Rohan Khetan
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Seoul, On Our Own

July 30, 2026 · 3 min read
Rohan Khetan and his sister wearing hanboks at a palace in Seoul

Welcome back!
In my last blog entry, I wrote about my trip to South Korea for the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), where I presented my research paper on detecting political bias in LLMs. But this post isn’t about ICML…

I went to Korea with just my sister—no parents. That alone made the experience different. Although I missed my parents and my nice, cozy room at times, I also had a lot more independence and had to be more responsible.
The trip was overall fun and memorable. We had a great mix of experiencing traditional Korean culture and exploring the city.

Myeongdong

One of my favorite parts of the trip was walking through the streets of Myeongdong. Many people consider Myeongdong the Times Square of Seoul, and the description was pretty spot on. We went twice—once during the day and once at night—and I honestly couldn’t tell you which was better. At night, the streets felt so vibrant, with food stalls everywhere and colorful lights filling the city. During the day, you could really take your time exploring the shops and wandering wherever you felt like going. We entered Myeongdong empty-handed and left with bags full of skincare products and clothes.

Myeongdong shopping street in Seoul during the day Myeongdong shopping street in Seoul lit up at night Skincare haul from Myeongdong Street food stall in Myeongdong

Designing Our Own Journals

One much calmer activity, on the other hand, was designing and creating our own journals. The shop was inside a mall, and walking in felt like entering a time freeze, where six hours somehow felt like six minutes. We spent almost the entire day deciding on the cover, the type of paper that looked and felt best, and, most importantly, what letters should go on the front of our journals.

Finished custom journal from Seoul Starfield mall in Seoul Inside Starfield mall in Seoul

Hanboks at the Palace

Lastly, one of the best experiences, also sweaty 😅, was renting hanboks (traditional Korean clothing) and visiting a palace in Seoul. The palace had been restored in the 20th century and was beautiful to walk through. We didn’t stay for very long, though. The summer heat was just too much to handle, especially while wearing the heavy hanboks.

Wearing hanboks at a palace in Seoul Portrait in a hanbok in Seoul Traditional Korean architecture at the palace

Overall, the trip was an amazing experience. I loved learning more about Korean culture, exploring the city, and making memories with my sister. I would definitely love to come back in the future!