Tokyo Summary

Our days in Tokyo are over. What a funny trip I have had and we have managed to see and experience a lot. I wanted to make a little list of what I think is good and not so good about Tokyo as an tourist destination. This is my point of view, as a tourist in Tokyo. I bet things would be better perhaps, if I would be living here.

+ Tokyo is a big city and there is a lot to see and do, so it will not be a boring trip.
+ People are extremely polite. When you are walking through the city and you get eye contact with someone, they will greet you. It's also very easy to talk to people and ask for help and in my opinion, a lot of the people in Japan speaks english.
+ The most populous city in the world, and you won't bump into anyone. If that happens, people apologize.
+ The nightlife is great! Just find the right place, or be prepared to spend a lot of money, and you will have a great time!

- It is a bit expensive. I would not go to Tokyo to shop a lot of clothes for example.
- There's no Wifi. Nowadays, tourism is dependent on the internet, so Tokyo definitely has something to work on when it comes to free wifi for tourists. Some cafés offer wifi but not that often.
- The subway system can be a bit messy. The subway can change into a "train" all of sudden.
- When you are going out to party, its really important to stick together with your friends and keep a good eye on your drinks.

One tip, you can't see and experience Tokyo in a few days. This city needs at least one week or even more. We tried hard to see everything in 4-5 days but it is impossible. This city has a lot to offer!

Tokyo Day 3

It is already 2pm and I'm still in bed. I had a hard time falling asleep after coming home at 7am. I had a great time yesterday but now it's time to get up and have breakfast/lunch. Of course we headed to the restaurant downstairs next to our hotel. It is so delicious! We decided to take a better look at Shibuya, since we didn't have the chance to really have a better look at it. A lot of people, shops, lights and people in Halloween costumes. I really respect girls and boys here, who really put effort to this holiday and they all look so amazing. My favorite must be the Mr. and Mrs. Instargram!

Our evening continued and we took the subway to Shinjuku, also a place full of life. We walked to the Metropolitan Government Offices 45th floor to have a look how Tokyo looks from approximately 300m hight. The city never ends! 

After being up high, we decided to walk around Shinjuku area, which is a great place to visit as a tourist. A lot of "robot restaurants" and other crazy stuff. 

This was the last day in Tokyo and to finish it off, we had our last dinner. Tomorrow we will be back in Seoul to fight with all our assignments. Can't wait!

I got the honor to meet Mrs. and Mr. Instagram! They spread joy around Shibuya and I had to get a picture with them. 

Hotel Kawase, Tokyo

I am so fascinated about out accommodation so I need to write a little post about it. When I first started to google for a hotel in Tokyo, the first one I found was Hotel Kawase. The hotel is located in Asakusa, a great area in Tokyo. Not too crowded, a lot of attractions, restaurants and the hotel has a great location only one minute from the Asakusa station.

In the reception you will find someone 24h and there is no curfew. You will receive your own key to your own capsule and locker. The capsules are yellow with a TV, alarm clock and telephone. Next to the capsule, there is a locker where you can put all your valuables. On every floor there are rest rooms and free Wifi. On the second floor there is a lot of facilities. Showers, washing machines, fridge, freezer, tea and a common area where you can hang out and watch TV.

The fee per night was really cheap. Everybody told me before coming to Tokyo, that it would be really expensive, but atleast the capsule is cheap, around 14€ per night. This is a capsule hotel I suggest to all of you who are thinking about going to Tokyo. I barely feel like leaving this capsule, I could relax here all day!

Sorry for the mess, but here is capsule. I really could imagine myself living like this. Im a tall per girl, but lucky me I fit in here perfectly. The blanket is a little bit too short, but nothing you can do about that. 

If you don't like to share a room with other persons and you need a super clean bathroom, this is not a place for you. But, If you want to get a good experience, get a lot of new friends and see Tokyo instead of seeing all the flaws, I warmly recommend this hotel for you. 

