Small World

An interesting thing happened in Seoul's Hongdae neighborhood one crisp fall day. After arriving and grabbing some delicious Mexican cuisine, our group found ourselves with some time to burn before hitting up the Halloween festivities later that night. We weren't very interested in doing something super touristy that day, so we thought we would hangout in the neighborhood and try and find a museum of some kind.

We ended up having a delightful afternoon at Hongdae's Free Market checking out musicians, artists, and caricatures; most of them students at the adjacent Hongik University. After making all of our final purchases, we started off again. I was still kind of hoping for a museum visit and we happened to spot that Hongik University (Korea's premier art school) was having an open campus weekend for anyone who would like to see the school. What luck?!

It was great to be back on a college campus. I missed the vibe. Unfortunately, our first attempt to visit a campus museum was a bust. It was closed...but, that didn't stop us from riding the elevator all the way to the top to check out the beautiful view. The streets are quite confusing on the ground and I found no clarity in the air either. I think Seoul will always remain slightly mind boggling, regardless of how long I live here.

We returned to the first floor, grabbed some coffee, and continued to walk the campus. The leaves were bright and everywhere - perfect for running through and kicking up. We saw a slew of art banners advertising various museum shows and installations. Intrigued, we went inside a very large building with a giant spiral staircase right in the middle of the lobby. I set my sights on the printmaking expo flyer, but was a bit lost on where to go. An older gentleman in a nice suit walked through the lobby and spotted my confusion.

He led us to the elevators and took us to the fourth floor. I couldn't believe our luck. He was  so welcoming and going out of his way to help us. When we arrived at the gallery, we all noticed that the student workers bowed very low to our guide. Clearly, this man was important. He continued to lead us and showed us where to find the Chinese student work, the Korean student work, and lastly the staff works - noting that we could see his work as well.

Kim Seung Yeon is the head of the Print Making Department at Hongik University,
and a world renowned print maker...


Night Landscape by Kim Seung Yeon

Mr. Kim then showed us around and talked to us more about the United States and where we were from. After learning that two of my friends were from Kansas, Mr. Kim went on to explain the printmaking exchange program they have with that university. They replied, "Oh yes! We have a friend who did that program. Do you know Dana...?"

"Oh yes! I do. She was great!"

It's a smaller world than I thought,
-Bets