Hello everyone,
Today, we went to National Folk Museum to listen to a lecture on Korean architecture. I believe the location fit perfectly with the topic because the Museum is located on the grounds of Gyeongbukgoong (Palace), one of the few palaces located inside Seoul. It was interesting to see the contrast between the traditional Korean architecture and the surrounding skyscrapers and modern apartment complexes. Within the palace walls, it almost feels like you travel back to the Joseon dynasty, but this tranquility is interrupted by the car horns on the other side.
Before we arrived at the lecture, we had plans to attend the protest for the comfort women outside of the Japanese Embassy. Unfortunately, we could not find the location in time, but this turned out to be a good thing because we could learn more about the history when we visited the museum on comfort women later on. (Another blog post will talk about that).
We were excited to learn more about modern Korean architecture from a top Korean architect. Because Korea developed so rapidly, sometimes it seemed that buildings were just put up without any thought on design. However, many architects have carefully planned design, location, and structure for each Korean building. To be honest, the lecture was very interesting; however, many of us had dozed off from walking a lot beforehand and staying up late doing work for the past few days. Although this does not excuse our actions, we sincerely apologize for our disrespectful behavior to the guest speaker and to our fellow audience members. From talking to my classmates, we all enjoyed the topic and presentation, but exhaustion overcame us at the wrong moment.
The presentation covered 10 main aspects about Korea and its architecture, but I will focus on one particular design that I liked. One building that stood out during the presentation was the one for traditional Korean medicine. The family practice had been running this business for several generations, and they decided at one point to update their facilities. The architect's company proposed to combine both modern and traditional aspects for the building. Almost the entire building was made of windows. Even the factory equipment for making the medicines was visible from the outside and the boardroom office. The architect wished for transparency and for people to become more aware of the process. In the end, the family agreed to the design, and now the building stands as modernity encompassing tradition.
In the evening, we attended the first day of the SNU festival. Every year, SNU has a special spring event with performances by students and famous artists. Although Wednesday was exciting with student performances, the main act was Brown Eyed Girls on Thursday. As all my classmates know, I am a huge K-Pop fan. I really wanted to see at least one Korean celebrity before I headed back to America. So, when I found out BEG was performing, I was very excited. Although they aren't my favorite K-Pop group, I still liked many of their songs. When we arrived to the festival, we sat down on the grass, eating some snacks. Student performances were occurring in the background. When it got closer to the main performance time, my friend and I came closer to the stage. The MC hyped up the crowd and then BEG appeared on the stage. It was fun to hear the fan chants and to watch people go crazy for the free posters and CDs. I enjoyed the concert, and I was glad I accomplished one of my goals for my Korea trip.
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