Tokyo Day 2

Last night I got to know two girls who are studying in Seoul close to my university. How nice is that? We stayed up and talked for a long time. The plans for today was to wake up too early to experience the fish market but I didn't manage to get myself out of bed.

The second day in Tokyo and our walk continues. Again I am lying in my capsule with feet screaming for help. Our plan for the day was to walk around and explore the heart of Tokyo. We started by taking the subway to Ginza for breakfast. We walked around Ginza, Roppogi and Shiodome. We visited the Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple which organized a roll pipe concert. Next to the temple, we saw the fish market so we decided to take a look. 

One thing we both wanted to experience was to get up in one of the towers in Tokyo. One of the most famous one is Tokyo Tower, located pretty close to Ginza. Before we got there, we had the opportunity to see the chief temple of the Jodo-Buddhist sect. Zojoji. The temple was huge and surrounded by a beautiful garden with mini-buddhas. Tokyo is the biggest city in the world, but there is a lot of space for beautiful gardens. Sometimes it almost feels like you are walking in a rain forest.

When we arrived to the tower, we took the elevator all the way up to the top of Tokyo Tower. Even though it was a bit cloudy, the view was amazing! After our visit to the tower, we walked through the area full of lights, life and party called Roppongo. A long day behind us again, but it wasn't over yet. We took the subway home, made ourselves ready for dinner, drinks and partying. We met up with Barry, an exchange student from KHU, and had dinner together. The rain was making us crazy and we decided to just go in to the first pub that came in our way. Of course, we ended up in a british pub. We made some new friends from Tokyo who were sitting next to us in the pub and we all decided to go clubbing together. We went to the club across the street, called Black Horse. The place was packed, full of party people dressed in halloween costumes. The nightlife in Tokyo is crazy and trust me, anything can happen here.  We took the first subway to our home area and we managed to be so drunk and tired that we missed our station. So all we could do was to go back. The night out in Tokyo was awesome and I would do it again, anytime!

Tokyo Day 1

The first day in Tokyo is soon over. A long day with a lot of rain. The morning started with a heavy japanese breakfast just outside our hotel. What I have seen today, it's very common in Tokyo to eat at this restaurant that looks like a pub. There is a table and high chairs. The meal is bought in a automat and you will receive a ticket to bring to one of the employees. After our breakfast we took a look around Asakusa to see what our neighborhood had to offer.
Just a few steps from our hotel, we got the chance to see the Sensoji Temple, which is the oldest temple in Tokyo. The temple was built in 628 and is famous for its main Kaminari-mon Gate. When you enter, you will see Nakamise Shopping Street which is lined up with 90 different shops that sells souvenirs, clothes and japanese delicacies. I managed to get a small souvenir, as a memory of Japan. We saw a lot of temples today, since we walked around many different areas, for example Asakusa, Akihabara, Nihombashi, Ueno and Ginza. You have probably all heard about the japanese gardens and I must say now I understand why everybody wants their own japanese inspired garden on their backyard. Everything is so green, fresh and the only thing that brings other colors are the fishes swimming around. A temple, of all the one hundred we visited, one came especially to mind. Bentendo Temple that is surrounded by Ueno Oshi Park and the beautiful lake.
After many temples, parks and a lot of walking, my feet were screaming for rest. Dinner was next on our schedule. We decided to pick an area that we didn't visit yet. Shibuya was our next stop where we crossed the worlds biggest crossroad. That was our day, enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow I need to wake up early!

Kon'nichiwa Tokyo!

