Day 32: more 연고전 / Yonkojeon!

Today was the second day of 연고전 (Yonkojeon) and the day of the rugby and soccer match between our school and Korea University.

Baseball and ice hockey had been my priorities but I was interested in going to the other games as well just for the sake of enjoying the 'festival'.

Celine had also been a bit interested in the rugby match but we woke up too late today to make it all the way there in time.
Thinking soccer was still a possibility later in the day (I tried persuading Celine to go with me), we had lunch with Wonjun at the cafeteria on campus. I had this lasagna~

As we were eating, Wonjun told me that the Danish guy in our mentor group, Frederik, had gone to watch the soccer game and that I could join. But having no sim card here, there was no way I'd be able to find him in the huge crowd in case there wasn't wifi at the stadium, so I ended up not going..ㅠㅠ

Although we couldn't participate in the games today, we still showed school spirit by wearing the Yonsei shirts we'd bought yesterday! Seeing as today was a day off, we decided to spend it productively by buying some things we needed and also to check out the area between Yonsei and Ewha a bit more. We started out in Sinchon where we noticed a bunch of Yonsei propaganda banners and also some people putting up a stage. It looked like something related to 연고전 (Yonkojeon)! I was definitely going back here later to check it out!
Close to the stage was a banner saying: "고대 5패 실화냐?" (Korea Uni, 5 loses in a row? Is this for real?).

There was also what seemed to be a handicrafts market going on today!

 "빨간 맛 안궁금해 허니~" (Don't you ever wonder what red tastes like, honey~)

We saw a small tent where they were showing how to make 떡 (ddeok = rice cake) the traditional way. We didn't watch long as more and more people came and walked in front of us, blocking our view.

More banners!

"북두칠성 빛나는 밤에 하늘을 봐 우리곁을 비춰줄거야" (Look at the sky, that is lit by the Big Dipper, it'll illuminate us)

"연대 승리 내 마음속에 저장~" (I'll save Yonsei's victory in my mind)

"연세는 거품이지 '언빌리 버플'" (Yonsei is unbeliebubble = Korean pun)

"연고전 주인공은 나야나~" (Refers to the song Pick Me from PRODUCE 101, apparently)

As we got to the area between Yonsei and Ewha, we saw a stand serving sugar cane juice, sausages, and egg on bread, which is a common food stand food here.

We got to observe the lady working there making the juice by leading the sugar canes through a machine to extract the juice. I was very satisfying to watch.

We found a big foot in the pavement!

After having bought what we needed, we walked back to the main street in Sinchon so I could get an update on the scene they were putting up. If we were going to celebrate something today, I for sure wanted to be there!

We noticed a big gathering of people and, as we walked closer, saw that we had walked right into a K-pop festival. That explained the people in alternative colorful clothes that we'd seen walk around earlier that day.

There was a host, who presented all the individual groups and solo performers. The guys above danced to what sounded like a dramatic film OST and afterwards Taemin's Goodbye. The light breeze made their tattered clothes look fantastic!

We also saw a girl group dance to BLACKPINK's As if is your last.
They were followed by an alternative solo performer, who had put together a bunch of songs to make his own mix.

Some days ago when I went down to Sinchon alone in the night, I saw a guy on a wheel just driving around. I told Celine about this and look what we saw on our way back to the dorm! It looked so futuristic! I have no idea how it works or how he could stand upright but wish I could try it too on day!

Enjoying the weather and this rather slow day, we walked slowly through campus, enjoying the school spirit as we went.

We also found yet another chance to create Wonjun's name (원준) and send a picture of it to him!

Back at our dorm, I asked Wonjun about the scene we'd seen earlier.

He told me that there was going to be something called "기차놀이" (kichanori = traingame/play), where people would 'make a line like a train and drink soju all night,' since we won 연고전!

Oh yea. Our school won all five sports matches against Korea University!

Celine and I spent the time leading up to dinner at our dorm relaxing and trying out the things we'd bought today. I'm in love with the eye shadow we bought in Etude House. It's so sparkly and cute!

Time passed and it was time for us to go down to Sinchon and find food.

We saw big groups of people sitting in circles on the road and pavement, drinking and eating.

And, near the main street, we were met with a massive amount of people and students from both schools. Loud music was playing, people wore temporary tattoos and red and blue clothes, and free beer was being handed out.

We initially passed all this in our search for food and went up the road only to discover... a train of people like Wonjun had said.

Korea and Yonsei students were completely mixed. It didn't matter who had won the games because tonight EVERYONE was partying and celebrating!

At this point we gave up trying to find food in this direction and instead turned our heads toward the main road once again.

Back at the hite tent, we claimed our free beer and also a helium balloon for Celine. For some reason you had to get two free, temporary tattoos before they'd give you a balloon so we sacrificed our thighs and got her a balloon. It was very important for her since she'd never tried inhaling helium and really wanted to.


Still having no idea where or what to eat, we found ourselves moving closer to the scene we'd seen earlier today.

Standing on the scene were some of the guys, who had been singing at the games and also the band.

The atmosphere near the scene (and all the way down the road) was amazing! Everyone were so happy and jumping around. It was adorable to see all the helium balloons bounce whenever whoever were holding them jumped.

The basketball team was invited onto the scene and had their own little dance party accompanied by the cheering of the crowd.

The cheerleaders stepped onto the scene and the singing broke out! We sang the songs that had been played at the games and all danced together.

Celine's legs were starting to hurt so we hurried away and towards one of the smaller side roads to look for a place that she and Johanne had eaten at the other night. Things were a bit more quiet here but there were still a lot of people!

We found the restaurant but outside it was a huge group of students waiting to get in and we figured that there wouldn't be space for us as well.

So back we went past the main road and onto one of the other side streets~

Here we found a place that wasn't crowded at all! We were actually the only people there except two girls, who left not long after we came.

It's important to document all the delicious food we eat!

As we finished eating and made our way back to the street, the party was still going! The music was on and even at the very back people joined in on the singing.

It was an actual party in the streets! People had grouped up in big circles and were singing and dancing together - even after the music ended!

Even on campus there were several groups of people gathered.

The biggest group we saw was sitting near the stairs we had to take on our way to the dorm and as we made our way up, I heard singing and turned around to find that a few of them had gotten up and were not imitating the cheering we'd seen on the scene.

It was a great day!

Also, thanks to my friend Jake for helping with the translation of the banners!