Well, here we are! We arrived in Incheon at 4am but had to take a one-hour bus ride to the hotel. The drive was beautiful as the sun rose, and when we finally got to the hotel, we had a bit of free time before breakfast and sightseeing. Once noon hit, as I lay in bed for the hours before, we were out the door to see Gyeongbuk Palace. We had to take the subway, which was very crowded, quiet, and confusing. I probably will never take it without our guide, as I was lost even with them. Our trip guide, Ester, led us on a guided tour where we saw around the beautiful palace and finally ended up watching the changing of the guard at 2pm. I was also lucky to see Arlington Cemetery’s changing of the guard in my life in DC, but this was so much more! There were about 50 Koreans dressed in traditional warrior outfits, carrying the 5 flags representing the red phoenix, black turtle/snake, white tiger, blue dragon, and one I forgot. I was on my friend Michael’s shoulders and got some great pics of everything that happened.
After the Palace, we walked down Seoul’s version of Times Square, where we saw the US Embassy, a Lego Festival, a Buddhist Statue, and a statue of one of their kings and famous warriors. After this, we walked across the Cheonggyecheon Stream to then go into the subway again to get to a famous market with expensive clothes and souvenirs. I only got some food with friends, where I got a cold plate of spicy noodles with a small clear soup on the side. Sadly, I had a lot of kimchi rice for breakfast, and the chopsticks were really annoying, so I couldn’t finish it all, but it was a great Korean first lunch. Other friends were able to find Pokémon cards, which I am a little salty about, but I am sure I’ll get them eventually. I also made a to-do list of what I want to do as I find cool things throughout the trip. Then, we took a subway ride to a famous neighborhood. Something interesting was this neighborhood, since it was very touristy, had a curfew, and a low voices requirement, so the residents were not bothered in their houses by us. They actually had people enforcing these rules, and right at 5, the paths closed, leading to some weird ways for our group to get back to our meeting point.
Finally, we made it to a street food market. Our guide and professor brought us to one that was serving live octopus pieces, and somehow, I ate it. We saw the process of cutting it up and then served in a plate with a sweet and spicy sauce. Some of my friends allowed it to sit in their mouths for a little while, and it suctioned to their tongue, but I instantly bit down hard and ate it. It just tasted like good squid, but it was awful to think about what I just ate. Finally, we had free time where we could do anything until 11pm. Nick, Will, and I tried to walk to a Korea Mart because that was where others found the Pokémon cards nearby, but we ended up going in the same direction as the hotel and just went up there once we reached it. I lay in my bed waiting for my roommate Micheal to get me if we were going back out, but ended up just passing out, lights on and fully dressed, after having only 2 hours asleep in 48 hours. I woke up randomly at 4:30 when Michael did as well, feeling not tired at all for some reason but eventually went to sleep again until 9am.
Today, we will be sightseeing, all a surprise, and then doing a K-Pop Dance class at 5pm. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures, and maybe videos, of yesterday!
