Kim Soo Hyun's 1st Memories in Seoul Fan Meeting

Kim Soo Hyun's Asia Tour in Seoul

On Sunday, March 16^th I had the amazing opportunity to see one of my favorite South Korean actors, Kim Soo Hyun at his 1^st Memories in Seoul fan meeting. It was quite a journey to get there, as the tickets were really hard to get (because there was only 2,000 available) and I went through a lot of fangirl-induced emotional stress...but in the end, I was able to go and I had an amazing, second row seat on the first floor.

My ticket

I arrived at the venue outrageously early (the meeting started at 6PM but I got there around 1PM) so that I could wait in line for almost 2 hours to get some fan goods they were selling on site. Actually, all I really wanted was the light stick but I ended up getting the clear file package too just because.

They were setting up the poster...

It turns out, I really didn’t need to get there that early because the line dwindled down and there was still plenty of merchandise left. You just never know. Since I knew I was going to have a lot of time to just sit around though, I had bought a sandwhich from Subway. I went across the street and ate my lunch at a nice little park before heading into a café for a warm black-tea latte and a slice of cheese cake. I stayed at the café for a while, slowly eating my cake and drinking my tea. One of the great things about having a nook is that I also have to nook app on my phone so I just read my book and wasted time.

Around four I headed back to the venue and sat down on a nearby retaining wall to wait out the rest of the afternoon. Once again reading my book, it wasn’t a terrible experience since the weather was nice. After a while, a lot of people started to show up. In fact, they were just flocking in and the square in front of the auditorium got really crowded.

So many people...

At one time, there was some camera equipment being set up right in front of me so I looked up from my phone to ask if they wanted me to move when the crew noticed me and this Asian girl came over, all smiles and asked in English if I was a fan of Kim Soo Hyun.

I was just like, “Uh. Yeah.”

She then asked me if I was going to the fan meeting (affirmative) and if I could share some thoughts for fans in Hong Kong. I reluctantly agreed as she thrust me a microphone. She asked me if I had visited any of the sights from Kim Soo Hyun’s most recent drama Man From the Stars.

I had to think about that, because as of yet I haven’t intentionally visited any. But, then I remembered that I had been to Petite France recently so I told her that and she asked me to talk about it.

Oh, the awkward.

I wasn’t sure where to look…at my interviewer or the camera that was in my face so, I was looking between both while I told them that Petite France was really nice and pretty and a great place to visit.

When I finished, the girl politely asked if I could repeat the answer again and look at the camera.

FAIL.

So I looked directly into the camera and told it once again how I enjoyed Petite France and how it is a great place to visit and then I finished and no one said anything so I looked at my interviewer like a scared, lost animal.

She just smiled and asked if I could say something like, “Kim Soo Hyun is GREAT!”

And so, I looked at the camera and was like, “Kim Soo Hyun is awesome.”

Once again, I was asked if I could repeat myself. This time with more enthusiasm. Mortifying.

So I looked at the camera and was all, “Kim Soo Hyun is AWESOME!”

Then the girl asked me if I had bought anything from the merch booth and I showed her my light stick and clear files. They filmed them briefly, thanked me, and moved on.

Some other film crews showed up on sight but I had had enough of being in the spotlight so I tried to look busy and not make eye contact with any of the crew. Sometimes being the only western girl at an event really sucks.

Anyway, 6:00 eventually rolled around and we were asked to get in lines according to our floor, section, and seat number. I had a hard time figuring out which line to get it but lucky some other nice fans helped me out. When we got inside, I could hardly believe that my seat was literally in the second row. I mean, I knew it was, but I just couldn’t believe it was that close. Middle section. Practically right up front. We were even able to take pictures before the event so I snapped a shot of my view.

Second row, baby!

Sadly, once Kim Soo Hyun entered the Photo Ninjas popped out of nowhere and started crushing fangirl’s hearts right and left. Luckily, they didn’t kick anyone out at this event. But they did delete the photos if they caught you taking any and I felt a lot of second-hand embarrassment for those poor girls.

