map the seoul

My brother came to visit me! He was here during the first two weeks of October, when I had almost a week off work because of holidays.

We went right to the hotel, where according to our schedule we would have a 2-hour presentation followed by lunch. We found out that the presentation was being pushed to the afternoon, but lunch wasn't ready yet, and our rooms weren't ready yet, so it was more like 2 hours of purgatory in the hotel lobby with 49 other foreigners. I just wanted a nap.
We eventually ate lunch and got our room assignments, then got to haul ourselves and our luggage up a giant hill to get to our room which was in a house at the top. It was seriously a long walk up a 30-degree incline. And I couldn't even nap when I got to my room, we had to drop off our stuff and go right back down to the main hotel lobby for the presentation.
After the presentation, we were finally able to go out and see some sights. We walked through a museum, then took a cable car to an observation deck on top of a mountain with panoramic views of the island.
We went back to the hotel for dinner then free time. I opted to shower and pass out after 2 days with almost no sleep.
The next morning we had a 6am wake-up time to be on another boat by 8am for the pinnacle of the trip - a visit to Dokdo. Dokdo is a tiny island which is the subject of an ongoing territory dispute between Korea and Japan. Korea says the island is theirs, and Japan says the island is theirs, but currently there is a constant Korean military presence on the island, and the only way to get there is by going to Korea first and departing from there.
It was another 2 hour ferry ride to get to Dokdo. I guess because of legal restrictions the ferry is only allowed to dock there for 30 minutes, so it was basically a rush to go around and take pictures before the horn signaled for everyone to get back on the boat.
Koreans are really proud of their claim over Dokdo, and it's quite difficult to actually get to the island, so not many people are able to visit - there were many Koreans on the trip with us who arrived decked out with Korean flag items, and it was cool to see and be a part of their excitement over stepping foot onto Dokdo.
After the ferry ride back to Ulleungdo and lunch, we did a few "trekking" activities - a hike up to Bongnae Falls, a waterfall which provides drinking water for the islanders, then another hike up to an observation deck at the top of a mountain.
Then it was back to the hotel again for dinner and free time. I wanted to walk along the coast, so I bought an iced coffee and headed for the ocean. Turned out there were no sandy beaches anywhere on the island, and the coastline was blocked by a main road with no shoulder to walk along, so it was back up the mountain and to bed for me.
For our last day on Ulleungdo we all loaded onto buses which took us on a drive around the whole island, stopping at a few sites along the way so we could get out and take pictures. The bus driver was also like a tour guide, so we would drive past something and he'd say what it was called and why it was an important site, but obviously his narration was entirely in Korean. One of the leaders of our trip was supposed to then be translating for us, but he was not great at it, so the translation we got was like, "The thing we just passed was called Noodle Rock..... I don't know why it's called that." Another girl was like, "It's as though he's on his own personal tour of the island, and he's just choosing to let us in on something every once in a while." It was honestly really funny, as long as you didn't actually care about learning anything.
The scenic drive took up most of the day, then it was back to the port to catch our 4pm ferry back to the mainland, then the 4-hour bus ride back to Suwon, then another hour on a train and a bus to get to my apartment. I felt like I should have been arriving back in the United States after a trip that long. It was windy and rainy for the ferry ride back, so the boat was rocking pretty intensely. It was perfect napping conditions for me, but there were so many people getting sick. I was woken up and very nearly vomited on by an older woman who chose my seat to slump over while she struggled to open a sick bag. That would have been a real trip-ruiner.
This is definitely an abbreviated trip report, because I don't want to complain too much about a free trip that I was given the opportunity to go on. I'll just say... I've learned that tour groups are not an ideal way to travel for me. The schedule - or lack thereof - was ridiculous, and you have to do what they tell you to do when they tell you to do it and eat what they've ordered for you. Does not work for an independent traveler. Ulleungdo was really pretty, though, and it was amazing to be able to see Dokdo. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to make it out to that part of the world, so I'm glad I was able to go.

Hey~ Back with another photo post from the first few months of 2019.
As the weather got nicer, I went to Seoul to hike a small section of the Seoul fortress wall, which wraps around the city. It was originally built in 1396 but has undergone a lot of restoration since then.
On Saturday, March 9th, I saw the musical Shinheung Military Academy for the second time. It's a military musical, so celebrities who are currently doing their mandatory military service are the leads in the musical. I saw it last year because it was basically a dream team of lead actors - Ji Changwook, Kang Haneul, and Kim Sunggyu. I had to go back and see it again this year because Lee Jinki, a member of SHINee, took up a leading role since he's enlisted. I had an 8th row seat, and the musical was great.
I went to Taemin's second solo concert on Saturday, March 16. He is, undoubtedly, one of the best performers of our time. Unreal. So good.
On Thursday, March 21st we had a school outing to welcome the new teachers who started at our school at the beginning of the new school year.
I saw both of Minho's fanmeetings on Saturday, March 30th. These were his last public appearances before he enlisted in the Marines the next week.
I spent the weekend of April 6-7 traveling all over Seoul to go to as many of the birthday events as I could for Jonghyun's birthday on the 8th. Fans held cup holder events - cafes all over Seoul were decorated for his birthday, drinks came with fan-made cup holders, some cafes had specialty drinks and desserts, and there were other fan-made freebies given out. There were also a few fan-hosted photo galleries and sponsored subway station billboards.
I had off work on Friday, May 3rd, so I traveled around Seoul to go to a few of the cafe events for Exo's Baekhyun's birthday and to see a few historical sites that I hadn't been to yet, including the Joseon royal tombs at Seonjeongneung.
Saturday, May 4th, I spent the day in Seoul again, met up with a friend for dinner, then we watched the fireworks show at Lotte World Tower. They did a similar firework show for the grand opening of the tower back in 2017, which I also saw.
Here's some other random pictures I have from the past few months, including really good food and pictures from an afternoon I spent on Gyeongnidan-gil, which has amazing views of Namsan Tower and lots of foreign-style bars (which means cocktails!).