Revisiting Sogang University And Sinchon!

The Sogang University campus in Seoul is one of my favorites: it's a convenient one-bus ride from Hannam-dong, it has great tennis courts (both hard and clay!) and most of my best friends in Seoul came from this catholic university! 

It is also a sister university of several Philippine universities like Ateneo de Manila, University of Santo Tomas and Saint Paul University (how come they call it 'sister' university, and not 'brother'? Ha-ha-ha!).

And one summer weekend, since I haven't been to Sogang-dae for more than a year, I asked my friend Andrew, a Sogang alumnus, to join me in revisiting our alma mater. Yes, our alma mater. Ha-ha-ha!  He finished his studies inside the Sogang classrooms, while I finished my matches on the Sogang tennis courts!

I decided to take the subway and not the bus (to avoid the traffic along Itaewon), and got off at the Daeheung Station of Line 6. This station is also known as the Sogang University Station as it's just a few meters from Exit 1.

A quick stroll along the main road (which actually leads to the Sinchon rotary - another interesting fun place!), and I was at the main entrance of Sogang!

This is the obelisk at the main entrance of the campus, which is called the Albatross. It welcomes everyone entering the campus.

While Andrew and I were standing around the Albatross and taking photographs, a Korean woman engaged us in a conversation. She said her son graduated from Sogang-dae, and he is now gainfully employed and successful in his own way. As she was talking to us (and although I could not understand most of what she said), I could sense pride in her voice in the way she was talking about her son.

We weren't able to ask why she was in the vicinity, but I guess she not only wanted to revisit Sogang University, but perhaps also to stand on the place where her son, years before, have been passing through every day in order to learn and arm himself with knowledge for the life ahead. She must have been celebrating his memories as well as his sacrifices.

And before Andrew started to tell his own stories and get misty eyed with his memories, I told him it was time to leave and get something to eat. 

I earlier suggested we look for that Takoya chicken restaurant.  A couple of years ago, my Tita Cecile told me about Takoya as this was where she and Tito Efren would go after they attended the Sunday mass said in English at Sogang's chapel.

I didn't know Takoya was that close. We only needed to cross the street. I should tell Tita Cecile I was able to find her favorite chicken restaurant in the area. They served several chicken menus which all looked yummy. So we just settled for the one that looked, well, the yummiest! Ha-ha-ha!

The place wasn't that spacious, although I think they have a few more tables at the basement level. 

And after filling ourselves with chicken wings and some other recognizable chicken anatomy, we decided to walk down to Sinchon rotary and hang out on a cafe where we can people-watch!

The Sinchon area is always full every night. Since it's close to two more universities, Yonsei University and Ewha Women's University, the crowd is usually young. Groups of friends and couples were all around the place drinking, having dinner and having a good time.

An iced cafe mocha, accompanied by Andrew's interesting stories (some of which I could not describe on this blog, lest I want a PG rating! Ha-ha-ha!), capped my visit to Sogang University today, which gave me an idea. 

Next time, it should be tennis at Sogang, a dinner in Sinchon, and perhaps, a beer after.