[Travel Interview] My Roommate’s Soulful Trip to Seoul

South Korea is a much sought-after travel destination, especially among millennials who are fascinated by the country’s Kpop entertainment industry and flavorful food. The South Korean capital — Seoul — is perhaps one of the most popular cities in Eastern Asia for tourists, and not without reason. Seoul is a one-stop destination for food, photography, arts, culture, technical, medical and religious tourism!

Our university has a non-teaching week before examinations start and with a relatively light workload, there was nothing stopping students from traveling! My (amazing) Brazilian-Chinese roommate, Nicole, was thinking of where to fly to when I suggested she visit South Korea — the Land of Morning Calm.

After making sure there were no visa restrictions, we sat down in our dormitory and went over a list of tourist attractions in Seoul to create the perfect itinerary for a weekend getaway.

When Nicole returned, I remember her exclaiming that Seoul was unlike any other city that she had visited. It was definitely a good trip, so here’s her experience and best memories from a short but fulfilling visit to South Korea last November.

1. There are many well-known cities in South Korea, why did you choose to visit Seoul?

“I was missing big cities hahaha (Nicole is studying and based in Ningbo city, Zhejiang province, China) and also because “land border between north and South Korea” [Demilitarized Zone ‘DMZ’] is on my bucket list.”

2. What did you do in Seoul?

“I ate a lot Korean food, visited museums, went to DMZ. [I also] went to a bar with random people to watch Brazil x South Korea soccer match (Brazil won btw) and walked around stopping in some coffee shops”

3. What is your favorite attraction?/ food?/ place?/ memory?

“Attraction for sure was the DMZ land border. Food ]would be] Tteokbokki [especially the] street food version from Myeongdong Night Market. [My favorite] place is Anyang Art Park for the nature and modern art. [And for my favorite memory,] I stayed in a really good hostel called Blue Boat. I met some people there and we hanged out together at night. One day we did a pub crawl and ended up in a K-pop club dancing k-pop songs with all the Koreans there and also the manager haha! Good memories!”

True enough that South Korea is a mesmerizing destination with lots of things to see and do. We also went looking for Korean food near the university to relive our memories of South Korea. With the academic year coming to an end and travel restrictions in place, I don’t know when we’ll be able to meet again, but our friendship will surely remain as strong as our passion for Korean culture, food and tourism! Fighting!