The fan meeting itself was just perfect. Kim Soo Hyun was so nice and funny. He was really handsome up close (of course) and I was surprised by how much I was able to understand what was going on.

Some lucky fans even got to go up on stage. Unfortunately, my seat number was never called but I’m pretty sure I made eye contact a few times and that’s okay with me. One of the times being the only western girl is actually a perk.

One of the highlights of the event for me (other than seeing Kim Soo Hyun sing…gaaah) was the hilarious montage of shots they showed of Kim Soo Hyun at other fan signing events when he would reach out to shake fan’s hands and get denied. It was so funny. Then at the end, one of the girls who got to go on stage and received a gift was so nervous that she started to walk away before shaking his hand. Thankfully, she remembered at the last second and turned around so she could shake it. The lady who had been interviewing Kim Soo Hyun was like, “That’s right! That’s right!!” It was so funny.

After Kim Soo Hyun sang the last song, glitter started raining down behind him. It was so pretty. Then as he was walking back ribbon canyons in front of the stage scared the crap out of me and went off, raining down large streams of silvery ribbons on the audience.

I was so close...!!!

It was a pretty surreal experience. I’m so, so glad I was able to go because I will probably never get a chance to again. What an amazing opportunity! I will continue to follow Kim Soo Hyun’s career and support him with an even more thankful heart. 

B.A.P. Live on Earth Seoul Concert and Hwarang Musical

Wow. I've seriously been slacking on posting. In my defense, I've been really busy (especially at work) so here is an entry covering Saturday, March 8th and Saturday, March 15th. 

Jenee and I went to the first day of B.A.P.'s Live on Earth concert in Seoul and we (once again) had standing "seats". We purchased these before attending B1A4's concert and discovering how uncomfortable standing could be so that's how we ended up meshed in the crowd again. 

My standing section wrist band after the concert

Of course, we knew what to expect this time so we left our jackets in the cloak room. That meant nearly freezing to death for over an hour but at least we were comfortable inside.

The venue was the same as B1A4's concert (the smaller of the Olympic Park gymnasiums) while across the way Shinee was having their concert in the Gymnastics Gymnasium. Battle of the fangirls! 

Picture from ever_sooj on instagram

Our numbers for standing were actually really good (in the 200's) so after waiting in line in the freezing cold for forever, we ended up amazingly close to the stage. Actually, to part of the stage, I should say. Luckily, the boys came by our section often and we got some suuuuuuper close views of them. I'll admit I did freak out when Bang Young Guk (my favorite B.A.P. member) finally came by. Gaaah so close! 

The disappointing thing about standing is that, if you're up close, you really can't see most of the concert. Especially since 9-foot Korean girls (wearing platform shoes) are always in front of you. I did manage to stand on my tippie-toes for parts and catch some of the stuff going on center stage, but in general, unless they were over by our section, we couldn't see much. 

B.A.P. fans were also a lot more aggressive than the B1A4 fans were. At first, we thought it was going to be okay because there was no excessive compressing in the beginning like there was at The Class. But then, when the concert started everyone just went nuts and there was this giant shift that was actually a little terrifying. We spent a majority of the rest of the concert pushing, in fact, in order to keep our spots. It was really annoying. 

But, all-in-all I am really glad we did go with standing because it's pretty cool when the members come by and they are just right there, singing in front of you. 

I did have one fun moment when Himchan (another member of B.A.P.) came by with this BIG DSLR camera and took some pictures of the fans. He stopped right in front of our section and Jenee and I were spot-on in the center of the picture. 

Of course--as always--we weren't allowed to take pictures. I told Jenee that I really hope I never get Alzheimer's because all I have really is my memories to remember all these concerts by and that's fine and dandy until you can't remember anything. Thanks, Korean photo-ninjas.  

Pretty and yummy!

Anyway, we survived the concert and have some good memories to take home with us. Afterwards we stopped by Starbucks and I got the Cherry Blossom Latte. It was so delicious. Tastes something like white chocolate blended with a nice herbal tea. 

