sometimes quiet is violent

3/6 23:58 Okay, I'm writing this one super late. It's because I was being super organisational though! I've individually packed and written notes for all 15 people that I got souvenirs for (you say excessive, I worry I forgot someone) and stuffed all but 1 bag into my carry-on suitcase that is now full! Honestly, I'm hoping all of the rest of my stuff fit's into my big suitcase and my backpack. I did leave myself 10kg weight to fill so if I'm smart about packing I might just make it. If not I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe donate something. Not gonna go the Joey way and just wear everything. Today was for shopping for the rest of my souvenirs and some make up that I'd been saving up for getting. I've been kind of hesitant about spending larger quantities of money on this trip but at this point with only one more unplanned day (and then Tuesday is going to be full) and then leaving, I wanted to make sure I finally got the stuff I'd been hes...

2/6 21:30 I'm so frustrated I honestly feel like crying. I just tried and failed to get food several times, and had to resort to a cup noodle once again. The thing is, today went pretty well up until now. Let's rewind. Today was museum day! I decided to go to Seoul Museum of Modern Art first, because it was nearby at City Hall subway station. I was up earlier than usually but a shower and curling my hair took a bunch of time so I still ended up leaving when I usually do. After a short subway ride I popped into a Quiznos to get some breakfast. I've never been to a Quiznos but I know it from American movies, it's basically like Subway but kind of upgraded. I had a very basic veggie sub and the worst milk tea of my life. It had white bits floating in it and I don't know if it was the fat from the milk or just, off milk. The trek down to the museum was very warm, but it was super pretty! There was a small garden-y bit with statues in it. The museum itself is a nice...

1/6 23:18 Today has been slow again, which I don't really mind. I stayed up late editing a video so I actually fell asleep rather quickly and slept really well! I knew I was going to stay inside until at least 5pm today because that's when the tickets to see my fave kpop group BTS in London went on sale. I was determined to go because I've never really wanted to see anyone live except BTS, they're just a group I feel like I should experience live no matter how far I'm sitting or standing. Thanks to awesome friends we got tickets and I'll be seeing BTS on the 10th of October! I'm really excited already. After the tickets were confirmed I decided I really needed to get out so I wandered out with my earphones in to find some cake. I wanted to find this specific cafe called A Twosome Place because I saw the heart-shaped cake there, but once I found one today they didn't have it. I chose a New York Cheesecake instead, and had probably the first drink here ...

31/5 22:57 Helloooo. Today was a super slow day as I've sort of ran out of things I can think of doing (which I'm aware is ridiculous in such a huge city like Seoul, but a lot of the stuff that's cool here is cooler with friends present). Basically I just wanted to go to Myeongdong and eat a hot meal somewhere, which, fair enough, did take all day (but mostly because I left at like 4pm). The reason I wanted to go back to Myeongdong is because the underground shopping center has the best deal on socks ever. Legit, it's 10,000 won for 11 pairs and they're really good quality! That's 7 pounds for 11 pairs of socks, I'm almost tempted to go get another 11 but I won't fit it in my suitcase. Another reason for Myeongdong was the Style Nanda Pink Hotel. Style Nanda is a huge Korean fashion chain that also has it's own make up line called 3CE. It's fairly expensive, but I wanted to go for the aesthetics. The whole building is 6 stories tall, decorat...

30/5 22:00 I felt very disappointed in myself waking up around 2pm today, but I couldn't fall asleep for ages and then there was annoying construction noises in the morning so I was trying to get my 9 hours for naught. I did eventually leave the room after trying on a million different outfits. I was convinced I wouldn't survive in this flowy off-the shoulder dress I had but everything else looked bad so I ended up in the dress anyway. Spoiler: I did survive! I kept having to tug the underskirt down tho so as not to flash the public all of my behind. After visiting thrift shops yesterday I decided I wanted to try going to a few more today, so I made a little plan. There was a few more Beautiful Store locations nearby and I discovered a new brand called Vin Prime that sells cheap-ish 'vintage' clothing in Seoul so today was to be basically a repeat of yesterday. I mean, it worked so why not do it again. I made my way to the first Beautiful Store which was a success,...

29/5 20:30 So, yesterday was a bit of a bust. I just didn't feel great so I stayed in bed all day (minus a quick nip to the shops for a snack at 9pm). I just felt like all my anxieties got the best of me and the thought of being seen by other people was just too much. I talked to some friends and family online which helped a lot, so thank you. All in all it made me motivated to do something more today. I decided I wanted to do some cheaper and semi-ethical shopping, but Korea doesn't have a huge thrift shopping culture so I researched a bit online. There's a lot of vintage but that's often overpriced, and I don't care that much about what brand my shirts are so paying for a logo doesn't make sense to me. Turns out a lot of the charity shops here are Salvation Army shops, which is a no-go because they're the worst aaaand I'm not supporting them with my money here or anywhere else just so they can go and mistreat people in their shelters. Finally, I did...

27/5 21:17 Last night was a bit stressful, I was up at 3am messaging my bank (they're cancelling my card at the end of the month and I was stupid and only realised yesterday) and writing down questions to ask my airline for my flights back, but I slept enough and woke ready for my cooking class! In the description of the class it said we would be paired up with others but I received a message from my host about an hour beforehand saying I was the only person today so I was going to get a private lesson! Pretty good. I made my way to the subway station indicated in the class description and met with the host. He was a really nice Korean guy who spoke English really well so we got along nicely. The class was preceded with a little bit of history, as the class was taking place in the Korean Cuisine Culture Center. After learning about what Korean food is made up of and when it is eaten the cooking began! The instructor was an older Korean woman and my host translated everything to ...