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

Valentine's and only 10 days until takeoff!

This Valentine's Day was beautiful, even though I couldn't spend it with Yuto. In Japan it's customary for the girls to give chocolate to the boy they love, so I had sent him homemade Chocolate cookies, and they arrived just in time for Valentine's! 

We did kind of a mix between Western and Asian Valentine's, because the week before Yuto sent me a Valentine's gift~ It was the first Valentine's gift I had ever received, so I was really really happy!!♥♥♥

I spent this year's Valentine's Day with my classmates and watched the last episode of the Korean Drama "Full House" starring Rain while eating chocolate ice cream XD 

The time for my school trip to China, Korea and Japan is getting closer and closer! Now it's only 10 days left until takeoff - and I've caught a cold. >__<

Well, it's not the biggest cold, it's just a tiny bit of a flu, but still. It's the worst timing! I just hope that it will go away completely before we're leaving... 

This week is a full week with only Chinese, Korean and Japanese repetition~ 

I feel somewhat confident about my Chinese knowledge(though it's VERY basic), and of course my Japanese, since I've been there a number of times and survived and it's the language I've studied the most. The Korean, however is still limited.. I can understand a few sentences in songs or dramas and the occasional "fangirl"-Korean, but I don't know much practical and useful Korean. It's not like I will ever have to use the phrase "Even if I die, I can't let you go" or "My heart is hurting from missing you" XDDD

So I'm more confident about the other two languages. lol

Our schedule for the class trip is coming together!! 

In China we're going to visit the Forbidden City, the Wall and we're going to see pandas in real life!!! 

In Korea we're going to Lotte World, the Demilitarized Zone, and we're going to do our best to catch a Kpop concert while there :D

In Japan we're going to Tokyo Tower, the Studio Ghibli Museum, Harajuku, Yoyogi Park, Shibuya, Shinjuku and basically all the places I have been before and have dear memories in~~ Some of us are going to a goth night club in Tokyo ;D

But the highlight for me is the on March 17th, I'll be going to Osaka to visit Yuto! It will only be for one day, but it will be so good to see him again! ♥

These days I'm also preparing the necessary documents to fully apply for the school in Kyoto! I am really excited about this! 

And BIGBANG just released a new song. I've been listening to it on repeat today. 

Leaving Korea

On June 1st, early in the morning, we left Korea.

We had spent almost the entire night packing and making everything ready to go, but still we managed to oversleep! It was just by half an hour, so we weren't really late for anything. lol

We gathered our things and left our room(in quite a mess, SORRY, LOVELY HOTEL STAFF T__T) and checked out. The minute we came out on the street, a taxi stopped beside us and the driver asked us if we were going to the airport(the huge suitcases must have given us away. LOL). We said yes and ge brought us to Incheon Airport within 45 minutes, so despite our slight delay because we overslept, we were at the airport two hours before our flight were supposed to take off! Creds to Korean taxi drivers.

The check in of our luggage and everything went smoothly, and soon we were on the plane. It felt a bit sad leaving Korea, because we had had such a wonderful time there!


The plane ride took ages. lol. But I kind of like flying, so it wasn't that bad, really. The worst part was that after the 17 hour long plane ride, I had to take the night train from Oslo Airport Gardermoen for 10 hours before arriving at my mother's house @__@;;
But finally, I was there. It was so nice to be back home with my family, and I was ho happy for taking this trip!!!

Korea - Day 9

This day was our last full day in Korea, and I think that we used it to the fullest!

We went to Apgujeong station as planned, then we called Block B's manager people back. After a bit of language problems, we finally got intructions on where to go further to meet Block B again. We caught a taxi, then had the taxi driver talk with the manager people, then the taxi driver drove us to the correct place. XDD
We had NO idea where we were. lol

It turned out that Block B were in a beauty salon, preparing for a photoshoot, and we werte supposed to meet them outside of the salon! So we stood outside of the salon and waited and talked a bit with some other fans who were also there. After a while the members emerged from the building one by one, and stopped and talked with the fans who had come to meet them. They recognized us from the MTV Show and a Korean fan helped us to talk with the manager because we wanted to ask him about the chances of Block B's promotion in Norway. We talked the most with Kyung, who seemed to be the one who spoke English best. He's such a charismatic guy! We even got a hug from hgim as he was leaving!!!! (>3<)

Afterwards, we realized that we hadn't eaten all day, so after talking more with the Korean fans there, we found a Burger King nearby. It turned out we were acutally in Gangnam, which is where SM Entertainment(the company which Super Junior, SHINee, DBSK, SNSD etc. are signed to), and we had planned to visit the building that day! What a funny coincidence! It was also the place where the celebrity restaurant were located, the one we got a free meal to with the Dream Concert ticket~! ;D

So after eating, we found the place of the celebrity restaurant, but decided to go there after we'd visited SM Entertainment, and then we went off to SM Entertainment~~ We camped outside of the building for 3 or 4 hours, hoping to see one of our idols. There were some Japanese and Chinese fans who were also waiting outside of the building, they were all so nice! :D

Our waiting paid off, because after a while, it started reaining really hard, so we ran over to stand under the building entrance to not get wet --- and as we stood there, Zhou Mi from Super Junior M came walking up to the entrance!!!!!!! We were so amazed! He even said hello to us! *w*
BEST DAY EVER.

Well, after this fantastic meeting, we went to cafe-t, to get our free meal and maybe see some celebrities. We didn't see anyone we knew who were, though, but the food was very good! :D

After that, we took a taxi to Hapjeong and found YG Entertainment --- The company which Bigbang, Se7en and 2NE1 are signed to, and decided to camp outside of that building too. We didn't see any of our idols, but we saw some of Taeyang's crew and some trainees~ And we danced Taeyang's dances and sang outside of the building in the pouring rain. XD We stayed there until 1 AM and there was even a huge thunderstorm! We were enduring fans!!! hahaha

Well, we took a taxi back to our hotel, since the last train had already gone. It was a very eventful last day in Korea!!!

Korea - Day 8

This day we got completely and uyterly lost in Dongdaemun. We couldn't find anything thst we were looking for and we had no clue where we were most of the time. It was so much fun lol


In the middle of a huge and very crowded building with a million super tiny shops, we found these tails, that are very popular in Gyaru fashion these days!

They only cost like 10000 won, which is really cheap in comparison to what some of them cost on online gyaru fashion stores!!! So obviously, I bought one. :D

We rested in a quiet oasis-like place by a river that went through Dongdaemun market.


When we returned to our hotel, we decided to call Block B's managers again and ask for another meeting before we left Korea! We had recieved instructions on what to say in Korean and such, so after gathering some courage, we called. Even though the managers didn't understand much English, and we didn't understand much Korean, they were kind and told us to come to Apgujeong station around 11 the following morning. WE WERE SO HYPED OMG.