the view from Dongseo University dormitory. My room didn't get a view this nice tho.
As you probably know, or not know, I spent my summer in Korea. A month at Korea was fun, I spend my time around 3 weeks at Busan, having the best summer of my life (thanks to Asia Summer Program and Dongseo University, seriously I love every second of my 3 weeks stay) and almost one week at Seoul (& Yongin, sort of, I went to Everland) . I get to experience a bit of Korean life, the culture, and everything. It was a valuable experience, honestly, I never expected to go to Korea. If you know me, you know I am not a huge hallyu fan... but life says different thing, at this moment probably I have more Korean friends than friends from elsewhere outside Indonesia. And I am grateful for them! They are lovely, lovely people. And instead of recalling every single thing I did... let's talk about a few things I notice that is different from Korea vs Indonesia!
1) Korean pay everything with credit card.
Indonesian usually have a certain limit to use a credit/debit card, but that doesn't seem like the case in Korea. I saw people pay transport, coffee, food (in a food truck), literally everything, even you can pay dryer (for your laundry) with a credit card.
2) Coffee drinking culture & Americano is the latest craze
I think almost all the Koreans I know drink coffee, and not just one cup a day. My korean friend mentioned she can drink up to 7 cups a day. That's because Korean coffee is so weak. I can confirm ahaha although I didn't drink much coffee in Korea, but it didn't make my heart feel like racing or any uneasiness usually I feel. People drink Americano everywhere, since it is the cheapest. Near campus it is around 1k won, outside? around 3k won. But my favorite is vanilla latte from Avendutch. It's really good coffee, very smooth. Thanks Jiejie for introducing me to their Vanilla latte!
3) a lot of walking.
I know this also applies to other countries as well.... but i feel healthier lol. I am also getting used to walking actually here, but sometimes it's not possible because the pedestrian here is not that... good? It's kinda hard actually in here. But in Korea, like any other places, a lot of walking when you're riding the subway or bus. Both are great exercise. Also not to mention the mountainous condition, but it's not an option to give up lol
4) Mountain in the middle of city, also a lot of tunnels.
Dongseo university is located in one of those mountains. So in addition of a lot of walking, you also get a lot of climbing ahaha. Like we all know the road from the bus below to Dongseo Campus, it's a short walk, but tiring since it is... literally climbing. I said repeatedly that this street is not meant to be climbed by human. I feel so tired when I reach the campus from down below. This is so weird since I never saw a mountain in the middle of city in Indonesia, but this is normal in Korea. And since there is a lot of mountains, they also have some tunnels, I noticed that during my trip from Busan to Seoul (via Bus, cannot sleep during the trip)
5) Free water at restaurant. And self bar!
Food is always a bit more expensive, but is that even surprising? But then, in every restaurant they always have free drink. Nothing is better than free iced water in the hottest day of my life to lighten the heat outside and heat inside of my mouth because of dakgalbi. I always love to refill my drink in a restaurant, lol. And they also have self bar, ranging from Kimchi sometimes to some odeng/omuk. You can take it as much as you want! If you want so more water, just say to them 'Mul, juseyo' lol a little korean I learned there.
6) In Korea, you have to clean up your own food.
I think this also applies to everywhere else... but in Indonesia, we all just leave the table after eating in a restaurant because we expected the cleaning person to clean up for us. In Korea, usually after eating in fast food restaurant or cafetaria, you have to clean up the tray. I found this is more convenient actually... but still weird when you do it in Indonesia.
7) Driving on the right side of the road, therefore the driver seat is on the left side.
Not that weird but it's just strange, honestly i'm still unsure on which one is the right or left side, I notice the driver's seat tho. My first day when I get back, I entered the left door and thought it was the driver's seat ahaha.
8) Self-ordering machine
Like in restaurants or noraebang, a.k.a. karaoke is what I like to do in Korea. I think my last week in Busan we did like, 3x a week noraebang ahaha and we only need to put money inside of the machine. It's 1000 won for 5 songs or 5000 won for 1,5 hrs (+2 drinks) and at restaurants you can order using a touchscreen, even the machine is capable of giving returns money. I think that's cool.
Some Tips,
hopefully it would be useful if you plan on travelling to Korea.1. Not many Korean can speak English.
Well, um, true. Especially in Busan, Seoul is better, but then... some people still don't speak English, like a shopkeeper in a very cool CD shop in Sinchon, but I will tell you how to survive on Korea even when you don't speak Korean, the best way is... bring a friend who speaks Korean, lol. I am blessed because sometimes I go out with my Korean friend(s) or even my friend can speak a little korean. So, it helps a lot. Or just use a Korean translator for them to type, and use a lot of hand gesture lol.
2. Travelling inter-city is so much cheaper by Bus.
I'm not sure about the other destination, but I travelled from Busan to Seoul by bus and it is almost half the price of if I use KTX(the fast train) and if you want to travel on budget (and value) surely pick bus! I travelled using the cheapest bus, lol, 24500 won from Busan to Seoul. I think you can book it online from https://www.kobus.co.kr/main.do because tbh I don't know much about buying bus tickets, it was done by my friends.
Anyway! in comparison, KTX will arrive in 3 hours, Bus will take around 4 hours & 15 minutes. Not much time difference!
3. Download Naver Map.
Like for real, google maps is not too complete in Korea (?) Naver Map is the best navigation, they have the subway system and even the smaller green bus. Naver Map is available in English so it is so much easier :")
4. Public Transport System.
So in Korea the base-fare for all the subway/bus is 1250 won, I'm still not sure how it works but if you go very far maybe it will only adds up aroun 300 won, and! if you travel within 30 minutes, the next ride is free! So if I ride my bus from the campus to Naengjeong station, my cashbee/tmoney will be decreased by 1250. Then when I tapped my card in the subway station, it will decreased by 0, so it means it is free!
I think this post has been long overdue HAHAHA sorry I've been busy. Korea will always have a special place in my heart. Also all the friends I made during ASP, I miss you guys for real <3 Also I saw a lot of people travelled to Korea this year. Have fun everyone! If you want to ask anything, or do you want more pictures? hit me up!