3-(3) Micimpact School (a cafe for lecture/conference lovers!)

This post is based on the itinerary I wrote here : 
http://wishbeen.com/plandetail#!/plans/862d1a88a83868a6
(in case you want to see places with a map)

I love to learn something new and attend lectures outside of my university!
I really like watching inspiring videos like TED or some science documentary videos!
There are many great videos on youtube, and thanks to internet, it's available to take courses of prestigious university for free at www.coursera.org
Internet is such a great thing!
Life is full of nice things to learn!

However, it's cool to go to a conference or attending a lecture offline, if you're not busy!
I really appreciate that I can learn tons of things thanks to internet. Internet is one of the indispensable things, but learning offline shouldn't be overlooked.

Micimpact near Jonggak is the great place for offline lecture lovers!
See if you're interested: http://micimpactschool.com
It's not a real school, but it's a lecture meeting and conference agency.
It's based in Korea and it aims to hold a big conference like TED.(www.ted.com)
Actually, sometimes it held big conferences where famous people such as Malcolm Gladwell came to give a lecture. 
Next year, Alain de Botton will visit Korea to give us inspiring lecture here!
It's really surprising that this company achieves their goal, even if it's not that famous.
Well, in Korea, among young university students and people who love learning, it is getting famous. But, I was very surprised to hear Malcolm Gladwell came to Korea, and he gave a lecture at the conference event Micimpact organized!
The CEO is such a passionate man!

Even if you can't take a lecture, it's totally okay!
There are a cafe to drink some and study rooms!
You need to make a reservation to use a study room. Oh and you need to order one drink.
It's 1500 won (about 1.35 dollar) but for students 1000 won, so it's reasonable!
The cafe is cozy! 
It would be nice to study there!

It's more than just a place to study in.
They hold a lot of interesting events too!
They seem to make the most of their space in the building.
On the rooftop, they sometimes throw a special party or they hold rooftop concert events/ rooftop cinema events. In the study-cafe, sometimes there's an interesting flea market!
I joined some of those, and I really enjoyed there.
The thing you shouldn't miss is the view of Seoul on the rooftop, whose photos I'll upload!
Hooray! the view there is sooo awesome!

Anyways, on this post, let me show you pictures of classroom/study room/cafe!

I went to take a lecture where the CEO of micimpact talked about success/growth!

It was surely inspiring and encouraging!

Of course there are many good videos about success/growth,

but the perk of attending offline lecture is

you can be deeply encouraged by the lecturer and other students around you!

This is where you can order drinks like coffee/ice tea/hot chocolate and some desserts.

 So..one floor above the cafe, there's a cozy place.

I don't know if you can see the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,

but those are the name of the study rooms.

It would be cool to study/discuss with friends together separately like that!

Group-study is nice! cuz you can encourage each other :)

The atmosphere is peaceful and cozy!

Let me continue talking about this good place on the following post!

See you there! XD

3-(2) Jonggak - Pascucci Café

This post is based on the itinerary I wrote here : 
http://wishbeen.com/travelplans#!/plans/72edc6982f78d8d5
(in case you want to see places with a map)

I went to a cafe called "Pascucci", well known Italian coffeehouse chain, which I don't need to explain about. There my friend was reading a book. 
I guess Seoul is full of cafes... 
There are so many cafes that you might think people are addicted to coffee.
Well....maybe it's true, as we are addicted to so many things.
We're workaholics, study-holics, coffee holics and so on! :P

Pascucci's drinks are expensive, so I rarely go there, and I don't know much about it. However the interior was quite nice there!
I think it's because as there are many university students or young people studying English or studying for big exams, the interior is a bit different.

It's student-friendly :D

There are separate spaces :-)

You would focus on studying there!

Or...Some people join a study group together! :)

The interior is cool! :)

Don't you agree?

Bye!

