Korea in 10 Days (Days 1-5 Updated)

I couldn't find a picture that could completely encompass my week in Korea...but hipster old people are awesome so this shall be my cover photo.

HKU has this nice week long break in the middle of the semester called "Reading Week." Of course in exchange student language that means get out of the country and travel. The existence of such a week definitely does not help with the fact that the following month November is the month where deadlines suddenly start popping up all over the calendar and the difficulty of getting out of that mindset that study abroad = vacation...yes it's over 2 months and I still think I'm on vacation.

It seems that everyone else has plans to visit South East Asian countries...I guess mainly because it's affordable and most people don't live in proximity to the beach. Even though I never took advantage of the beaches back home in SoCal...beaches haven't been a MUST DO for me even while abroad. I was debating between Japan and Korea...two countries I've had my eye on since anime and Korean drama infiltrated my life in middle school lulz. Little did I know how much more expensive they'd be. -_- Originally I was going to visit Japan because I have a couple of friends that I met during college back home that live in Japan & I really really want to visit the Miyazaki Museum...and eat Jiro's Sushi and it just so happened that a friend from back home was also traveling in October to Japan...but it ended up not working out because he was travelling Japan the week after reading week. BUT THEN he got an extra week off and so it ended up working out and we planned to go to Korea during my reading week! ^^

To maximize for my expensive $_$ flight (I guess I put studying as least priority on my list D:), I completely maxed out the entire reading week plus two weekends to travel. And unfortunately I had to compromise...and also skip a few classes on Friday >_> because the airline I used didn't operate on Saturdays. Parentals, if you are reading this PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I did all my work ahead of time though and my professors acknowledged my absence! Eeek. But yeah...the ticket price (~USD$347) was the cheapest one I could find but still pricey compared to SE Asia flights so I really wanted to make it worth it by staying in Korea as long as I could.

Something quite annoying about trying to find flight deals...-_- they really sell out fast so it's hard to take your time to compare prices...and if you don't want to miss an opportunity sometimes you just have to jump on it and stop looking for prices after you buy it or else you'll regret it if you happen to find a cheaper price. I did find a ticket for about USD$300 but then the site made me register for an account and by the time I finished...the tickets were sold out. SIGH. Woes of a student traveller. TRAVEL TIP: BUDGET YOURSELF (prior to departure)...set a ceiling.

Since 10 days worth of travelling is a lot...I'm going do another photo blog. Pictures are worth a thousand words...and because I am lazy...and I don't have time...lol. The "study" part of "study abroad" needs some attending to.

En Route to 한국: Day 1


한국: Day 2 (진주)


한국: Day 3 (보성녹차밭 대한다원)


한국: Day 4 (광주비엔날레 & 순천만 자연생태공원)


한국: Day 5 (부산 Day Trip)


I think my taste for K-pop music has transitioned to more K-indie. Yay for music with lyrics that I can't understand.