A Seoul so Cold

“It’s the price you have to pay to look good.” That’s what my mama used to tell me all of the time growing up. Truth is, Tat and I paid the ultimate price while trying to fashionably stunt in South Korea. Y’all, I’m talking about we were wearing leather skirts with fishnet stockings and cropped-top sweatshirts with thin baggy pants. We each barley packed a coat convincing ourselves that we’d be alright… WRONG! It was colder than Frosty the Snowman’s ass crack out there and we were completely unprepared. Tat and I traveled to Seoul, South Korea at the beginning of November and although It was forecasted to be right around the mid 50’s, it felt like anything but. We decided to go for cute fall looks that were just as fashionable as the Korean culture and with the mid 50-degree weather that we researched in mind, we began packing.

Things took a quick turn for the worst because as soon as we stepped out of the train station in Seoul, we knew that we had made a grave mistake; it was a lot colder than what we thought it would be. On our first night, we decided to walk around Myeongdong Market. I wore black pants, black biker boots, a t-shirt, and a black leather jacket while Tat wore a green cropped sweatshirt, a pair of black baggy pants, a jacket, and a pair of sneakers. I’m not sure if it was all of the excitement of being in South Korea or what but the weather the first night was not bad; the weather the rest of our stay in South Korea hit something different though.

Looking at the city’s skyline from our window, the sun was shining bright as it looked so warm and inviting outside but when I tell y’all that we did not want to leave our Airbnb because it was so cold, I mean that! Now, of course we did go out and about because who wouldn’t after literally flying for 24 hours to get there but the weather was very unforgiving. On our way to the temples, we came across a store renting out Hanboks (traditional Korean dresses). It was then that I decided to wear a leather combo skirt and jacket with fishnet stockings and biker boots so I was definitely freezing my butt off and was beyond grateful for the good man above because the Hanbok literally saved me that day.

One of the things that Tat wanted to do was to re-create a picnic at Haan River since it’s a pretty popular picnic spot on the Korean Dramas that she watches. We made our ramen at the convenient store on the river bought some hot coca and set out to find a park bench. It was such a beautiful scene but I swear it felt like -10 degrees outside so we were beyond excited when we found a park bench dead-smack in the sun. No sooner than we started in on our meal the sun had already shifted a couple of park benches down and we were left in the freezing dark shade. I was so ready to go, I have never swallowed a pack of Ramen Noodles so fast in my life. We couldn’t be happier that the city buses in Seoul were blasting the heat.

Later that we had on the itinerary to go to the Seoul Lantern Festival on the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Now y’all know that anywhere there is a flowing body of water, the weather is about to be extra crisp so when it came time, I did not want to go but I didn’t want to miss out either so I had to bite the bullet. It was cold as ice walking outside and even colder down by the stream, OMG I wanted to cry. Tat had bought some fur-lined sweatpants and man at that point, I was wishing that I would have followed suit.

Long story short, we really enjoyed our time in Seoul however, the weather was almost unbearable mainly because we did not pack accordingly. The weather in Seoul definitely is on the colder side of any degree. We swore that we’d never return to South Korea in November but the truth is, we would, we would just pack accordingly as we never ever want to experience another Seoul so cold.