Go beyond your 42SHARE Home

Common let's have fun!! 

Want to let out your inner child spirit? or just want to disconnect from your daily routine either as a student or work (anything you are doing in Seoul lol)? well read the following list of places we recommend you to visit at least once in your lifetime for an memorable time!! 

Lotte World 

If you haven't heard of this place before, Lotte world is a theme park operated by Lotte Group. This place is perfect for entertainment and sightseeing, in there you will find thrilling rides, ice rink, various parades, folk museum, a lake, accommodations, department stores and a lot more!! 

Keep in mind that Lotte World is divided into Lotte World Adventure, a world themed indoor area, and a Magic Island theme outdoors by Seokchonhosu Lake. The Lotte World Adventure is the largest indoor amusement park in the world! At the Folk Museum you will be able to observe cultural items on display dating back 5,000 years in Korean history. As well as miniature villages and a playground. Also depending on the season, at the Lotte World Garden Stage there will be various themed musicals and if you are into K-pop you will want to go to Lotte World Star Avenue!!  

For more information, visit their Official Website!! 

Nami Island 

We talked about Nami Island before in our blog post about "Stay in Korea for the Winter" however we didn't go in further detail about the history. Namiseom Island was formed as a result of the construction of Cheongpyeong Dam. It is a half moon-shaped isle, and on it is the grave of General Nami, who led a great victory against the rebels in the 13th year of the 7th king of the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejo (reign 1455 - 1468). Namsiseom Island is located out of Seoul but it's only an hour away and you can take the subway with no problem!!  

In the middle of Nami Island you will see a big grass field of about 316,320 square yards, which features education and training facilities as well as camping sites. If you are into water-sports, there are a lot of activities you can do there such as zip lining into the water, motorboats and water skiing. There is also a theme park with a merry-go-around, shooting range, and a roller skating rink. There are also accommodation for visitors to stay at such as resort villas and bungalows.

For more information click HERE! 

Everland 

Another popular theme park is Everland Resort!! However it is further away from the center of Seoul compared to Lotte World. Part of the entertainment includes various rides, festivals, theme areas, and a Zootopia!! The diverse attractions are available to enjoy with no age limits, and there are different themed festivals including Tulip Festival, Rose Festival, Summer Splash, Halloween Festival, Romantic Illumination, and much more!! 

Two of the most popular rides of the park is T-Express and Korea's first wooden roller coaster. Their Zootopia is a must-see by many since it exhibits 2,000 animals of 201 species. Lost Valley opened in 2013 and features the largest ecological safari world and offers a tour by amphibious car to see 150 animals of 20 species. A pair of giant pandas given from the Chinese President Xi Jinping as a symbol of friendship between Korea and China can also be seen at the Panda World. 

For more information, visit their Official Website!!

Trick Eye Museum 

Like Magic and Illusions?? well say no more and visit the Trick Eye Museum!! The Trick Eye Museum has other businesses around the world, is a "one of kind" painting gallery which combines art with high-end techonology featuring AR (Augmented Reality) effect and 2D/3D illusions. Within the Museum there is an Ice Museum which is filled with objects that are fully made out of ice, such as iced TV, ice kitchen, ice slope, etc. You don't need to purchase an additional ticket for the Ice museum, with one you can enjoy both!! 

A great part about this museum is that it stays open everyday from 9 am to 9 pm (last admission by 8 pm), making it popular among couples and tourists!! Outside of the museum you will see a statue which is seen as a landmark to find the Trick Eye Museum!! 

For more information, visit their Official Website!! 

We hope you found this information helpful and get the chance to visit any or all of these locations!! We are sure it will be a memorable experience for you, remember to read our other blog posts about living in Korea!! 

Study Korean, Practice Korean

Language Buddies!!

Hi, I am an intern here at 42SHARE and have studied for a year in a Korean University as an exchange student. The purpose of the program was to learn Korean and immerse myself more into the culture. Therefore I understand how hard it can be to actually practice your Korean as well as intimidating to use it with strangers!! During my stay, I went to a few language circle events where you can meet people who want to help YOU and learn from foreigners living in Seoul!!

Following I will provide a list of places that you should totally go at least once during your time in Seoul!! As well as tips on how to best maintain your learned Korean and your level of Korean does not matter when attending these just try them out :)

Before that, let's learn about an online service which is commonly used by the upcoming organizations we are going to talk about. If you are not familiar with "Meetup" it's a service used to organize online groups to host in-person events for people with similar interests, which in this case Korean language!!

GSM Terrace Language Exchange Cafe and Pub:

Hongdae and Gangnam

This organization is one of the most popular ones and are pretty organized on how to best accommodate those who are wanting to learn and practice a new language. Their focus is really to connect people, besides of having events for language exchange they also host international parties where they're usually over the weekend and meant for fun!!

An awesome part of this organization is that you can also practice other languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Spanish!!

