Farewell to Good Friends and Hello to the Eatyourkimchi Staff

Well the semester is coming to an end and with it my program invited all of us to the CIEE farewell dinner for the fall participants. It was a chance to get together with the Seoul Mates and the semester long students to say our goodbyes and to eat ourselves full with Korean food.

It was really cool today, so I was not sure if I wanted to dress up or not, but I thought what the heck it is the last get together and I have always loved dressing up ever since I was a little girl. I met Kaitlyn in the lobby and we headed out to the restaurant that our program have reserved for the night. Thankfully it was really close to the dorms, because it was really cold and I want wearing my brown boots that are really cute, but not really good in the traction department, so the ice was a little interesting to navigate through.

Two of your future State Department Officers!

 Even though I was one of the few people who dressed up for the event, it was a wonderful time. The food was good (even got to take some home with me for leftovers ^^ ) and the company was amazing. We had a karaoke session were we sang Christmas songs and some old Korean songs. This semester was so short and passes by so quick, but I know that each and everyone of my fellow students and Seoul Mates affected me in someway over the time that we were all together.

But this semester has flown by. It seems that just yesterday I was flying over to Seoul to start my adventure here in Seoul. But now I only have 6 months left to enjoy my time here and in the region.

One thing that I got to do that I had always wanted to do was  to visit the Eatyourkimchi Studio, or even better, to met the staff of the website in person. For all of you that do not know, Eatyourkimchi is a website that is run by the cutest Canadian Couple to have ever lived. They put out videos and blog posts about everything Korean, from kpop to tips about living in Korea. I have been watching their videos for a while now, and even if I don't always agree with how they show some of their material, I love them and their quirkiness.

So that is how two of my friends and I ended up waiting in line for 3 hours to go out and visit their studio in Hongdae and to get a chance to meet them. It was not too bad waiting in line because the people around us where really nice and Martina had brought out snacks on the last level for us to snack on while we waited the last few minuets. It was great because they had Cool Ranch Doritos out!! For those of you who don't know, the things that I am missing the most besides my family and friends are Doritos, Cheetos, and Chickfila.So having Doritos was amazing.

*Photo by Katie

I just wish that I was able to eat the whole bag, but I knew that I had to share with all the other people in line, so only ate a few. We also got to meet Leigh and talk her her during our last twenty or so minuets before we reached the studio. She was really chill and fun to talk to. I am loving her new short pixie hair style, reminded me of my sister a lot!

When we finally made it in to the studio, all three of us celebrated because it was 1) really warm and we could finally feel our toes again and 2) our three and a half  hour wait had finally come to an end.

Their dog "Spudgy." He is so soft and chill.

the inside of the studio. I loved how colorful and bright is was, also how warm it was!

We all bought what we wanted from Brian, Simon and Martina's friend and who I follow on Instagram for his wonderfully funny pictures and videos. I got the small pin set in green because that way I could tie in my sorority colors into my love of EYK and Kpop (Kappa Delta represent!!). I also thought that the cat bowler hats where adorable, but because I did not have enough in cash on me and also because I really don't wear that many hats, I decided to wait to see if I really do what to get one later.

the pins I ended up getting

After we bought all the merchandise that we wanted to get, Charlotte, Katie, and I got to talk to Simon and Martina while they signed Katie's shirt and Charlotte's hat. We talked about how people don't really hug here in Korea and how much we miss hugging people. Charlotte and I also got to thank them for giving us the tickets to the You Tube Music Awards that we went to a few months back. S&M remembered us and then asked us if we were able to get eh tickets, because we had emailed/messaged them that we were not on the guest list that they told us we were on. We told them that we did get in and that they had done a wonderful job at interviewing the artists.

I had wanted to take a solo picture with them, but because at that point, they were already an hour past when they said they were going to be there and there were still a whole lot more people in line behind us, we decided to get a group photo to save time.

All in all I had a blast and met some of the nicest and coolest people ever. Really hope that I am able to meet Simon, Martina, and the rest of the EKY crew again while I am here in Seoul!