A Birthday Of Epic Proportions - Party One!!

Thursday I decided to get an early start to the day because I was heading into Seoul to go to Costco. I need the essentials of cheese, whole wheat bread, bagels, dill pickles and Cheerios. I didn't want to buy too much stuff because I was by myself and I had to lug it all the way back to Incheon on the train and then a bus. Costco didn't me very long, it's always getting there and back that takes forever. Thursday night I had another Korean lesson with my friend and he brought his other friend along. It ended up turning into a soju drinking lesson that involved a bit of Korean speaking, but not enough to consider it a lesson. We hung out for quite a bit together and Nicole eventually joined us for the drinking activities as well. Good thing I had no school on Friday because we didn't turn in until around 6:00 a.m. I took advantage of Friday and slept in because I could. Then I met up with Holly and we went to see the movie, Marley and Me. It was a really good movie with some very tear jerker moments. After the movie we headed back to her place and started making a GIANT puzzle. Then Damien, Tracy, Holly and I headed for some galbi and then we hit up the noraebang because it is the thing to do in Korea. Saturday I headed into Seoul to meet Rudy in Gangnam for my pre-birthday party celebrations. She booked as a hotel room at the beautiful Park Hyatt Seoul that cost more money than I'm going to tell you on this blog. She had a bottle of wine waiting for us when I showed up and we just chilled out. We took advantage of the hot tub and steam room that are located in the privacy of the woman's locker room.

Me chilling in the extremely hot, but absolutely amazing hot tub. Me relaxing on the king size bed with Egyptian cotton sheets. I was on cloud 9.It was like sleeping on clouds. We had an amazing view of the city from our room.

We headed to Coex mall, which was right across the street from the hotel, so Rudy could buy an outfit for the evening and so I could get my nails done. We ended up getting delayed at Coex mall, so we had to rush back to the hotel and change and get ready so fast because I had dinner reservations for 8:00 p.m. in Itaewon. Rudy and I ended up being about 30 minutes late for my birthday dinner because the taxi driver we had took us the long way to Itaewon, so it took us an extra 20 minutes to get there. We were so mad and Rudy even talked to him about it. He just wanted to get more money out of us. I felt bad for being late to my own dinner, but s**t happens.

Rudy and I at Ola Mario Italian Restaurant, where the food is delicious. All of my friends (mostly from Incheon) that came out to my birthday dinner. Holly, Tracy and I at my birthday dinner.

After the dinner Rudy and I met up with Tiffany, Carmela and Chris and we headed into Hongdae to get the real party started. We started at Ho Bar 1 where we danced to K-pop songs, drank some beers, ate some food and I enjoyed my birthday cake Carmela bought for me.

Me with my birthday cake that I waited until the stroke of midnight to blow out the candles and make my birthday wish. The friends that came out to Hongdae with me to celebrate and party. Tiffany, Carmela, Chris, Marco and Rudy (the photographer). A night out in Korea would never be complete without busting a move to K-pop songs, as the three of us did... Me and my girls that came out and stayed out all night to ensure my birthday was perfect...and...it was.

Once we had enough of Ho Bar 1, Marco introduced us to this new club in Hongdae that none of us had been to before. It was called Q-vo and it played only hip hop music, which is perfect for me and the best kind to dance to. It was packed and we were literally moving around like sardines, so we weren't moving at all. We found ourselves a comfortable, unpacked place on the stage and danced the night away. Tiffany, Carmela and Chris around 4:00 a.m., but Rudy and I were still good to go, so we danced until the club closed. The best part of the night was when they played K-pop songs for the last hour the club was opened. I mean, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!! Rudy, Marco and I headed back to the hotel in Gangnam around 6:30 a.m. when Hongdae starts to shut down for the night/morning :)