See you soon with a new post! ^^

3-(1) Jonggak - 'Gyerim' popular restaurant HIDDEN from tourists

This post is based on the itinerary I wrote here : 
http://wishbeen.com/travelplans#!/plans/72edc6982f78d8d5
(in case you want to see places with a map)

I was volunteering at an event near City Hall, and after finishing it, we(volunteers) were so hungry. We decided to go to restaurant together and we had no idea where to go. After some time, someone just recommended to go to a restaurant called "Gyerim"(계림). We hadn't been there, but we were hungry, so we just followed her, as she seemed to know a lot of good restaurants. And it turned out it was true! :D
Actually we didn't care much, as we were too hungry though....but it was a really good idea to follow her!! :-) Hooray!! :)

Haha....I didn't forget to take pictures of course! As usual :)
Well...my french professor used to say "comme d'habitude" (meaning 'as usual') when we didn't try to speak french and kept silence as we were shy to speak french(okay madame, Asian students are shy... ) :P

Anyways! Let me show you some pictures!

So...as you can notice, the area around this restaurant seems quite old...
You can say it seems typical Korean street, but well... you can't be too sure.
Yes, it truly doesn't seem like streets in Europe/ Northern America/ Latin America/Africa,
and as there are Korean signs, I see this seems like Korean street.
However, most of the places I go to are quite different. Sorry to say, they seem cleaner and more vibrant. Did I tell you? I'm a university student, so those places' atmosphere/ ambiance must be different. There must be more young people, and around this restaurant I guess there are many old people. Therefore, it was interesting to visit the area like this. It reminded me of my childhood, when I used to go to areas like this! ;-) At that time, I wasn't that interested in exploring my city...so it makes sense? :)
Anyways, as you can see, it's not that crowded, and it's not that well known to tourists.
It's kinda hidden! Even not so many people who live in Seoul know about this area.
HOWEVER! the restaurant is really popular in spite of its location, which means the restaurant's food is guaranteed!
There are a lot of people who've never heard of this restaurant, BUT! Nobody has been there once(with a little bit of an exaggeration). It means people who have been there do not stop going there! You never go there once!

Okay! enough enough! Let's move on to the inside and food!

Yeah, the description above was quite long, I agree, and the more important thing is of course the food here! (I didn't forget to write about it of course :p maybe? :P)

So! Their recommended menu is Chicken Stew.
Basically they offer two kinds of Chicken Stew: 
1) Samgyetang 삼계탕
-Chicken stew with ginseng, jujubes, chestnuts and rice    
-It's white, yummy and it's not spicy! I really love it!
2) Dak-bokkeum-tang 닭볶음탕
-Braised spicy chicken stew    
-It could be a little bit spicy, depending on how much chili powder you put,

anyways! it's yummy!

If you hate spicy food, I'm sorry but we ordered braised spicy chicken.

Awww it makes my mouth water!

As most of Koreans, I love chicken no matter what! Fried chicken, spicy fried chicken, braised chicken or chicken stew! We just love chicken so much.
I'm Korean so I definitely have eaten braised spicy chicken stew...but the menu is quite interesting here. What makes this restaurant special is that they put a lot of crunched garlic into chicken stew!
Okay okay,,, I'm Korean and I like spicy food, but isn't it too much?
I don't eat garlic that much! However it wasn't necessary to worry about it!
To my surprise, unexpectedly, it was soooO good!
Yummy!!!
I haven't tried garlic that much like that day :)
It was too cold that day so we wanted something warm and healthy, and it was a perfect idea to order this, as garlic has health benefits and it was so delicious!

 Whoop! Whoop! 

Right now at 3 a.m., I'm writing on my blog, but while looking at this picture,

it makes me hungry!!!

I put it on my plate. 

It's sweet and tasty!

Hmm I don't know how to fully explain it, but it was really delicious!

If you don't hate spicy food, come and enjoy it!!!

There are also private rooms for people who prefer it.

Below I added some pictures of the area around here!

Oh I love dumplings! :)

See? Around here there are interesting stores which you wouldn't go frequently.

 My favorite season is autumn! Blue sky with red leaves and yellow leaves!

 harmony of green and red!

I simply took this picture, cuz I like the sky view.

