Fall in Korea

What a beautiful landscape! not doubt of that, but the weather was even better! Korea in August (when I arrived) was really hot, and Hey! I'm from a Tropical country! Korea is hot and humid but thanks God the temperature started to decrease at the end of September, 17°C to 12°C and fresh air everyday, even though it lasted a couple of weeks before winter came.

The trees start to change color from green to red, yellow or brown.

Slowly the mountains around the cities seem like dying. From my University I  could see Suri mountain with some brown-ish spots spreding along while weeks passed by, until it was completely bold.

The best place to enjoy the fall foliage is Nami Island. I went there with my friends; the view was impressing and the colors incredible. Even though it was crowded because of its popularity, there is still a lot of space to enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

Well, something very important before you go to Nami, it's to check the weather, unfortunately it was raining that day and was really cold, but we enjoyed a lot.

Also, you can go hiking to any mountain in Korea 

Or just stay in Seoul and visit any park nearby. I went to Yeuido Park and took amazing pictures of the sunset.

Since summer it's too hot and winter too cold, I think from middle September to the end of Octuber it's the best time to come to Korea and enjoy without worring too much about the weather, just bring some sweters or buy them at any market here ^^

This is the shortest post I have ever wrote haha, I don't have to much to say, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Bye

Another Semester in the land of the morning calm

Fall Semester just finished.

I might say I enjoyed it a lot, taking seven courses wasn't that hard at all but kept me busy for some weeks, not to say that taking four in my country it's quite hard but I survived.

I had the opportunity to share some classes just with other foreign students but also I took classes with Korean students.

What I was really curious about was if Korean students study hard almost everyday to keep up with the grades (as it is said everywhere since South Korea education system is one of the best ones around the world). Well I'm not sure at all, maybe because our classes together were not very difficult but what I can say is that they are also absent in classes, arrive late, forget to do homeworks, some are very lazy to cooperate with the group projects (like in any other country) and some others quit school...

The grading system is hard, between all the students in the class, a very low porcentage will receive an A, some will have a B and so on, it does not matter if everyone participated the same, at the end the professor will have to choose the best students to give the A's. It's not like in my country (Costa Rica, if you forgot), your score is the reflexion of your effort during the quater, everybody start the quater with a 100 and you have to keep the points by doing homeworks, participating in class, good projects, etc; so it can be that everybody got 100 at the end (-.- almost impossible) or that everybody reproved the subject (it can happen xD)

Koreans learning English. Like in almost all non English speaking countries, it is a must to learn English. Korean students take very frequently the TOEIC test to see which English level they have and also because it is a requirement to gradute. (at least in the Korean University I'm attending). *TOEIC is similar to TOEFL

My University has this special program "i-chat" in which foreign students have weekly meetings with Korean students to practice English, the best part of it is that they are not closed to English speaking nationalities, which give me the opportunity to be here in Korea. People from Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, Taiwan and a lot more countries can come and have chats in English. It gives opportunity for both parts to improve their English skills, but also it gives a very good example of open minded and globalized University.

*In Korea, just people from English speaking countries can be teachers, closing doors to the rest of the world and making even more difficult for Korean students majoring in English to find job in their own country (my opinion)

Also being part of the University festivals, clubs and parties made the experience of being in Korea much more different and exiting... I did loved it!

So, semester finished and I received my grades transcript which I'm very proud of :D

Time came and I made my decision to stay another semester in Korea, I guess I feel really attached to this country and being apart from my country some more months won't kill me. Also the effort I made to be in Korea will be more worth it if I stay more time and learn more things won't kill me either :P . No regrets! I will enjoy more my second home :) only thing I'm worry about is to survive winter in Korea :S

Thank you guys!! and Prof Ahn and my lovely buddy Bora <3

Fall semester 2013 guys I will miss you!

Adventures in Korea keep going!!

I'm excited!!

See ya

Incheon Korean Wave Concert 2013

I'm sorry.. I've been busy and couldn't update this blog but here we go...

