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Good Grief! What’s so Shocking about Culture Shock?
If you’ve ever traveled outside of your hometown, you probably are familiar with the highs and lows of experiencing a culture different from your own. Traveling (even to another state or city) can be exciting, challenging, and full of learning opportunities. It also can be scary, frustrating, and overwhelming. Add a worldwide pandemic into this mix, and you have a recipe for lots of potential stress. The term culture shock describes the mixed emotions and sense of disorientation that are commonly felt by travelers to a culture different from their own. As I’ve spent my social work career helping people coping with grief and loss, I find it helpful to…
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Artful Seoul: More Sites in the City and Around (Part 2)
In this winter season, many museums and similar sites are closed due to the current coronavirus restrictions. The South Korean government has been pretty organized about how it sets restrictions when COVID numbers start to rise. Consequently, as soon as business re-open, we know we’d better get our visits in before they may be closed again! Fortunately, I was able to visit several art exhibits with friends before the current closures began. You may have read about my visits to the very cool exhibits at Museum SAN (Space, Art, Nature) and teamLab: LIFE in Part 1 of this post. As promised, here is Part 2 of our artful adventures in…
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Royal Scandal and Tragedy at Changgyeonggung Palace
There are many beautiful places to experience autumn in and around Seoul. I’d read that Changgyeonggung Palace was such a spot, and since we hadn’t visited it yet we put it on our list. We were able to take a free guided tour here and so were able to learn more of the history of this palace. In addition to being very scenic, it also has hosted some strange and tragic moments in Korean history. King Sejong, the fourth ruler of the Joseon Dynasty, first built this palace in the mid-15 century. Its original purpose was to house his father, King Taejong, and his wives and concubines. It’s located east…
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The Ultimate Day Tourist: Gapyeong Rail Park, Nami Island, and The Garden of Morning Calm
Some tourist traps are so compulsory to visit that you have to fall in, even if you know it’s a trap! The Gapyeong area northeast of Seoul is filled with such attractions. For anyone visiting South Korea for a short vacation, there’s probably no reason to prioritize visiting this area. However, if you stay in Seoul for any length of time, you’re unlikely to escape going at least once. It is a very photogenic area to visit in the fall, and we wished we’d been able to visit in October when the leaves were at their peak. We decided to visit three of the top Gapyeong attractions in one day,…
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A Night to Remember at Gyeongbokgung Palace
If you’ve been following along with our adventures, you might recall that we have visited Gyeongbokgung Palace twice already: once in the summer and then in the fall. Well, the third time may be the charm! We visited in December for a special nighttime, winter walk. Thanks to one of Peter’s SNU colleagues, we learned that Gyeongbokgung is open several times a year at night. We were told that Koreans often have to book tickets for these evenings months in advance, but luckily for us a certain number of tickets are set aside for foreigners to purchase on-site. We presented our Alien Registration Cards at the gate and were allowed…
