Ewha Womans University is a private women's university in central Seoul. It is one of the city's largest universities and currently the world's second-largest female college. It is also, one of the best-known universities in SK, known for its beautiful campus and prestigousness. The school was established by a U.S. missionary in the late 1800s. Obviously the attendants are all women. The university itself is beautifully maintained and doesn't look at all like a school in Korea, The architecture is positively Western, probably due to the fact that it was indeed, established by a Westerner. Yet the air here is definitely more serous due to the fact that it is a Korean university. While the campus itself doesn't offer too much more than some pretty picture taking opportunities, there lies an area referred to as Edae directly in front of it.
Now personally, Edae is one of my favorite places in Seoul and I'll tell you why. Edae is mostly another shopping district, like Korea's three million other areas that are all basically the same. But yet this area feels way more set aside and different. It feels less (Pardon my terminology) mainstream. More indie and underground. Although there are still impressive crowds of people. There is no such thing as underground in Seoul. There's too many dang people. But there are a lot more small boutiques and unique stores in Edae that the other shopping areas lack. The big problem I have with Korea and it's shopping is that everything is so branded. Stores like Forever 21 and Zara are slowly taking over these areas and running the small businesses into the ground. Now it seems like you go into any store anywhere and can find the exact same clothes in every other store on the block. While Edae does have some of this repetition, it has way less than any other area I've seen in Korea so far. There are still a lot of stores that you can walk into and finds reasonably priced, unique clothes. Shoes and accessories are also big here. Most everything is well priced as well. Well, some of the higher end boutiques will have higher prices, but that's to be expected.Mostly though, its just a colorful and playful little area that feels really energized and a lot of fun. The amount of people was a little tricky in the side streets, where it got a little crowded, but we also went on a Saturday. I'd say to go on any of the week days and your chances of having a leisurely shopping experience increase ten fold. This place also has some really cool cafes on the side streets. The area is kind of split into two sections, one for food and one for shopping. Most of the cafes and food places are on the high side of the area, while the shopping dominates the lower half. They even have a fortune reading cafe, which was advertised as English speaking, but when we went, we found no English speaker in sight. Disappointing. But go with your Korean friends and see what the Korean future holds for you. Most people say that these people are pretty good. But that's up for you to decide. Be careful though because the reading is an additional fee. Unfortunately some services are pretty expensive too, getting up to around 30,00 won (30$). Yikes. A bit much for a fortune after paying for a seven dollar coffee if you ask me. I'm not too sad that they couldn't speak English after all. While this is certainly a wonderful area, it's not a place that I want to go back to all the time. In some cases I feel like shopping areas serve one purpose, shopping. And once you've been there once, you kinda get the picture. The initial wonder fades as things become more familiar and boring. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. (Literally)
No comments:
Post a Comment