What is it about New Year's Eve that makes everyone so crazy?
Perhaps the promise of completion and a fresh start with the morning sun. Or the anticipation for change and what new gifts this year will bring us.
To start off my first full day back home, I woke up ridiculously early. At 1:30 am, my roommates returned in the most obnoxiously loud fashion. They were American tourists who decided that 2 am was the most opportune time to blast Meek Mill. Around 3:30 am, I finally hauled myself out of bed and knocked on their door. They agreed to be more quiet (which apparently meant turning down the music a small amount and talking in more of a hushed tone) and I managed to sleep until 6 am.
With not much else planned, I headed to the nearest Starbucks for a much needed jolt to my morning. Now I know what you're thinking:
Travels 6,064 miles to drink the most basic white-girl coffee.
NO.
Starbucks, although dull and monotonous in the states, is unique in every other country. The drinks are much more interesting and the craft that goes into it is much more intricate. Especially in countries like Korea where presentation is key.
Drinks of my favor include:
Oatmeal Latte oatmilk with espresso and oatmeal topping
Holiday Cinnamon Dolce Latte a cinnamon latte with a mountain of glittery whipped cream and a candy snowman mounted on top.
Jeju Chestnut Black Tea Latte a hearty Chestnut flavor with black tea
Clover Matcha Latte a green tea latte with a four-leaf clover on top
Corn frappuccino sweet corn and icy goodness
Icheon Rice Latte a sweet rice-y coffee drink
So of course I ordered my usual, LEAST interesting drink. A 두유 (soy milk) café latte. But even the soy milk has a better flavor in Korea.
After enjoying a peaceful morning, I headed down the street to Ewha for some shopping... Since I didn't have any clothes. After a successful trip (and another latte) I met up for lunch with Ava and Caillean. Over a year of living in Seoul and never having Chinese Korean food, it was time to give it a shot. It wasn't totally authentic, but heck it was GOOD. I enjoyed fried rice with 자장면 (jajangmyeon) sauce and 짬뽕 (jjamppong).
Fat and happy, we rode the subway one stop down Line 2 to 홍대 (Hongdae) where we waddled over to Arriate Cafe. As we walked up the steps, the aroma of spices and sweet smelling flowers filled the air. We were met with a ceiling adorned in hanging dried flowers, and a cozy atmosphere with twinkling lights. The coffee was delicious and the pictures were aesthetic.
Later in the evening, we returned to Hongdae for our New Year's Eve celebration. We pushed past the crowded streets, gawking at street food and eyeing buskers. Notably, a drag in booty shorts with fantastic contouring performing dances for a surprised audience. Sexual variety is not something often publicized in Korea, but is changing with the times.
For dinner, we met up with 건 at my all time favorite restaurant, 막걸리쌀롱(Makgeolli Sallong). They serve the world's crispiest 전 (jeon) and some very original takes on 막걸리 (makgeolli).
In Hongdae, there is a key to a successful night out. And we believe to have perfected our strategy. At 10 pm, we left the restaurant. These are the hours that followed.
22:00 Leave 막걸리쌀롱. Go directly to Mike's Cabin, a Brazilian inspired bar with an incredible club atmosphere hidden downstairs. Pros: no smoking, cheap drinks, good music, two bathrooms, YOLO shots
Cons: $10 entry fee after 11pm (or buying a drink before 11 pm to get a stamp), crowded, foreigners, smells weird, YOLO shots
We bought drinks, which got us stamps for the rest of the night at half price. Than proceeded to ditch for the next round at
22:30 Cocky pub. Cocky's is a lower key American-style sports bar. They also have cheap drinks but not much for atmosphere. Most of their business gets stolen by their neighbors anyway. Pros: Clean bathrooms, less crowded, phone chargers, artichoke spinach pizza, real mustard (not honey)
Cons: No atmosphere, Cold, slow service, is called Cocky pub, french fries
We splurged on one round of Grasshopper shots, which essentially are an alcoholic liquid form of an Andes mint. With little more to see or do, we dipped next door to the life of the
23:00 Thursday Party. Pros: cheap drinks
Cons: overcrowded, tourists, terrible music, loud
The crowd before the bar was where most of everyone populated. It was like none other I'd ever seen.
