Week 4 and weekend 4 in Seoul have been very fun and filled with lots of new experiences. In my free time, I was able to explore a lot of new areas of the city that I hadn’t seen before. Some of these were more about shopping, some were about finding food spots, but they all were great chances to explore the city a little more. Monday after work I met up with a friend at the Lotte World Mall right next to Lotte World Tower and nearby Lotte World amusement/theme park. At the mall I visited a pop-up shop, bought some clothes, and got some nice Korean bbq.
On Wednesday I had the day off from work, so I visited a cafe in the Yongsan district of Seoul, which is close to Itaewon. After the cafe, I went to Itaewon, checked out some stores there, and bought a shirt. There was also a record store which had a spot you could sit down at and listen to music at. They let you pick up three records and sit as long as you liked listening. I really enjoyed this since it was raining that day, so I was able to chill inside and enjoy music. After that, I took a bus over the Han river to Gangnam where there is a cheesesteak restaurant. I found this place’s instagram account before I came to Seoul, and being from Philadelphia, I knew I had to go try it. I really enjoyed the food there, it was very good. The owners are Korean, but they studied at Penn State, so the entire inside of the restaurant was decorated with State College flags and pennants, as well as Philly college/sport team banners. It was funny to see in such a place like Seoul, being so far from the States, but the food was good and it was definitely a great vibe.
Up to Friday, the rest of the week went by normally, I just kept working on my projects in the office. After work on Friday, we went out for dinner with my coworkers and boss to a nearby restaurant. After that, the three of us and my boss went out to a karaoke place for a few hours. At first I was a bit wary about singing, especially since it was formatted like a big stage in front of everyone, but I ended up really enjoying the time. I think I sang just over 10 songs by the end of the night. Some alone, some in a group.
This past weekend I slept in on Saturday after a long week at work. I took my needed rest, then went to a concert Saturday night in Itaewon. It was pretty cool since there were two artists playing that I enjoy listening to. A bit of a double feature, I was glad I got to see them that night.
Lastly, this past Sunday I went to Hongdae to a few cafes and stores. I got dinner at a good sushi place to end off the day. Overall the week went really well, I got to explore so many places and see a ton of different things.
To be honest, there hasn’t been a whole lot of assimilating that I’ve had to do as far as the workplace is concerned. I am lucky to work with two other interns from the US, and two more from France. The two French interns speak English perfectly, as do my boss and supervisor. As this is the office environment that I work in, I find and have found no difficulty in hopping right in and getting the work I need to do done.
Korean culture, or rather people, can be somewhat reserved at times. This is evident in the subway commute I do every morning. Everyone sits in their seat quietly minding their own business. I don’t have any problem with this though, it lets me mind my own business and enjoy the ride in a relaxing mindset. If it was loud and everyone was talking that early in the morning, I might not enjoy my commute as much. Korean’s aren’t exclusively reserved though. It’s noticeable after work with the drinking culture and going out to grab dinner after the day is over with your coworkers. This was also a bit of something to get used to since in America, people just go home after work usually. It’s been fun though, so while some things are small adjustments, there hasn’t been too much culture shock that I’ve experienced here in Korea.