What a long day it has been! I took my luggage and started walking to the station around 01:30pm and Martin joined me a few stations later. I was positively surprised when an old korean man offered me a seat next to him and he started a conversation. We didn't talk much, but he was very polite! When we arrived at Seoul Station, we changed from the subway to the train. The trip from Seoul Station to Incheon Airport lasted for an hour and at the airport we immediately did the check-in and had a little snack.
On the flight we had our own little screen where we were able to watch movies and play games.  I got to say that the service is brilliant on asian flights with asian airlines. After three hours of movies and games we arrived to Narita Airport in Tokyo. Both me and Martin had the biggest smiles on our faces. The first thing that came to our mind, was that everybody was speaking english to us. In Korea, you get amazed and chocked if someone has good skills in english. It didn't take us long to find the subway, since people in Japan treated us well and helped us find the way. One thing that we immediately recognized was that the atmosphere in the subway was totally to different to Seoul. Here in Japan, you are allowed to talk in the subway and even laugh out loud. Local people came and talked to us and asked if we needed help with anything. I have only been in Tokyo for a few hours, but if you keep your eyes open, you will experience and realize many things.  
Asakusa was our stop where we had to get off. Our hotel is located only one minute from the station. Hotel Kawase, a capsule hotel located in Asakusa, which is a very popular area for tourists. I will write more about our hotel in another post.
I threw my stuff on my bed and met Martin downstairs. We took a long walk around the area and it is beautiful. While walking we found a game hall so we decided to play a few games before we had dinner.
Now I am relaxing in my own little capsule and I can't wait and see what Tokyo has to offer!

Tokyo, Japan!

Today I will be leaving from the kimchi-k-pop-land and fly over to the sushi-anime-land. Yes, I am off to Japan! When I think of traveling and vacation, Japan is a country that have never came to my mind. Since the flight are cheap and only takes 2 hours from South Korea, I decided to give it a go! Me and my Austrian mate Martin will stay in Tokyo from Wednesday until Sunday. What I have heard there will also be a few other exchange students in Tokyo at the same time.

One thing we both wanted to experience in Japan was to live in a capsule hostel. I managed to find a colorful and cheap capsule hostel located in a good area. We have no specific plans yet and because of the midterms, we have not had the time to do so much research. I will probably stay up all night and search for interesting things to do in Tokyo.
The flight will departure at 5pm so by this evening, I will arrive in Tokyo. Hopefully I will get the time to write something about the trip, otherwise, it has to wait until I'm back home in Seoul. 

Exams and Sleepy Students

The whole campus looks like a graveyard. Students look like they haven't slept a single hour and people are stressed to get the best possible grade. A few of my friends are staying up until 5am so that they can study, they sleep for two hours and continues. That's sick!
I managed to wake up a bit earlier today to prepare myself for my upcoming test when my roommate tells me some funny things about koreans before they will have a exam. If there is an important exam coming up, koreans spend day and night to study. They make sure that they memorize everything and one thing they do: they won't wash their hair. I asked my roommate why is that? Her answer was: Well, Koreans don't want to wash away all the knowledge they just got. I started laughing and realized that I just washed my hair yesterday evening before going to bed. One thing you shouldn't eat before exams is seaweed.
All of my four exams is already done. The exams were basically quite easy. In Finland and most parts of Europe, the exams has 5-10 questions and you have to write long answers. The exams here are based on true/false questions and multiple choice. I have not been eating seaweed so Im good, but I managed to wash my hair yesterday so that's probably the reason why my last exam didn't go that well. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I think it will be.

Happy Birthday!

Woh, what a long day! I woke up at 9am in the morning and I was home at 7am this morning. Where to start? Shopping was a bit hard since it was hard to find a dress that was long enough. If I would be 10cm shorter, all of the dresses would fit me perfectly! In the end of the day, I found two dresses. I tried them on at home and lucky me, they were looking good. 

At 7pm I met Diana in close to my favorite restaurant and surprisingly, all my best friends were waiting for me. We all had dinner at a place where you can eat as much as you like and their salad is just amazing. After the food, we had some delicious chocolate cake. Next up was karaoke and it was so much fun, but I still felt like I wanted to go out clubbing. Diana, Dennis and Martin decided to join me. First stop was 7eleven (of course) to buy Soju. We managed to finnish 5 bottles in an hour and then we headed ti Hongdae and continued drinking there. It was a crazy night with a lot of drinks, dancing on the table and a lot of nice people. I must say, that the day after was not as fun as Saturday but it was totally worth it. Now I need to focus on my studying and prepare for my exam I got coming up tomorrow. Wish me luck!

