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This is Part 4 of my ’15 trip to Korea. Part 1 is available here, part 2 here (Jeju Island, Day 1), and part 3 here (Jeju Island, Day 2).

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After my wonderful trip to Jeju, I flew back to Seoul with my free flight offered by The Korea Times and Korean Air (대한항공). Although I had to board the plane like some Russian flight in the middle of the airport, the flight was painless as well as the arrival in Gimpo Airport.

Once in Gimpo, I had no problem getting around the airport to get my bags and find the subway, as the airport is small and the connection to the subway system is really easy thanks to the posted signs throughout the terminal. The only problem is that the subway system in general could use more English signs and announcements. I ended up taking a local train on the line 9 for a trip that took me about one hour to get to the center of Seoul.

I met my host mother at 교대역 (Gyodae station, Seoul National University of Education). I booked a single room in her apartment before leaving the US via the Koreastay program by looking at the different rooms and locations that were offered and contacting the hosts to find a good match.

After a well-needed nap, I went out and met a friend from Seoul for dinner in the cool university district of 홍대 (Hongdae). We got 고추장삼겹살 (gochujang samgyeopsal), which is essentially pork belly covered with the famous Korean red pepper paste, Gochujang. The pork was grilled in front of us with some —a lot of— garlic. It is advised not to plan any romantic activity after eating lots of garlic, as the smell has a hard time going away, even after several mouthwashes (just saying).