Cherry blossoms are a huge thing here in Korea, as they are in Japan. I’m really glad that I came during cherry blossom season so I could really experience how pink and fluffy the streets get!

The first place that I went to to see the cherry blossoms was Yeouido Hangang Park. They have a cherry blossom festival there, so I went with Claudia on my day off to go and check it out.

     

I’m not sure if my expectations were way too high but it wasn’t as nice as I expected it to be. They were still nice nonetheless but I think the ones in Vancouver are comparable to the ones I saw – maybe they weren’t in full bloom yet?

      

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I always thought that the Starbucks in Asia were so much better than the ones in Canada; they have so many more different flavours here. However, the downside is that they’re so much more expensive than the drinks back in Vancouver. I decided to give the Cherry Blossom Cream Frappucino a try – they also have a latte and a hot white chocolate. The price was absolutely ridiculous, though – 6 100KRW for a tall frappucino. A tall!! I now know where my money ISN’T going – to Starbucks. I’ve found that coffee and other drinks that are made to order are generally pretty expensive.

I have never had anything cherry blossom flavoured before so I didn’t know what to expect. The drink wasn’t bad? It looked pretty but it tasted more like a rich, sweet chocolate. It wasn’t bad, and I wouldn’t mind getting it again if not for the price.

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Finally, Vivian, Claudia and I had the chance to go to Jinhae for their cherry blossom festival. Estevan and Stef also went – Estevan went when they weren’t finished blooming, and Stef went when they were in full bloom. Initially, I thought that since the blossoms in Seoul were still so pretty the ones in Jinhae would be the same… but it’s a lot warmer down there so most of them had already fallen off when we arrived 🙁

We decided to take the KTX from Seoul Station to Masan Station, and then take a bus from there to Jinhae. Since we’re foreigners we were able to puchase the Korail Pass which lets foreigners ride the KTX an unlimited amount of times within one day.

     

Even though the blossoms weren’t as pretty as we thought they would be, I’m still glad we went and we managed to take a lot of beautiful pictures.

Plus, being able to see Sungmin, Shindong, and Eunhyuk of Super Junior perform ‘Sorry, Sorry‘ as well as JYJ’s Jaejoong perform made everything worth it! Super Junior used to be my favourite boy group (I don’t have one anymore) and I literally never thought I’d be able to get the chance to see any of them perform live, let alone my favourite. Vivian’s favourite member was also there so obviously the two of us were extremely happy. We were sitting less than 200 meters away from them!

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I know that there are cherry blossoms on most university campuses, but I really think the ones in the Yonsei Sinchon Campus are really nice and fluffy.

Being able to see so many beautiful cherry blossoms just makes me even more glad that I decided to come to Seoul in second term instead of in first term. Everything is so much prettier in the spring and summer!