Today was the first day we were able to explore and find out what Seoul has to offer. We were given tours to many different locations, and we had a lot of freedom to look around as we wanted. I was pleased to see that many of the locations we went to were locations that I marked down as “must-see” locations on my map.

We first went to Cheonggyecheon Square which overlooked a beautiful stream and had many interesting stores and restaurants. I took notice of a place called Texas Bar because it had a lot of stereotypical American items on display outside. We then went to Gyeongbuk Palace where we watched the guard changing ceremony and received a tour of the buildings. During the guard changing ceremony, I wondered why the guards all faced away from the front entrance. I don’t know if it was part of the ceremony, but wouldn’t the guards want to face in the direction that has the most traffic? We then walked around the Bluehouse and its surrounding area. I also noticed that a lot of the buildings had a lot of similarities to Japanese-style buildings, but they were still different in terms of vegetation and interior.

At the start of the afternoon, we were given a little over an hour to explore and grab lunch. My group and I decided to get noodles with soup. So far, all of the food I tried has been good and cheap. We then took an hour to tour Jogyessa Temple. The temple was filled with a lot of lanterns and decorations. Next, we toured Namdaemun Market and we were again given a little over an hour of free time. With a small group of three, we looked around many food and shop stations. We stopped at a café to get a snack and found an underground market with many cramped shopkeepers selling food and clothing items. As an entire group, we will all attend our welcome dinner in about an hour. Today was a packed, but entertaining day.