화랑

The following Saturday (March 15th) we headed in to Seoul to see the Hwarang musical. We choose this one just for fun as we didn't know anyone in the cast or really anything about it. 

In fact, we were completely un-prepared for the fact that it was a community theater musical. The venue was really hard to find and we ended up getting directions from this really nice Korean girl after walking around for forever. We got our tickets and had about an hour to wait so we headed upstairs to the waiting area. It was pretty decked out in Hwarang pictures and stuff. 

The waiting area...

When we actually went inside, we were surprised to see that there wasn't really a stage. There was just a designated "stage" area....and our seats were front row.

Our seats

We were literally right in front of the "stage." In fact, it was uncomfortably close. Plus, the musical was really low-tec and interactive. It was like sageuk (historical) meets modern boy band. I'm not even sure what happened. But it was hilarious and awful all at once. 

You know what though? They actually gave us permission in the end to take pictures. I think this whole community-theater thing has the right idea. 

In the end, it was a really fun musical and we learned our lesson about getting front row seats for community theater. Next time we'll get a few rows back, haha. 

Infinite One Great Step Returns Concert in Seoul and Ghost Musical Take 2

Infinite One Great Step Returns

Saturday Jenee and I went to Infinite’s One Great Step Returns concert in Seoul. We didn’t know it at the time that we booked tickets, but this was actually the final concert in their world tour so we lucked out.

Yey~

When I first saw the tickets they were actually all sold out. Luckily, as time went on seats became available—although they were pretty awful seats all the way in the back.  After many purchases and refunds I slowly worked my way up into the R section (there was Standing, R and—the furthest back—S). Since Jenee is not nearly as big of an Infinite fan as I am, she chose to stick with her S seats and not try to get in the R section.

Needless to say, the concert venue was packed and this was the Olympic Park Gymnastics Gymnasium which had about 15,000 seats (I think they were sold out by the time of the concert, too). I just can’t really explain what it’s like to have that many excited fangirls IN ONE ROOM. There are only around 16,000 people within the city limits of my home town back in America, to give you a little prospective. That’s just insane.  

View from Jenee's seat...

Anyway, the concert was fantastic. The opening was really epic with some great lighting and pyrotechnics. In fact, I really enjoyed the glitter canyons thoughout the show!

And the fans….wow. The screaming was so loud it nearly overpowered the actual music.

Plus, kudos to Infinite because they totally played all of my favorite songs. I was so happy I nearly cried.

I wish I could find some good fancams online because I wasn’t able to get any pictures/videos but it looks like everyone else was pretty much in the same boat. In fact, security was so strict at this concert that we saw numerous people having their photos deleted and being escorted off the premises…how horrible! I know that they explicitly prohibit photography and videos and they give a very clear warning about what will happen if you break the rules…but still. They should at least warn you once before hauling you out like a criminal from a concert you paid a lot of money (and possibly came a great distance) to attend. I felt really bad for those girls!

I honestly don’t understand Korea’s stingyness with photos and stuff during concerts. I get that they don’t want people bringing professional video equipment in there and recording the whole thing but let a fangirl take a few pictures yeesh.

Ok, I’m done ranting about things I can’t change. This will be another one of those things where the memories alone will have to suffice. Here are two fancams that I did find though, posted by a few brave souls on YouTube:

This video isn’t that great but it’s my favorite song by Infinite “Inconvenient Truth” (불편한 진실). I was super excited when they played it.

This video is pretty awesome and you can hear all the fans chanting “dashi dorawa” (다시돌아와)…it was just thousands of people saying that over and over before they played the song. Pretty cool!

Sunday, Jenee and I went to see Ghost, The Musical. I already went to see it back in December but since Jenee hadn’t seen I figured why not? Plus, front row seats! Who could pass that up?

This time I actually got to take some pictures which was fun.

Row 1, Seat 2!

And yeah…front row…

I had many moments of freaking out when Joo Won was standing right in front of me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quite comprehend that this really happened (in fact, my hand was shaking so bad I got a lot of blurry pictures haha). Wow.