Have a good weekend!

Take care!

3. Jonggak (Jongro) - Intro

If you click the each memo box, the photos will pop up!
URL: http://wishbeen.com/travelplans#!/plans/72edc6982f78d8d5
Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's way better to see that post through that URL.

2. How to make local/foreign friends?

I'd like to introduce some events or meetings in Seoul, for those who want to make local/ foreign friends.
If you go to www.meetup.com, you'll see tons of interesting meetings in your city, as it's an international website!

Well... my favorite meetup is Languagecast!
http://www.meetup.com/Languagecast/
As I'm interested in learning some languages such as English and French, it's a good place!
If you're in Seoul, Buan (in Korea) or Vienna(Austria) or in Vancouver(Canada), and you love learning languages and meeting new people, you should "definitely" join this!!!
There are other meetings to exchange languages, but I like this one better, as the organizer, Sun Hyun Woo is great! I have met him for several times as he gave some lectures on how to improve foreign language skills. There's no entrance fee, and you just need to order one drink or food from the cafe! Simple!

If you're interested in learning korean, this might help you!
http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/ 
or this one: http://www.meetup.com/talktomeinkorean/

Anyways... Languagecast Hongdae is where you can make local/foreign friends and practice languages. :-)
From "7pm to 10pm" on "Mondays", the cafe "You are here" is booked for this event!

so this is what it looks like!

The cafe is very cozy and you can just join the group freely as you want. It doesn't matter what time you arrived here! Just come and join the conversation by sitting around the people or just standing around the people... they'll invite you ^^

These are what I took after the meeting! 
I like the interior here :-)
Drinks are good too!

 

This cafe isn't just a cafe!

It has a photo studio!

(though I didn't try it...i think it's a nice thing to have in a cafe. 

Maybe this cafe has this, as there are many foreign tourists to join this meeting!)

 Below are what the cafe looks like outside.

1-(4) Hongdae- random streets

This post is a continuation of a previous post. --------
URL of my itinerary wishbeen.com/travelplans#!/plans/8df3c4ad33d96976

Hongdae is always vibrant and lively!
There are always so many things to see! 
If you love shopping, eating, hanging out with friends or just having fun,
Hongdae is definitely the right place, for sure!!!

Hmm I'm not a clubber, but I like listening to club or electronic music.
As I study French, European music appeals to me.
Some of the European artists I admire include Avicii, Martin Garrix and Stromae.
Streets in Hongdae reminded me of their music.

I happened to see some clubs in Hongdae, and a lot of people were waiting in a long queue there... I wouldn't go clubbing, but I would recommend Hongdae for clubbers! Even if I wasn't clubbing, walking around Hongdae was exciting enough!

I just took photos randomly while walking to bring out the liveliness of Hongdae.

 My friends and I tried to go there, but it was too crowded, so we weren't allowed to enter. :p
I saw there was a live show! (if you click that photo, you can tell. )

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OHhhh I like this kind of unique shops a lot!

Again, the photos below are just random photos of streets.

It was almost 10 pm and seems like the city never sleeps at night?!?

 If your cell phone is dead, don't worry~ XD
Guess what those words mean?

Literally it means "Charge the battery, 3 minutes is enough."

Actually there are many places to charge your phone battery in Korea, 

but...now I see

I have found one more!

I guess it wouldn't be cheap though...

Well don't worry. Here's a tip. :-)

In Korea, subway stations are not just places to take a subway! (it's more than that! you can have a meal/drink some coffee, buy clothes, buy cosmetics....ok, enough enough!) 

It's a great place to get help if your phone battery is low. Many of Korean subway stations have cell phone charging services and usually they're all free.

 It was almost 10 pm~

 I liked the interior of this book cafe, so I took photos of it! :P

This seemed like a great Photo Studio, so why not take some pictures of this? XP

 It was like 10pm and there was an event...though I don't know much about it, but there was a korean entertainer, as far as I remember. haha..I was busy taking photos and going back to home!

 Cute toys from random street!