T.O.P.

Since I'll be heading to Iowa for the weekend I wanted to get in a blog post today. Instead of writing about my trip, I thought I would continue with my posts about the members of Big Bang.

T.O.P.

Although I kind of hate to say this since I really love everyone in Big Bang, if I had to pick, T.O.P. would be my favorite member. I kind of love how in pictures he tends to look cold and has a serious look but when you watch him in interviews he seems to always be laughing. 

T.O.P. is the oldest member of Big Bang as he was born in 1987. He is one of the main rappers of Big Bang. He is kind of known to be the worst dancer of all the members which has led to some humorous moments during performances. T.O.P. has only released one solo single, Turn It Up.

Into The Fire

 

Instead of releasing solo material, T.O.P. has focused on his acting career. He was in the drama I Am Sam, as well as the drama IRIS in which he played an assassin. He has also stared in two movies, 19 and Into The Fire. Into The Fire is a movie based on a true story where student soldiers had to face an enemy army on their own. T.O.P. is the lead in this movie and he has won multiple awards for best new actor for this movie. And let me tell you, don't watch it unless you want to cry! But it is a great movie regardless ^_~

 

 

  He even looks good with white hair

 

 

Outside of promoting with Big Bang, T.O.P. has formed a unit with G-Dragon and they released a mini album in December. Their mini album was the first K-Pop album that I was really excited for and got immediately after it was released. Every track on it is great. And it was the first special edition K-Pop album I bought during my trip (Play with GD&T.O.P.). 

On the GD&T.O.P. mini album T.O.P. had a solo, Oh Mom. I love that he wrote the lyrics for this (he normally writes all of his raps himself), because you can tell he really means what he is saying. I hope that you enjoy T.O.P. as much as I do and hope that you will look forward to a possible future GD&T.O.P. album and more acting from T.O.P. ^_^



Picture Source 1 2 3 4

Visiting Namsan

Sorry I've been slow about updating. I've been pretty tired since getting back home, I think my body still wants to be in the South Korean time zone! Because of that I'm going to try and keep this post on the short side. Before I left I wrote about wanting to visit Namsan Tower, and luckily I got to! Let me tell you about it ^_^

Over dinner my friends and I decided to head to Namsan, despite the rain. It was my first full day in Korea so I was beyond excited. When we started my friend told me it would be about a fifteen minute walk. Little did I know it would be almost all uphill!

ㅠ_ㅠ

Needless to say we were a bit tired but the thought of getting to Namsan kept us going! Sandra and I were really motivated by seeing where our favorite dramas were filmed. On the cable car on the way up we could not stop talking about Goo Jun Pyo and Jan Di!

Where Goo Jun Pyo and Jan Di spent their first night together

After getting off the cable car Namsan looked absolutely gorgeous in the night sky. It was kind of a magical moment because as soon as we got off the cable car there was someone performing and he was singing CN Blue's Love Light.

In front of Namsan Tower

The main store at Namsan Tower was pretty cool. They had things for sale from various dramas that had filmed there like You're Beautiful and Boys Over Flowers. Wen bought a really cute I <3 Korea luggage tag. Right outside of the store was the area where people could post their love tiles. I had never heard of or seen the love tiles before, but they are similar to the love locks. People (normally couples) buy a tile and write a message on it for each other. Then they post the tile on the wall, which is covered with thousands of tiles. 

<3 Love tiles <3

My friends and I could not resist so we decided to write our own love tile. After much thought, this is what we wrote on ours;

The only thing left to do was to find a spot to put our tile!

If you ever visit Namsan, try to find our tile ^_^ I can't wait to go back and see it again someday. After we finished with our tile, we went outside to visit the love locks.

We didn't spend much time looking at the locks due to the rain, but it was really an awe inspiring sight! I can't wait to go back there again someday (and maybe leave my own lock lock ^_~). Who would you like to leave a love lock with? What do you think you would write on it?

대 한 민 곡

Sadly, my trip to Korea has come to an end. There are not enough good things that I can even begin to say about my trip, and the country in general. I have never been to a more beautiful place, met more truly generous people, and tasted such delicious food. In honor of my trip, I will count down my five favorite things about Korea.


5. Historical Sites

 

Every time we went to a historical site I was amazed at how beautiful they were. I also felt a indescribable feeling for the first time. Seeing things that have been built over 1,000 years ago was really incredible. It put American history in perspective for me, my country only has real history that dates back about 400 years. So to go someplace where the history is nearly three times that....wow. I know you can read about history like that in books, but to see it in person is something that I will always cherish.


4. Food

 

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the food before my trip. Although it was fairly spicy to me, every single thing was really good. My favorite was the black noodles. It was just the perfect mix of sweet and savory, despite their gruesome appearance. The street food was incredibly cheap (I already long for a $1 roll of kimbap) and allowed me to try many different tastes of Korea (squid anyone?). It was also a nice change of pace from the fatty, carb loaded, greasy food that is generally consumed in America.


3. Shopping

As someone who loves shopping, Seoul was the perfect place to go. The fashion there was really my style; cute, simple, and classic. Most things were pretty cheap compared to shopping in America. I spent most of my money on clothes (my first time buying the same dress in multiple colors) and cosmetics. My favorite cosmetics brand is Etude House, and it happens to be endorsed by Lee Min Ho. The great thing about cosmetic shopping in Korea is the free stuff you get. Whenever you buy something there, you get tons of samples of cosmetics, and even tote bags, makeup bags, and fans. A trip to Korea is worth it merely for the shopping alone!

2. Idols

I cannot even begin to express to you how rewarding an experience it was to go to Korea and see advertisements, hear the music on the street, and see the idols on TV that I have diligently been following for about a year now. It's so different seeing, hearing, and watching these things on my computer and then seeing them in real life. And how joyful it was to be able to turn to the person next to me and freely talk about what happened on We Got Married last week, or 2PM's new image! I spent entirely too much money on idol related things while I was there (hello special edition GD&TOP, Making of the Big Show, Listen to CN Blue, special edition of Hands Up, G Dragon post it notes, T.O.P pencil bag, and "I Love You Jung Yong Hwa" socks, among other things). I was just disappointed I didn't see any of them at the airport hehe.

1. My Friends

Without a doubt the very best part about Korea was getting to see all my friends again after two years. Spending time with them would have been magical anywhere in the world, but meeting them in Korea was really the icing on the cake.


I'm ready to go back to Korea right now, anyone else want to join me?

Goodbye America!

This is going to be my last post before my trip. I thought I would get another one in, but these past couple days have been pretty crazy. I feel like I always have something to do; running to the store to buy things for my trip, going to work, and I've been to two birthday parties in the past three days!

I still can't really fathom that I'll actually be in Korea in a mere three days (on the plane in two!). It's something I've wanted to do for so long. It's been about two years since I've seen my friends, and about a year since I got interested in Korean culture.

I'm so excited for this trip because I will get to spend time with my friends, but also for the cultural experience this is going to be. The only other country I've ever been to is Canada, and that doesn't really count. I wonder what it will be like to live somewhere for two weeks where everyone else speaks a language different from my own, where all the food is different, and where I won't know anyone outside of the few friends I am meeting.

I feel/hope like I've gotten a decent idea of what Seoul might be like from watching all my dramas and variety shows. I am really looking forward to getting to spend some time in a large city again. I was in NYC for a couple of days last year but I don't think I really got the true feel of a large city. And I can't wait to see other parts of the country. When I come back maybe I will be an expert!

I can't wait to share everything about my trip with you when I get back. Please anticipate some great future blog entries ^_^