So again I am one year older. I don't feel older at all, but I feel that I will feel more grown up whenever I get home from South Korea next year and realize how much I have grown as a person. 

19 of October

Exactly 21 years ago I arrived to this planet. Never on earth could I imagine that I would be able to celebrate my birthday in a place South Korea, of all the places in the world. I actually have no idea what this day will bring. I know that I will be shopping with my friend Diana this morning and I have to prepared for dinner at 7pm. That's all I know! I hope that I will find something nice to wear, since I forgot to take any party clothes with me to Korea.

I must say, it's so hard to find clothes that is in your size. Most of the shirts, cardigans and dresses are all oversize. I like clothes that are oversize, but come on, sometimes it's nice to wear something tight. 

University Life

One thing that I really like with being in South Korea as an exchange is the atmosphere and university life. You will see students with backpacks wherever you go. Everybody is mostly wearing baseball jackets with the universitys' name and logo on it. The jackets are in all different colors depending in which department you are studying. Our friends at IFCC has actually ordered jackets for us, so soon, the exchange army will also walk around with out baseball jackets.

Korean students put a lot of pressure on themselves. They all need to get an A, otherwise they won't think that they are good students or their parents won't be satisfied. In the end of the semester, many korean students complains to the professor about the grade. So to get an A, is really important.

In Europe the grades has no big meaning. When you are applying for a job, no one cares about your grades. What matters in the end, is what you learnt and how you can use the knowledge.

When it comes to studying in Korea, students here usually don't study at home. Students all have their favorite cafés where they can sit all day reading for an exam. Nowadays, since midterm is coming up, there is students in every café, some students are even leaning over the table and resting.

One thing I started to think about: Studying in cafés, is it a trend? A way to show off? Or is it just a way for koreans to get away from the noise at home?

 I have been studying at home and in these cafés. I must say, there is good things with studying at home, but also benefits to study in a café, maybe with a couple of friends. If you have hardworking friends, you feel the pressure to study yourself. If you study at home, you can end up in your bed and sleep for a couple of hours or watch your favorite series.

My experience with studying here, I have realized, that its good to start studying at home. When there is a lack of motivation, I move to a cosy and quiet café, where I get new energy to continue my studies.  

One thing that is very common in cafés here South Korea, are animals. I have seen a lot of dogs and cats walking around while I have been enjoying my hot chocolate. Today, I decided to study at a café called 8st. The first thing I see is a big hairy dog. When I look to my right, I see this little mini pig looking at me and I immediately fell in love. This pig was having a banana for breakfast and he really loves attention. During the day he was enjoying the sunshine outside. One of our Chinese friends had only one thing to say about this pig: "That could be my dinner!" Well, true. In Korea we eat a lot of pork and that's why I was so surprised to see a mini pig running around. I wish I could take him home with me.

Midterm Exams

I am freaking out. Our first exams are in more than one week, and honestly, I have never been reading this much for anything in my life. Since primary school, I have not been the best student or received the highest grades. I hated to read since nothing managed to stay in my long term memory. All I read came in and went out at the same second I read something. 

Back in my home university, I almost cried when I had to complete a book written in English, when the course was lectures in Swedish. I couldn't understand and link the book with our lectures. I must say, that I enjoy reading the books now, since the words and terms are the same in the books and in the lectures. Before I arrived to South Korea I was concerned that my skills in English would cause me a lot of problem. One thing I know for sure now while being here for a while, my english is way better, than most of the students here, which is relieving. It haven't been a problem to understand what the professors are talking about which says a lot about my english skills. Since the first day I got here, I have been 100% focused in class and I have also managed to do all the readings before class. That great feeling when the professor asks the students a question about the chapter, and you are the only one raising your hand and telling the correct answer? Also, a surprising thing is, that I really enjoy reading all of these chapters when I have some sort of understanding and interest in what I am trying to learn. I still struggle, since I'm not the kind of person who likes to read and reading makes me tired. One thing, that helps me a lot, is reading aloud. I read the text and I also hear what I am reading about. 

