Susan Perrone- Blog Abroad

Blog #1

Wearing Hanboks at Gyeongbokgung Palace (what to do as a foreign exchange student during Chuseok) 

Currently I am a study abroad student at Chung Ang University (CAU) in Seoul, South Korea. Last week we celebrated a major Korean Holiday called Chuseok (추석) which is also known as Korean Thanksgiving. Chuseok is a time that families come together to spend time with one another, honor their ancestors and celebrate the fall harvest.This creates a very unique situation for a study abroad/foreign exchange student. Many of us are far away from our families and are living in the dorm. I was not sure what to expect, but now that I have just been through my first Chuseok in Korea, I’ll let you know what to expect when studying abroad during the holidays.

1. Chuseok lasts for three days. The days differ year to year as it follows the lunar calendar and not the Gregorian calendar. This year Chuseok was September 16 through September 18. The actual holiday was on September 17.
   2. Most restaurants and businesses are closed. This is a very important holiday in Korean culture so many places will be closed during this time. Most convenience stores will be open as well as international food chains such as KFC or McDonald’s. CAU is in a more residential area so nearly everywhere was closed but places with heavy tourism such as Itaewon and Myeongdong will be livelier, and most places will be open. Also be aware that a holiday schedule may be implemented so the hours in which a business will be open are subject to change.
   3. Chuseok usually causes heavy traffic in Seoul. Many Koreans will be traveling across the country to meet with their families. Many tourists will be traveling to do things across the country as well. A lot of the other study abroad students went to Busan and Jeju for the holiday. So, expect heavy traffic especially a couple days before Chuseok begins and on the last day of Chuseok.
   4. All public transportation will continue running. Although many other things are closed don’t worry about public transportation. The buses, subways and trains will continue running regardless of the holiday and due to the holiday traffic may run later as a way to decongest traffic.
2. With this in mind, I tried to make the most of the holiday. September 16 I mostly rested, but did grab a bite to eat. I had the option of KFC or McDonald’s, and I chose KFC. The menu here in Korea is slightly different than in America. There are no mashed potatoes, but you can still get coleslaw. Some of the different menu items are cheese sticks, corn coleslaw, bulgogi burger and some new cool dipping sauces. I ordered chicken tenders and an egg tart which came out at 7,300 won or $5.50. Neither tasted that great as the tenders were hard and the tart was a bit soggy, but at least I can say I have tried Korean KFC.

September 17 a friend and I decided to go to a very popular mall in Gangnam called Starfield Coex Mall. We took the subway there and it wasn’t too crowded. When we arrived, there were many people there and everything was open. There were many pop ups as well as stores and restaurants to choose from. Also, the infamous Starfield Library is in the mall. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to check it out, but as a book lover I will definitely head back just for that. There is also Coex Aquarium within the mall. Another friend went and said it was an awesome experience. The aquarium is currently doing a collab with Animal Crossing and my friend said it was super cute. Overall, the mall was a good experience. They had many international clothing brands such as Nike, National Geographic and Uniqlo. I bought a skirt and shirt from Aland. Afterwards we checked out the Lotte Duty Free that was next door, but it was small and mostly designer brands. When we came back to CAU we made a quick stop at a noraebang (노래방) which is the Korean name for a karaoke place. We sang 8 songs for 6,000 won or $4.50.

On September 18, my friend invited me to go to Gyeonbokgung Palace (경복궁) with her and some friends. We took the bus and met at Paris Baguette which is a popular cafe and bakery. I had a peach iced tea and a cream and red bean bun which were great. We wanted to dress in hanbok (한복) which is Korean traditional clothing, so we went to a hanbok rental place to choose our hanboks. A cool tip is that if you wear a hanbok you get into the palace for free. Since it was Chuseok there was free entry into the palace, but otherwise you would have to pay for a ticket. The workers allowed us to pick our skirts then found the matching tops. They helped us get dressed and did our hair. There were free hairstyles and hairstyles for a little pricier. I chose the 5000 won hair choice which was a braid, but most of the others picked a free hairstyle. They also offered a free bag to match with the hanbok and a free locker to store our stuff in. We rented the hanbok for 2 hours and my total came out to be 29,000 won or $21.84. It was a lot of fun and the palace was very gorgeous. A lot of great photo opportunities. I will say though that September has been super hot and that day we had a heat wave, so wearing the hanbok was very hot and heavy for that weather. After we returned our hanbok, we ate at a chicken restaurant and went to Itaewon to shop. Both places had a lot of places and nearly everything was open. If I was to recommend only one of the things I did during the holiday I would say going to the palace was the most fun and unique.

