baby don't you break my heart
(Those of you who follow me on Twitter have already seen this, so feel free to just scroll by!)
So last night was a good night, and let me tell you why.
S'Chamss, a French student here at Sogang, had posted to our Facebook group about some event that was going on-a taping for a show called "Simply Kpop," hosted by Arirang TV (some of you may know them as the people who host Arirang Pops in Seoul!). It was the first taping, so all the bands were pretty nugu or rookie groups, like EXID, FIX, WE, Brave Girls, etc. I definitely wanted to go just to get a taste of how the taping process is, and also because one of my favorite groups, LEDApple, was on the docket to perform.
Natalee and I left school around 4:00 and got to the broadcasting station at around 5:30, having taken the 2 down to Bangbae and then walked to Seocho-gu (it was like midway between the Bangbae and Seocho stations, annoying). We met up with S'Chamss, but ended up not really hanging out with him; almost immediately upon our arrival we met a really cool girl named Kat who goes to Yonsei, and we struck up conversation about kpop and concerts and stuff like that.
We saw some performers walk by us-like LEDApple and FIX-which was awesome.
(Our faces after LEDApple walked by us.)
By some random stroke of chance, we ended up at the front of the line to get into the broadcasting hall. I think it was the magical Dr. Peppers we bought down in the cafe. :) Anyway, they lined us up and then filed us into the stage area, which was really small. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but the "stage" was just basically the floor, and there were two three-tiered seating areas opposite each other on either side of the stage. It was smaller & way more cozy than I'd anticipated, but I was pretty excited nonetheless, since I was thinking, "Hey, sweet, it'll be a good chance to be kind of close when we watch the groups perform!"
But oh man, I had no idea.
The really cute PDnim of Arirang came over after a bit and told us that we'd have to scoot down a little bit to make room for the host to sit. I asked him, "Who's the host?" and he said, "Hanbyul." Yeah, that's right, lead vocalist of LEDApple Hanbyul, melt-fans-with-his-cute-Australian-accent Hanbyul. Since Natalee and I are both huge LEDApple fans, this was an extremely fucking exciting moment-he was set to sit right between Natalee and Kat, and was going to host much of the show from there.
(Our faces after we found out Hanbyul would be sitting right next to us.)
When Hanbyul came over, oh man. I can't even... he's so adorable, seriously. He's taller than I'd thought and a lot skinnier, but he's even more sweet and funny and awesome than I thought he would be. He asked us where we were from (the best conversation: "Where are you guys from?" "Oregon." "California." "Oh, really? I'm from Australia!" Yeah, Hanbyul, we know.) and what we were studying, and made small talk with us, joked around with us when he wasn't looking through his cue cards. It was a strangely normal experience, though. Hanbyul is definitely not "like an idol," or at least he definitely doesn't have celebrity disease. He just acted like what I assume is his real self-joking around, making friends, etc.
I mentioned this on Tumblr and I'll say it again here: I think it's really interesting how different fan culture is between Korean and international fans. Our side of the audience was comprised like 90% of international fans, while the other side was (I'm pretty sure) 100% Korean, and we... well, basically we treated Hanbyul like a bro? That sounds kind of weird, but it was really relaxed, like "Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Emily, how's it going." It wasn't at all like "OMG IT'S HANBYUL OMG I LOVE LEDAPPLE OMG WHAT DO I DO" (though I admit Natalee and I had a moment of "HOLY CRAP" when we first found out he'd be sitting near us). But during the brief time when Hanbyul was seated with the Korean fans, they were all acting really starstruck, covering their faces and giggling and pointing. It was honestly kind of weird.
Anyway, we ended up basically hanging out with Hanbyul for the majority of the evening (filming started around 7 and ended around 10:30), except when people were performing. We also met a couple of other Yonsei students (who were there unrelated to Kat, interestingly) named Thea and... Kamila? Kamilla? Camila? Karmila. I don't know how to spell it lmao :( but They were really awesome!
(Me and the set of the broadcast, which we were allowed to photograph provided nobody was performing at the time. Sorry I look like such a nutjob in this photo, lmao.)
We got to see a bunch of really great artists, including EXID, WE, FIX, Brave Girls, C-REAL, LEDApple, Soul Harmony, Jiggy Dogg and John Park. CHAOS was supposed to be there too, but they didn't come because they'd prerecorded and had another schedule at Music On Top at the same time. We got to preview LEDApple's new single "SADNESS," which will be released on March 9th, and I can safely say I've been converted to basically everyone's fans. It was an awesome experience! We traded numbers with Kat and Thea, too, so this weekend we'll probably go with Kat to Kona Beans in Apgujeong and go to Lotte World with Thea and (C/)Kamil(l)a and WEgukin (the international fanbase for WE).
Regretfully, we didn't get a picture with Hanbyul, but we'll definitely do so next time. Today (March 9th) we're going to see Gwanghwamun Sonata again, this time with Sunggyu for sure, so that'll probably warrant another post.
this came from dreamwidth follow me there yeaaaaah
So last night was a good night, and let me tell you why.
