Return to Seoul

I'm back.

Three and a half years after my first trip here, I found myself back in the bustling city of Seoul. I came with a very different state of mind than previously, and was determined to make the most of my remaining time in South Korea.



As per the norm, I got a little lost searching for my hostel, but eventually stumbled across it tucked away in a back street of Hongdae. Soon after, I found myself in the dorm with two top bunks to choose from (in every single one of my solo hostel experiences, I have never managed to score a bottom bunk), and went with the one by the window. As I left, I bumped into my bottom bunk mate and quickly said our greetings. This would prove to be an important choice later.

I had originally planned to find a Kyobo to complete my album collection, and found two that were a good distance away by foot, or a short ride by subway. Reluctant to do either, I decided to head outside and visit the Book Street I had seen signs for earlier outside of Hongik Station.





After wandering around, I had stumbled back into the midst of Hongdae, and eventually found myself back out on the main street... and signs for Yanghwa Bridge and Hapjeong, where a Kyobo store was located. I followed the signs and after a little confusion, made my way into the store and ticked off half the albums on my list.




I was making my way back to Hongdae when some characters caught my attention; lo and behond, the LINE store!





My arms were too full to continue on, so I headed back to my hostel and my bunkmate was already there. We began chatting and I found out she was a medical student from Sudan, here for a conference.

As I was about to go to sleep, she suddenly popped up and presented me with the bowl of spicy instant ramen she had picked up at the convenience store earlier that day. She asked me to have a bite, and I did - it was pretty spicy. The night ended with her painfully finishing off her bowl and periodically asking me for help.