Blog #2

Kiaf Seoul/Frieze Seoul

A Look at Art from Around the World in Seoul

I initially had no idea what Kiaf or Frieze was. At the end of one of my classes during my first week of school, my teacher recommended us to go see Kiaf Seoul (키아프 서울). As I am a lover of art and currently doing my minor in art I decided to go.

Kiaf stands for Korea International Art Fair and has been held for 22 years. It is held annually during the fall for just one week. This year the dates were September 4 through September 8. It coincides with Seoul International Art Week that goes from September 2 to September 8. The purpose of the fair is to celebrate contemporary art by building a bridge between the Korean art scene to the international art scene. Since 2022 Frieze (a contemporary art magazine) who has been a long-time partner began to run their own art fair to go along with Kiaf. Both were held simultaneously at COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Gangnam.

There were a couple of different ticket options available. There was a discounted ticket for students that was sold out by the time I went to purchase my ticket. That ticket was sold for 55,000 won ($39.76). General admissions for September 4 through September 7 cost 80,000 won ($57.83) and September 8 cost 40,000 won ($28.91.) I picked September 8 since it was a Sunday and was the cheapest ticket available.

The fair was open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. I got there around 3:00 and left around 5:00. The fair was so big and there was so much amazing art to take in. I went alone, but since there were a lot of people in attendance it was very lively. Because the number of people in certain areas would become crowded, I tried to go where there was less crowds. Every gallery had attendants to talk about the artist, the artist’s work, hand out pamphlets and postcards as well as talking about art in general. There were also places within the art hall to eat and get something to drink. The lines were too long so I opted to eat after the gallery, but if you had bought something from the food stall you were allowed to use their photobooth.

The commute to the art fair from Chung Ang University (CAU) wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, my map took me to another art fair that was also happening that weekend, so I initially went to the wrong venue. I had accidentally gone to the Sculpture Festival which was free to the public. I was in a rush and trying to find my way to Kiaf, but I got to do a quick run through that festival as well. There were a lot of tourists and families in attendance there. I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures but would also recommend visiting the Sculpture Festival as well as the various other fairs and festivals happening that week. I would say getting back from Kiaf to CAU was sort of difficult. The buses are always super busy in Gangnam anyways, so I will warn you that the bus stations will be packed, and it might take you a while to get home.

Overall, for the price of the ticket and the wonderful experience I had I would personally recommend going to Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul. It is also an amazing opportunity to wander around Seoul and start to familiarize yourself with the city during your first couple weeks in Seoul. If you're a lover of art and have time on your hands, please checkout Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul 2025.

I will link the official website for Kiaf Seoul and Frieze so you can check them out.

https://kiaf.org/

https://www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-seoul

Link to document with some of my favorite pieces from Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul 2024. 

Blog #3

Concerts, Concerts, Concerts Part 1 

Music in Korea: Kpop

One of the fun things I have been doing here in Seoul is going to concerts. As I have been a fan of Korean music since I was kid, being able to see my favorite Korean musicians has been a blast. Everybody and their mom know K-pop by now. Since the rise of megastars BTS and other successful groups such as Seventeen, TXT, Blackpink, Twice and Stray Kids K-pop has become an international powerhouse. Living in New Mexico and Hawaii most of my life my favorite Korean musicians never had concerts in either state. Now that I am studying in Seoul, I finally have the chance to go to as many K-pop concerts as I can. I will go over my personal experience as well as things like pricing of the concerts, Korean concert etiquette and the venues.

