Hello all 😔 This is officially the last blog post for my South Korean study abroad as well as my last blog post on my travel blog for awhile. I have really enjoyed this year and my time in Korea. Well let's begin then
On Sunday, I had lunch fit for 5 people split between 3 but nonetheless it was delicious. I then went to the Korean equivalent of Costco, Lotte Mart Max. It was really cool, and my first time seeing an escalator for carts. At Lotte Mart Max, my friends and I bought Shine Muskrat grapes to split and share. Let me say, these are the best grapes I've ever eaten in my life 😋
After eating life changing grapes, we went to a strip mall we suddenly came across but it was surprisingly empty. The most empty I have seen a place in Korea, which was particular since it was a Sunday but maybe everyone was just doing indoor activities on a hot day. Then for dinner, my friends and I had poke bowls and then walked around the downtown at night. After dinner, we, of course, had Bingsu 😊 This time we had pineapple Bingsu. There was a variety of fruits on top and then served in half of a pineapple. Absolutely delicious (and pretty). After Bingsu, we went to play late night bowling at a pirate themed bowling alley! Good times 👍
On Monday I was going to study but I had to go a retrieve my sun umbrella from the bus office because I left it on the bus a couple days before 😭 It was an hour bus ride there and back but that was not the worst part, though the heavy rain season was over it decided to RAIN. I didn't bring an umbrella because the weather app (never trust it) said it would start raining later and I was going to retrieve my sun umbrella and didn't want to carry two umbrellas. I therefore, unfortunately, had to wait under the meager protection of the bus stop as it down poor rains for 30 min 😅 I ended up caving and buying another umbrella to be able to walk to the bus office. In the end, everything worked out but it was certainly an adventure 😂
Tuesday, was a simple study day so I had a delicious and refreshing Naengmyeon lunch, a delicious chocolate drink while studying, and then had one of the most delicious stews I've ever eaten. The stew is a pork and potato stew but has a bunch of other things in it. The pork is so unbelievably soft and the broth just tastes so spectacular so I wound up being the most full I've been in a couple years, not the best but it was worth it haha.
On Wednesday, it was the day before finals so people were mainly studying. My class threw a goodbye party for our teachers which was so much fun and it was great to see our teachers' happy faces 😊 After the party, I went to lunch with my language partner and we had Jjuggumi or small spicy octopus with pork belly. I had been wanting to try it for a while but one of my friends can't eat seafood and another can't eat spicy food so I was happy to finally go. Of course, like every other thing I've eaten, it was delicious. I then spent the rest of the day studying...
Thursday was our final exam and I did great! I was very proud of how far I'd come. From going from being placed in a little bit too advanced of a class, to acing the final and having active conversations with my friends in Korean I had improved so much. After the exam, it was the teachers' turn to throw us a goodbye party. We had a traditional Korean snack we had learned about in class and then did karaoke with our teachers! It was so much fun! I got a great lunch and at lunch was invited last minute to do my personal color test. This test determines what shades of colors suits you the best and I got Spring Cool which was a surprise (granted I didn't know anything about the test beforehand so not that surprising haha). This test was a great indicator as well of how much I had improved. My friends and I understood everything she was saying and were able to ask our own questions and actively engage in the color test process! If I had done this test at the beginning of the program I wouldn't have been able to understand any of it so I'm very proud 😁I had a nice small dinner and then a bucket of ice cream for dessert 😆
Friday was our last day 😭 We had our closing ceremony but before that, we met up with our teachers to get our final grades and our teachers surprised us with presents and cute I Love You balloons! I really had great teachers 💓
The closing ceremony was of course sad but it was also nice. We got another gift from CLS and then from our language partners and roommates. It was a time of socializing and sad goodbyes. Many pictures were taken and after the ceremony, most people went to a free buffet lunch at a really popular buffet restaurant. It definitely puts all the buffet restaurants I've been to to shame haha. Lunch was good and then after we just spent time with our friends downtown. For my last dinner, I wanted some good pork belly so me and some friends got together to go to the same restaurant we went to for my birthday celebration. The food was so so good and everything I had hoped for my last dinner 😊 I then stayed up until 2am packing 😂
Lastly, it was departure day. Out of the entire program, I only overslept once. Do you wanna guess which day that was? Yep, the day we go to the airport. The bus would leave at 9am but bags were to be brought to the bus at 8:30am. I got up at 8:22am 😐. I still had last-minute packing to do and to get ready! Worst morning ever but I made it in time with breakfast thanks to my roommate. It was a sad goodbye but off we went. We had a four-hour drive and we stopped at the same rest stop that we did when we came and had lunch. We then dealt with the regular airport stresses but it all worked out and we made it onto the plane to officially leave Korea ✈😭😭😭
Welp. That's all I guess... I appreciate everyone who read all my blogs and followed along my journey. Korea was truly so fun and I'm thankful to all the people I've met there 💖
This will be the last post on my travel blog for a while too. Maybe after senior year, I'll pick it back up 😉
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