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Wearing hanbok and going to the palace was one of my favorite things we did! The hanbok we wore was very beautiful, but made in a different way than what is traditional. Usually hanbok would not have the seam in the shoulder, and would rather be folded so the sleeves fall correctly into place. Additionally, the hanbok skirt would traditionally have layers and layers of fabric, rather than a hoop skirt, to puff up the skirt.

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The moon jars are a roundish jar made of white porcelain. Their shape a color are what give them their name. The jars were made in two separate pieces, top and bottom, and then connected together at the center. They do not come out perfectly spherical, but the natural shape is part of why they are considered beautiful. Their creation became popular during the late Joseon dynasty.

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This river was very beautiful. It run right through the city, and isn’t just there but is incorporated as a part of the architecture and landscape. It is a river, but also a place to sit, relax, or eat your lunch. I think it is a good example of naturalism.

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An ornament roof tile from the roof tile museum. The history of the roof end tiles traces back to China, and spread to Korea through Goguryeo which was geographically closest to China at the time. This tile is a monster mask design from Unified Silla. This design was meant to protect against evil spirits.

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When we were looking for places that were popular to go in the area we stayed in Seoul, one of those places was the London Bagel Museum. It’s so popular, that the wait is around 1-2hrs. The bagels were really good, and there were a lot more sweet ones than we would have in America. I have noticed that when it comes to food, Koreans like a lot of things to be sweet!

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On this day we went to Lotte World! Lotte World reminds of Disney World, and I would say is the Korean equivalent. Like Disney, it has rides, gift shops, and food. Unlike Disney, it is also connected to a large shopping mall, and half of the park in indoors. It was very cool, and while we were there they were having a Pokémon event!

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At Deoksugung we saw both some of the original palace architecture, and newer buildings in a more western style. The fountain and garden area, along with the openness of the palace area, purposefully give the feeling of a public park. This was done during Japanese occupation to try to take power away from the palace by making it a public place.

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We made our own hwamunseok, a mat woven with string and dried stalks. The ones we made were mini versions of what are usually larger mats that are used to sleep or sit on. The stalks have a cooling effect, so the mats are good for using in the summer. You can also make baskets and other things out of them. Dying the stalks can also help produce different patterns.

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Lotte World is a place that many school kids go to, so one thing that people do sometimes when they go there is rent school uniforms to wear. We did this when we went, and it was very fun! Somehow, even though I never had to wear a uniform as a kid, it made me feel nostalgic.

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When at a mall in Myeongdong, me and Michelle stumbled across this Sanrio pop up. It was so cute! They had a lot of things there, and the display was very nice. It was very popular.

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From the Coreana Cosmetics Museum, this box contains some brushes used to apply makeup. Powder, meant to whiten the skin and help prevent aging, would be applied with brushes like these.

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At the mall I saw this shirt that said “Little Rhody” referring to Rhodesia Island, and it made me laugh. At a lot of stores we went to there were shirts with English on them that said funny things, or things that didn’t make sense. Just how some people in America have shirts with characters from Asian languages, more for the aesthetic than for the actual meaning, people in Korea have shirts in English words on them. I thought it was interesting, and made me think a lot about cultures impacts on each other.

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Tofu soup is one of the things I really wanted to have while in Korea, and it was so good!

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At Kim Hyesoon’s hanbok boutique, we learned about her different techniques and natural dyes. She uses different flowers and plants to make the dyes, and the colors can be affected by the temperature, and the weather. The dyes and the resulting fabric colors will never be the same twice, and that is part of the beauty. Kim Hyesoon said that you have to learn to accept and appreciate the unpredictability of the process.

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This funeral bier was used to carry the body of Choi Pil-ju to the his burial site. It is built like a four story tile roof house, and covered in carved figures. The figures are most likely Dangfang Shuo, a Daoist Xian believed to guide and accompany one to the underworld. There are also birds carved with their wings open, symbolizing the bird of death, and carved dragons, animals, humans, and plants. There is also a carved withering lotus flower symbolizing the end of life.

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At the folk museum archive, there a rows and rows of artifacts in glass shelves. They are displayed so they can easily be found and brought out for other exhibits or collections. In the archive there were objects from daily life throughout eras, jars, glasses, chamber pots, figurines, and dishes.

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Ran Hwang makes art with pins, and buttons or beads. The buttons that she currently uses in her art are made of paper, and more environmentally friendly. Her subject matter is often natural objects like flowers and branches, but in some areas other things, like the chandelier in this picture. She also has done fashion pieces, like a bag for Dior.

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This pretty lacquer folding panel depicts cranes, pine trees, mountains, deer, the sun, clouds, turtles, and water. All of these are apart of the ten longevities, they wish a long life and good fortune.

