SNU and The Spicy Wonders of 찜닭(Jjimdak)

I’ve noticed a pattern on our blog. Descriptions of exciting sightseeing and adventures around town all seem to end with us eating something tasty. I think this cuts the core of a certain truth about my (and to a certain extent Kate’s) travel habits. For me, the traveling experience usually fits into one of a couple categories:

1. Finding new places to sit and read.

2. Finding new places to walk around.

and, perhaps most importantly,

3. Finding new places to sit and eat.

Today I would like to keep to this convention and tell you about our expedition to Seoul National University on Sunday. Our goal was ostensibly to hike up Mt. Gwanaksan (the name means “Mountain of the hat-shaped peak”) but the cold, fell wind we encountered upon hopping off the bus at the base of the trail made us reconsider. Instead, we ended up exploring SNU, South Korea’s most prestigious university.

A word about the location: SNU is situated in the cradle of Mt. Gwanaksan and several other high hills/low mountains on the extreme south side of Seoul. The subway stop for the college is firmly urban but by the time you arrive at the front gate you’re heading back up into the hills. As a result, SNU feels at once a part of Seoul’s bustling metropolis but also stashed-away, secluded among ridges of pine trees. You can’t help but tip your hat to whoever chose the locale.

Sunday was windy (like hold-on-to-your-hat windy) but gorgeous. We walked all around the campus (satisfying travel category #2), took refuge for awhile in a campus coffee shop (within the interior design school) with a honeydew bubble tea and design magazines (thus completing the coveted travel hat-trick).

After hiking around to various corners of the beautiful campus, we walked back toward the metro for dinner. We looked around at a number of different restaurants and eventually chose a jjimdak joint on the 2nd floor of a building near the metro station. More on jjimdak to come.