Mya Kwiatkowski, TEAN: Korea University Spring 2024
South Korea is a great place to find some delicious food. As a student of Korea
University through the Pitt-Recognized TEAN program, we were not opted into a meal plan, as it is customary to eat out for your meals. In the beginning of my semester, I was unsure of how much that would cost me. I quickly found out that the food is very affordable and so, the hunt to try as many different restaurants near campus commenced! In the Anam area, where my campus is located in Seoul, there is a great variety of Korean, internation, and fusion cuisine. In the beginning, I stuck with trying different staple Korean dishes, like tteokbokki, soft tofu stew, korean barbecue, kimchi fried rice, bibimbap, japchae, pork belly, kimbap, cold noodles, jjimdak, bingsu, and many more. I personally love spicy food, so I never shied away from anything with gochujang (red chili paste). There are quite a lot of different international restaurants as well that I found I frequented more often as the semester progressed. From Vietnamese pho and bánh mì, to Japanese traditional ramen, udon, and tonkatsu, and Indian chicken tikka masala with naan, as well as Western dishes like pastas, burgers, and pizza—it was so refreshing to have such a diverse array of foods to choose from every evening for dinner.
Lunch for my friends and I usually stayed on campus. Korea University has a nice selection of places to choose from that all have different types of food—Japanese noodles, Korean bibimbap, and Western chicken sandwiches. Convenience store food is also a great way to get a meal in if the crazy busy lunch rush of Korea gets in the way or you just need a pick-me-up in the morning. Korean convenience stores take ‘convenience’ literally—you can find anything at a CU, GS25, or 7-Eleven. I did not expect food to be such a big part of my study abroad experience. I did not realize just how plain my palate was before I was presented with the opportunity to try everything, as it was such a close walk from my campus and dorm. In such a big and bustling city, the foods definitely accurately reflect it—food comes out fast, fresh, and delicious. Depending on what dish, portion sizes can come out huge so as to be shared with the people you eat with, which I think is a beautiful reflection of this culture as well.
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