Incheon Korean Wave concert 2013, it was one of the best Kpop concert in my life, a lot of KPOP groups together indiferently from which enternainment company they are from... which groups? Holly.. they were so many that is impossible for me to remember all of them, so I'm posting the original poster of the concert so you can read all the groups that participated. Shame JYJ were not invited and that Shinee and Infinite were away..

 How I got my ticket? It was actually for free, well not exactly but yes hahaha. Foreigners have a lot of advantages while being in Korea, one of those advantages is that all the VIP zone was reserve for us. How to get the tickets? Easy! They had some missions from which you could choose one. Missions were. 1. take a picture of yourself in a famous place in Incheon, 2. bring the purchase ticket of any meal you had in Incheon over 5,000 won ($5), and the last one (and the one I chose) 3. Show the reservation in any acomodation within Incheon (hotel, motel or hostel). As you see it was part of a campaign to promote turism in Incheon and the introduction to the Asian Games Incheon 2014, I personally think it was a really good idea and the missions were not very difficult, so everyone could have a chance to participate.

So, actually, you get registered with your personal details (including date you come and leave Korea) and the mission you want to acompplish. Second step: Come to Korea (if you are not here). Third: work on your mission, and last but not least: wake up early and go to the place (previously announced) to pick up your ticket.. oh I forgot.. enjoy the concert!!!.

It was pretty long (but nobody complained about that :P), but very well organized, and as they promised us we had the BEST seats just some steps from the stage. I had the EXO boys standing less than one meter from me, common almost every idol was that closed xP (don't hate me)

It was really AMAZING seeing how the fandoms got organized to show their love to the idols. I have to say "Beauties" (B2ST) you are AWESOME!, I really loved your project. They used the Flash lights from their cellphones and perfectly wrote BEAST in the ocean of people, it was really beautiful and I can bet the guys really liked it ;)

Good thing I chose the mission 3, the concert ended very late, so there was not subway to go back to Seoul, so, the fact that I reserved a room in a motel near was of big help ;) I could see hundreds of people leaving before the concert ended trying to catch the last train, shame! It should has ended earlier.

Anyways, the concert ended with all the groups coming back to stage and singing together, throwing some towels and other things (I was bussy taking videos kkk)

I have more than 200 pictures and of very bad quality (due to emotion and other girlish things haha) but you can find a lot of pics on internet. Something I want to complain about is that most of foreign fans they bring their super powerful cameras, one standing next to the other one and sometimes getting on the way so at the end nobody can see, HORRIBLE!, it make you look like paparazzis and you know what the idols see? 

Actually they see NOTHING!!! you blind them with your crazy flashes x(

If you go to any of this concerts, Enjoy!! take some pictures to keep memories, but don't try to record every move of all the idols, you will miss the fun :)

My favorites? Beast, BAP, Exo, 2AM, MBLAQ, SUJU and all the other boy groups ;)

I got a video of the end, enjoy!

Best part of the concert is sharing with friends ^^ thanx Maryam, Yetza and Elias :) Oh I forgot! Some of the Quiz on Korea 2013 participants went to the concert! ^^

bad quality :(

Elisabeth The Musical

My second pre-trip reserved ticket! Elisabeth The Musical, with Kim Junsu

In this post I will tell you how hard to get(almost impossible) some tickets can be.

Well, to be fan of a very famous Kpop group it  has its disadvantages, one and the most worrisome it's to get tickets to see your idols!. I have to confess that being a Cassiopeia is very difficult, our idols are literally the Gods from the West, so guess what? Tickets disappear in just some minutes! >.<

So, How did I get my ticket? ------> MIRACLE

When I was looking for tickets, (I must say I was late and I didn't have hope to find any), I searched for the dates Kim Junsu will be performing, and one by one, all dates were already sold out!, not even one damn space for me! I hated myself for not being aware of this before!

But I didn't loose my faith (what reminds me of JJ and YC tatoo: Always keep the faith), I checked the dates again and again every day, and there it was!! One ticket got canceled and it was available!!

Have you ever bought a ticket in less than 2 minutes? that was my first time, I didn't want to loose my opportunity to see Junsu singing in a musical, I found out how skillful I can be in emergency situations, I filled up all the spaces in a blink of an eye #proudofmyself

So, Thanks to my Gods I got my ticket, it was going to be held in the National Theatre, I dress up formally, black dress and high heels (which I wanted to take them off just minutes after! there were killing me!), and to my surprise everybody were wearing blue jeans and flip flops. I did hate even more the high heels I was wearing.