23:30 Finally get our drinks. I ordered a tequila with orange juice. Definitely not tequila. Definitely vodka. We danced it up, Caillean trying not to spill the world's largest AMF. So large you could go fishing in it for a second meal. The crowd proved to be too overwhelming and we soon departed.
23:45 back at Mike's, it was time. There were fifteen minutes left to 2018. It was a rough year. Mistakes were made. Tears were shed. YOLO shots were in order.
A YOLO shot can only be described by viewing the video that follows.
I believe they're called that due to the risk of being set on fire while indulging.
23:53 Free champagne at the bar
23:57 the count down begins... Three minutes early. A premature new year is celebrated.
23:59 grab leftover champagne. All of it.
24:00 New Year's part two.
01:00 My phone is no longer in my back pocket. We panic, and an amazing community attempt was made to find Jessica's missing phone. Now most sensibly, we were to ask the bar. To which they claimed to have no lost phones. Back to searching, a curly haired foreign girl approaches us and tells us she gave the phone to the bar nearly thirty minutes ago. Those liars! I got my phone back and made a new friend with the girl, Z and her guy friend in the military.
02:00 we make the brave escape to Sinkhole (read: shithole), a hiphop club with free entry. And for the first time in history... A line.
03:00 Sinkhole just recently reopened with a second location. We ventured out to Part 2 and received a free 1/4 bottle of Jaeger in the process of waiting for entry. No outside drinks so... Shots anyone?
03:00 part 2 sucks and we return to the OG. Where we receive free tequila shots.
03:30 건 sees his friends and abandons us. It is now the three musketeers.
04:00 the most blessed part of Asian culture is the ridiculous abundance of street food. We searched for 곌란빵 but could find no opens stalls. Instead we settled for ordering slightly spicy skewered chicken. Which was not slightly spicy at all but ridiculously spicy and set fire to my mouth. Ava remarked, "This hurts so badly but it's so good I can't stop eating it."
By the time we made it to Mike's, she dashed to the bathroom and washed her mouth out at the sink.
05:00 we are paparazzi-fied by Mike's photographer of the night. Ava, who knows only kindergarten level of Mandarin, had a full blown conversation with the photographer in the language.
05:15 건 somehow finds us in Mike's, fully recovered.
05:30 subways reopen, but we do not notice.
06:00 we realize it is 6 am and leave
Outside we go on another frenzied search for 계랔빵, but alas are defeated. Ava makes note of a grey cloud mushrooming into the sky. We disregard it as our stomachs take charge. We mosy on over to a convenient store nearest the subway station, and are surprised to be met with a street backed up with 20 something firetrucks in grid-lock. Finally, we realize that the cloud was actually a smoke cloud rising up from a fire that had begun one hour prior. It took down an entire street of businesses along the busking street.
We again disregard it and enter the convenient store. At this point I realize we have an extra member to our party, Dennis. Dennis was a Korean who grew up in Canada. He was wearing a headband to hold back his bangs... It was weird.
06:30 still in the convenient store, Ava notices her wallet is missing. With the company of 건 and Caillean, the three rush back to a food stand to find the wallet. I Am left alone in the convenient store with the headband boy.
06:39 Fire is still burning
06:45 the crew returns. Caillean found it had fallen through the hole in her pocket and was bouncing around the inside of her padding.
06:50 Caillean eats three Korean sausages. I buy a bag of dried long fish.
06:53 We leave the convenient store. Dennis notifies us he wants to check out the fire and immediately sprints in the direction of the danger
06:54 fire is still burning
06:55 we board the subway home
07:00 we stop at GS25 (because Caillean likes it better than CU) for water. Also a strange French guy outside ofothe convenient store attempted to converse with us. The following conversation occured:
French Fry: hey
Us: *ignores him*
French Fry: I just want to ask you oneone question and I'll leave you alone.
Us: what?
French Fry: .... How you guys doing?
