Day 4 – Don’t tell me I’m not a princess

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

I slept through the night! Well, mostly. My body still thinks 1pm Chicago time is a great time to need the bathroom, so that happened around 3am, BUT I went right back to sleep. As someone who enjoys sleep, this is an important victory. 

Okay, onto the more important things. Today, I got to be a princess, but we will talk about that later. 

Before heading out to the Korean Porter Novelli PR agency office for our academic portion of the day, I became a real Ewha student and started taking advantage of my Instagramable campus. I’m telling you the face mask changed me. 

The agency tour was good. My professor used to be the CEO of this branch so we got some red carpet service. The PR landscape is a bit different here because the concept is still so new in Korea. Previously PR has really just been event/personal promotion or journalism.

We rushed from the agency to the Durksugung Palace (read: we skipped lunch and ran to the palace to make our guided tour). This is one of five palaces in Seoul and the smallest of them all. We had a quick walking tour of the grounds which had a unique look and feel. There is a blend of traditional and western style buildings scattered throughout and the exterior painting, dancheong, was so pretty. It made for some great pictures.

Our tour ended just in time to see the formal changing of the guard at the palaces moon gate. It was quite the affair and had lots of music and fanfare.

Once that wrapped up we gathered up and went for a late lunch at Hwang Saeng Ga Noodles Soup. Our professor recommended it and referred to it as a dim sum place. It wasn’t like any dim sum I’ve had but I would eat it again. Noodle soup and dumplings for days! Happy belly, sad feet. Like most Korean establishments, you have to take off your shoes before walking on the hardwood as a sign of respect. My bandaid and blisters didn’t like that. It was an uncomfortable rest of the day. Let’s just leave it at that. 

After lunch, I became a princess! We walked over to a local hanbok rental shop and my class was able to try on the traditional dresses which are still used for formal occasions in Korean society. 

Here’s the thing. I’m not built like most Korean women, I have a bit more going on in the chest region than most of the locals. The shop owner told me I wouldn’t fit the standard dresses, which consisted of solid bright colors. (I think I actually would have, as they are large flow-y dresses, but whatever) Instead I got to wear some royal apparel. Note: this is one of the few times this has played to my advantage. LOOK HOW PRETTY I WAS IN THIS! 

After everyone got suited up, we walked over to Kyung-bok palace for a photo up. Below are just a small sample of my photos. I’m telling you, I’m a local now and cute photos are a part of that. I have so many. If you need a cute picture of me in a hanbok, let me know and I will hook you up.  

After a rest at our dorms we explored the neighborhood for some dinner. After striking out at a few places that were close to closing for the night, we landed on a ramen shop where I made a big mistake. I forgot that “medium” when describing heat levels means something different here than it does at home. The ramen place was build your own, which was awesome. You picked out all of your fillers: noodles, protein, veggies, and they turn it into a delicious bowl of soup! It was just a bit on the hot side for me, I persisted and while not in the perfectly clean plate club, I did a good job. The octopus were interesting. Glad I tried them, probably won’t get them in this style again. 

Another princess picture just for the heck of it 🙂