OK, OK, what's the price? well it's pretty cheap and they even have memberships for a cheaper price if you plan to go continuously!! Also each entry includes two drinks from their menu which includes, coffee, tea, juice, craft beer, cocktails and more!

⬕ Drop-in: ₩12,000

⬕ Drop-in Prepay:₩9,000

⸋ Online

Memberships:

⬕8 Entries: ₩60,000

⸋ 25% Discount

⸋ Both locations

⸋ Korean lesson

⬕12 Entries: ₩80,000

⸋ 33% Discount

⸋ Both locations

⸋ Korean lesson

⬕20 Entries: ₩100,000

⸋ 66% Discount

⸋ Both locations

⸋ Korean lesson

As mentioned, they also offer other languages and have an approximate number of how many people go each day of the week, and here it is:

⬕Monday ⬕Thursday

⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm

⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 50 to 90

⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Japanese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Spanish

⬕Tuesday ⬕Saturday

⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 70 to 100

⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese

⬕Wednesday ⬕Sunday

⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 30 to 60

⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese

Also, the Korean lesson is only for one hour, after that it's the exchange part of the event according to the third language of the day, for example on Thursday Spanish. Now for those interested on the International Pub Parties here are the days and times they are hosted:

⬕Friday ⬕Saturday Night ⬕Sunday

⸋ Time: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm

⸋ People: 70 to 110 ⸋ People: 70 to 110 ⸋ People: 30 to 60

⸋ Just mingling ⸋ Just mingling ⸋ Wine and Cheese

Check out their website for more information!!

Their Meetup page!!

Language Exchange Cafe

This organization is quite big as well since they have more locations compared to the one above. However the difference is that the events hosted by this group are more for meeting people from various nationalities and exchange language but they do not regulate on how the meetings would go, is more of a mingling party with a friendly atmosphere!!

 

For the meetings they book whole cafes or pubs so only the ones who are participating are there and feel free to move around and enjoy their time. Another thing is that you do not have to sign up or come at the assigned time and/or stay for the whole time!!

The common languages to exchange are Korean, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and more!! All languages are welcome as well!!  

⬕Monday ⬕Friday

⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am

⸋ FREE entrance ⸋ Free entrance

⸋ Come anytime ⸋ Come anytime

⬕Tuesday ⬕ Saturday

⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ FREE entrance ⸋ Gangnam: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ Come anytime ⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners

⬕Wednesday ⬕Sunday

⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ Gangnam: 7 pm to 10 pm ⸋ Gangnam: 3 pm to 6 pm

⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners ⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners

⸋ Hyehwa: 7 pm to 10 pm (₩5,000)

⬕Thursday

⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am

⸋ FREE entrance

⸋ Come anytime

Check out their Facebook pages of each location for more information:

Meetup Hongdae Gangnam Hyehwa

Outside of Seoul

If you are learning Korean or want to practice it with locals but are not in Seoul, don't worry there are events like these as well in other big cities!! Such as Busan or Daegu!! 

There is a website you should look into and will have more information about time, price and exact locations for these other cities!! The name of the website is Friends in Korea which is the #1 for Koreans and Expats in Korea!! 

Most likely than not they will run their events as Langauge Exchange Cafe group we learned about above, since they are linked and use Meetup a lot as well. 

Just for an example, let's see how's Busan's language exchange events: 

⬕International Parties

⸋ Twice a Month

⸋ Gwangalli and Haeunde

⸋ Entrance fee: ₩5,000

⸋ Time: 7:30 pm to 11:00 pm

⸋ Come anytime!!

Online

If you feel you may not have enough time to go to one of the events in either organizations, check out this blog post about top 5 Korean language Exchange sites to practice your Korean!! Some of them would be as having a pen pal and others sort of like a Facebook community.

Apps

Some good language exchange apps that are great and I even use them myself are HelloTalk and HiNative!!

These apps are great when doing your homework and you find yourself stuck in a question!!

HelloTalk

Was created to learn a language by chatting with native speakers around the world. In the app you can use voice recordings, voice calls, video calls, upload pictures and even doodles!! Another thing that I noticed about this one is that most people kind of use it as Instagram, where they would upload pictures about their day, such as food, animals and/or views (nature) with a caption and asking to be corrected. I love seeing those kind of posts because allows me to see the person's style of taking pictures and how they live in their country.

Download for: iOS

Download for: Android

HiNative

Is a global Q&A community for language learners and people that are curious about the world!! This app I personally find it a lot more helpful when doing your homework because you can ask a question and get a response pretty quick!! Also if you are want to learn about the culture but not sure what questions to ask, this app has templates for you to use and pose to the community, pretty helpful!!

Download for: iOS

Download for: Android

Of course there are the ups and downs for using apps like these but try them out to see if they workout for you!!

We hope the information we provided are of great help and that you get to improve your Korean a lot more!! Please drink responsibly and have fun!! Remember to check out our other blog posts about living in Seoul