Prices

Zero Base One (ZB1): $127 (164,000 won)

Enhypen: $109.62 (140,000 won)

Tomorrow x Together (TXT): $123.61 (162,00 won)

Prices for K-pop concerts are relatively cheaper than in the US. Most K-pop concerts in the US start between $200 to $300 (not including transportation, hotel, merch). I basically went to three concerts in Korea for the price of one concert in the US. Public transportation is relatively cheap here and the venues are not too far from campus, so I didn’t have to book a hotel room. I was going to buy merch for ZB1, but the venues stopped selling merch shortly after the concert began. So, if you want merch get it before going into the venue. I did get a tour shirt for Enhypen which cost around $32.29 (45,000 won).

Venue

ZB1 and TXT: KSPO Dome
Enhypen: Goyang Stadium

I got to go to two different venues through these concerts. KSPO Dome is about an hour away from Chung Ang University (CAU.) You will come to realize CAU is about an hour away from most places, so this is not an irregular occurrence. Goyang Stadium is in the neighboring city of Goyang which is about an hour and 50 minutes away. Although these distances sound far, I never had a problem getting to the venue and always made it back to CAU by 10:00 p.m. I enjoyed both venues. KSPO Dome is an inside venue and is what I would like to call “rodeo size.” Not a very large venue but can fit quite a bit of people. I don’t remember being hot during ZB1’s concert in September, but during TXT’s concert in November KSPO Dome got very hot. There were a lot of pyrotechnics and fireworks so the one con would be that it got extremely hot that someone fainted on the first day when my roommate and someone fainted on the second day which I attended. Goyang Stadium was an outside venue and was more comparable to University Stadium or other larger football stadiums. The only downside with Goyang was that it did rain on us from the time I arrived at 1:30 till when the concert started at 5:00. I would suggest bringing an umbrella (like I did), so you won’t be exposed to the elements. Although if it is raining, the stadium will offer ponchos, but not until you enter the stadium. I did not pay for VIP tickets, so I was further away from the stage, but had nice views of the bands regardless and could see them well through the monitors. I will note that for Enhypen and ZB1 the VIP seats were sitting seats while TXT’s was standing only. For some reason a lot of venues VIP seats will be standing seats. At both venues the stages reached our area so the artist could wave and see us as well. ZB1 also did a walkthrough the actual stadium, so the staff cautioned tape the exits so we couldn’t rush them. So, we got to see them up close and personal when they walked through our section.

Tickets

Receiving the tickets was easy for all concerts. I bought all my tickets from Global Interpark which is the version of the ticketing platform Interpark for foreigners only. But also look on other ticket websites like Melon Tickets or Trazy to find even more concerts that are happening. When I went to the venues the tickets were in alphabetical order (in Korean and English) by first name. Word to the wise is always bring your passport. They will check your identity through your passport or Alien Registration Card (ARC). I didn’t bring my passport to ZB1 but the staff let me show a photocopy, but most times they will require it without exceptions. If you aren’t fluent in Korean, there are usually staff who speak English (Chinese and Japanese as well.) Also, for Global Interpark you have to show the T code (that’s the proof of purchase) by either showing the email with the T code or log onto Global Interpark’s website and find your tickets with the T code.

Encore

One interesting thing about concerts in South Korea is there was always an encore. My first Kpop concert ever was ZB1, so I did not know this. The crowd chanted for an encore for multiple minutes, but the boys didn’t come out so I assumed the concert had finished. After around 15-20 minutes they came out and did about 45 minutes of encore. Enhypen did about 3 songs for encore, but they only sang songs they had already performed during the concert. TXT did an hour of encore. So please don’t leave when the concert “ends.” There is always an encore, so if you leave early, you will miss part of the concert.

