Class trip of 2012 - China, Korea and Japan

Here's a blogpost about our entire class trip to China, Korea and Japan!!!

(this post is super picture heavy)

On March 2nd, we all met up at Oslo Airport Gardermoen and the excitement was extreme! The one thing we had prepared for all year was about to happen!

First off was Beijing. Even though I had traveled the distance between Norway and Beijing a number of times on my way to Japan, somehow, this time it felt shorter! I had only transferred from Beijing, so I was happy to be able to experience China outside the airport! My first impression was amazement over how the new, shiny skyscrapers stood in total contrast to the tiny, run-down brick houses and small and old store-buildings. Our hotel was... interesting. We were living at a fairly cheap hotel, outside of the biggest tourist spots, and the hotel was marked by this fact. Our hotel room was extremely dirty at all times, even when the cleaning ladies washed there! Well, we did survive in there, at least. And apparently there was a small rabbit-farm in the other side of the hotel building. 

We saw and did so many things in China! Among the highlights were The Great Wall of China, Beijing Zoo, Acrobatics show, Beijing Opera, the various parks and the tiny shops behind our hotel.

Chinese food was super yummy!

The Bird's Nest! It was huge, and amazing!

We did a traditional Chinese studio photoshoot, in which we were dressed and made up  by professionals!

I found Rain in a Chinese cosmetics-shop~ haha

My hotel-roommate Marie posing with our hotel breakfast: Dumplings

Panda bear in Beijing Zoo!!!!!!!

Me and Siri posing at Beijing Zoo ~

Still water with a picture of Lee Hom, Mango-juice and Disney-princess yoghurt! Me and my hotel-roomie always had this in our hotel-room. <3

Starbucks coffee and coffee aroma cheese cake. I LOVE STARBUCKS!

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, GUYS. Yes, I climbed it.

We fooled around at The Great Wall. lol

Beijing Opera :D I didn't understand a single word, but it was interesting and I understood the entire story from the acting.

We met a bunch of Japanese guys at Temple of Heaven and we played feather-ball(traditional Chinese game in which the point it to kick a ball with feathers from person to person and try to keep it in the air as long as possible). We failed. But it was really fun!!

A huge, outside flea-market. There were A LOT of interesting stuff there and I bought a lot of suvernirs for my family and friends there~ And I haggled hard. lol

Me, Elisabeth and Mia taking awesome photos right before watching Bejiing Acrobatics Show~

I didn't get any good pictures of this, but there were 7 motorcyclists inside that cage AT THE SAME TIME! It was the final act of the show and it blew my freaking mind. The entire Acrobatics Show was just amazing.

Siri and me at the Airport in Bejiing, leaving for Japan!

In Tokyo we went on a Grand Full Day Tour which included Tokyo Tower, Asakusa, Meiji Shrine, Buddhist and Shinto style parks, and dinner in Ginza! It was so much fun, since I had never been on an actual guided tour in Tokyo before! I learned a lot, and were able to visit places I had wanted to visit last time I was there, but couldn't! I was really happy to be able to speak Japanese again and to go back to the places I recognized~ we went to Shibuya 109 and walked around Ikebukuro, took purikura, ate delicious Japanese food and had so much fun! 

On the day off, I took the Shinkansen alone to Shin-Osaka, to meet my Yuto. It was great to be able to combine the class trip and meeting my boyfriend!

I had only taken the Shinkansen once before, to Fukuoka with Yuto, but I managed to find my way and get on the right one. I first took the Yamanote line(loop line) from Ikebukuro station(where we stayed) to Tokyo station, and found my way to the Shinkansen-place navigating from the signs in the station. But I have to say, if I hadn't gone once before with Yuto, I might have taken a lot longer time to find the right place and figure out what to do. It was nice to get back to Shin-Osaka, and I was so happy to spend a day with Yuto, even if it was only for that day. 

We talked to some Japanese schoolgirls who were on a class trip too in Tokyo Tower!

Tokyo Warm Light in Tokyo Tower <3

We found a ninja in Asakusa!! XD

Prayers in Meiji Shrine~

Early blooming Sakura blossoms in a Shinto-garden

The beautiful contrast of the city and garden in a Buddhist garden.

Us girls in front of Hachiko statue in Shibuya!
(From the left: Tonje, Kjersti, Marie, Me. Back:  Julie & Eli)

Shops in Asakusa. We went to the Buddhist Shrine at the end of this shopping street.

