long time no see.

[tongzhiai]

Hi, it's That Author Whose Fics You Might Remember From 2007. I wrote Prison!AU among other crazy things.

Yeah, weren't those the days? Anyways, I'm still alive and I've got big news:

I'M GOING TO SOUTH-KOREA, BABY!!!!!

...and I need tips and hints and all that good stuff for maximum kpop holiday thrills. I'm talking concerts; how to get to them

Comments

[jaded_skys]

For the love of god, keep a subway map on you at all times. Trust me. That is the number one thing.

Second.... they may not let you in to music shows. They've been pretty strict about keeping foreigners down to a minimum to.. none at all. Concerts are basically finding out when tickets are on sale and hoping they're on while you're there. G Market is the place for ticket sales for "proper" concerts. SuKiRa is by far the easiest; just stand out and watch through the glass! I was there last May-June-July, and that was the time for a bunch of concert-esq things for free; the weather is nice enough that they have a lot of out-doors stuff going down, mostly free too. It's just keeping an open eye to what's going on.

Awesome places for shopping and general fun stuff: 고속터미날 for their ahjdhkjs millions of $5 tops, 동대문 for the same sort of things but in an outside-style market, 건대입구 for food and trendier shopping and the buliding where SuJu lives, 명동 for just about anything you'd wanna buy (especially dorky fangirl junk) and inside the station for the one little CD store with a good selection.

... damn, I cannot wait to go back... ㅠㅠ

[tongzhiai]

I shall print out several versions of it before boarding the plane!! :D Thanks!

Oh that's ..unfortunate. My host (foreigner teaching English over there) told me on some music shows you have to buy one of the artists' CD and then stand in line and see if they let you in. But if they have some no-whitey rules, then I guess that won't help much at all. So unfortunate! I'm hoping for outdoor concerts but it just hit me that in May the biggest outdoor concert might actually be Hollywood Bowl in California. :/ But hey we'll have to see, maybe there will be something.

But thanks for the shopping tips, those sound super-exciting. ♥ ♥

[jaded_skys]

They also have them at the stations, I believe. I had one on my phone while I was there and it was so much help!

Give it a try. I know the go fanclub members with CDs, fanclub members without CD's. non-fanclub with CDs, then they let everyone else, in that order. They tend to be a little bit more choosy about non-Korean/Asian people in filmings. IDEK why. I'm not saying don't try at all, but there's a chance they'll turn you away. I went to a bunch of stuff in May that I didn't pay for: Power Concert (though I won those tickets), that... one thing TeukHyuk hosted, the 24hr marathon they did (and I was on TV *dies all over*), ect. There was never a lack of random things going down.

I miss shopping there so hard.... I loved Skin Food! And theFaceShop was the best. I swear I bought something from there every day. There's one in 고속터미날 where you switch from the 7 and 3 lines, which was on my way home from school, so it was ALWAY THERE. (also, for the huge amount of cheap shopping, I believe it's exits 7 or 8 for it? It's hard to explain where the hell it is.)

[tongzhiai]

If they discriminate based on looks (only very skinny very pretty white chicks getting in) I am fucked, CD or no CD. :(

But it's good to be prepared for rejection and stuff. Sigh.

You were on TV? Too cool. :D

Oooh make-up stuffs? Korea is starting to sound like my shopping paradise (of course then I'll miss it even more, not being able to get those things over here). Thanks for more tips. :DD

[jaded_skys]

Naw, I don't think that they'd do that. I mean, I'm not petite nor pretty and I went some places? XD But I remember them wanting to keep foreigners out, especially around/after exam times. IDEK, it was a weak excuse to make weird rules.

BUT DON'T NOT GO JUST BECAUSE! D:

I was the crying flaily white girl when the boys finished the marathon. *dies all over everywhere* At least I'm not on youtube in a more embarrassing video!

Yeah, seriously. The cosmetic industry is HUGE over there. Missha, the FaceShop, Skin Food, Etude House, all really good stuff for not too expensive (unless you're going for their higher class lines that are mostly for wrinkles). I stocked up on face masks before going home because ahjdshgksd they are AWESOME. And the nail polish from the FaceShop dries really fast. And the Super Aqua line from Missha is really nice, especially for dry/combo skin. And try the face packs that come in little food containers! The chocolate one literally smells and feels like you're putting chocolate sauce on your face. It's awesome. Dammit, now I'm wishing I'd brought more stuff home with me.... Gotta wait until September...

[tongzhiai]

Heeeey, long time no talk, just wanted to let you know I kept your tips and hints in mind and though I didn't visit that much kpop stuff (we did go to some concerts and underground shows in Hongdae which was AWESOME and plenty of noraebang which was dorky but awesome) I loved all the make up stores you mentioned and my heart is weeping that I didn't empty out Skin Food before I left but settled on merely 40,000 won's worth of stuff from it. Now I'm using up the freebie stuff they gave me and sighing wistfully.

Hopefully I'll get to go back to study there for a year. Fingers crossed. SK was such a wonderful country. ♥

[jaded_skys]

Heeeey! I'm glad you had fun and sa a lot of stuff (underground shows are AWESOME) and yeah, I've fallen back into buying things from make up shops all the time. Gotta hold myself back!! I adore how they give you testers!! I lived off them back in Canada when I got back too. Buuut, you can get Missha products online, and they ship to North America.

If you do indeed come to study, give me a call!! I'll be here until late August, that is unless I sign on for another year. Please do keep in touch!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥

[tongzhiai]

Hee, I live in Europe and anyway, am on a self-imposed "no make up/beauty products until you seriously run out of something" buying strike because I blew tons of money on make up over the summer even when here, happily working my summer job and thinking I had all the money in the world. Sigh.

I really hope I get in.. The sad thing is, my uni only takes 1-2 exchange students to this Korean destination. Fingers crossed. :)