Seoul University & Han River

I really should've finished blogging about Korea within the week that I came back from Seoul, but laziness sure got the better of me. I promise though, that I will be done before this week is over!

This post will be (obviously) be about my little trip to Seoul National University and the Han River.

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I had mentioned my love of mountains to Yeseul and she recommended that I go visit Seoul National University - which is situated in a mountainous area. It seemed like the logical thing to do, since I was already planning to see the campus. I always make it a point to visit a city's main university and Seoul was no exception.

So I left my family to their fun in Lotte World and hopped on a subway towards Seoul National University Station.

I really enjoyed my time hiking around the campus grounds. It took about three hours to walk from the subway station to the highest point of the campus, back to a different subway station on the other side. By the time I reached the highest point, sweat was rolling down the insides of my scarf. Still, the wet and cool weather kept my fingers stuffed inside my coat pockets. 

Light rain discouraged me from taking a gadzillion photos, but I think I wouldn't have taken many photos anyway if the weather were sunny. I was simply too caught up in the thrilling experience of walking and exploring.

The only reason why I paused here at the entrance to take a photo was because I noticed a bunch of tourists pouring out of tour buses to photograph this metal structure. I figured: if they're taking a photo of it, it must be something significant. 

The structure itself made no sense to me. I found out later that it looks like a Korean character. It also looks like a mountain and trees. 

Duh.

Just the sight of mountains in the hazy background made my heart throb with excitement.

Can you tell how starved I feel in Singapore, with our little Bt. Timah Hill? Sigh... And it's only been a year and a half...

SNU's campus grounds is huge. Most students here rely on shuttle buses or drive to get around. I hardly saw anybody walking or riding on bikes. The steep inclines everywhere are obvious deterrents.

Walking past the track, I had a wave of nostalgic sentiment wash over me for a second. I watched the track team pack up to leave from a distance.

I almost wished I could do a set of 10 x 400m right there and then. 

Then, as I recalled the miserable days I'd spent training out in the cold smoggy air of Jersey City, that sentiment quickly disappeared.

My journey took me through throngs of students weaving in and out of buildings. All leisurely heading to their next class or dorms. It felt a bit weird. It was almost like... I was an exchange student exploring the school on my first day. I avoided stares from other students (five of which sounded Singaporean) and found the straightest path I could to a lonelier corner.

I guess I didn't really care about seeing the campus after all. 

I just wanted to feel the light rain on my cheeks... Smell the fresh pine perfume.

I could feel a natural blush coming on. 

The higher up I climbed, the sweatier I was getting. It felt as though I had just gone for a nice long run and I liked it.

A pack of dogs appeared from nowhere and I honestly thought they were some sort of Korean wolf when I first saw them. This whitish guy stood there and stared at me for a good minute. 

Unafraid, uncurious and unyielding.

As his companions slunk away into the trees, I realised that I felt more welcome among them than I did among the students. 

Too many foreigners.

Ain't that the irony!

The views from everywhere were pretty spectacular. I could only dream about what it looks like here in the fall or when all the spring blooms are out. This place is Instagram heaven!

The dorms look a bit drabby from the outside though.

On a different day, I took my skates out for a spin at the Han River.

I was the only person in that entire stretch of asphalt who was rollerblading and that garnered quite a few stares from the hordes of cyclists.

I was glad that the weather forecast was accurate. I had chosen to go on the warmest day of the week. 19 Celsius at its peak.

I was not expecting so much SPACE.

This was the first day that I noticed the severity of Seoul's air pollution.

It was getting hot under my layers of clothing.

I skated towards the west side of the park, away from the Gangnam district. Apparently it's the lesser-pleasant side of the park.

Still thought it looked beautiful in the haze. 

The delusions of a traveller's mind.

The tallest building in Seoul.

As I was looking for an appropriate exit to Noryangjin Station, I had no choice but to approach a local to ask for directions. 

You should have seen us. 

Me - translation app and phrase book in hand. Broken, inaccurate (and often impolite) Korean.

Ahjussi - ZERO English

We had a little conversation for about ten minutes as I was removing my skates. It involved a lot of nodding on my part and plenty of rambling on his.