The place was fantastic and huge!, I noticed at that moment how far from the stage my seat was, or do I have to say how high away? anyway, it's better than nothing.

I could tell we all were Junsu's fans, every time we heard his voice, sounds of excitement arose everywhere.

I didn't even blink, it was so fantastic and charming, the stage changed so many times and each one of them were so amazing. You could see the inside of a castle, and some minutes later, it was a beautiful park and a river with boats, how is it possible?

Their voices, no words, they made it so vivid, I just wanted to cry time to time.

Now I will tell you about Elisabeth's story (or what I understood it was)

Elisabeth is from a well known family, when she was a kid she liked to walk in a rope. One time she went to the circus and start walking on the rope and felt off. Tod (the death) went to take her with him, but something happened (don't ask me what) but he let her live.
Elisabeth grew up, and got married to some kind of noble man, Tod always visited her and sang to her try to convince her to go with him, but she always refuse.
Elisabeth had a baby, but Tod take him  away (he died after birth). Tod was so mad at her, he was jealous because she was with other man, so that was his revenge.
After some years she got pregnant again, it was a boy and he grew up without his mother, Elisabeth was not allow to be with him and to rise him. Elisabeth was so depressed, Tod visited often, but she didn't want to died and leave her son alone. Tod also visited the son, and keep him company.
After a lot of years, when the son was older, he didn't want to be like his father, he followed the advises Tod gave to him and tried to get free, but plans didn't go well and he became a betrayer, Tod had planned everything from the beginning, he went to him for the last time, sang to him and convinced him to kill himself with a gun.
Elizabeth could not take it anymore, and when Tod appeared in front of her, she kissed him and died, so at the end Tod got what he wanted.

Junsu's role was really mysterious, He always had to laugh very darkly, always wearing black extravagant clothes, and his songs were very powerful and with a bit of rock on it. *sighs*

Something I will always remember is when all light turned on as if the show had ended, I got up, put on my shoes and almost left haha, nobody told me there was a break *ashamed* but actually I was glad I had more time to see the performance, it was so damn good...

It lasted 3 hours, full of good songs, scenarios, dresses, choreographs... at the end public stood up and clap for 20 minutes, when Junsu showed up it was even louder.

I am really happy I have chosen to be fan of a very talented persons, they really deserve to be so popular. Hardworking, handsome and talented... did I said handsome? yes, sorry :P

Conclusion: Another MUST watch!!

credits as tagged

B.A.P Concert 2012-08-18

Before coming to Korea I had reserved my tickets for one musical and one Kpop concert, It's funny... you can't restrain your kpoper blood. So, I just had one day to remember how to use the subway, read maps in Korean and try to get around by myself.

Actually I did very well, I got to Jamsil very quickly and then I just followed the bunch of fans I knew they were going to the same place.

B.A.P concert August 18th Live on Earth -Seoul

There were two dates, I chose to go to the last concert of their world tour, I don't regret going even though I wasn't a Baby yet. Guess what? Now I love them.

A lot of foreigners! They are getting pretty famous out there, and what surprised me the most was their fans, they don't have chants, instead their use whistles, I like the noise they made, always in harmony with their songs, I really regret not having one of those.

It's sad that the place wasn't completely full, but it didn't matter and the show started.

The introduction of their concert is so nice, explaining about the planet and the Matokis, and then their spaceship landed on Earth, Literally!! a spaceship slowly went down the stage and B.A.P came out from it!

How can I describe their concert!? I don't have words! It was absolutely perfect! Their music and the show of lights they have is so vivid that make you enjoy every damn second of the concert. I remember I kept smiling the whole concert, I was absolutely happy, they make me happy, I love their energy that spread all over the place.

My favorite songs? I can't choose, all of them were perfect, but I love Zero and One shot.