Midterm starts on the 21th of October and I have four exams to finish before this stress is over. One of the exams, is a "take-home-exam". I will have a week to finish it and it has to be handed in on the first day of midterm. Three other exams will wait for me during the Midterm week, so there is no time for any breaks. Now I will continue studying, and I warmly recommend all of you, to study hard. 

Just a little post of thoughts, and don't take this post as I am bragging about myself or anything. I am just happy with what I have accomplished and realized about myself, I guess? 

Kyung Hee University Vs Arcada University

After studying in Kyung Hee University for more than one month, I have already realized that a lot of things that are different from my home university Arcada. There are a lot of good things in both universities and since the first day in school in KHU, I have started to appreciate my home institution more and more. Many things works a lot better at home compared to here in Korea, but then again, many things are a lot better here than back home.

Kyung Hee University

To start with, the campus is a very inspiring and peaceful area to achieve some great grades in. Since the campus is huge, there will a lot of walking and KHU is not a place for lazy people that's for sure! (I will probably take a video at some point, so you can see what I have to go through every morning!).

        If I continue with the studies (and I am focusing on the English courses) the professors are mostly from America but also Australia and UK, which means that they have good teaching techniques and they make the most boring things very interesting. Professors from the West expects that the students participate and discusses what we are going through in the courses. This can be a technique that the students from Korea are not used to. Professors from Korea have a special way to lecture. They talk and their students are quiet and taking notes. Students from Korea do also think that reading means memorizing every single word, but the truth is, that they have to understand what they are reading aswell and be prepared to tell about what they have read. Apart from the Western professors, there is also professors from other countries, for example China.

          The study techniques are also different. In KHU it is very important to be prepared to the lecture, which means that you should have read the chapter before entering the class and also when the lecture is over you should read the same chapter again.

           In KHU we have 2 semesters, 16 weeks of studying per semesters. In my opinion, not so many courses to chose from for the english speaking students. Lectures can be in english and partially in korean, so it's important to see the professors name and also be prepared to change the course. 

          There is an International Office where exchange students can turn if there is any problems. I got to say that me and other exchange students don't have any good experiences from the office. It can be hard for an exchange student to be understood at KHU. There is people who speaks english, but not that good unfortunately. Luckily there is a lot of helpful korean students who are willing to help us foreigners out whenever we are in trouble.

          A confusing part is that all professors are using different webpages. There is at least 3 or 4 different websites to remember. Some professor send the teaching materials through email. A lot of things to keep in mind.

Arcada University

The campus, well what campus? Arcada University has only one big building. Everything you need according studies is close and under the same roof, which makes it quite easy to focus on the studies, not to walk around and find the right person to talk to. There is an area close to the university with student apartments but I wouldn't call it the campus area.

         The studies in my home uni are in swedish, but there are also some courses in english. Our professors are very organized, they know what they talk about and since it's a small uni, the communication between professors and students are excellent. Students and professors know each other very well and call each other by their names. If you ask for help, you will get all the help you need or all the tools to solve the problem.

Our semesters are separated into 4 intensive periods. During these 6 weeks you will study 3-4 subjects and have lectures in the same subject many days a week. The subjects are already chosen for you and some courses you will be able to chose depending on your interests. The Uni uses only one webpage for the course material and for handing in assignments, which makes it easy to find all the information you need for the courses. 

        If you are a student from Finland, there is a lot of benefits. Every month you will get a certain amount of money (that you also receive if you decide to apply for an exchange abroad). This is a really a helpful thing. It's nearly impossible to work and study at the same time, especially as an exchange student. My home university also offers the exchange students scholarships that is also helpful and makes the life easier for us in the new country.

