special ♡ SM pop up store & K-POP gets

People who have followed the updates about my trip to Korea probably remember that I uploaded a ton of pictures in a post about Myeongdong last November already.

Today, other than the previous non-chronological haul posts, I'll talk about a specific topic and share the small amount of impressions I've gathered while being in Korea.

Ironically, I bought more stuff related to Korean pop music and my favorite bands of that genre when I was in Japan than I did last summer when I was actually at the source.

롯데월드 2 ♡ Studio Ghibli Merchandise Store

After our adventures with the 1600 Pandas exhibition around the Lotte World Tower Mall (or Lotte World 2, how it's written in the headline), that you can check out here -
we went around the area a little longer to gather more impressions and I found another small treasure I want to talk about this time - the Studio Ghibli merchandise shop.
I forgot its actual location but the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store is opposite of it so if you find that, you're all good.

1600 Pandas ♡ 롯데월드 2

I think it was on one of the last days of July when the boyfriend told me about the touring exhibition/project and since it was already time for them to move on to the next destination I was overly excited when we got into motion the next afternoon and went over to Lotte World II - pretty much on Jamsil Station (which was only three or four stops from our station) to meet one of my favorite animals - a whole bunch of them, made of papier-mâché, and with a whole bunch I mean 1600 (in words one thousand six hundred) of them.

Seoul: 신촌 ♡

The first irony that appears to me when I look back at my experiences in 신촌 - Sinchon, is the gap between the time I spent there and the number of photos I took from the area.

I've honestly been to Sinchon so many times during my stay, no matter if it was for meeting my friends from Germany, going for noraebang (which is the Korean equivalent of karaoke) or staying awake till 7am to celebrate a triple birthday (you probably saw the photo of our ice cream cake on my instagram timeline).

Another irony is that it took me almost 1h to actually go to Sinchon but I still found myself there so many times and it's definitely one of my favorite areas that I've seen during my stay.

So today, though adored with only a couple of photos, I want to share some small snippets and facts about the area around Sinchon station with you.

명동 ♡ window shopping expeditions

< this post is picture heavy >

Next to the cultural, historical and traditional sites that I visited throughout my vacation, wandering through crowds of people and experiencing the rythym, the pace of the city myself was one of my favorite things to do and though I'm usually moderate with my spendings I really loved to go around and shop with my eyes. How could there be a better place to do that than Myeongdong, one of Seoul's main shopping districts?
Who caught sight of the headline (and is literate in hangul) might have already guessed it; none other is today's posting about!

Seoul: 광화문광장 & 세종로 ♡

Proceeding your first steps through Seoul as a tourist you won't get away without visiting the area around Gwanghwamun Station (광화문역) - the Gwanghwamun Plaza (광화문광장) , the mainroad Sejongno (세종로) and Gwanghwamun (광화문) itself, the gate that leads to the Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), royal palace of the Joseon dynasty.

I visited the Plaza and walked down Sejongno the first time with my two friends who studied abroad during the time I was in Seoul. 

Seoul: 남산공원 ♡ N Seoul Tower

After the afternoon we spent with my dear friends at 이대, that I talked about here, 

the boyfriend and I went back to our hostel to rest a bit since we were still jet-lagged. 

Later that night we pulled ourselves together to visit 남산공원 - the Namsan Park and N Seoul Tower 

for our 300 Days anniversary date.

이대 ♡ visiting ewha womans university

I started into vacation straight out of the busy hustle of university life only two days after my last exam for the summer semester but this allowed me to enjoy a couple of days with one of my dearest friends who spent 6 months in Seoul to study abroad.

As one of our first meetings said friend, felix, invited the boyfriend and me over to the university he had studied at to show us around the campus.