Zelo is a little devil, he likes to play with the fans, he is so adorable that make me regret be born a lot of years before him LOL

We were not allow to take pictures, the ones who did it they were taken out of the place :(

This kind of stuff remind me the reason why I love KPOP, that's is something that completes your live (I'm being cheesy, so let's stop here)

Conclusion: You MUST go to a B.A.P concert!!

Living in Korea

Hi again!!!

Right now I am so excited because I am writting from South Korea, it's been 3 weeks since I arrived here to study in a Korean University for one semester.

I really missed this country... when I went to Insadong and later on after seeing the Jongno tower I almost cry... it brought all the memories back.

What I've been doing since I arrive? A lot of things... As you know I am a Kpoper so actually I am starting to think of myself as an stalker hahaha.. but you know I am taking 7 courses at the University but I will do my best to show you all the Hallyu things I can find in Korea.

Weather in Korea was really hot when I arrived (middle August) but now is getting colder (18°C) in a week I think Fall season is gonna start, I'm so happy about that.

Several things had surprise me a lot about the Korean culture and I am actually trying to accept it.. you know... Korea is not as it appears in dramas.

In my next posts I will tell you how the B.A.P concert was, also the musical Elisabeth in which KimJunSu (JYJ) acted and last but not less: Incheon Korean Music Wave concert :D

A lot of interesting things to tell... please don't hate me ;)

See you

Lost in Korea

Yes, this is the post that gave me the idea for the blog's name, but Did I actually get lost in Korea??

Here is the story...

Lets see... it was a paid trip to South Korea, I was already there for almost ten days, and I was going to leave like that? After crossing half of American continent and the entire Pacific Ocean?  No Way!

I asked for the ticket 4 days after the original date, that was unfortunately what my budged would allow me...

But there I was, September first, some of the participants of the Quiz were leaving and some of us staying. Now was time to look for a place to stay, where to eat and visit, so exciting!!

I enjoyed my last full breakfast at the hotel (I didn't know if I would be even having breakfast the next days), my luggage was ready, I accompanied the girls to do some last minute shopping, come back at mid day to say bye to some of the girls, then it was time to be by my own. In the hotel they kept my luggage while I went to find a place to stay. I did actually planned my stay before taking the plane to Korea, but my luggage lost one of its  tires and I was helpless, I could not go like that to Hongdae were the guest house was. So now I needed something in Seoul.

I was with Isabel (she had been in Korea before), I went with her to meet her friends, later went to Namdaemun to continue shopping and finally we ate Ttopokki in Myeondong. It was already dark outside and we didn't have a place to stay yet. Isabel knew of a place she had stayed before, we went there and even though the owner just allow Japanese people to stay there, he let us rent a room, after that we went back  walking to the previous hotel to pick up our luggage. It was a beautiful night, full of people in the street, in our way we stopped by Cheonggyecheon river and rested a little bit. Past twelve we were done by the day, tired and ready to sleep.

Next day Isabel left to Daegu to meet her friends. The owner of the place let me stay in the same room the other two days, so I lived in downtown Seoul some for days haha

Now, what to do, where to go?

I was afraid to take the subway by myself but I got courage, took the subway and the city map and  got on the subway. Destiny: Gangnam or so I thought... I got off on the Gangnam-gu Office station, when I got to see what was over the subway I couldn't do anything but stare open mouthed... Buildings and buildings in line everywhere!! I didn't even know if I was going to the right direction but I started to walk, and that was what I did for hours. My idea was to visit some Entertaiment Companies (SM, Keyeast, Cjes, etc) and I had them marked in my map, but what I didn't know is that one square in the map was like 3 o more kilometers real distance. So I kept walking, and walking, and walking and walking until I got tired and at the first sign of a subway station I took the subway back to Seoul. The next day I would go again but more prepared.

That same day I took advantage and went to the Han river in Ttukseom Resort, a really nice place to walk and ride a bike, but it was so humid and hot that I decided to move on the next stop: Children's Grand Park, first thing I did: buy some kimbab from the ajumas, it tasted really delicious!! mostly the hunger I had after walking like crazy!. The park was huge, full of animals and green places, there was an amusement park I didn't get to know. Next stop Myeongdong straight to the hostel.

At night Myeongdong was pretty, I liked to spend walking by the stores, something I would miss...