S'Chamss, a French student here at Sogang, had posted to our Facebook group about some event that was going on-a taping for a show called "Simply Kpop," hosted by Arirang TV (some of you may know them as the people who host Arirang Pops in Seoul!). It was the first taping, so all the bands were pretty nugu or rookie groups, like EXID, FIX, WE, Brave Girls, etc. I definitely wanted to go just to get a taste of how the taping process is, and also because one of my favorite groups, LEDApple, was on the docket to perform.
Natalee and I left school around 4:00 and got to the broadcasting station at around 5:30, having taken the 2 down to Bangbae and then walked to Seocho-gu (it was like midway between the Bangbae and Seocho stations, annoying). We met up with S'Chamss, but ended up not really hanging out with him; almost immediately upon our arrival we met a really cool girl named Kat who goes to Yonsei, and we struck up conversation about kpop and concerts and stuff like that.
We saw some performers walk by us-like LEDApple and FIX-which was awesome.
(Our faces after LEDApple walked by us.)
By some random stroke of chance, we ended up at the front of the line to get into the broadcasting hall. I think it was the magical Dr. Peppers we bought down in the cafe. :) Anyway, they lined us up and then filed us into the stage area, which was really small. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but the "stage" was just basically the floor, and there were two three-tiered seating areas opposite each other on either side of the stage. It was smaller & way more cozy than I'd anticipated, but I was pretty excited nonetheless, since I was thinking, "Hey, sweet, it'll be a good chance to be kind of close when we watch the groups perform!"
But oh man, I had no idea.
The really cute PDnim of Arirang came over after a bit and told us that we'd have to scoot down a little bit to make room for the host to sit. I asked him, "Who's the host?" and he said, "Hanbyul." Yeah, that's right, lead vocalist of LEDApple Hanbyul, melt-fans-with-his-cute-Australian-accent Hanbyul. Since Natalee and I are both huge LEDApple fans, this was an extremely fucking exciting moment-he was set to sit right between Natalee and Kat, and was going to host much of the show from there.
(Our faces after we found out Hanbyul would be sitting right next to us.)
When Hanbyul came over, oh man. I can't even... he's so adorable, seriously. He's taller than I'd thought and a lot skinnier, but he's even more sweet and funny and awesome than I thought he would be. He asked us where we were from (the best conversation: "Where are you guys from?" "Oregon." "California." "Oh, really? I'm from Australia!" Yeah, Hanbyul, we know.) and what we were studying, and made small talk with us, joked around with us when he wasn't looking through his cue cards. It was a strangely normal experience, though. Hanbyul is definitely not "like an idol," or at least he definitely doesn't have celebrity disease. He just acted like what I assume is his real self-joking around, making friends, etc.
I mentioned this on Tumblr and I'll say it again here: I think it's really interesting how different fan culture is between Korean and international fans. Our side of the audience was comprised like 90% of international fans, while the other side was (I'm pretty sure) 100% Korean, and we... well, basically we treated Hanbyul like a bro? That sounds kind of weird, but it was really relaxed, like "Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Emily, how's it going." It wasn't at all like "OMG IT'S HANBYUL OMG I LOVE LEDAPPLE OMG WHAT DO I DO" (though I admit Natalee and I had a moment of "HOLY CRAP" when we first found out he'd be sitting near us). But during the brief time when Hanbyul was seated with the Korean fans, they were all acting really starstruck, covering their faces and giggling and pointing. It was honestly kind of weird.
Anyway, we ended up basically hanging out with Hanbyul for the majority of the evening (filming started around 7 and ended around 10:30), except when people were performing. We also met a couple of other Yonsei students (who were there unrelated to Kat, interestingly) named Thea and... Kamila? Kamilla? Camila? Karmila. I don't know how to spell it lmao :( but They were really awesome!
(Me and the set of the broadcast, which we were allowed to photograph provided nobody was performing at the time. Sorry I look like such a nutjob in this photo, lmao.)
We got to see a bunch of really great artists, including EXID, WE, FIX, Brave Girls, C-REAL, LEDApple, Soul Harmony, Jiggy Dogg and John Park. CHAOS was supposed to be there too, but they didn't come because they'd prerecorded and had another schedule at Music On Top at the same time. We got to preview LEDApple's new single "SADNESS," which will be released on March 9th, and I can safely say I've been converted to basically everyone's fans. It was an awesome experience! We traded numbers with Kat and Thea, too, so this weekend we'll probably go with Kat to Kona Beans in Apgujeong and go to Lotte World with Thea and (C/)Kamil(l)a and WEgukin (the international fanbase for WE).
Regretfully, we didn't get a picture with Hanbyul, but we'll definitely do so next time. Today (March 9th) we're going to see Gwanghwamun Sonata again, this time with Sunggyu for sure, so that'll probably warrant another post.
this came from dreamwidth follow me there yeaaaaah