Classmates in front of Studio Ghibli Museum!!!
(From the left: Eli, Marie, Emilia, Siri, Tonje, Margrete, Kjersti & Kristine)

I found Kimura Takuya 8D haha







Seoul was amazing and we had a lot of fun there too!! We visited parks, shopped cosmetics and Kpop, went to a cat café and ate great Korean food! Also, we went to Lotte World, and to DMZ - at the border between South- and North Korea!
And some of us went to the recording place of Kiss The Radio - a radio show hosted by Ryeowook and Sungmin, members of the Korean boyband Super Junior, which we're huge fans of! We also visited the cafés run by some of the family members of the band, Kona Beans(run by the mothers of Leeteuk, Kyuhyun and Sungmin, and where Sungmin's younger brtoher also works) and Händel & Gretel(run by Yesung's family members). Now, me, Kjersti and Marie had prepared mittens for each member of Super Junior(they are 15 members, lol) and we delivered them to their families at the cafés. ^__^

I found Jang Geun Suk outside of Nature Republic, a cosmetics store~

Cat Café near our hotel in Sincheon!

Naked cat in the cat café ~ it was so cute omg.

We went to Sukira - Kiss The Radio at KBS!!! It was extremely difficult to get a good picture of it, but two of Super Junior's members are sitting in there! XD

While waiting outside of Lotte World, we found the Star Avenue, here's Kjersti posing with 2PM :D

At Etude House inside of Lotte World, I found Onew from SHINee, who seemed not so willing to receive my kiss. lol

I also found Minho from SHINee :D

Jjajjangmyon in Lotte World! I love this dish!

Scenery of Lotte World~

On the way to DMZ and the border between South Korea and North Korea. These flags were made by students wishing for a reunion of the two.

This is the border! I am actually standing on NORTH KOREA's side while taking this picture, safely inside a room.

Soldiers guarding the border constantly!!

Me and Kjersti in from of the border. North Korea is in the background.

The Bridge of No Return!

These are the mittens we had made for the members of Super Junior~

Kjersti, Siri and Tanita at Kona Beans, the café run by Leeteuk, Kyuhyun and Sungmin's mothers!

Kjersti at Kona Beans~

My food at Kona Beans <3 Oreo-brownie(!), chicken ciabbatta and coffee.

Caramel Macchiato from Kona Beans. I will never forget its taste! Sungmin's younger took our order!

Cocoa from Händel & Gretel, the café run by Yesun's family~ Yesung's younger brother was the one serving us ^^

At the airport, I found Yunho and Changmin from DBSK/TVXQ :D

This was truly a trip of a lifetime, and it wouldn't have been this epic and fun and amazing if I hadn't traveled together with my awesome classmates and teachers! I have so many fantastic memories! <3

Korea - Day 6

This was the day we went to see Dream Concert! I had barely managed to get tickets in time, I had to order the tickets from Japan together with a special course(which was a free meal at a celebrity restaurant in Korea called cafe-t) and they were super expensive because of it! Then I had to have the tickets sent from Japan to our hotel. But we got them without trouble!

Finding our way to Seoul World Cup Stadium was no problem(we even saw some cute SHINee fans on the train there~)
But when we got there, we spent at least one hour just to find our seats! Because we had special tickets purchased from Japan, we had to go to a special booth to get in. But the ticket staff were all Japanese, so I was able to talk with them and ask them where to go(and luckily, I could understand their instructions!) so in the end we managed to find our seats. It was so close to the stage!!! And thank god, we got SITTING SEATS, even though our tickets said "Standing seats". I had been so worried about having to STAND during the entire concert with my knee pains and all, but we got to sit all the while!!! I was so incredibly happy and relieved just because of that! :D



The concert was amazing! It was my first Kpop concert and I got to see so many of my favorite
Korean artists perform in one concert!!! SHINee, 2PM, U-KISS, B2ST, DBSK, f(x), F.T. Island, Miss A, and there was even a special performance by Kim Soo Hyun!!! He was in the drama Dream High together with 2PM, T-ara and Miss A members, and he performed two of the songs from that drama!! I followed that drama from its first episode which aired last year's winter, and I had no idea that he was going to be in that concert, so it was such a happy surprise for me!
And Heechul from Super Junior was one of the MCs! So awesome~

Cassies - DBSK fans and Shawols - SHINee fans


Primadonna - F.T. Island fans


Kim Soo Hyun and Suzy from Miss A~~~


Kim Soo Hyun, Suzy and Heechul~~~~


SHINee:


B2ST:


2PM:


SECRET:


F.T. Island:


And lastly, DBSK!!!!


There were many other artists who performed, but these are the pictures that were best.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the concert, we originally planned to take the train back to the hotel, but there were just too many people going on the train at the same time, that we only got to Hapjeong and decided to take a taxi from there. It took us over one hour to get a taxi, and when we finally managed to catch one, we were so worried about the price, concidering it was after midnight and our hotel was located over half an hour away from Hapjeong. But it only cost us 30 Norwegian Kroner!!! AMAZINGLY CHEAP.

I love Taxis in Asia. If it had been in Oslo on a saturday night... First of all, I would probably be harassed on the street before even finding a goddamn taxi, and then I'd have to pay from 300 to 600 Norwegian Kroner for the same distance. lol