My Experience 

I really enjoyed all three concerts and all three groups. For ZB1 I went to the last day of their first stop of their first tour, so members and fans alike were very emotional. ZB1 was very professional and entertaining especially as they are rookies in the industry. They have been a group for less than 2 years. This group is also temporary (as of right now) and formed from a survival competition show so please go see them before they potentially disband after their contract ends. I also enjoyed Enhypen’s concert. I was more familiar with their work, so I knew more of their songs. They were also great performers, and I had fun at their concert. I was disappointed in their encore as they only played 2-3 songs they already performed. The band also seemed a bit tired which is understandable as they are very busy and leaving the next day to do an encore concert in Japan. My favorite concert was TXT. Unfortunately, one of the members was sick and did not attend the concert, but the other four did fantastic. I will admit I am slightly biased as I am a huge fan of them, so I knew all the songs and listened to more of their music than the other two. They did new versions of some of their songs which was a great surprise. I would recommend all three groups as they were all amazing so if any of them have a concert in Seoul, I highly recommend it.

Songs I Would Recommend from Every Group

ZB1: In Bloom, Feel the Pop, Crush, New Kidz on the Block, Insomnia

Kill the Romeo Enhypen: Pass the Mic, Bite Me, Brought the Heat Back, No Doubt, XO (Only If You Say Yes)

Sweet Venom TXT: Tinnitus, Back for More (TXT Version), 세계가 불타버린 밤, 우린... (Can't You See Me?), Opening Sequence, Growing Pain, Resist (Not Gonna Runaway). 

Blog #4

Concerts, Concerts, Concerts Part 2

(Music in Korea: Hip Hop and R&B)

Although K-pop is the most popular music genre coming out of South Korea, there are many other thriving music scenes. I am a fan of Hip Hop and R&B, so I do listen to some K-Hip Hop and K-R&B artists. Some of the more popular artists include Jay Park, Zico, Simon Dominic, Dean, Jessi, pH-1 and Lee Young Ji.

Artists

Artist List: Dynamic Duo, Crush, Lee Young Ji, I.M, Keem Hyo-Eun, Don Malik, Paul Blanco, Zene the Zilla, Tabber, Gemini, Ahn Byeong Woong, Khakii, Kik50

I went to an annual K-Hip Hop and R&B festival called THE CRY ground. This festival was held on Saturday and Sunday and had different artists performing on each day. I chose Saturday as I was really excited to see Tabber (love him) and Lee Youngji and they both did great. After listening to all the acts, I also liked Crush and Gemini’s set, so I will definitely check out more of their music. Overall, all the artists did very well, and I had a blast. I also got to meet Khakii and Crush. Khakii was walking amongst attendees and when he noticed a friend and I had recognized him, he came over and talked to us. We accidentally ran into Crush as we were walking to the bus. He was swarmed with fans, so we didn’t get too close, but we did get a quick hello from him.

Prices

THE CRY ground: $84.85 (107,000 won)

This ticket was the cheapest of all my concerts. Festivals tend to have either similar or slightly cheaper pricing. There are many concerts/festivals done like this here where you get to see multiple artists. Some popular examples are the K-Link festival and the Busan Rock Festival. Some friends went to the K-Link festival and had a wonderful time. Although the artists' play time is shorter than a regular concert, this format allows a person to see multiple artists perform. If you think of this from a financial perspective this is a better bang for your buck. This is a way many people saved money and saw as many artists as they could. So, if you are on a budget, but want to see many artists I would suggest focusing on going to festivals rather than regular concerts.

Venue

Nanji Hangang Park

I actually really liked this venue, and I would argue this was my favorite concert venue of all the concerts. In Korean the Han River is 한강 which is Romanized as hangang, so this was a park on the bank of the river. The layout was super interesting. After getting your tickets, you enter the park with a wristband which allows you to come in and out of the venue. There were many vendors including food, drink, games, photobooths and clothes. You can’t bring food or drink from the outside, but you can leave the venue to the convenience store right outside the park, get a drink and return. There were also bathrooms on site. There was space around the main stage for people to stand and enjoy the artist. It was surrounded by a grassy area where you can sit and picnic. If you wanted to save your energy for the artist you wanted to see, you just had to go back to your picnic mat and wait. It was nice to have different options and the ability to rest. I did not bring a mat, but I ran into other CAU students, so they invited me to join them. So please don’t be like me and bring a picnic mat to this venue. The weather had also been surprisingly hot (it was in October) so please layer up. During the day it was t-shirt weather and when night came you needed a jacket. The heat took a toll on a lot of the performers, but they powered through, which I really respected.

