Whew~ enough of that..
Happy almost Valentines Day (better known as Single Awareness Day)~
Can you feel the love toni~ght?
In vein of that, I, a proud (not exactly, but at least comfortable) single, cannot avoid the slight tinge of loneliness as this much commercialized holiday approaches. I have tried in the past few weeks to meet various humans and join in the dating crowd through certain very reputable phone apps... and let's just say I've quickly given up on that recreation. I went to Seoul last week and found myself very much without any dates, and very much with a desire to continue studying Korean.
If you ever find yourself in such a situation, allow me to inform you of a wonderful type of cafe that is in Korea, STUDY CAFES! No more couples canoodling while you, very much alone, want to get something done. No silly laughter and jaunty music to disturb your productivity. These places are for serious folk who work as quietly as my university library during midterms to finals (aka the whole school year).
Well that is actually a huge exaggeration. I had read as much on other "travel blogs" (aka websites that exoticise Korean/foreign cultures to get more views and actually don't represent nor even slightly try to understand the country) before going and was surprised with how normal they actually were. These cafes still have friends and couples coming in together and chatting. There is no unspoken vow of silence. The music is more mellow so you can get work done. There is one key element in my opinions that makes a cafe a "study cafe": books.
(You may even hear the term book cafe instead of study cafe)
These cafes have lots of books. Which, really, is perfect for the solo cafe traveler and even cafe hopping with companions who appreciate occasional silience and literature.
After browsing a few websites, and reading about these "study cafes", I set out on Friday hoping to divide my time between two study cafes nearby the area I spent the night in, Hongdae.*
*Hongdae is in the northwest-ish area of Seoul, but nowhere near as far out as the airports, so it's comparably central. It is actually very near where I spent my first summer in Korea back in 2012 at Ewha University. If you remember~ that area was surrounded by universities and young people. Hongdae is next to yet another university and is where everyone goes to party. There's lots of hip places for young people not just during the evening but also throughout their day. There's a lively indie music scene and street dance performances that you can find in warmer months along all the side streets. And, of course, SO MANY CAFES.
(I'm trying to start giving credit when I can for all my random Google search image finds... so these Hongdae images are from these super awesome photographers, find them here and here ^^)
Back to the cafes~ I chose two different cafes to visit. Cafe Comma and Rabbit (Book) Cafe. (카페꼼마 and 토끼의 지혜)
First up, you guessed it, Cafe Comma!
There are actually multiple Cafe Commas in this part of Seoul. One is right next to Hongdae subway station, with a more utilitarian exterior, but spacious inside with many study-cubby desks. This cafe (the one I went to) is actually kinda closer to an different subway station, Sangsu, not Hongdae, but my hostel was between these subway stops and it wasn't much of a walk (to either one). I chose this one because I thought it would be less crowded.
The outside is decorated so well~ I love the stone work and trees.
The picture directly above can be found here along with a few more photos and info in Chinese. 如果你看得到汉语... (繁体字)
There are two levels inside this cafe. The first floor is where you order and has cute little round tables spaced out. Upstairs is where we get real comfy-looking with bigger tables. I have lots of papers and like to spread out when I study, so up the stairs I went.
This pretty white tree (OF GONDOR!) is on the wall as you go up the stairs...
AND I HAD THE PLACE TO MYSELF. Benefits of getting out earlyish (I got there closer to 11 o'clock... not that early) because in my last hour at the cafe, from around 12:30, the place started to get full. Well actually there was one other lady studying on the same couch before I arrived, and when she left I took these photos:
What's that in the distance? It sure looks like a lot of books...
OMG it is! (The above photo is by Hana Yi)
I had my own work to get done, so I didn't spend much time browsing their collection, but I really want to go back and see what else they have. It is mostly all books in Korean, divided by genre (the above photo shows the tiny Korean graphic novel (만화 manhwa) section).
This cafe is designed for customers to just browse and enjoy their books with coffee. If a customer enjoys the book, they can buy it as well! The cafe is actually run by a popular publishing company in Korea, and another benefit of coming early, you can get 50% off! As these books can get a lot of love, the discount is reasonable. ;)
The coffee itself isn't very cheap, but pretty standard for fancy cafes in Korea I think. Americano is just 4,500. Other coffee drinks in the 5,000s. Teas and juices in the 6,000s. And though I didn't try it, you can get a refill Americano (no matter what drink you originally pay for) for just 1,000.
All in all, a very cute cafe. Nice calm music (not like meditation calm, but like oh this song makes me smile, but not like bust out singing and dancing to the song... you know?) I'm just an introvert who prefers the feeling of having a place to myself, so I would definitely try to go early and not with the lunch crowd flow~
....
Next I mailed some packages and then went in search of my second cafe prey, Rabbit (Book) Cafe. When I looked at the maps earlier, it should only have been a block and a half or so from Cafe Comma. (again nearby Sangsu station).
But after rounding around and around the alleys of Hongdae, wasting all my data using navigation apps, I was confounded. The cafe was no where to be seen yet my phone said I was right on top of the cafe...
I finally did another search and found this blog: 토끼의 지혜 - 문 닫음
There was nothing about the Hongdae store at all last year. No news pages. No more blog reviews. Just this one blog (above), where the blogger had also heard good things about the cafe yet couldn't find it like myself.
Apparently, they closed last year. :(
Seriously, why wasn't there a sign? How do you know a cafe is closed or not? It's like when I got lost trying to find my internship in 2012... why don't they update the maps online? (I know Google maps is usless in Korea, but even Naver maps hadn't been updated!)
Now maybe their Gangnam branch is still open, but I rarely go there so... maybe we'll never know. The great mystery of the Rabbit cafe~~
As my afternoon plans were foiled, I went shopping at a pop-up Gap store and studied a bit in a Starbucks (bleh, boring right?)
If you want to try and find more book cafes, check out this blog! It's in Korean, and clearly hasn't been updated since Rabbit book cafe is on there... but it's what inspired me! I want to check out the others soon~~
Finally I'd like to end with this very interesting looking place in Seoul:
I would never be found in this place, but if you do go, good luck. American smell is not something to take lightly...
HAPPY SINGLE AWARENESS DAYYYYYYY~~~
Love,
Gabrielle Iamanindepedentwoman Walti
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