Shopping Mania

Today was a crazy kind of fun.

In the morning we had a lecture on Korean Economics, which was interesting, but more a general introduction to economic schools of thought, as opposed to an analysis of Korean markets in specific.

The afternoon featured the activity of dressing up in traditional Korean hanbok, which was a lot of fun.  Every single person had a costume to wear, including the handful of men in this program, and the faculty members visiting.  Seeing over a 100 people dressed up like that was quite a sight.  The clothes were a bit hot though, as we were wearing them over our street clothes, and there were many puffy layers to give them their traditional shape.

Following that, all of the girls from our school in PA decided that we wanted to go to Myeong-dong for a shopping night . . . though we've been to many other shopping venues throughout this trip, they've either offered only very tourist-trinket-y goods like keychains and fans, or we've had guys with us, who were not interested in going browsing like we wanted.  We searched for any Korean students who might want to join us, but they all wanted to work on their term papers like good students.  So the six of us Americans from Cedar Crest ventured out into the city for some quality shopping time.

At this juncture, it must be noted that I am NOT normally a big shopper.  I wil go shopping from time to time, but it's not in my top 10 favorite activities.  Maybe my top 20.  However, this market in Myeong-dong is just street after street after street of shop, with hundreds of stalls lining the roads selling scarves and purses and sunglasses and phone cases and all that sort of thing.  Everything is very affordable (and about 80% of it is designer knock-off), and it's fun to engage in a less "structured" form of shopping than we're used to in the US.

Anyway, we went out to the subway station that's about a 10 minute walk from campus, and hopped on to the subway for (literally) about 16 stops.  Then we transfered to another line for another 4 stops.  Until one is here, it's tough to explain the scope of this city - it's huge.  After getting off the subway at our stop, we had dinner at a Lotteria (and yes, it's another company owned by Lotte).  Basically an Asian McDonalds, all the girls I was with got hamburgers, and I got cheese sticks and a "Tornado" (the Asian McDonalds' answer to the McFlurry).  The cheese sticks were impossibly good, and now I really wish that I could find a US fast food chain that has them.

Following our fueling-up on fast food, we shopped for the next 3 hours or so.  Keeping track of six people in the impossibly busy and crowded market turned out to be a difficult task, and we accidentally split up a number of times, but never leaving just one person on their own, and we eventually all met up again.  I bought a shirt, skirt, dress, purse, earrings, necklace, bag, passport cover, small tin, card case, and planner for somewhere on the order of $45.  Given what I got, and the experience, it was well worth the price.

Now it's about half-past midnight, and I'm going to work a bit on my term paper.  All the Korean students who stayed back have made progress, and I feel I must do the same.  I also meant to wrap one of my "Secret Angel" gifts, but I may not get around to it.  We were all assigned random people to anonymously give gifts to at the beginning of the program, and every morning the presents are handed out.  I've given two so far, trying to pace myself with the things I've brought from home, but the program is quickly winding down, and I fear I may suddenly find myself at the end with a surplus of gifts . . .

Also, random note.  I wanted to get something to drink this morning, and the vending machine in our building is hopelessly always empty of the drinks that are identifiable, so I got one of the few remaining unknown items - it was something called "Milk Tea," but it turned out to taste like liquified All-Sorts Licorice Candy.  I really really really hate that candy, but considering I was trying to stop myself from coughing during the lecture (I have a bit of a cold, still), I kept drinking it.  Turns out that anything can become more palatable if you force it on yourself enough times.  It was okay by the time I reached the bottom of the can.

But I'm definitely not buying it again.