Today was our free day, so other than breakfast in the morning, we had the whole day to ourselves to do whatever we wished. There wasn’t specifically a strict schedule today because my friends and I just went wherever looked interesting that we hadn’t visited yet. The only thing we planned in the beginning was to head to Hongdae later in the day to visit the Eat Your Kimchi Studios (YAY!). So basically, here is the schedule we went by for our free day:
8:00 a.m: Breakfast! Since my roommate was not there, I woke up all alone 😦 , and had all the time that I needed to get ready. It did get quite lonely in my room, especially because this super-deluxe-suite was equipped with everything but internet. I went down to the hotel’s buffet, and ate my typical breakfast consisting of eggs, lettuce, bread, pineapples, watermelon, tea, and orange juice (healthy?). Afterwards, I went back upstairs and met up with my two other friends who had completely forgotten to wake up and go down to breakfast. They decided to skip the hotel’s breakfast, and just go grab something from Paris Baguette or any other small store. They got ready, and then we headed out of the hotel.
10:00 a.m: We decided to go to one of the other famous districts in Seoul (why am I forgetting its name?) where all of the international embassies were located. So we took the metro from Seodaemun near our hotel to the other station near the district. We went up the stairs in the new station, and automatically saw a Paris Baguette right across the street (this is a VERY popular chain in South Korea, kind of like Panera in the United States). We decided to go in and try out the fresh breads and desserts that were displayed in front of us. Because I had already eaten a large and satisfying breakfast, I decided to buy a small garlic pretzel and peach iced tea. I paid around 4,000 won in total for this small meal, and it was quite tasty! 
11:00 a.m: We left Paris Baguette and kept walking down the street, looking at the various shops and restaurants that were in this district. After walking for about 30 minutes in broad and burning sunlight, we decided to stop at the Baskin Robbins for some quick ice cream. Because I wasn’t that hungry, I took the smallest ice cream in a cone that was available. This ice cream shop was very impressive, as there were so many flavors to choose from. The lady working there gladly gave me a large sample to try of one of the tropical flavors that was filled with pop rocks. After deciding to buy that flavor in the cone, I sat down with my two other friends, and we happily ate our ice cream. It was so, so, so good.
11:30 a.m: The three of us then decided to go back to the metro and try our luck in Hongdae. We took the metro to the ever-so-famous district and got dropped off near a bunch of cafes.
12:00 p.m: We walked down a couple of the streets searching for Wifi connection, but there was sadly none (I thought Seoul was Wifi heaven…). We then decided that we were thirsty, and headed out to this large café that was completely packed with people. Not the best idea, especially since the cheapest drink in the café cost around 5,000 won. But whatever, at least there was free Wifi, and my friend and I split the cost for a lemonade. We sat there for about an hour trying to track where the Eat Your Kimchi Studios were. Because there was an old studio location, it made things much more confusing because it would always give us the old location rather than the new. In any case, we found some information that pertained to the new location of the studio. We left the café and walked towards the direction that the other blog noted when they went to visit the Studios.
1:00 p.m: We kept walking down the streets of Hongdae, occasionally stopping in various places of interest such as a pet store and a sketchy noribong that was closed. After walking about 2 blocks in the hot summer sun, we decided to stop again inside of a Starbucks. One of my friends bought a small water bottle in hopes of getting a code for their Wifi, but that was quite unsuccessful.
2:00 p.m: At this point, we were very tired of all the walking we had done in the blazing heat endlessly, just trying to find the Studios. We found an information center right next to the H&M, and decided to wait in line and ask where the Studios were. The center had a complimentary computer for free use thankfully, which came in handy. I spent some time on the computer Google searching the location, but still unsuccessful. I then decided to Google a picture of the Studio, and look up the location of the restaurants that were below it. I pointed at the screen on the computer, and asked the nice lady working there if she knew where those restaurants were. She gave me a map and traced where we had to go to in order to reach the restaurants and Studio. I thanked her, and left with my friend and met back up again with our other friend who was busy shopping in H&M. The three of us then shopped in H&M for about half an hour. This four story H&M was completely packed, but I did end up still getting a cute yellow tank top for a whopping cheap price of 5,000 won! The other two bought way more than me, but being the light shopper that I am, I decided to save my money for the next few days I have here in Seoul. 
