taking the KTX train was very easy to figure out. Once we settled into our seats and began chatting, we were in Seoul before we knew it. Kathryn's friends Ian and Dan met us then we headed to our hostel. It was run by a man called "Bong." The hostel shared the same name- "Bong Hostel." It was a quaint little place that felt more like a home than a hostel. Kathryn and I were in our own room, complete with bunk beds.

Most of our time was spent just wandering around, soaking things in so we'd know better what to do when we come back. Highlights include shopping (I've already said before but need to reiterate- the shopping here is phenomenal. And I am NOT a shopper. It might be that every single thing I see is my style, and I might be partial, but I don't care what it is. I love it!) Ok, so shopping, the juxtaposition of modern with traditional, stumbling across some traditional Korean dance, seeing a palace, feeling like a tourist even though I live here now, meeting other like-minded people and hearing their stories, it goes on and on. Seoul is just simply too big to have seen very much of it. That's why I didn't make much of a plan (ok, I made ZERO!!) before going, but that's just because I wanted to see things then maybe pick out some things that I would like to come back and see. When you rush and try to pack 30 things into a day, you don't end up doing half of them, and the half of them that you do accomplish might not even be what you wanted to do afterall. So I was content to just walk around and see things.

It's kind of unfortunate that I am a vegetarian because there is so much meat being cooked in stalls on the street, and a lot of it looks and smells really good. It would definitely make things easier, except when I see things like some of the photos I'm posting...(not sure what these pics are going to look like on the blog, but you get the idea). I came to a very critical realization last night at dinner though. I've been getting really frustrated with the food, and feeling forced to eat vegetables and rice for every single meal (which is why I love cooking at home so much, because I don't have to wonder whether or not there are fish bits in my dinner). I got a rather lousy meal last night. But in that moment I realized that it's not being a vegetarian in South Korean that's frustrating- I think I simply do not like Korean food!

I've been playing dress up in my new clothes all evening. It's funny, I go crazy over all the cute little floral print skirts and giant sweaters and weird nonsensical English tee-shirts they have here, and all the Korean girls are carrying around Forever21 shopping bags!!! I guess it's that 'grass is greener' mentality, because there is no way I'd choose Forever21 over everything they have here! Maybe it's the novelty of it being American, too. I'm not sure, but I suppose that goes both ways. I may not be working in fashion anymore, but if any of my fashion friends are reading this, try to persuade your boss to let you come on a shopping trip to South Korea!!!! Seriously, Seoul's got soul. I mean fashion.

Almost daily I am getting more excited about what this year is going to bring me. All the laughs and tears and moments and joy and periods of sadness I've already felt tell me that I will remember every bit of this year forever. It still feels hard, and it still feels crazy that I'm here. It's almost been a month!! My boyfriend gets here next Monday. I hope he's not as jetlagged upon arrival as I was, because it took me nearly a week to feel normal! Sorry Greg, but you better sleep on the plane and feel like a million bucks when you land!!! xo