Various Activities and Shopping

Seoul is a huge city and there are a lot of things you can do. Here is just some of them.

Taekwondo

A couple weeks into the semester, we got an announcement about taekwondo classes at Yonsei just for international students. I love martial arts (I did judo throughout high school and even did taekwondo for a summer), so of course I signed up. Classes are held three times a week at Yonsei’s gym and the instructor, Master Kim, teaches in English. We paid 30,000 won for our uniform and 50,000 won per month. Some students who joined already have colored belts, but the majority of us are beginners. However, every month we get a chance to take the belt test in order to move one level up. We just did our belt test the other day and got promoted to yellow belt. Taekwondo is a very fun activity to do and I highly recommend it to anyone studying in Korea!

Our taekwondo class also does some activities outside of practice as well. We just went on a hike to Ansan Mountain, which is located right above Yonsei's campus. Along the way to the top, we stopped to do some flexibility stretches together and used exercise machines.

Themed cafes

Korea is known for having many cafes, but there are also cafes for activities like board games, archery, etc. I’ve been to the archery cafe near Yonsei a couple of times and it’s very fun. You can pay for a shooting game and get lessons if it’s your first time. Unfortunately they mostly only have right handed bows and teach you using your right hand, so since I’m left handed, I’m pretty bad at shooting.

Another type of cafe I’ve visited is a manhwa cafe (Korean comics). You can pay for an hour and get a drink and access to the store’s manhwa/manga collections. Even though the books are only in Korean, it’s still nice to look at the illustrations (especially since I’ve only ever read manhwa online and never a physical copy).

I also occasionally go to board game cafes. You pay for a drink when you arrive, and then pay per hour when you leave. Besides board games, there are usually things like pool, arcade games, and darts. A cafe we went to in Sinchon also had a mini karaoke room as well.

Sumsei Terrarium

Sumsei Terrarium is located right next to Seoul Forest Park and is a virtual nature immersive exhibit. There were five floors, each with a different theme, where you could experience different sensations felt in nature. The first one was a cave we walked through that was pitch black. We had to use the wall to guide us and it eventually led to a candle-lit space where you can meditate at. Next was water-themed; the floor was wet and there was a foggy room with a bunch of mirrors. After that was the wind room, where air blew from the ceilings and you could see grass rippling in the breeze. Right above that was a green room with a mini stream flowing through it and you could also get a free drink there. There were also birds at the window that were flying around. Lastly, there was a rooftop with a big circulating mirror over water. It would slowly rotate on a wire and made a great photo opportunity.

Clothes Shopping

I was warned to pack lightly and it was a good thing I did. There are so many shopping malls, boutiques, and clothes vendors here and you will definitely be bringing a lot of stuff back home. Since my current wardrobe was severely lacking, I brought only a week's worth of clothes with me and was prepared to buy everything else when I got here. Some of my favorite places to go clothes shopping is the Hongdae shopping street, Goto Mall (Express Bus Terminal, near Gangnam), and other underground malls like Myeongdong. There are also a lot of clothing malls in Dongdaemun (e.g. Migliore) and various small stores in Hongdae and Sinchon.

Kpop Shopping

One great place for all things Kpop is Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center. There’s a bunch of shops that sell albums and merch like stickers, postcards, posters, and more. Things are pretty cheap (I got a pack of 12 posters for $5 and some albums for around $10 each) and I bought a lot of stuff from there. Another place is WithMuu. This a Kpop store with locations at AK& Hongdae Mall and IPark Mall in Yongsan that also sells albums, merch, and light sticks (more pricy than Myeongdong though). However, they have a machine that gives random photo cards if you buy an album (you get a special coin for the machine when you check-out). It changes depending on which group has a comeback (when I went, I bought an album for Monsta X Kihyun’s solo comeback). Bookstores also sell Kpop albums and there are also various small album shops around Seoul as well.

Anime Shopping

Korea has a pretty good selection of anime merch. The first place I went to was AK& Hongdae and the fifth floor is dedicated entirely to anime. There is a One Piece store, Animate (which has a wide selection of manga/manhwa and merch) and various small shops. There are also some small stores in Hongdae with anime merch (e.g. Figurepresso), although they mainly sell stuff from certain animes (Spy x Family, Haikyuu, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen).