Jeju- part 1

I'm finally posting my impression from the beautiful Jeju island. It has been almost a month since I've visited but I'm leaving Korea already in 2 weeks and also have finals, so my life has been super stressful. Me and my friend flew to Jeju on the 12th of November and landed at night. The first thing we did there, was to eat the infamous Jeju black pork and as one would've guessed it was delicious!! We rented a car and where able to drive around the whole island. The first stop of our journey was the Manjanggul Cave which was a really interesting experience, it was pouring rain on that day and it even rained into the cave. Although it was cold and wet I would still highly recommend going! After that we just stopped at a random part of the coastal area in the east because at that time the rain had stopped and we just walked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Delicious black pork!

The largest lava column in the world!

Although we went in November the weather was still very mild

Very cool and modern architecture everywhere in Jeju 

All the banchans in Jeju are mostly from the sea- I had 전복죽 for the first time which is abalone porridge 

Yeongju part 2

On the second day of the field trip we woke up early had breakfast and headed to the Confucian school. It was really interesting to see this old school and hear about all the history behind it. The second stop was picking apples, the Yeongju area is really famous for its delicious apples. All of us were really eager to find the biggest and most delicious ones. Before heading home they organized a huge bulgogi feast for lunch! 

The Confucian school

Me trying to find the biggest apples 

So delicious! Sweet and crunchy!

Time for some delicious bulgogi

This field trip will most definitely be one of my favorite memories from Korea! ♡♡ 

Yeongju

Last weekend we had lovely field trip organized by the International office of my university. The place that we visited was called Yeongju and it is about 3 hours away from Seoul. We had a pretty tight schedule for the two days starting from Buseoksa Temple also known as the 'Temple of the floating stone', after that we went to Sunheung Historical & Cultural Village which is a place where history and tradition still play a major role in everyday life of the residents. We spent the rest of the day having dinner and doing all sorts of activities including a small talent show, bonfire and my personal favorite floating lanterns. It was such a nice trip - the weather was marvelous so we were able to enjoy the beautiful fall scenery. Everything was organized so well, we had a lovely tour guide explaining all the history behind the sights we saw and overall I really just enjoyed a group activity like that. I feel like these kind of experiences are now harder to gain now that I'm older. 

Rich colors of the memorable Ginkgo trees 

Although it was really sunny you could definitely feel winter's coming

Buseoksa Temple- the second oldest wooden building in South Korea

On the way to the small wooden bridge next to Sunheung Village

Cute doors of Sunheung Village

After the long day of sightseeing we were all starving!

Everyone enjoying dinner

The floating laterns- it was such a beautiful view to see the lanterns in the night sky

The impressive bonfire! 

Bukhansan National Park 북한산

Me and some friends decided to hike up Bukhansan last Sunday. Bukhansan National Park is located in the north of Seoul and it takes about an hour to get there by bus. It was a really sunny day so of course a lot of fellow hikers had the same intention of hiking up Bukhansan. After three hours we finally made it up to the top. It was quite a difficult route because it was very steep and rocky but the most difficult part by far were the last 50 meters. Not only was the only way to get to the peek by pulling yourself up through a metal string it was also crazy crowded causing a traffic jam of people.

Nonetheless it was a very memorable experience to see the beautiful scenery with the colorful fall leaves and the amazing view of Seoul!

The west gate

Bukhansan-we had no idea how hard it would be to get to the top 

Beautiful colorful trees- autumn is my favorite season and that day was a perfect example why I love it so much!

The view of Seoul

It's always the best feeling to be standing on the top and enjoying the view

A little sneak peak of the crazy amount of people waiting to go up 

On top of the world ^.^

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

  On Friday my last exam for the Midterms ended so on Saturday me and my friends decided to have a little walk from City Hall to Dongdaemun Design Plaza. We walked next to the very atmospheric Cheonggyecheon stream and it was my first time walking there at night. I feel like it is always nice to have a little stream like that in the middle of the city to break up the static image. But the main purpose for me was to see the beautiful installation of the LED roses. I can't imagine how much effort it must have took to install 21.000 (!) LED roses >.<

A lot of people enjoying Cheonggyecheon

The walls of Cheonggyecheon are filled with all kinds of different art work from old historic paintings to projections which all help to brighten the atmosphere

Sea of roses next to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza

The Girls ♡♡ 

Donghae 동해

For Chuseok which is korean Thanksgiving me and my friends went on a little two days trip to Donghae which is located in the northeast of South Korea. We took the bus from Seoul and it took about four hours to get there but it was so worth it. I really enjoyed this little getaway it had quite the small town charm and we could really enjoy the beautiful scenery. We rented a really cozy Airbnb just next to the beach, ate fish for almost every meal, swam in the ocean and had really nice walks. Now I really want to go back but I have to study for my midterms!

Tammy and me enjoying the fresh sea breeze

The beautiful view from our Airbnb

In the morning we hiked up to the nearby lighthouse

OOTD: Shirt-New Look, Shorts-Hongdae, Shoes-Birkenstock 

We had a blast walking on this bridge because it was quite wobbly  

So much 회 which is korean style sashimi

yummy grilled fish!

The Lighthouse

Now we know why eggplants are called eggplants-these ones definitely look like eggs

A little group photo  ♡♡