3:00 p.m: We walked out of the H&M and continued our way by following the map of Hongdae to where the lady had marked off the location of the Studios. It turns out that we were right near the Studios at one point, but had turned left at the intersection instead of turning right -_-Anyways, we walked until we reached the studios right before Hongik University. It was there, right in front of us. The EYK “Nasty” Studio was exactly how I had imagined it to be, and I was just so excited to perhaps even have the chance to get close to Simon and Martina.
3:30 p.m: We climbed the outside stairs on the right side of the building into the café right below the studios. There, I bought this refreshingly amazing peach smoothie. I then asked the women working there how it was possible to get to the Studios upstairs. She told me that there were stairs near the bathroom of the café inside to get to the floors above the café. I went to join the other girls in the café, and ended up meeting up with two other girls from our program who had been waiting there for Simon and Martina also. The five of us talked and told our stories of how we managed to get to the Studios. My friend and I then opened the door near the bathroom leading to the stairs. We climbed two small flights of steps until we got to this large white door that had a CCTV camera and a large lock on it. So sad. The doors to the next flight of steps that led to the Studios were locked. My friend and I then waited for a good thirty minutes until deciding to start writing letters for Simon and Martina because the likes of meeting them and going into the Studio were very low. We went back into the café and got pens and paper from the others and started writing our letters. This took about another 30 minutes. The four other girls and I then taped (stickered?) our five letters to the large white door and accepted the fact that we would not be meeting them today. We tweeted them in hopes of getting a reply. I actually tweeted them a picture of the five letters taped onto the white door, not knowing at that time that they would reply to me later that afternoon. My friend and I went back again into the café and sat with the three other girls and talked until the three of us decided to depart from the other two who would continue their journey on their free day. Outside, the three of us held a small photo-shoot with the EYK Studios, because You Only Visit EYK Studios Once (YOVEYKSO).
5:00 p.m: We then walked back from the EYK Studios to the metro and took it back to Seodaemun where our hotel was located. One of my friends had to meet up with her family at 6:00 p.m, so we went back to the hotel and grabbed a quick snack at Outback Steakhouse beforehand. This snack consisted of a coconut and chocolate sundae shared between the three of us (only because it cost 8,000 won, which was the cheapest thing there). We left the Outback Steakhouse and went back to our hotel to rest for a little while. While our other friend left to go meet up with her family, my friend and I jammed out to Justin Timberlake and EXO in her hotel room until we decided to finally leave and go back to MyeongDong for a bit more shopping. 
6:00 p.m: We took the metro to MyeongDong (I still to this day am quite unsure how to spell this) which took us around 20 minutes. We then arrived and walked towards the Lotte Department Store after doing some underground shopping. The merchandise there was pretty expensive. The whole store gave off a an Urban Outfitters vibe with a hint of Macy’s or Dillard’s to it. We decided to leave because the cheapest thing there would be using up pretty much all of our money.
7:00 p.m: We walked to so many different stores where I ended up getting some cute accessories and many adorable souvenirs for my friends, teachers, and family. I especially took quite a while shopping in Artbox (my favorite store in all of Korea, as I have stated in another blog entry), and managed to find these small little notebooks and bookmarks that worked perfectly as gifts for my teachers (I bought extras for myself as well, I just couldn’t resist)! We were in the Artbox that was combined with a bookstore in MyeongDong near the metro station underground. We went back up to where the majority of the stores were again and kept exploring the places that we had not visited the last time we were in MyeongDong.
8:00 p.m: Time passed us pretty quickly, so we decided to stop by a café and get something to drink, and do some more exploring in the not-so-busy streets of MyeongDong before heading back to the hotel. On our way from the café to the metro, we saw this huge wall that showed a picture of every single currency’s paper money. It was very interesting to compare each country’s money, and to see any commonalities and slight differences between country’s that are near each other on the globe. We walked back to the metro station and took the subway back to the hotel. By this time, it was 9 o’clock (or maybe 10, I’m slightly forgetful), and curfew would be coming very soon, so I parted ways with my friend and went back up to my hotel room. It hadn’t been 5 minutes that I was in the room until my roommate came back from her home-stay. I got to meet her home-stay sister Sojung and her parents, who were some of the sweetest people I have ever met! We talked, and then my roommate and I eventually crashed after they left. So much adventure in just one day. Not to mention that tomorrow would be the beginning of a new adventure in our 4-day excursion out of the hotel and Seoul. I prepared all of my suitcases and belongings to take with me that next morning for the long bus ride.
11:00 p.m: Sleep!
Machu Pikachu 