Us: *quickly enters the convenient store*
Instead of water, Ava and I buy bottled tea, a new red bean flavor (absolutely recommend). It's two plus one so Caillean gets one as well. I buy a bottle of $2 red wine.
07:10 I am drinking the wine in the very short distance up hill to my apartment... It is grape juice with alcohol.
07:15 we return home and Ava makes the only statement to truly sum up our night.
"Did we just fuck up our day or have the best night of our lives?"
Perhaps the promise of completion and a fresh start with the morning sun. Or the anticipation for change and what new gifts this year will bring us.
To start off my first full day back home, I woke up ridiculously early. At 1:30 am, my roommates returned in the most obnoxiously loud fashion. They were American tourists who decided that 2 am was the most opportune time to blast Meek Mill. Around 3:30 am, I finally hauled myself out of bed and knocked on their door. They agreed to be more quiet (which apparently meant turning down the music a small amount and talking in more of a hushed tone) and I managed to sleep until 6 am.
With not much else planned, I headed to the nearest Starbucks for a much needed jolt to my morning. Now I know what you're thinking:
Travels 6,064 miles to drink the most basic white-girl coffee.
NO.
Starbucks, although dull and monotonous in the states, is unique in every other country. The drinks are much more interesting and the craft that goes into it is much more intricate. Especially in countries like Korea where presentation is key.
Drinks of my favor include:
Oatmeal Latte oatmilk with espresso and oatmeal topping
Holiday Cinnamon Dolce Latte a cinnamon latte with a mountain of glittery whipped cream and a candy snowman mounted on top.
Jeju Chestnut Black Tea Latte a hearty Chestnut flavor with black tea
Clover Matcha Latte a green tea latte with a four-leaf clover on top
Corn frappuccino sweet corn and icy goodness
Icheon Rice Latte a sweet rice-y coffee drink
So of course I ordered my usual, LEAST interesting drink. A 두유 (soy milk) café latte. But even the soy milk has a better flavor in Korea.
After enjoying a peaceful morning, I headed down the street to Ewha for some shopping... Since I didn't have any clothes. After a successful trip (and another latte) I met up for lunch with Ava and Caillean. Over a year of living in Seoul and never having Chinese Korean food, it was time to give it a shot. It wasn't totally authentic, but heck it was GOOD. I enjoyed fried rice with 자장면 (jajangmyeon) sauce and 짬뽕 (jjamppong).
For dinner, we met up with 건 at my all time favorite restaurant, 막걸리쌀롱(Makgeolli Sallong). They serve the world's crispiest 전 (jeon) and some very original takes on 막걸리 (makgeolli).
In Hongdae, there is a key to a successful night out. And we believe to have perfected our strategy. At 10 pm, we left the restaurant. These are the hours that followed.
22:00 Leave 막걸리쌀롱. Go directly to Mike's Cabin, a Brazilian inspired bar with an incredible club atmosphere hidden downstairs. Pros: no smoking, cheap drinks, good music, two bathrooms, YOLO shots
Cons: $10 entry fee after 11pm (or buying a drink before 11 pm to get a stamp), crowded, foreigners, smells weird, YOLO shots
We bought drinks, which got us stamps for the rest of the night at half price. Than proceeded to ditch for the next round at
22:30 Cocky pub. Cocky's is a lower key American-style sports bar. They also have cheap drinks but not much for atmosphere. Most of their business gets stolen by their neighbors anyway. Pros: Clean bathrooms, less crowded, phone chargers, artichoke spinach pizza, real mustard (not honey)
Cons: No atmosphere, Cold, slow service, is called Cocky pub, french fries
We splurged on one round of Grasshopper shots, which essentially are an alcoholic liquid form of an Andes mint. With little more to see or do, we dipped next door to the life of the
Cons: overcrowded, tourists, terrible music, loud
The crowd before the bar was where most of everyone populated. It was like none other I'd ever seen.
23:30 Finally get our drinks. I ordered a tequila with orange juice. Definitely not tequila. Definitely vodka. We danced it up, Caillean trying not to spill the world's largest AMF. So large you could go fishing in it for a second meal. The crowd proved to be too overwhelming and we soon departed.
