Daytrip to nowhere

Hello there! Yesterday our mission was to visit the IKEA store in Gwangmyeong. However we had some bank business to take care of so we ended up not going. Today we left the house again, confident and determined to find the store and do some shopping for our new home ! 

After a long train trip we ended up in the middle of nothing. Needless to say, we never made it to IKEA, lol! We took the subway line 1 back to Seoul station and went shopping in Lotte mart instead! They had a cute daiso section there so we got some home supplies. 

Everything is so colorful and cute. And most importantly, cheap. For poor university students like us a place like this is a dream come true. We got a lot of useful things for our new apartment. Spoons, forks, chopsticks, glasses, plates, cups, bathroom stuff, pots and fry-pans... the list goes on and on. We also visited the Daiso in Myeongdong, had some dinner there and then just walked around and came back home. 

I don't think I will ever get over how beautiful this city looks at night. Every now and then it just hits me and I have to stop and take a bunch of pictures of all the buildings and lights.

We should move into our new apartment on Monday, but right now I have no idea if that's possible. We still have so much things to figure out, and we need to order our mattresses and tables and whatnot. We'll see how things turn out. I have so many blog post ideas, too, but right now I don't have time to write that often. After we get to our own apartment and settle down a bit, doing all this social media thing is going to be a lot easier. 

Tomorrow we are going to homeplus to hunt for sheets and duvets and pillows. But for now, I'm gonna make a cup of tea for myself, eat some chocolate and watch netflix. Good night world ~ 

xx,

Julia

Getting used to life in Seoul

Hello guys ! I'm sitting in this super cozy twosome cafe in Hongdae near our guesthouse, drinking coffee and doing some major people watching (I love watching people-) and decided to write on my blog as well. A lot of stuff has happened during the few last days. I've been taking care of important things, getting used to my new life here in Seoul, and of course, enjoying the nightlife of this city. I've missed this all so much and I am so incredibly happy and thankful that I can call this city my home now.

On Wednesday we had an apartment hunting trip with Roy and Moon from zip housing. We had an amazing luck and it only took us one day to find the perfect apartment for us! It's a two bedroom apartment in Idae (Ewha women's university area), only two subway stops & a walking distance from Hongdae. The apartment is in a villa building and all the apartments are being renovated, so they are brand new and clean. Ours is almost finished, only a new stove, washing machine and a fridge is missing but they will bring them to us before our moving in date, which is 26th of this month! I will take pictures of our new home the next time we go there and clean the whole place. 

We also made us Korean phone plans & bank accounts. Paying rent, taking care of money business, contacting friends and all that kind of daily things are a lot easier now. My korean skills are getting better everyday, too, slowly but steadily. I can understand a lot already, but sometimes when I should open my mouth I just totally freeze, hahah. 

Small daily things keep surprising me. Some positively, some negatively. I'll write a whole post about those later! One thing that I do love about Seoul more than anything is that this city never sleeps. Many cafes stay open 24/7 and shops close around 11pm - even the H&M in Hongdae was open around 11pm when we were going to the club last night. Food is amazing. Cheap and amazing. That didn't necessarily surprise me, but seeing the prices when we order something always make me go "oh damn this is cheap".

So right now life is looking pretty good. Next week we're gonna visit our university to get some papers, meet up with our friends and maybe do some home utilities shopping at Ikea & daiso ! Tomorrow I plan to go walking around Hongdae to take some more pictures for my "Hongdae nightscape" blog post I've been working on. So until the next time ! 

xx,

Julia

Hello Seoul ~

We're in Korea! Landed earlier today, around 9am and took a bus to Hongdae. Our guesthouse is really close to the station, so it's super easy to go to places. We both love Hongdae, so it wasn't hard to decide where to book a room from for these few weeks. We left our bags at the guesthouse and went to walk around Hongdae for a bit, ate some delicious food, walked some more and then felt so tired we came back home, checked in in our room and took a small 4 hour nap, hahah! It's still so hard to believe I'm here again. It really feels like I never left this city. It feels like..home. 

Now it's 8:30pm, we're not tired at all, and the Hongdae I love more than anything is just starting to wake up, so we're leaving out again. Tomorrow we have our first apartment hunting trip with zip housing. Exciting~

xx, 

Julia

Last day at home

I have so exciting news to you all: My camera usb cable never ever arrived so I am, officially, leaving to Korea without being able to take pictures and document my journey with my camera! In the middle of all this stress and fuss taking pictures is like the last thing on my mind, but I really would've liked to take (good) pictures on my way to Korea. So I'll have to settle on using my galaxy note 3 for a while or just steal Sara's camera every now and then to take some pictures before I get my usb cable to Korea. 

