HyeHwa - Ihwa Mural Village

After almost 2 weeks of staying around campus and nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon, I decided to find a place to explore in Seoul. Since everyone was studying (I'm not being lazy, my midterms are just later than theirs!), I wanted to find a place where being alone would be a better idea.

So I picked Hyehwa! This is actually where the old campus of SNU is situated, but then has since moved its current location of Gwanak-gu in 1975. 

The old campus map and my shadow ^^

Next, I went to Ihwa Mural Village. This is a project initiated by the government back in 2006 to revitalize the neighborhood. Once an isolated neighborhood, this project brought in life and art, and of course, visitors to the village. 

Where are you guys going??

The village is right next to a part of the remains of the Seoul (Hanyang) city wall. In other words, a smaller scale of the great wall of China...?

... what do you want to do?

Obviously, this is the most popular piece of art. I didn't have anyone to take a picture for me, so I skipped out.

Lock Museum

This exploration was very exciting for me. I love how the art just integrates with whatever is around them. It was also a great day to walk around, though it did get hot once you start hiking around as the  village is situated on a mountain. 

First Kpop Sighting

Our engineering department had some kind of award ceremony/event/festival today and they decided to invite A Pink. I did not know about this until 4 hours before it took place, but I still made it, which makes me a happy camper.

I've always read about how crazy fan culture is from the internet so I was always curious of HOW crazy it could be. Today I finally experienced it. To be honest I found it really funny (not sure why) but as the same time, that energy really gets to you. 

I don't know if it was because it was an engineering event, or because it was A Pink, but the vast majority of the crowd were guys. It's pretty crazy how clean the fan chants were, it's like they rehearsed it thousands of times. The moment the girls came out, all the guys were yelling and screaming and rushing to get closer to them. So I decided to stay at the back, find a higher spot and tried to enjoy the performance. Which explains why my pictures and videos come out a bit blurry since I had to zoom super in. 

Their live was absolutely amazing though. Eunji's high notes super super super powerful and really well done! I'm a bit surprised haha. They seemed like they were in a rush though. They left right after performing 3 songs and they barely even had talking time in between the songs. I guess their schedule's really packed. 

Look at all that crowd!

They're coming!!

They look really stunned.

Most of these pictures are done without seeing. My height did not allow me to be able to preview what kind of pictures I will be taking. But surprisingly they came out pretty nice. 

This is only a preview of a concert will be like and it already got me really excited. Now I actually can't wait to go to a bigger one!!

Videos:

Mr. Chu

My My

No No No

Campus Tour

So after settling into my new room (kind of), I finally decided to go around the campus and appreciate it.

As Korea's number 1 university, both in size and in academics, Seoul National University (SNU) is situated on Gwanaksan mountain, which is a popular hiking site among the locals. Which explains the reason why I have to hike everyday to get to classes and why I will (hopefully) become super fit after 4 months. 

It is also part of SKY, an acronym for SNU, Korea U, and Yonsei U, the top 3 prestigious universities in Korea, which is similar to the Ivy League in the US. Apparently, its first years belong to the top 2.5% of all Koreans who take the National University Entrance Exam. There's also a saying that SNU is full of nerds because of this. But the semester only started so I can't verify this yet.

Anyway, this weekend is Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and we are given 3 days of holiday + weekend. This gives students plenty of time to go back to their hometowns all across Korea which leaves the campus pretty much deserted. I took that advantage to explore the campus a bit and enjoyed the peacefulness. 

I only got to go halfway around the campus as it was starting to get dark and I was getting tired from all the walking uphill and downhill. Next time I will go further.

Here we go!!

My dorm building!

See how far up the mountain we are?

There are free shuttle buses that go around the campus and ones that bring you off campus to the nearest subway station.

Tennis courts!! But I don't play anymore :(

Where I take my Korean class.

The business building!!

Kyujanggak - This used to be the royal library during the Joseon Dynasty and was located in the Changdeokgong Palace. But it was relocated to where it is now and now belongs to SNU. Apparently it still holds collections of documents from the Joseon Dynasty.

Jahayon Pond - a popular meeting place for students.

Where my French class takes place.