Today was a day full of cultural sites, food, and walking. For breakfast buffet at the hotel, there was a lot of food there that was different from traditional American breakfast (glass noodles, seaweed, kimchi). We then met as a group in the lobby of the hotel and headed towards the subway station just a few steps outside.
It was interesting to see how the subway system worked here as compared to major cities in America. In Seoul, you have to tap a T-Money card to enter and exit the subway station. You will be charged based off of the distance of travel. If the card is not tapped upon exiting, then the maximum fee will be charged to the card. It was really interesting to see and hear how there will be different types of music being played depending on which line in the subway was coming. It was also so surprising to see how clean it was down in the station, especially with the vast number of people using it.
After getting to the station near Gyeongbok Palace, we walked through the streets, passing by streams of water with pathways for pedestrians to stroll beside. We reached the palace just in time for the changing of the guards ceremony. It was interesting to see that leading up to the palace, there were 3 different paths with different paths depending on the status and title of the individual walking. We then went through of the many different buildings: King’s residence, Queen’s residence, Crown Prince’s study area, etc. After touring the Gyeonbok Palace, we explored the Blue House, which is essentially the White House in the US. It is called the Blue House because of the blue tiles used for the roof of the building.
After the tours, we split into groups to get lunch from nearby restaurants. My group decided to go to a smaller restaurant where we got noodles and kimchi fried rice. We ended our meal with gimbap. Everyone got back together after lunch and visited a Buddhist temple called Jogyesa, which was filled with lanterns and decorations in preparation for Buddha’s birthday.
Concluding the time together, we explored shops around Namdaemun Market where many shop owners would try to barter with us for prices. We then went back and had a traditional Korean dinner, with foods like jelly fish, beef tartar, and more kimchi! Today was overall such a great introduction to many aspects of Korean culture and food.