Daaaaamnn Nina. Back at it again with the more-than-a-year-overdue blog!

Yes, no shame in my game. If you're reading this, you probably know that I'm headed to New York somewhere this month for my graduation internship - if you didn't know, now you know.. Can't aim to update everyone without recapping on my Asia adventures from a while ago - *cough* literally more than a year ago *cough*. With that being said, I just want to carry out a general disclaimer that keeping a blog is such a burden. A fun burden, but a time-consuming burden. I don't know how people do that, but I was too busy living my life in beautiful cities, hence the lack of updates. I commend all those travel bloggers. I hope I'll do better next time. So here I am to fulfill my promise, a 'little' late. Basically, the coming weeks - hopefully before I go to NY - you'll be seeing updates from my trips to various places. Hope you forgive me in your heart and enjoy while I reminisce on these places that have a piece of my heart.

First up, my hometown for 4 months (09/14-12/14): SEOUL!

Metro(station)s are some of the best places to watch people. Which I like to do. Ordinary people in other countries are extraordinary to me. To see them in their natural habitat is just pure entertainment and ignites my curiosity to their culture - to their 'normal' - in so many ways.

Check out the couple on the left. Yes, matching shirts. Couple culture is so big in Seoul. Matching attire, countless couple things to do and such a "need" among people to be in a relationship.

Seoul has A LOT of conceptstores, It became so normal to me, but art could be found anywhere. I love it, I miss it. It's a very young and stylish city. So alive. Different neighborhoods, different area's, different styles. Behind every corner a new suprise. 

My fav Donkatsu place just outside my school. Full out lunch in action. I miss eating out for literally every meal of the day. No I'm not spoiled. It's normal, really. Heard cooking was more expensive than eating out.. so yeah. You won't hear me complaining. 

This place was one of my ultimate hang out spots: The Han River. I'd go there, whether it was with people or alone. So peaceful, yet so impressive and so much stuff to see. I guess, not having an impeessive skyline where you come from, will often result in this great awe for skylines. Sunsets are amazing. There are people skating and riding their bikes. Old people doing serious gymnastics. I miss this.

The most shocking thing to me about Korea was the plastic surgery culture. I'm using the word culture, because never have I ever experienced an environment where this was so normal yet often not admitted to. This ad was just at a metro station. They're not shy about selling it. The weird thing is, you get used to it. The big plastic surgery buildings in Gangnam don't lie about how much money they earn. It's defenitely a challenge for people to not give in to the pressure. At least that's what I can imagine. I heard crazy stories like parents giving it as "gifts" to their children and people not getting hired because they are not "pretty" enough. I'm not trying to be offensive in any way. After asking a lot of questions and experiencing the culture, I understand that the peer pressure, body image presented by media and the strong "preferences" of aesthetics in society result in Korea being one of the countries with the highest rate of plastic surgery.

HANDS DOWN, MY FAVORITE DESSERT. Yes, that needed to be written in caps, because I'm literally screaming over this. It's icecream on top of fine snow-like ice with condensed milk and coffee-flavoured everything. Perfection in a bowl. See the thing about eating in Korea is that people hardly ever eat alone. Portion sizes are also set for people to eat together. Which I didn't really notice in the beginning. But I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need my alone time and I need to eat whatever I want, and not confine to a group. The same problem with this dessert. It's huge, and honestly very embarrassing if you'd eat alone. But lawd, I was HOOKED and tried to force every friend of mine to have dessert every time of the day so that I could get wit this. To anyone who's going to South Korea: Try this at Solbing.

Kids are CUTEEEE. Thought the funniest thing was that Asian people thought Caucasian babies were the cutest. They thought I was crazy for thinking Korean babies were giyowo (cute). And yes, I am that person that melts over babies. Don't get yours near me: I wíll cuddle and squeeze it.

Hanbok. That's the name of their traditional attire. It's colorful, very very decent and luxurious. No sinched waists or low cuts, Koreans take classy to a whole other level.

I experienced the culture of Korea as very present in daily life. Even though most of it was bombarded in Seoul and therefore has been built after the Korean war, Koreans have restored a lot of their cultural heritage. They take a lot of pride in their country and even though culture is pushed to be westernized, the traditional foundation is very noticable in the culture and country.

And last but certainly not least, this was the basic set up for a night of one of my favorite activities: NORAEBANG (karaoke), Yes, it's real. And yes, I was that person who said I'd never do it because I thought it was ridiculous and "so asian". But I gave in and I got hooked. And I'd reccommend anyone to join. You'd get your own room for you and your friends, including discolights and karaoke-echo. Honestly it's the same thing as blasting music at home or in your car and getting wit it with your friends. I can't sing for days, at all, and that karaoke-echo highlights that inability, but there is something deliberating in that experience.  Ofcourse I was Beyoncé. Always. Sometimes I was a rapper. But I made sure I slayed.

That was almost 50 photo's and a whole lot of talking in one post. You made it. Thank you for bearing with me. Hope you're not bored because there's more to come. But first, stay tuned for some footage recap of Seoul!

Enjoy my enjoyments,

Nina