After spending my first two weeks in Korea locked in my apartment, I was so ready to get out and explore, even if I didn't explore far. The first thing I wanted to do was get familiar with my surroundings. I wanted to explore the area around my school and my apartment. For two weeks I had no idea what Ulsan, Korea looked like except for the very mediocre view from my window.
All I knew about Ulsan before moving to Korea was what I had Googled about it. My first choice, like every other newcomer, had been Seoul of course. My school had made a deal with me to start in Ulsan for three months and then move to Seoul when they opened a new branch. That deal ended up being an empty promise, but I grew to love Ulsan more than I could have ever expected.
Ulsan is on the south-east coast of Korea. It is about an hour bus ride from Busan, which is the second largest city in Korea. Ulsan is known as the home of Hyundai and "Korea's Industrial Capital." It is has the world's largest shipyard and world's largest automobile assembly plant. You can read more about the industries in Ulsan here.
One of my first stops was 7/11, where I loaded up on snacks. I knew nothing about Korean snacks, so I just grabbed whatever looked interesting to me. My favorite things ended up being the jerky and the crab. They have all kinds of jerky in Korea, including seafood like squid, and as a jerky-lover I was excited by the cheaper prices and variety. Convenience stores also have artificial crab prepackaged, which I love to have as a snack. Eventually I discovered my favorite snack, which is 초코송이, little cookies shaped like mushrooms with a chocolate top.
Across the major road by my apartment was Ulsan Up Square Mall, where I had my first meal outside of my apartment. My coworker and I went to a revolving sushi place where we loaded up on plate after plate. I also was excited to discover the bookstore on the basement floor and stocked up on some books in English and Korean language-learning materials. Between this mall and Hyundai Department Store are lots of cafes, shops, and restaurants. All of these places were a quick five to ten minute walk from my work, which meant I had choices for lunch ranging from Burger King to Italian. I worked at the Lotte Department store, right across the other main road.
I had never had so many options so close to me. The closest indoor mall growing up was about a twenty minute drive, and the outdoor one was a fifteen minute drive. In Ulsan, I had a mall and two department stores within roughly a fifteen minute walk from my apartment. When I wanted to explore a little farther out, it was extremely easy to get a taxi using the KakaoT app.
Most of my exploring was done around Nam-gu, which was the district of Ulsan where I lived and worked. I would wander on my days off to new areas I hadn't been before and discover so many hidden gems. I found murals, sculptures, traditional buildings, markets, and so much more. In one direction was a farmer's market with fruits and vegetables next to a fish market. In another direction was a park along the river with outdoor gyms and bike lanes. I rode the Ferris wheel, went to the beach at four in the morning, and had my first taste of Korean street food. There was so much of Ulsan that I didn't get to explore, even after spending seven months there.
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