THE OLYMPICS. The frickin Olympics. I am a lucky duck who got the opportunity to attend an Olympic Speed Skating event.

I attended Opening Weekend so if you’re just curious:

Getting there
I took the train from my town to Seoul Station (Approximately 45 minutes by train) where I hopped on the Korean Train Express, or KTX, for Gangneung Station, which is the final stop for the three Olympic stations. The ticket cost 35,000 won (about $32USD) one way, but it was about 2 hours and the accommodations were very comfortable.

Upon Arrival
Once we got to the station, we were met with Souvenir shops and activities occurring before we even reached the Olympic site. We had some time before our event, so we stopped into the K-Mall right outside Gangneung Station out of pure curiosity. We were greeted by shops of electronics, beauty products, food, tea, all native to South Korea. We were also able to witness a cultural performance inside the “Mall” as well.

Event time
We opted to walk to the Olympic village since it was only 2000m and the scenery was nice. It took us about 15 minutes to arrive. Once we got there, we were able to walk right in with our tickets purchased through the English Olympic ticketing App (“PyeongChang Tickets”). There is also another helpful app called “PyeongChang 2018 Official App” that lets you know the weather, medal updates and more.

Inside the Village
The village was packed with more than I could imagine. Samsung Virtual Reality experiences, Hyundai and Kia showrooms, one of the coolest McDonalds I’ve ever seen, a CokePlay exhibition and much more. A parade occurred right before the event began as well! I was blown away!

Food accommodations
The counter service restaurant offered Western, Korean and Noodles. I ordered Korean Bimbimbap and my boyfriend ordered the Bulgogi with rice. Both were only around 8,000-10,000 won, but the service was a long wait. We ate around 2pm and the whole experience probably took us around 45 minutes at the minimum.

Blessed
Obviously the actual event was super fun to watch, but I didn’t get many photos–just a few videos because I was trying to just enjoy the event and live in the moment.

Overall, I was in awe the entire day at the experience I was getting. If you ever get the opportunity to attend the Olympics, I strongly urge you to do so! This was a once in a lifetime deal for me and I will always cherish it. Ps. U-S-A! Thanks for reading xoxo