Next day (and my last one), I went to meet some Costa Rican friends that were studying in Korea by the time, but it was raining like crazy!, went for a coffee, then we walked through Bukchon and take some picture in from of the house where "Personal taste" was recorded, then we went to Changgyugung Palace. After they left for classes I decided to go again to Gangnam, this time I wrote down the address so I was decided to find at least that one place: Cjes.

Got off in a different station, followed very carefully the map, walked for more than an hour, and again rain was pouring down! but I continued, until I felt lost (again). So I took courage and enter a little store, looked for something to buy, there was a guy, I paid por the ice cream (yes an Ice cream! with that rain outside!) and I was going to leave when I asked him CAN YOU HELP ME! hahaha

He very nicely look for the address in his notebook and guided me a little bit, actually I was pretty lost were I was. To say it in other words, the place I was looking for was less than a kilometer away from the station I got off. I thanked the guy several times, and went back to the rain eating my ice cream half tired, completely wet and happy.

It was exactly where the guy told me, it wasn't in a principal street, not in a high class town, and it wasn't a big building, but there is was CJES (JYJ's agency), and outside, in the mini parking lot was a car I knew was Jaejoong's, I coudn't hide my  바보 face.

Luckily just in from of the building there was a coffee shop, I went in, asked for a Capuccino and sat down by the window staring.. (you know where). That Cappuccino was the most expensive I have paid for, but I didn't care, I took my time to finished it.

Someone from the building were peeking outside several times just exactly to where I was, I didn't know who it was, but I loved to think it was JJ, haha. The cappuccino was gone as also the day light. Time to go back. As a Cassiopeia fan.. that was incredible!

Have you being in a subway full of people? -In my country there aren't subways - Gosh! at that time everyone was out of work, so imagine me between a lot of ajumas, I felt like a sandwich xD  I just wanted to get out of there and there wasn't even space to go through, solution: Go after an ajuma, she kicked everyone out of the way and I just followed her. After 2 days traveling by subway I felt I was an expert!, really easy and nice.. my map was completely destroy I had to buy some tape and fix it. There was just one Korean girl who spoke to me offering her help, it was very nice of her ^.^

After changing clothes, I went to have dinner in Myeongdong, it was my last night in Korea, I wanted to try Naengmyun, so I look for the best place, enter and burned my mouth with that spicy plate, after diner a went to waste the money a have left. Everysing and Spao are in the same building.. Now with a sad feeling went back to the hostel and finished to get ready the luggage.

Next day I woke up very early to go to the airport, I hadn't decided by the time which was the best option Limousine (airport bus) or the subway. I chose the first one but the bus didn't appear, took a taki to the Seoul Station (btw don't expect the taxi driver to get down and help you with the luggage), and the hell started.

Where do I have to buy the ticket for the subway to the airport!!? oh yes.. from the machines. Now where the hell do I have to take the subway? I went up and down the elevator several times (don't ask why.. I'm still figuring out) ...and finally got to the right place, took the subway and I wasn't even sure it was goin to the right place. The trip took almost an hour, in other words I just had like hour and a half to take the plane. The subway finally arrived to the airport and once again  went up and down the elevator, why???? I end up going up by the electric stairs. Almost ran some hallways, looked for the right counter and make the line that took me the little time I had. (Remember my luggage lost a tire, what made all this double stressful and difficult)

I got to the door when people started to get on the plane, no time to take a breath, no even look back to see  how Incheon Airport was, not even say good bye.. I was going back to my country.

I just wished my suitcase was with me in that same airplane, I really hate the feeling you get when thinking of your things being lost :S

So, yes... I got lost even in the elevator, I couldn't manage it xD

And with my heart full of hapiness and sadness at the same time I arrive to Costa Rica, my parents picked me up and I almost cry.

Just arriving I had a goal... go back to South Korea in a year... and here I am writing this post a just 20 days for my second and longer visit in that country :D

I'll try to keep you update with my adventures there... some concert tickets are already booked ;)


감사합니다... 다음에 보자!

CJes

And the video.. you can watch it here: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/Ka_Arburola/1#video=xuh88m