WHERE TO SHOP IN SEOUL 1: GANGNAM UNDERGROUND SHOPPING DISTRICT

Today was a good day. I volunteered last week to work as international support on a Korean music festival and I’m so glad I did! I have so much free time I really want to experience Seoul and meet new people. The event is on the opposite end of Seoul for me… luckily I didn’t look it up before applying, haha! I probably would’ve been too lazy but now I have to. Today we had our first preparatory meeting and it was so cool! We are 19 people from all over the world (half Koreans half rest of the world) and everyone is supernice and superfun. So happy I did this! The event is next Monday and I’ll certainly post about the whole thing, I’m very excited. 🙂

Sorry for blurry picture.. my smartphone is old and it was super crowded.

Now after the meeting I had to change subway at Express Bus Terminal Station where the Gangnam Underground Shopping District is located. Gangnam is very far from me but some of my friends recommended it for shopping so I figured I just use the opportunity (although I have no money but hey, I’m not forever in Korea, can worry about that later.. :D“) I only walked a bit around the underground shopping area because it is HUGE. In Korea, at every station there are some shops underground which are really really cheap but most of the times don’t have the coolest stuff. You certainly have shopping opportunities on every single corner in Korea, so it is good to know where to really get the good stuff. As far as I could see, Gangnam is not the most cheap but they had a ton of really really great designs! Since it was Sunday it was supercrowded.. I probably go back next Monday before the concert to check it out again and hopefully it will be less crowded. That being said, you can still make huge bargains up down here! 😀 Here’s what I got:

 I think this is one of the coolest sweaters I have seen in a really long time. Instead of the leopard arms they also had a flower print but I thought it looked weird together.

 The black one is a sweater dress with skulls on it and the red shirt is reallyyy long, I plan to wear it as a jacket! (see down below.)

Please, how cool is that fancy bunny in a leopard coat that walks its dog? Best. Image. Ever.

Sooo, guess how much I paid for all three items together? 20,000Won. (15€)!! The sweater was 5,000Won, the black skull dress as well and the superlong button down shirt was 10,000Won. These button down shirts in long are really popular at the moment but I’ve seen them for a lot more than 8 bucks. Generally you have to be extremely careful in Seoul: Most things are sold everywhere. If it’s not super special a lot of stores will have almost identical items and sometimes the price difference is huge. That red button down shirt? In the same store they also had the exact same item in another corner for 48,000Won!!! So before you buy anything: Careful scan the store and look for it elsewhere before you buy or you will regret it. Of course, things sold for 5,000~15,000Won usually are the best deal you can get, it almost cannot go lower than that (obviously.) Since no one had time for me today I got bored and took some „outfit“ pictures with my new stuff… I already took off my make-up so bare with me. :p Just to show you how the shirt looks because it is impossible to photograph on its own.

As I said, this is really long. I will most certainly always wear it as a jacket/another layer and not on itself (although you could, with a belt.) It looks better if you would see my legs but unfortunately I don’t have a full-size mirror in my dorm. The quality is surprisingly good for the price – the material is the sturdiest I could find. I plan on sewing on a lot of badges 🙂 You can buy it with something in the back but it’s a lot more expensive so I’ll just do it myself. I really like this for fall.

I just need lots of layers in fall. And I actually do not own a red button down shirt like that yet. This looks really cool with only tights and some boots. I wish I could show you.. maybe I’ll try to take a picture on top of a chair 😀 I can’t believe I post „outfit“ pictures from me without make-up short before I wanted to go to bed… I really am way too bored today! I’ll certainly tell you more spots to make good bargains in Seoul if you’re interested, I know quite a lot and some districts are better for certain things (haircuts, bags, shoes etc.)

Since this post is already random enough, let me share two songs from SIA that I am absolutely obsessed about lately. I love love love the message and the overall musical composition of the first one especially, it’s such a strong message to all girls out there, I love it.  (TIP: If you can’t see these videos because of a regional restricion (especially popular in Germany…) you can get the app HOLA for Google Chrome (and possibly there is also one for Firefox) where you can change your IP adress so that Youtube thinks you’re in another location 🙂 Has saved me a lot of frustration..)

I loved SIA’s songs since she began to make music but I am happy to see her having commercial success lately, she was only known by some undergrounders some years ago. I really enjoy her music. I mean, look at these lyrics:

Hope you enjoyed the music and this post in general! I apologize for its randomness. Tomorrow I’ve got my next appointment at the derm and I have to say my skin is making great progress. I have to see if it’s just a lucky phase or if the medication really works, I’ll report back after the first month of treatment is up. Let me know if you want more shopping tips for Seoul in the future too..? 🙂

Have a nice start into the week!