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We experienced making lacquer mats, taking mother of pearl squares and gluing them to the pre-lacquered mats with a paste. Usually it would take much longer to prepare a lacquer piece, but since things were pre-prepped for us, we worked on it in one day. Putting the little pieces of mother of pearl on the mat gave me an appreciation for how difficult the craft is, even though we made something very simple. It was very beautiful to see all the pieces that Professor Na made with so much detail.

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One of the exhibits at the Folk Museum is this cool recreation of 70s and 80s shops. There’s a school, a supermarket, a barbershop, a manga store, a boutique, and more. Everything is very detailed, there’s even a little doghouse behind one of the buildings. Interestingly, while some of the specific objects are a little different, it’s reminiscent to how things would have looked in America at the time as well.

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Joyang Weaving cafe was one of my favorite places we went! The plants mixed with vintage objects and antiques is just my kind of aesthetic, and had almost a ghibli feeling. I looked it up, and found out that the building was previously a fabric factory. I think the way that they repurposed it is really cool!

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This pagoda at the national museum is made of marble, and has ten levels on top of the base. It is carved with Buddhist imagery, imagery from Journey to the West, and writing. It has sustained damage over the years, and was at one point even deconstructed to be brought to Japan. Parts of it have now been restored.

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Cosmetic containers often included an oil bottle, powder pot, powder case, waterspout, and powder dish. Some of them are pictured here. Only a small amount of make up was made at a time, and most containers were small enough to be held in one’s hand.

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The museum of modern and contemporary art at Deoksugung had an interesting surrealist exhibition. Surrealism is rare in the Korean art scene, so this exhibit aims to highlight artists who were previously overlooked in the 20th century. This piece by Shin Yeongheon was one of my favorites.

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This painting behind the kings throne depicts the sun, moon and five mountains. The sun and moon represent the king and queen, and symbolize harmony and stability. The five mountains symbolize prosperity and longevity for the kingdom. It was made during the Joseon Dynasty, and was meant to show the majesty of the royal court.

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When in this courtyard at the palace, I went down and looked into one of the tunnels that goes under the palace and saw a few fire places there. From listening to the tour guides I learned that they were for floor heating, and that is why buildings in Korea were originally almost always one floor. The upper floors wouldn’t have been able to be heated by this method, and would have been to cold in the winter.

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DDP, or Dongdaemun Design Plaza, is a cultural center for fashion, products, and art. Its curved shape is made up of 45,133 panels, every single one different. Ship, plane, and automobile technologies were used to help complete it. It is a unique piece of architecture that seems to reflect Koreas love of naturalism.

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Me and Miki went to the mall and were happy to find a Studio Ghibli pop up! I love studio ghibli a lot and am super inspired by it, and while people love it in America, I’ve never seen a pop up or anything like this!

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On a much needed break, me, Abby, and Michelle went to get our nails done! The ladies who did our nails were quick and did a really nice job. It was interesting to see the style of nails that they offered, seemingly correlating with Korean fashion trends!

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Christianity was originally brought into Korea by diplomats and scholars when they traveled to China. When first introduced into Korea, it was not well accepted, and they faced persecution.

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The palanquin was used to carry the elite, especially during the Joseon Dynasty. They were also often used during weddings to bring the bride to the grooms house.

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This is a rubbing of a carving of one of the 12 zodiac deities, the snake. The original carvings were found in the tomb of General Kim Yu-sin. The snake is associated with transformation and wisdom.

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It was so hot on this day that we went to eat bingsu! The dessert is mainly made up of shaved milk ice, and traditionally has read bean on it, but this one has mangos and pomelo!

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These contemporary pieces were made by Lee Bul. They are cyborg parts, made using the traditional Korean celadon. The series questions men’s perception of women, and the idea of perfection in technology. I also think it adds another layer to make the piece with celadon; I wonder if it is meant to also bring to mind the expectation of women to fit into traditional values, or if the artist just prefers the medium.

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One of the things we saw in the museum was this beautiful silk embroidery. When I first saw it I didn’t even realize that is was embroidery; the silk thread is so fine that it allows a great amount of detail, and gives an effect that is really difficult to achieve when embroidering with regular thread. Korean embroidery is referred to as chasu, and was a highly valued skill.

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We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but we went to learn about gold foiling on this day. While it looks like the gold is inlaid onto the boxes, clothes, or other objects, really it is laid on top. A glue is made from part of the fish, painted onto a stamp, and then stamped onto the object. The gold foil is then layer on top, and the excess is brushed away, with the gold staying on where the glue was stamped.

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At the craft museum, there was a beautiful exhibition made up of lanterns. This one was in the shape of lotus flowers. In Buddhism the lotus symbolizes spiritual awakening; like the lotus grows in muddy waters and then blooms into something beautiful, Buddhists believe one can grow past suffering and attachment to achieve enlightenment. The lotus imagery is popular in a lot of Korean art.