Song Recommendations

Tabber: Like a Vampire, Look At My, Chi-Ka (feat. DEAN), 007 (Feat. SYD), Being (feat. 백예린), Devil May Cry

Lee Young Ji: Small girl ft D.O., 16 (Intro), HUG ft Zion T., Wonstein, WITCH (Feat. Jay Park, So!YoON!)

Gemini: MIA (feat CAMO, WOODZ), UFO ft Seori, Know Me, She Lives in Paris, Trip ft Jay Park

Crush: Rush Hour ft j-hope, Beautiful, Bittersweet, Cereal ft Zico, Sometimes

Blog #5

Concerts, Concerts, Concerts Part 3

(Music in Korea: Rock)

Of all the genres I mentioned in this series, I think rock is the most underrated. I have always loved rock music as I grew up listening to it. There are many hidden gems in the Korean rock scene such as Silica Gel, Thornapple, The Volunteers, Lucy, DAY6 and The Rose. If you are a fan of rock music, I would implore you to look into the Korean rock scene.

The Artist

I had heard a few songs from The Volunteers in the past and I had seen there were tickets available for their upcoming encore concert. I listened to a lot of their music before going to the concert and quite enjoyed it. It has a bit of a 90s, 2000s pop rock vibe. I would say their songs have a bit of an Avril Lavigne vibe. All the members of the band did extremely well during the concert. The two most popular members would be the lead singer Baek Yerin and the drummer Kim Chi-Heon. Many of the audience cheered for them particularly loudly and everyone was always commenting on how good-looking the two of them are. The audience was very lively. There was a good atmosphere, and the audience were extremely attentive. I had a great time at their concert, and I plan to see them again in the future.

Prices

The Volunteers Tour 2024 Encore Concert: $94.59 (132,000 won)

Venue

Blue Square Master Card Hall

This venue was my least favorite of all the venues. Blue Square is in Itaewon which is about 40 minutes away from CAU. This venue is made to house multiple performances at once in different halls. The day I went they were also holding a performance of Kinky Boots in Shinhan Card Hall. It was hard to find the ticket booth area as there were no directions, but when I eventually found it, I easily got my ticket. I then had to stand in line based on what number my ticket was which was kind of difficult. There were so many people it was hard to find your place in line. I went early, but I realized you don’t have to with this way of ticketing. Also, all tickets were standing so standing before the concert for a long time wasn’t ideal. We were then led in like a fire drill and we walked down four flights of stairs to the basement where Master Card Hall is located. Although I was in the back, I could still see the performers well. One of the few good things is it was a smaller venue and only fit about 1,000 people, which made it a more intimate experience and any spot was a good spot as there weren’t that many of us. It was a bit stuffy, and my feet hurt badly from standing on top of a weird metal grate. I would also like to add a warning to anyone with light sensitivities or epilepsy. This venue had strong flashing lights which I was completely unaware of, so I would not recommend this venue if you had these types of concerns. I would also recommend ear plugs as the sound was very loud in the venue. Thankfully I was in the back, so I missed the stampede up the stairs at the end of the concert. I genuinely liked the band, but I don’t think I will be returning to this venue for future concerts.

Video Policy

I am not sure if this was policy for all The Volunteers concerts or just this venue, but there was a no video policy during the concert. I wouldn’t say I am particularly bothered by this policy. It sucked to not get videos during the concert, especially the drum solo during ‘Tell ‘em boys’ (which was even better in person by the way.) This is also a common rule during K-pop concerts, but no one listens and video tapes regardless with no consequences. But everybody obeyed the rule, and nobody videotaped the actual concert. I realized most concerts in Korea have an unspoken rule that there is always an encore. So, the band did come back and do an encore which was really good. For some reason everybody whipped their phone out and recorded this part. I don’t know why the rule did not apply to the encore, but everybody recorded the encore. This is not a big deal, but just an interesting detail I noticed that made this concert a bit different from the rest.

Song Recommendations.

