Dessie's Archive: South Korea: Day 3

Subway to the Kpop Dance Class

Day 2 was our last day using the travel bus so we got to try out our t-money cards for the first time here at the subway. At first I was rather stressed about what station to go in and come out of because of what I've heard in the media about missing trains or getting lost from everyone. However, the system is much simpler to understand than I thought. You scan at the gate, go in, and watch the screen for wherever it is you wish to stop. Everything is translated to English as well, making it very easy to navigate. This was also my first time using a subway in general, so my stress made sense being used to non-public transport and all. It was so much fun though and I look forward to using it on my free day (especially because I enjoyed standing during it).

The dance challenge we did was for the BTS song 2.0. I have not listened to their most recent album so I had not heard the song before or seen any of the choreography for it so in basic terms, I felt like I was screwed. I usually only get good at kpop dances after seeing it time and time again... a song I'm unfamiliar with just is not going to stick. Though the energy in the room was so high that I still had fun trying to learn it, even if I could not see the instructor well because one of the girls asked me to move back. The stretching also made me realize how stiff my movements are compared to idols who dance all the time. If I want to continue learning kpop dances how I do now, I should probably start trying to stretch more.

Selfie on the subway train

View of our group on the subway

Certificate of Completion for the Kpop Dance Class

Hongdae Area

For our lunch break that day, we went through Hongdae and explored the shops. It was here we found a Gong Cha. Because of my interest in kpop (especially Stray Kids) I enjoy seeing the collaborations they do around the street. Gong Cha was one I knew Felix from Stray Kids did have a brand deal with, so seeing one of the stores was a big deal. We also saw him in advertisements for HERA beauty and Adidas. To the everyday person of Korea walking the street, they see these celebrity faces everywhere and all the time, but to us, it's part of the fan culture. I never realized the kpop culture was not as big here.

Instagram story Allison posted of us in Hongdae

Brown sugar milk tea from Gong Cha

Felix poster with my photocard

HiKR Ground and Cheonggyecheon Stream

From there, we went to HiKR Ground; a tourist destination to take pictures at and enjoy the scenery. The place was really cool and I see how it links into the fan culture for how it can be used for making film or dance videos for kpop music. I am not big on pictures, so I didn't really do much photowise, but our small group followed the example of the others by using the facilities for dancing and just having fun. What we did afterwards was the better experience. Instead of going back to the hotel, we took the scenic route of walking next to and across the Cheonggyecheon stream. We got free time near it during day 4, where we were debriefed by Andrew that the stream originally was a large road until it reeked so bad because of the water underneath. I can see why it is the most popular stream in Seoul for sure! It was interesting to see all of the students studying underneath its bridge and skipping across the stones to get to the other side, I really hope we get to see it during the night. It is simply too beautiful to miss.