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As we went to many different places in Seoul, there were so many orchids. The orchid is one of the four gentlemen, along with the plum blossom, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. It represents spring, purity, and humility.

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This piece from the embroidery exhibition at the Craft Museum is a Bojagi. They are easy to use and come in a range of colors, sizes, and materials. The embroidery on them often features birds and/or trees representing the beauty of nature and life.

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For a long time, Buddhism has been a central religion in Korea. In the courtyard of the Buddhist temple, there were hundreds of paper lanterns with slips of paper attached. I think that the papers had prayers written on them. You could tell from the central courtyard how much importance is placed on nature by Buddhists and Korean culture. In the temple there were three large statues of Buddha, and people went in to pray. The whole place felt very calm and quiet.

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Of course in Korea we needed to eat kbbq! There are a lot of kbbq places, especially where we were in Hongdae. The place that we went to was really good, and from our table we could see people dancing and busking out on the street.

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During the late Joseon Dynasty, baekja like these became popular. They were white porcelain, sometimes with patterns in cobalt blue. Cobalt was very expensive, so often if it was used it was watered down, giving it a transparent effect.

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On this day, me, Abby, and Michelle went with Michelle’s aunt who live in Korea to eat traditional Korean food. We had raw fish and crab, abalone, japchae, and other dishes. One of the things we had that I was surprised by was the bulgolgi. Bulgolgi is a dish I really love and have had many times in America, so I was interested to find that when it is made in a traditional way, it is more soupy than it is in America!

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This school was very unique among the ones we visited. I was interested in their learning system, from the group based projects, to their interesting circular layout building. The basement workspace I found to be very cool, the openness and lack of furniture and finishing made it feel almost like a canvas itself. I think that if i lived in Korea I might have liked to go to this school.

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In the evening at Lotte World there was a parade! There were fireworks, dancers, and floats. Interestingly, it was carnival themed. I am curious about if they always have this theme, and it’s part of the park, or if they do other themes as well.

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After we had dinner we went to this Hello Kitty Cafe! It was so cute, and everything inside was Hello Kitty! We had the desserts that look like fruit, and looked at the gift shop. I love Koreas love of cute things, and I wonder why we don’t have more cute things in America.

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When we went to Myeongdong, the main street has a ton of vendors selling street food. There were crabs and squid, taiyaki, egg bread, and dumplings. It’s like a street fair that’s always there.

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The ceramic village was so cool and pretty! There were many different shops all with unique things and styles. You could find practically every different kind of ceramic there. There was celadon, white porcelain, earthenware, and stoneware. There were pots, mugs, vases, tea sets, incense holders, and figures.

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When we went and saw this schools ceramics studio, it was so interesting to see them making stoneware, and white porcelain, and other things we learned about, but putting it into their own projects. They out with making the stoneware, and once they’ve mastered the shapes they move on to making the more difficult porcelain.

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This day was my birthday! After eating at the temple food restaurant, my friends and I got a cake from Paris Baguette. There were a lot of cake flavors we had never tried before, like sweet potato, and strawberry tiramisu, so I got this cake with multiple flavors so we could try them. I was really yummy!

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The Mimesis is an art museum that has exhibited a variety of collections, and also contains a cafe with many books free to read as you sit. Its curving architecture is modeled off of a cat, and seems to fit in with the peaceful environment.

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We went to karaoke and sang for a very long time! Karaoke I think is a big part of Asian culture in general, so we all felt that we needed to go while in Korea. Plus we all enjoy singing, and it’s a good way to relax! They had so many songs, in both english and Korean.

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Also in Myeongdong there was a line friends store! This little bear guy was there on the outside to welcome people in. Inside there are a lot of cute plushies, and merch for groups like BTS and New Jeans. K-pop is so ingrained in Korean culture, that you can find K-pop related things at a lot of stores besides just line friends.

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I really loved seeing the student art at this college. There were a lot of piece that I thought were so cool and beautiful. It made me think a lot about how art is a connector, the students in Korea are making their art at school, and in NY I make mine.

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When we were walking around the college museum, I saw these jeogori, and I thought they were so beautiful. I find it really interesting the way that hanbok has progressed and changed over the years. We watched a video in the next room talking about it, how at one point hanbok transitioned from the top and skirt being different colors, to then both being matching. About how patterns came into popularity. The waistline of the skirt also changed, only rising to the chest, as it is currently seen, during the Joseon Dynasty. The sleeve shape like wise went from being very long and loose to more fitted. The shape of these ones in the photo I think are very pretty, and remind me of a dragonfly.

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Outside the church there was a playground with seesaws. We all took turns going on them, it was a fun break and really felt like we were all on our field trip recess.

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At this museum we saw all kinds of ceramics that we had learned about, there was even a traditional kiln with a big chimney.