I have probably forgot to mention something, but I just wanted to write a short overview about the universities. These are only my thoughts, experiences and what I have discussed with other students. If there is any questions you might have, don't hesitate to ask. 

Gimje Horizon Festival 05-06 October

A few weeks ago I heard about this festival called Gimje Horizon Festival. IFC Korea organized an opportunity for foreigners to participate in this festival, for free. The festival was organized from the 02-06 of october, but our trip was planned for saturday and sunday.

Saturday morning we all met up in  front of the Lemeilleur Jongtown building close to the Gangwhamun station. From KHU there was a few students from Germany and Lithuania and then there was me. Three busses were waiting to departure at 9am, but before we stepped inside, everyone got their own name tag with our countries flags on and a time schedule. Tired as I was, I slept the whole way to Gimje. The trip took us about 3,5 hours and we ended up at the countryside. When we arrived we could all go around the festival area and experience all it had to offer. There was a lot going on, everything from performances, games, culture and traditions. We ended up watching the Tug of War Championship and I must say that we had a lot of fun. The teams were from Japan, Taiwan and Korea.
After walking around we all got our own kite. I must say that it was a bit hard, since it wasn't a windy day. Well, there was actually people who managed to keep their kite in the air for the whole day, so I guess we didn't have skills enough. Then it was dinner time. Since this event was free of charge for us, we all got our own food ticket. While walking around the area, we managed to find some Indian food and we decided to have it for dinner. It was delicious!
The last event of the evening was the torchlight parade. There was a lot of people and after the parade they ended the show with a firework show.
At 10pm we headed to our busses to drive to our motel. Me and Natalie decided to share a couple room. The rooms were cosy and since our dorm life is quite crowded, the first thing we did was running around in our big motel room. We made our bed, on the floor of course, and watched some korean TV-shows.

Sunday morning, where should I start? The communication was quite bad between the organizers and the participants, so our morning started with someone banging on our door screaming: "Check out, bus here!" We were ready in 5 minutes and ran to the bus, and no one has come yet. We waited for everybody to enter the bus and after an half our, we drove to the Gumsan Temple. We took some pictures and had a look at the temple, before we drove all the way back. Breakfast was the next thing on our schedule. In Korea, they eat the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After our heavy breakfast we decided to try on some traditional wedding clothes and it was a nice experience. We didn't have any boys with us, so a nice gentleman from Korea decided to act like our husband. I didn't understand what they were saying, so hopefully I'm not engaged now.
The following event was the Songpeon and Gimbap making contest. There were 10 teams of two, all from different countries.
Next up, Traditional Rice Harvesting Event. This time of the year, its time to harvest the rice from the fields, and we were participating in the opening ceremony. They gave us working clothes and hats, took some photos and after that we started marching to the fields. We were all dancing in a circle and singing songs. We had the opportunity to harvest the rice from the fields and straight ahead we took a nice group photo. They offered us a snack (noodles, egg and sweet potato), because we all did so well.

That was the festival. A lot of funny things happened and I will probably leave that for this time. This trip was nice and I really enjoyed to come away from the big city and get away from all the stress. The funny thing was, that it actually felt like our whole group was a walking advertisement. We had cameras all over us 24/7 and they were also filming to a national channel, so our happy faces will be shown on TV. I'm finally home now, and now the stress starts. I totally forgot how much readings I've got for this week so I better start working on that.

Livia, Christina, Me, Natalie, Patricia, Erika, Rokas and Justinas. Germany, Finland, Portugal and Lithuania.

Trying on some traditional clothes.

We had some tea. I don't like tea at all, 

but I guess you have to show respect and scarify to get the experience.

Festival at Night

Sunday: Gumsan Temple

Korean breakfast.

Songpeon and Gimbap.

Me, Christina and our Korean husband. He is a lucky guy!

Let's go to the fields.

Mohsen, baby Nima and me. Proud Iranians in Korea!