2015년 07월 27일
Our culture class on Monday finally gave us some freedom! We were allowed to go wherever we wanted in Seoul, provided that we answered some questions for homework and took photographs. Our assignment asked us to explore a place in Seoul that we thought reflected "Korean culture" and to explain why we chose that place in particular and how a similar concept might be different in our home countries.
Naturally, a couple of friends and I decided to venture to Samseong-dong (yes, like the company Samsung). One on side of the street was Coex Mall (home to the SMTown Artium, of couse) and on the other side of the street was 봉은사 (Bongeunsa), a Buddhist temple. I thought that Samseong-dong would be a great place to visit for this reason - two contrasting presentations of Korean culture; the "traditional" versus the "contemporary."
Our first stop was the SMTown Coex Artium. As we walked from the subway station to Coex Mall, we first came upon the Artium. With a giant poster promoting Super Junior's new album "Devil," I was beyond excited to go inside and see what the venue had in store!
When we walked in on the first floor, we were immediately greeted by dozens of television monitors playing an EXO music video. Up the escalator, we saw hundreds of photographs of SM artists on the walls (especially Super Junior!!) and found a merchandise shop nearby. Although we looked inside for a while, I couldn't reason the amount of money for some of the merchandise and nothing really appealed to me... Instead, we went up to the next floor, a cafe!
The cafe design was amazing! There were, of course, albums and other merchandise for sale, but also idol-based food products! Cupcakes, ice cream bars, you name it! I decided to get an "ade" drink ("Super Junior Ade") because it came with a keepsake bottle that read: #Mamacita. I had to support my boys! Basically, it was a blue lemonade fizzy drink. But, it was worth it! Also, the chairs and tables in the cafe were signed by idols in the company, like Jungmo from Trax, Changmin from DBSK, and Heechul from Super Junior!
The next floor up was a make-up/dance studio that you could pay for to "look like" some of your favorite idols and learn their dance moves... Too bad it was especially pricey.
So, we moved on to the 5th and final floor of the building, where we found a theater, giant screens broadcasting music videos, a photobooth, and SM artist handprints. I wanted to use the photobooth, but again, it was a tad bit pricey... But, you could take a photo of yourself and photoshop yourself with your favorite idols in order to make a sticker! Of course, they put Kangin and Leeteuk together to tempt me to take a photo with my two favorite members of Super Junior... But, I restrained myself... Barely...
The handprint section was also interesting because I was able to see in person how small Ryeowook and Yesung's hands are! (SO SMALL). I swear, I wasn't creeping on Super Junior's hands...
After we finished exploring the Artium, we crossed the street into a completely different world.
Bongeunsa was absolutely beautiful. Although I occasionally felt uncomfortable walking around (because my tourist self was intruding on some private religious moments of native citizens), I tried my best to stay out of the way and take only a few pictures of the temples. It was incredible to see the contrast between the "traditional"-style Buddhist temples and the surrounding contemporary cityscape. I wish I could have had more time to explore the grounds and really appreciate them, but we were worried about closing hours and decided to venture back to Coex Mall for the last portion of our project.
At Coex Mall (different from the SMTown Artium), we shopped and grabbed some dinner. Craving Mexican food, I got a taco (but, not without the Korean spiciness that comes with it!). After exploring for a couple of hours, we thought we should start heading back to the dorm and left for the subway station. Seoul really does look beautiful lit up at night!
Our culture class on Monday finally gave us some freedom! We were allowed to go wherever we wanted in Seoul, provided that we answered some questions for homework and took photographs. Our assignment asked us to explore a place in Seoul that we thought reflected "Korean culture" and to explain why we chose that place in particular and how a similar concept might be different in our home countries.
Naturally, a couple of friends and I decided to venture to Samseong-dong (yes, like the company Samsung). One on side of the street was Coex Mall (home to the SMTown Artium, of couse) and on the other side of the street was 봉은사 (Bongeunsa), a Buddhist temple. I thought that Samseong-dong would be a great place to visit for this reason - two contrasting presentations of Korean culture; the "traditional" versus the "contemporary."
Our first stop was the SMTown Coex Artium. As we walked from the subway station to Coex Mall, we first came upon the Artium. With a giant poster promoting Super Junior's new album "Devil," I was beyond excited to go inside and see what the venue had in store!
When we walked in on the first floor, we were immediately greeted by dozens of television monitors playing an EXO music video. Up the escalator, we saw hundreds of photographs of SM artists on the walls (especially Super Junior!!) and found a merchandise shop nearby. Although we looked inside for a while, I couldn't reason the amount of money for some of the merchandise and nothing really appealed to me... Instead, we went up to the next floor, a cafe!
The cafe design was amazing! There were, of course, albums and other merchandise for sale, but also idol-based food products! Cupcakes, ice cream bars, you name it! I decided to get an "ade" drink ("Super Junior Ade") because it came with a keepsake bottle that read: #Mamacita. I had to support my boys! Basically, it was a blue lemonade fizzy drink. But, it was worth it! Also, the chairs and tables in the cafe were signed by idols in the company, like Jungmo from Trax, Changmin from DBSK, and Heechul from Super Junior!
The next floor up was a make-up/dance studio that you could pay for to "look like" some of your favorite idols and learn their dance moves... Too bad it was especially pricey.
So, we moved on to the 5th and final floor of the building, where we found a theater, giant screens broadcasting music videos, a photobooth, and SM artist handprints. I wanted to use the photobooth, but again, it was a tad bit pricey... But, you could take a photo of yourself and photoshop yourself with your favorite idols in order to make a sticker! Of course, they put Kangin and Leeteuk together to tempt me to take a photo with my two favorite members of Super Junior... But, I restrained myself... Barely...
The handprint section was also interesting because I was able to see in person how small Ryeowook and Yesung's hands are! (SO SMALL). I swear, I wasn't creeping on Super Junior's hands...
After we finished exploring the Artium, we crossed the street into a completely different world.
Bongeunsa was absolutely beautiful. Although I occasionally felt uncomfortable walking around (because my tourist self was intruding on some private religious moments of native citizens), I tried my best to stay out of the way and take only a few pictures of the temples. It was incredible to see the contrast between the "traditional"-style Buddhist temples and the surrounding contemporary cityscape. I wish I could have had more time to explore the grounds and really appreciate them, but we were worried about closing hours and decided to venture back to Coex Mall for the last portion of our project.
At Coex Mall (different from the SMTown Artium), we shopped and grabbed some dinner. Craving Mexican food, I got a taco (but, not without the Korean spiciness that comes with it!). After exploring for a couple of hours, we thought we should start heading back to the dorm and left for the subway station. Seoul really does look beautiful lit up at night!