Pictures Jenee took with her phone (no zoom)

The musical was just as good as before and I’m super glad I went a second time. Who knows when I’ll ever get to see Joo Won perform live again? Hopefully sometime in the future, but realistically it probably won’t happen. I’ll treasure this memory forever ♥

A Very K-pop Centered Trip to Seoul

SBS Alive Museum in Insadong

Today (Saturday) we headed in to Seoul to see another musical (oh, boy). This one is called K-pop Musical Moon Night and it stars Seungho from the K-pop boy band MBLAQ.

K-pop Musical Moon Night

I like MBLAQ but I'm not really familiar with their stuff. Jenee, on the other hand, really loves Seungho so when we saw the tickets on interpark (discounted, at that) we just had to go. To top it off we were able to snag front row seats! 

The musical started at 3PM so we went to Myeongdong first with the goal of doing some K-pop shopping again but it took us too long to find a place to eat for lunch so we only had time to eat and run before the musical. 

The restaurant we finally found is called Red Sun and it's essentially a ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake) restaurant. You get a pot and you can choose what you want in it (typically ddeok, ramen noodles, and vegetables).

Yummm!

It was super delicious and we even got some cheese to add in there. Yum! 

After eating we headed to the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts where the musical was playing. 

Seungho!

The theater was nice, albeit smaller than the other ones we've been to. Our seats were off to the side but right, directly in front of the stage. Like we could reach out and touch the stage, that's how close they were. 

The musical itself was really good. It was a bit different from the other musicals we've been to in that it was mostly dancing but the performers were all really talented and of course, we were so close to Seungho. Fangirling most definitely happened.

At the end of the performance Jenee waved at Seungho and he noticed (probably because we were the only two westerners in the front row...possibly even in the whole theater) so he sent a head-bob-acknowledgement in our direction. One of the perks of sticking out, I guess? :D

After the musical finished we went to Insadong since it was nearby and made another attempt at going to SBS's Alive Museum. This time we (mostly) knew where to go so it was far less of a hassle and there wasn't as many people so it wasn't as frustrating. 

The museum was fun and had some cool picture spots but I personally think the Trick Eye Museum was better. It's still a nice place to check out if you're in the area. 

We took our time taking some pictures and then went back to Myeongdong. 

Myeongdong at night

Our main goal was to get some concert light-stick things for the upcoming groups we are going to be seeing as they are cheaper to buy at the KPop stores in the Myeongdong underground shopping center than at the venue. After we finished our shopping though we really wanted to get some bubble tea so we headed up to the surface and spent an hour (I kid you not) searching for a bubble tea place. 

Usually, they are not that hard to find but we had a really difficult time locating a place that sells bubble tea. It wasn't too bad since we weren't pressed for time and we got an opportunity to explore the bustling streets of Myeongdong but it was a bit frustrating because the GPS on our phones wasn't working that great which just complicated things. 

Hmm a delicious mystery!

I did finally cave and buy some street food. I've noticed a lot of people eating these sausage skewer things for a while but I was hesitant to try one until tonight. I'm glad I finally did! They are delicious! Another point goes to Korean street food!

Ah, black milk tea...my favorite!

After what felt like forever we finally found a bubble tea place and got ourselves some drinks. It was delicious and totally worth the trouble it took to find it...

Plus, because we spent so much time wondering around we were able to completely randomly come across this live performance by the KPop boyband BTOB on our way out. 

It was essentially another "us" moment when we came upon what we thought was just a b-boy dance off (it was but...) there was suddenly a really big crowd gathered around the stage with cameras and phones out (and fangirls screaming) so we got closer to check it out. 

Wowsers. 

It was totally BTOB doing the final performance for this KPop b-boy event thing. They sang their song WOW and danced and all that good stuff. We kind of couldn't believe it. But it happened. Here's my proof:

Anyway, so Myeongdong. It's a happening place. I love it!

So our Saturday was really eventful and successful. We've still got some more exciting events to attend and stuff over the coming weekends so I can't wait! Yey for being busy!