10 things I love most about Korea - Day 3: The Nightlife

It has been really hard narrowing down all my favourite things about Korea to just 10 things, but there is absolutely no question about what comes next on this list:

The Nightlife

Seoul nightlife is just... Unbelievable. I had heard many things before coming here about how crazy it is - how everything stays open 'til the morning, how young people are able to party literally anywhere, how it's impossible to keep up with Koreans... Well, I must say, having been here now for over a month, it is all true! Seoul will cast a magic spell over you. It has the ability to turn even the most hardcore study nerds into party animals. I've seen it happen and it's brilliant.

Many of my Korean friends have said that Seoul may not be the best place to live for your entire life, but that it is certainly the place to have a good social life. And if there's one thing Seoul is known for, it's the nightlife. Almost all clubs stay open until around 8am, you can shop on a weekday even past midnight and convenience stores are 24hours!

Partying hard with some friends we made at our local Gs25 (one of whom works there and we shamelessly befriended him).

This means that on a weekday, I can be sitting in my room late at night doing homework, then I will finish at 11 and say to my roommate, "Hey, feel like going out?" and we can walk 10 minutes down the road and experience the awesome vibes of the Seoul nightlife!

With some friends, walking the streets of Itaewon ^^

There are often lots of people in Sinchon (where I live), lots of neon signs and lots of buskers (dancers, singers and magicians). The buskers are amazing! I have often marvelled at the talent of Koreans, as well as their hard work to be the best. There is a well-known busking area in Sinchon - about a 5 minute walk from my University - that will have different talent every night. I have seen amazing singers, rappers and dance crews (I crave these dance crews). And you will find that they are all worth watching. So when you are done with study for the night, but not yet quite ready to go to bed, a night-time walk onto the streets of Seoul can often turn into a memorable experience!

Some standard places to go include:

• Restaurants (Korean, Japanese and Chinese are very common but you can also find Italian, Indian, Mexican etc if you are willing to search a little harder).
• 노래방 or "noraebang": This is the Korean word for 'karaoke' but even exchange students who have little interest in the Korean culture/language call it "noraebang". It is one of the most popular activities here in Seoul and you can go at any time of the day (including late at night). In fact, a lot of people go to pre-drink or even after clubbing. The vibes are chilled and there is a large variety of songs as well as pretty lights and comfortable seating arrangements. You will often find that even people who hate singing love noraebang. Not to mention, there are probably at least a thousand noraebang places in Seoul. Seriously, I have seen more noraebang places than I have convenience stores.
• DVD and PC cafes. The former are for watching movies (there is a large selection) and the latter are for PC gaming (the nerd vibes are REAL in these places).
• Bars, most of which are located down that alleyway, seventh door to the left, up the flight of stairs into the elevator and on the ninth floor up. You will just never find some of these awesome places unless you have a street-savvy Korean with you.
• Cinemas. I have only been once but they are pretty cool.

On the other hand, when you feel a bit more committed, you can make a night of it, get some friends together, share a cab (cause it's ridiculously cheap) and head on out to somewhere like Gangnam, which is famous for it's clubs (amongst other things :p). Clubbing in Korea is an awesome  experience and you are always guaranteed to have a great night if you put in the effort. My favourite places to club are in Gangnam, Hongdae and Sinchon (although there are so many cities I still have yet to try).

A photo taken inside Vera, a club in Hongdae. This place started pumping at midnight and stayed crazy until daylight. It was actually the most ridiculously-packed club I have experienced yet.

So, I have come to love going out at night, even just to a dessert cafe, for instance. Even on my University campus, cafes stay open until 10pm and students go home as late as midnight. There are always people laughing and chatting and I love being surrounded by all this happiness ^^ Because of this, my sleeping patters are somewhat messed up. I am nocturnal here and I love it!

Nam and I in a dessert cafe in Sinchon. It was empty so we took the opportunity to be shameless.

More tomorrow!!

Signed in Seoul,
Kristin

PS. All photo credit in this blog post goes to Nam because he is amazing and takes a camera everywhere.

Kristin is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade