korea. thus far.

man, what a freaking 2 weeks it's been.

staying at myung's place at mullae was definitely off the hook. straight up completely empty apartment that looked like it belonged to a typical korean family in a korean drama, cold showers, how i met your mother every night, and ordering delivery. baby. one thing that i'll regret is not having lived there with furniture.

anyways. my first few destinations consisted of myungdong, hongdae, mullae, jeonju, ehwayudae and gochan (shigorl). i personally liked myungdong the most. not because of the shopping mall or the nice buildings, but the girls were prettiest there. imo. haha so shallow i know. but i'm being honest :P. hongdae was.. hongdae. freaking crazy busy with drunkards and party peepo haha. not a bad area to hang out, but sometimes it's just too obnoxious.

jeonju was just a stop on our way to shigorl. but man, it's not a bad area. it's like half developed, but i really liked it because it wasn't too crazy, but it had all the basic stuff that a korean place should have. i think i really liked it because of the jimjilbang. mann don't get me started about that haha. i love jimjilbangs. three words: just be free. hahaha just being naked and not caring... enjoying the good company of your fellow brothers.. what can be better?

gochan was nice forsure. we had hanwoo kalbi. and i must say.. comparing it to any meat in america is... not comparable for sure. it's on a whole different level. the marbling is BETTER than kobe beef, and the tenderness is just off the charts, taste... please. no need to explain. other than that, just staying in a countryside embracing the korean culture more of a lesser modernized place was good. i think it's good to have those once in a while.

ehwayudae.. is THE girls university. haha well... the area around it def has prettty girls.. since the shopping town is more geared for women. the girls in the university itself were either not cool or taken. haha. but it's a really pretty looking university.

i could go on and list more experiences that i had all over the place, but photos will do half the work... and the other half.. is something i'm too lazy to do. haha. all in all. korea has been treating me really well. i'm learning to embrace this new (but inherited) culture of mine.

i realized the culture is to just drink. like it's not even at a point that it's necessarily a bad thing, but it's just part of the culture to do so. like soju and mekju are the prime things. if you go anything outside of that, that's when i would say it'd be something moreeee... not as good. but really to embrace and immerse yourself in this culture is to embrace soju, food, and the night life.

even the adults are out at night just hanging out and talking bout old stories... very chummy. i even see little kids out with their parents 10-11 at night.. haha that's so unheard of in america. but i seriously realize why food is something that my life revolves around. and it's because my entire culture is FOOD. food is the culture of korea. if there were just rice, kimchi, and gogi... then korea would not exist. the pojangmachas, hoddok stands, cafes, pc bangs, bbq's, chicken galore is korea. and at least for me, it's not a sad thing. it's something i love. and i am a foood critic, so when something doesn't taste so good... i won't mention it or at least have a few negative remarks about it. however, i would say 95% of the food in korea was all good. all delicious. better than any korean food in america. i mean i do miss the all you can eat dduk bo ssam in america... but i miss it much less when i have all this other better stuff surrounding me.

one more thing. living at DMC ville is definitely a PRIVILEGE. i'm living at a resort while going to this school and it definitely makes me appreciate living with a roof above my head much more. i just hope i won't take it for granted. everyone is so friendly here haha. well it's kinda given since we're all on the same boat looking to make friends, be nice, and drink merrily. i feel like freshman year of college all over again. haha man. and don't get me started about all of the good friends i've made. just know that they're cool.

thank you korea for being my heritage. for being me.

-ajc