Seoul to Seize

The minute I stepped off the bus, Seoul took my breath away. Not only is Seoul an enormous city, but the amount of people, shops, and advertisements can put anyone into sensory overload. Eric and I decided to arrive to Korea a day early so we could explore this giant city. Lucky for us, our friends Ian and Leslie also teach here and were able to walk us through the first day of our new life.

After we maneuvered the back alleyways of the city to drop our luggage off, Ian and Leslie wasted no time on showing us how to use the public transit system. The streets of Seoul have an over abundance of buses: green ones, blue ones, red ones, charter buses, and tour buses. Each color/type possessing numerous routes. For the equivalent of 70 cents, we hopped a bus and headed to a popular area of town. The streets are filled with different vendors, restaurants, coffee shops, and any other type of store you can think of. But as we wandered Seoul’s streets all of these shops had a common thread—they were all closed. Even though our flight got in early, we did not reach Seoul until 9:30am, even then we didn’t leave Ian and Leslie’s apartment until after 10. I asked if it was a holiday of sorts, but it turns out that most things don’t open until noon. Why? Apparently it has to do with all the drinking Koreans do after work! It is not unusual for businessmen to go out for a night on the town on a Tuesday evening. This means stores stay open very late and thus don’t open until noon. The owner has to get some sleep I guess

However, one of the few things that were open was Paris Baguette, a Korean version of a French bakery. Yes, you read that right. There are pleasant pastries such as croissants, chocolate bread, and doughnuts, but there are also red bean paste buns, hotdog concoctions, and I quote “glutinous pastries.” I was feeling adventurous so I tried it all, minus the hotdog based pastries. Rumor has it Korean hotdogs are not up to Costco’s delicious standards.

Later we were taken to a University district were we wandered Ewah University, an all girl’s college. EU is built onto a hill which boasts an impressive view of Seoul. Reaching the top was exhausting but well worth it. Seoul seems to spread as far as the eye can see. After spending only one day in the city I already cannot wait to return. Despite walking a lot, I know I only covered a miniscule section of Seoul. Until another day…