International Party & NANTA

It has been a busy few days for me!  I can't believe it's Sunday already and I only have one weekend left here.  On Friday night, the HISS hosted the International Party:

The coolest university-held event I've ever attended!

In case you missed some of the details, this party included unlimited & free alcohol.  No one believed that this was an actual school-hosted event, but no one was complaining, either.  The party was held at Viaerae, a little bar/restaurant/club in Wangsimni.

Viaerae in Wangsimni

Drinks included mojitos with fresh lemon and lime, sangria, beer, and shots.  I am a little interested in how expensive this was, since there were probably between 200-300 people there.  The bar had to stop serving at 12:30 a.m. because it had run out of most drinks.  There was dancing in the club basement of Viaerae, where various contests were held (including handsomest guy/prettiest girl, best male dancer/best female dancer).  When we entered the party, we were given glow stick bracelets that we were told to hand out to the guys or girls we thought were best dressed/handsome/pretty.  I mostly gave mine out to my friends, not taking the whole thing too seriously.  However, by the end of the night, I had received around 22 bracelets from all kinds of people, thus winning the prettiest girl competition!  

Mom and Dad will be so proud! 

I won this hat, which says "beautiful flower girl" in Korean.

This was the best night we've had so far and it was so much fun to hang out with everyone finally.  Usually, we do things in separate groups, so this is the first time we've all been together socializing at an event:

We say "kimchi!" instead of "cheese" for photographs!

On Saturday, we attended NANTA, a show in which the performers transform knives and other kitchen utensils into musical instruments.  The show was energetic and exciting, as the performers did tricks with knives and fire and played the drums on anything and everything.  Essentially, it is like the show Stomp! but in the kitchen.  

Today, we plan to visit the "craft capital" of Korea, Insadong.  The area offers more traditional Korean culture with atmospheric tea shops, wonderful restaurants, and Korean clothing & craft shops.  

Yesterday, we hit the halfway point in our trip.  Many of us are beginning to realize that a month is actually a short amount of time in such an awesome city.  Hopefully we can find time to do all that we still want to do!