The Volunteers: ‘Tell ‘em boys”, ‘Let me go!’, PINKTOP, Violet, Summer, Hypocreep Silica Gel: T+ Tik Tak Tok ft So!YoOn!, Desert Eagle, Ryudejakeiru, Realize, Eres Tu, kyo181

Thornapple: Veranda, Night of the Living You, Idiot, Gills, Galaxy (은하), High Noon Lucy: Boogie Man, Flowering(개화), Snooze (선잠), Villain, 못난이, 못 죽는 기사와 비단 요람 (The knight who can't die and the silk cradle)

Blog #6

The GCC, The GSI and the Global Fair

The GSI

Like most universities in South Korea, CAU has language lounges for both Korean and international students to engage in conversations. There is an E-Lounge (English), C-Lounge (Chinese), J-Lounge (Japanese), S-Lounge (Spanish) and F-Lounge (French).

If you want to talk with others and make some extra money I suggest applying for the Global Student Internship (GSI). You will work alongside the GLAMS (Global Ambassadors) who are Korean students who run the program for the Office of International Affairs (OIA.) You will work 5 hours a week for 9 weeks during the semester and earn 700,000 won ($498.81.) You will go through an interview process and the OIA will choose 16 E-Lounge workers and 1 worker for each of the other languages.
I was hired as an E-Lounge worker for this semester and finished my last shift last week. I am typically shy and introverted, but love sharing and connecting with others. Especially through discussing languages and culture. This was embracing new challenges, but I am happy I was able to be a part of this program. I met many wonderful people and gained many new perspectives of the world. I would encourage future UNM study abroad students to also consider doing this program.

The GCC

Coming abroad to study can be a very lonely experience. You will be stepping out of your comfort zone, meeting many new people, and getting accustomed to a new environment. A great place to do this and build a community is at the Global Community Center (GCC).

This is a small building where you can go converse with people from across the world. The GCC houses all the language lounges in one room. Facilitated by the Glams and the GSI you can go and converse with them and others who come in. Though we do specifically have the languages listed prior, many students from around the world come to the GCC, so you will be able to connect and possibly speak in many languages here.I would highly suggest coming to the GCC at least once during your tenure at CAU.

The Global Fair

Every semester, the OIA runs a global fair. This is done to connect the CAU students meet the study abroad/exchange students and experience different countries languages, foods and culture. I was the representative/booth operator for UNM in the America booth.

Although this may seem like extra work, I had a lot of fun working at the Global Fair. I would suggest planning beforehand whether you would like to participate, so you can get your materials ready early. I was nominated at the last minute due to me being a GSI, so I unfortunately wish I had the chance to bring more things to pass out like stickers or snacks. I was also the only UNM student present, so all of the preparation for our school was left on my shoulders which was a bit stressful.

Since I was a GSI and the Global Fair is our biggest community outreach event, the GSI workers have to help run the fair. It was quite hard to clarify my schedule and caused some scheduling problems. It also made this time extremely stressful and busy for me. I think it would have been better to do one or the other, but we did not have much of a choice. If you become a GSI, I would recommend not doing both at the same time as doing both was overwhelming for me. I would suggest either working solely as a GSI or a booth operator.

Other than that small hiccup, I had a great time as a booth operator. It was interesting talking with other booth operators and the students. I got to try many new things like Vegemite from Australia, wine from Chile and played matching games at one of the booths. This is a lively fun event that you don’t want to miss at CAU.

Memories 

I will share my two favorite memories from my time as a GSI. One of my favorite memories is dancing during my Thursday 9 am to 12 pm shift with one of the GLAMs, another GSI and an American student. We danced and taught the Cha Cha Slide to the GLAM and was taught the Nutbush dance from Australia. My other favorite memory was playing in the snow during my Wednesday 2pm to 4pm shift. I had fun making snow men and snowball fighting for two hours. I also really enjoyed talking with other students like one of my classmates and her friend and talking about dance with another. Both students mentioned gave me a small snack to thank me for talking with me. I can’t express how happy this made me and truly touched my heart. These are memories I will treasure for the rest of my life.