Today I've spent the day shopping, packing, unpacking, packing again, unpacking some more and packing again! It is really hard to fit your life in two 23kg suitcases... So there's been a lot of rearranging in order to make them both 23 kg and still fit everything in. But somehow we made it ! 

You'll probably laugh if I told you all the weird things I'm dragging to Korea with me... including a cheese slicer, my own pillow, a wettex roll (it's a roll of sponge cloths), a bottle of super good detergent, a flat iron, freezer bags... Plus a whole bunch of other very important things ! It's not like they won't have any of this in Korea, but we'll save a lot of money and time by bringing these from Finland. I think...

Tomorrow I'll go see some of my friends in the morning and then just grab my bags from home and leave to Helsinki to Sara's place~ And the rest of the day will probably be just. A tad bit chaotic. And so is Monday. So the next time I'm writing here I'm going to be in Korea ~ I'll continue updating my twitter, instagram & tumblr through these last days though so if you wanna know what's going on with me you'll find me from there~ 

xx,
Julia

1 week until Seoul, Korea

I lied. Actually there's only 5 days until my flight leaves. Oh boy. My new usb cable is still not here, and I'm pretty sure with my luck it will arrive like on Tuesday so that it has to be sent to Korea afterwards. I'm not sure at all if I'll be capable of any relevant blog posts later this week so I'll just try to make this one..make sense. 

My week has been... hectic yet still kinda calm. I'm in this weird emotional roller coaster that reminds me of my last days before I went to Japan for a year in 2011. Still somehow it's all very different this time. I'm not worried if I'll fit in or if my host family is nice and welcoming or if I'm going to make any friends. Instead I'm worried if we find a good apartment or if I run out of money completely (shouldn't happen if I stick to my budget-) or if I'm ever, EVER gonna pass my courses when I start studying in Hanyang university. One thing that does feel amazing is that this time I'm gonna be on my own, not having to learn to live with another family, being able to call home whenever I want and, oh, the freedom. Craving street food at 4 am? go for it. Don't feel like doing anything on your day off? Sure! Stay home, eat ice cream and watch netflix. Going clubbing at an hour notice? Sounds like a plan ! 

 I've had quite a many meltdowns lately in the middle of the night - and day - because of this. I'll admit it: I'm a crybaby. I cry a lot. I'm way too emotional. As much as I want this it's not as easy as I thought it would be. It's actually 10 times harder. I am slowly starting to get over the crying phase though, and getting excited instead. I mean, this is my dream after all. What's there to cry about? 

So... Tomorrow's my last day at work, and before that I'll go buy some necessities I'm still missing. On Thursday I have two coffee dates with my dear friends for the last time. Even though we rarely see each other because of so different schedules our regular coffee dates have become a habit and I'll miss them a lot. Last Wednesday I visited Helsinki just briefly to hand in our visa applications with Sara. So this Friday I'm going there again for a day to pick up our (hopefully) ready visas, meet with Sara and to also have a dinner with my dad for the last time before I go. On Saturday I need to pack. A lot. On Sunday I'm meeting up with some other friends for brunch, finishing up packing and leaving to Helsinki to Sara's. And on Monday? Well. Lots of coffee, panicking and the day I've been waiting for the past 2 years now. 

We have booked a room from "Kimchee Hongdae guesthouse" for about 3 weeks. During that time we'll be looking for our own apartment with a biiiig help from zip housing guys Moon & Roy. I couldn't be happier that we found them, honestly, because otherwise we would have to do this all alone and I don't think I could make it alive through the whole process, haha ! After finding an apartment we of course have to sign the papers, pay the key money, clean the whole place and start moving in little by little. Get ourselves beds and small stuff like that. It's gonna be an.. adventure, for sure. But I can't wait ! Other important stuff we need to get done after arriving to Korea is opening a bank account and getting a Korean cell phone plan, delivering some more papers to Hanyang university, and getting that..alien registration card ( I still have no idea how does one obtain that lil thing-? ). 

I started packing already 3 days ago, because I am a really lazy and forgetful person, so the best thing for me is to just do it little by little to minimize the amount of stuff forgotten, haha! I got some new clothes, washed all my old clothes and packed all my summer clothes. My closet is empty. So is my bathroom. My room however is a mess because of this project. Besides clothes and you know, regular stuff, I've packed my yoga mat & my favorite blanket, a flat iron, Sex & the city DVD box, cheese slicer, a fluffy towel, this berry juice my grandmother makes herself, cleaning supplies they don't (probably) sell in Korea.. et cetera. At least I'm prepared. 

I think that's all for now. The days are just disappearing somewhere and I'm trying to desperately keep up. Gonna write again later this week! Bye for now~ 

ps. Tried a bit bigger font for this post, trying to figure out if the one I'm usually using is too small? 

xx,
Julia