Life Before Internship

Hello! Just created this new blog to jot down bits and pieces of my life during my stay in another country. I am currently a student from SMU and is currently interning in a company in South Korea doing marketing. As the company is thinking of venturing into SEA, I have to do many research on the marketing channels in Singapore.. I happened to chance upon many popular blogs in Singapore and they inspired me to create a blog just meant for my overseas trip. AND partly because I feel that I seem to lose some of my English language skill after mingling with Korean speaking people...

Just let me start with the things I have done before my internship. I was in a technopreneurship study mission conducted by my school. I have visited many startups in South Korea. One of the interesting facts which I have learnt is that entrepreneurship is the vibe to keep a country's economy growing. We don't just depend on the big conglomerates for the sustainable growth but the small fragile startups. This is something which I have not realised till someone with good foresight in a company called GoVenture pointed it out. I saw some effort from the government to encourage the fresh grads to go towards the entrepreneurship path, however, the mindset to join big company is so deep-rooted that few will want to risk and start their own company. I guess this is something similar to the situation in Singapore right now. Thankfully, it is easier to get funding back in Singapore and there are many incubators around to support these startups. I have also learnt that when starting a company, finding a team is the most important. It is more important than coming up with an idea. So currently, I am looking around to look for team members for my future company.

Even though the entrepreneurship atmosphere isn't that strong in South Korea, we still managed to see many young entrepreneurs trying their best to contribute back to society and trying to make a change. Good effort and all the best to them! Ok, enough of these, guess you guys are bored reading this.

After the study mission, the entire team went back to Singapore to continue with their lives while the 4 of us stayed back for our internship. It was awful to see your friends leaving and you are left in a foreign country.. Sigh.. Anyways, before starting my internship, I went to Jeju to have a short holiday with my 2 other friends. It was an awesome trip! Will definitely go there again with my Mr. Right in future. It is a bit weird going with your friends as many of the things are more suitable for couples. Haha! I shall state the places that I have been to.

Love land - recommended by my tour guide during tsm.. I would say it is an eye-opener, a tour on sex education with explicit content. Definitely not a place to go with friends *awkward*

Teddy Bear Museum - it is a must-go when you go to Jeju. There are many cute teddy bears showcased and you will get to see the teddy bears from the korean drama "Princess Hours"! But the teddy bear in the gift shop is pretty expensive.. So I didn't buy anything from there.

Hallasan National Park - Of course, this is the prime of Jeju! There are many different trails to climb to reach the submit. My friends and I chose the Yeonsil trail. It took us about 3 hours to go up to get a good view (not yet the submit) and we decide to head down as we have plans later that day. It was a tough climb as the steps are not even and there are many rocks to obstruct the way. I was about to give up but luckily my friends encouraged me and I persevered. The reward is very awesome with very pretty and breath-taking scenery. We met a lady hiker there and she says that there's hot ramyeon in the shelter. At first we were very excited as we were all hungry but later we found out that the ramyeon she was referring to is instant noodle -.- But I guess you will feel awesome eating hot instant noodle up in the mountain after a few hours of climb :)

Believe It Or Not Museum - this museum show displays a lot of things that are happening around the world and some are hard to believe. Worth going if you are someone who like to read description of the pictures you see :)

Chocolate Museum - We were given a cup of coffee when we bought the tickets. Then we realised that the money that we spent on the ticket might be to compensate for the coffee cos there's nothing much inside. You get to see how chocolate is passed on from one country to another and how it evolved from drinking chocolate to eating chocolate

Hallim Beach - Pretty beach that we went to before we left. It is about an hour away from the guesthouse we lived in. But the scenery is worth the ride. I saw the sea with different shades of blue, which is something which you cannot see back in S'pore. We took many many photos there and even saw a couple taking their wedding photos there! 

Yongduam (dragon head) - Is a shape of a dragon head formed when the lava solidified. It is pretty near the hotels in jeju city

Manjanggul ( Lava Cave) - It is a cave that is cold and dark, formed by the solidified molten lave thousand years ago. You will get to see different types of rock with different patterns due to the way they are solidified. At the end of the trail, you will see a pillar look-alike rock that was formed as lava pours down from a whole. It is an interesting visit especially for once-a-core-geography student. Sometimes I would think that if I went jeju earlier during my secondary school days, I could have love Geography more and do better.. Sigh.. Hahaha!

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak) + Women Diver's Show - Yet another mountain we concur! We climbed this after the Hallasan climb, so this is practically nothing.. But we get to see a clear view of the crater. We went for the women diver's show after we came down as they are just side by side. I saw a group of PRC aunties with the women diver and the PRC were bargaining for a good price for the live octopus just caught. So when a group of strong women meets another group of strong women, man is out of the scene. Their voices were so loud that everyone was staring at them. In the end, the women divers told the PRC to leave the place as they don't welcome bargain. Hahaha!

Folks Village - We saw the old architecture and there are people still living inside and they are using television, fridge and wifi.. Just like any other modern people.. The scene was rather weird. Anyway, we saw a round boundary in front of the house and the guide told us it was for the rearing of black pigs in the past. The toilet is just beside the round boundary. Apparently the people in the past would poo through the hole and the black pig would be fed by the brown-foul-smelling "food". After the tour, we were brought to a restaurant to eat BBQ black pork. How wonderful to eat that after you hear the story of black pigs in the past -.-

Trick Art Museum - An interesting art museum where you can be part of the famous art pieces! There are guidelines to play with the art pieces and there are a few pictures which you can show your own creativity. We took many interesting photos there!

Sanji Lighthouse - This is a random lighthouse we went to in the past as we have nowhere to go.. So the taxi driver suggested this place.. There is nothing there, just a lighthouse and a few containers which reminded me of PSA back in Singapore * full-stop*













Unfortunately, I can't post much of the photos I have taken as windows tell me that my pictures are corrupted or whatever.. So I'm going to google to solve the problem when I have the time.. Right now, that's about it. Will be talking about my life as an intern here in Seoul in the next post! Stay tune!