By jlee4946
With nearly 3 months in Korea coming to a close, I think I can narrow down 5 of my favorite things to do here.
1. Coin Karaoke (코인노래방): As you may well know, karaoke, or noraebang, in Korea is extremely popular. However, something that's been of fashion or "유행" here is coin karaoke, where you go into the booths that can cozily fit 3 people and each song you sing is about $0.25, although some of them are $0.50. So even if you sing 20 songs, that's still only $5 and over an hour's worth of entertainment. Affordable and enjoyable, best of both worlds!
2. Claw Machine (인형뽑기): My favorite thing to waste money on in Korea doesn't even guarantee an end product. It's the stuffed animal claw machines that I rarely see in the US anymore. In Korea, however, there are entire rooms dedicated to these claw machines, in addition to a variety of selection at arcades. For me, the problem is when I first grab the stuffed animal, I do really well. I bring it really close to the drop box. But then that's where I struggle and spend 1000 won bills (similar to $1) one after another.
3. Street market (시장): So when I got notified that I didn't get a dorm assignment at SNU for the semester, I found a place to stay in a place called Nak-Seong-Dae (낙성대). At first, I was honestly kind of peeved because dorms are SO much cheaper, SO close to campus and just convenient as an exchange student. However, I'm so thankful now that I have my own place in Nakseongdae. There's a street market less than a 10 minute walk from my house filled with traditional Korean foods such as rice cakes and street foods such as spicy rice cakes, fish cake, kimbap, etc., fresh baked bread, even Japanese takoyaki, baked chestnuts, fresh fish, butcheries, sashimi and family owned restaurants. It's such a unique experience walking down the street with grandmas smiling at you that give you a few more pieces of spicy rice cake or people shouting out different prices for fresh fish.
4. Convenience Stores (편의점): This seems a little ridiculous, but the convenience stores in Korea are on an entirely differently level. They're stocked with delicious Korean snacks, sell fried chicken, corn, baked sweet potatoes, baked eggs, bento boxes, kimbap, a huge selection of ramen, drinks (s/o to my black bean soy milk!) and even things like socks and travel use toiletries. There are seats in the store where you can sit and wait while you heat up your food in the microwave. My go-to is 2 kimbaps and a 5-set of the tiny Yakult bottles.
5. Gongcha (공차): Gongcha is comparable to Kung Fu Tea where you can adjust your sweetness and ice levels in your drink. You can choose different bubbles like black pearl, white pearl, coconut jelly, and my personal favorite, aloe jelly. I should honestly get the membership there because it'd still be worth it even with my 1 month remaining here.
Coming up with this list also made me realize the things I'm going to miss and it's crazy to think I have 3 weeks until my finals. Everything about my experience in Korea was nothing like I could have ever imagined and I'm really looking forward to my last month here.