Bargaining Success!

If you want to buy clothing the best places to go are the "shi-jangs." because you can bargain anything! They have them mostly in Dongdaemun and Namdaemun. On Saturday, I went to Dongdaemun to the "Hello aPM" building. There are about 6 floors of clothes for men/women, jewelry, hair accessories, shoes, and bags. I really needed a large bag to fit my laptop and books and so I picked out this blue side bag that also converts into a shoulder bag. I kept looking at it and the girl said it's normally 55,000 won but since it was slow today, she'll give it to me for 45,000. She went down to 40,000 after a while and finally I asked her to give it to me for 35,000 won.

Now I would say that is a shopping success! Obviously she knew I was foreign too. So don't be scared to bargain. Only places you can't bargain are obviously the stores. But other than that carry around cash and try to break a deal!

Also, a huge fashion difference from Seoul and from California is that everyone here LOVES to dress up..especially, alot of college student girls. I realized Seoul reminds me of New York. Girls here will wear heels all day even when they have no cars and have to walk and use public transportation. I see a lot of girls here wearing blazers/coats too so they always look dressed up. It's so different because in Cali, I would only wear heels at night when I would go out. But here, they where them ALL day. I can't wear jeans and a hooded sweatshirt without feeling somewhat awkward.

And no joke....shopping here is NOT cheap. I could find good, quality clothes on sale in the US but I feel like clothes here start at about $30ish and average to $40ish for a top but if you go to a somewhat nicer store they will start at $50 for a nice top. I would NOT buy a $40 shirt that I could easily get for $20 at Forever 21 or on sale at Nordys. So bring your clothes...shopping for clothes here is not that great. If you want to blend in with the crowd, bring enough of your "nicer" clothes that are somewhat dressy. And a few casuals.