23:45 back at Mike's, it was time. There were fifteen minutes left to 2018. It was a rough year. Mistakes were made. Tears were shed. YOLO shots were in order.
A YOLO shot can only be described by viewing the video that follows.
23:53 Free champagne at the bar
23:57 the count down begins... Three minutes early. A premature new year is celebrated.
23:59 grab leftover champagne. All of it.
24:00 New Year's part two.
01:00 My phone is no longer in my back pocket. We panic, and an amazing community attempt was made to find Jessica's missing phone. Now most sensibly, we were to ask the bar. To which they claimed to have no lost phones. Back to searching, a curly haired foreign girl approaches us and tells us she gave the phone to the bar nearly thirty minutes ago. Those liars! I got my phone back and made a new friend with the girl, Z and her guy friend in the military.
02:00 we make the brave escape to Sinkhole (read: shithole), a hiphop club with free entry. And for the first time in history... A line.
03:00 Sinkhole just recently reopened with a second location. We ventured out to Part 2 and received a free 1/4 bottle of Jaeger in the process of waiting for entry. No outside drinks so... Shots anyone?
03:00 part 2 sucks and we return to the OG. Where we receive free tequila shots.
03:30 건 sees his friends and abandons us. It is now the three musketeers.
04:00 the most blessed part of Asian culture is the ridiculous abundance of street food. We searched for 곌란빵 but could find no opens stalls. Instead we settled for ordering slightly spicy skewered chicken. Which was not slightly spicy at all but ridiculously spicy and set fire to my mouth. Ava remarked, "This hurts so badly but it's so good I can't stop eating it."
By the time we made it to Mike's, she dashed to the bathroom and washed her mouth out at the sink.
05:00 we are paparazzi-fied by Mike's photographer of the night. Ava, who knows only kindergarten level of Mandarin, had a full blown conversation with the photographer in the language.
05:15 건 somehow finds us in Mike's, fully recovered.
05:30 subways reopen, but we do not notice.
06:00 we realize it is 6 am and leave
Outside we go on another frenzied search for 계랔빵, but alas are defeated. Ava makes note of a grey cloud mushrooming into the sky. We disregard it as our stomachs take charge. We mosy on over to a convenient store nearest the subway station, and are surprised to be met with a street backed up with 20 something firetrucks in grid-lock. Finally, we realize that the cloud was actually a smoke cloud rising up from a fire that had begun one hour prior. It took down an entire street of businesses along the busking street.
We again disregard it and enter the convenient store. At this point I realize we have an extra member to our party, Dennis. Dennis was a Korean who grew up in Canada. He was wearing a headband to hold back his bangs... It was weird.
06:30 still in the convenient store, Ava notices her wallet is missing. With the company of 건 and Caillean, the three rush back to a food stand to find the wallet. I Am left alone in the convenient store with the headband boy.
06:39 Fire is still burning
06:45 the crew returns. Caillean found it had fallen through the hole in her pocket and was bouncing around the inside of her padding.
06:50 Caillean eats three Korean sausages. I buy a bag of dried long fish.
06:53 We leave the convenient store. Dennis notifies us he wants to check out the fire and immediately sprints in the direction of the danger
06:54 fire is still burning
06:55 we board the subway home
07:00 we stop at GS25 (because Caillean likes it better than CU) for water. Also a strange French guy outside ofothe convenient store attempted to converse with us. The following conversation occured:
French Fry: hey
Us: *ignores him*
French Fry: I just want to ask you oneone question and I'll leave you alone.
Us: what?
French Fry: .... How you guys doing?
Us: *quickly enters the convenient store*
Instead of water, Ava and I buy bottled tea, a new red bean flavor (absolutely recommend). It's two plus one so Caillean gets one as well. I buy a bottle of $2 red wine.
07:10 I am drinking the wine in the very short distance up hill to my apartment... It is grape juice with alcohol.
07:15 we return home and Ava makes the only statement to truly sum up our night.
"Did we just fuck up our day or have the best night of our lives?"
I say it was fantastic, wish I was there tho Miss you lots
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