I spent a few days across the span of a week roaming around Baltimore City.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

Ever since I studied abroad in South Korea in the summer of 2024, I’ve been trying to write blog posts for the little things I do, even if it’s going across town for a fun little day. When I was studying abroad in Busan my Korean teacher would show us these Naver (a Korean search engine) blogs random people would make documenting visiting parks or bakeries, and I loved that energy.

I think the Internet is a cluttered place, so even if no one reads this at the end of the day, it’s a cute little time capsule for as long as we have electricity—or my credit card stops paying for this domain. In other news, I grew up in Baltimore County, but I was raised on the slop that Baltimore was a dangerous place.

My father was a taxi driver in Baltimore during the 1990s and had some wild stories, while my mother has a panic attack whenever she thinks of having to drive there. So we never spent any time in the city beyond school field trips or side excursions.

As I grew older and eventually moved back home from New York City, I decided I wanted to explore the city more and see its vibrant life and culture. I believe in Baltimore. I really do. It’s a place I want to grow old in and see thrive in the near future.

This blog post takes place over the span of a day few days in a singular week. I kept going in to hang out with friends and whatnot, which led to some fun advetures.

Let’s get into what we did!

Day 1: Baltimore Museum of Art and Iranian-style kabobs.

My first endeavor in the city during this week was actually with my sister and parents. I had sent my sister an event the Korean Cultural Center DC was putting on at the Baltimore Museum of Art, then my parents wanted to join because they wanted to eat Iranian food.

So we all piled into the car and went to the BMA. As I wrote before I grew up here and love art museums, but I had never been to the BMA. We watched the Korean performance out on the steps, which was samulnori (look it up!), then headed through the museum.

The BMA is thoughtfully curated, although its strengths tend to lie in the collections that come from Maryland. It also does European art very well. Its other collections, such as Asian art, were a bit weak, but I was unsurprised by that.

We spent about two hours in the museum then headed back into the county, to Pikesville, where my father wanted to eat Moby Dick. It’s a casual Iranian food spot where you can kabobs and sometimes some stews. I usually get the koobideh and chicken kabob, which tends to be a solid combo overall.

After that we headed home and I prepared for the workweek and what was to come the next weekend.

The AWP Writer’s Conference, Maiwand Grill, and a show at the France Merrick Performing Arts Center.

Saturday rolled around and it was time for the AWP Writers’ Conference. My friend and I tend to go to this conference whenever it’s in a convenient location for us, and this was the third time we were attending. Thank god the Saturday pass was only $25, as we literally only wanted to go to the bookfair.

So we took the light rail down to the convention center then hit up the book fair. It was massive this year and I ended up spending around $88 in books while I was there, but I did end up with nine books and poetry collections. I think that was a pretty sweet deal.

We took a break in the middle to walk to Maiwand Grill, an Afghan spot I had my eye on. I ordered the malai chicken while my friend got the chicken and beef combo. Both came with fresh naan, rice, and a side salad, which was insane considering how cheap the food was. It was also incredibly delicious!

We finished eating and headed back to the bookfair. Then I met my other friend outside the convention center and we headed to Jerk at Nite, a Jamaican spot right across from the Hippodrome. We got mai tais, plantains, coco bread, and french fries—all hit the spot. I’d go back there again to eat.

When the time came we wandered across the street to see Iron Crow Theatre’s Next to Normal, which was splendid. I liked it a lot! I crashed out at 11 PM once we got home as the next day was another long one.

Day 3: Inner Harbor, Brunch at Miss Shirley’s, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Johns Hopkins Campus

I headed into the city again the next day on a Lyft to meet up with other friends who had come in from out of town. I had not seen any of them for seven years up until this point, which was a pleasant surprise considering we had all last been in Iowa City together at the International Writing Program.

They were running late, so my other friend and I met up in Inner Harbor. I was taking pictures before she came, so when she arrived we just kind of wandered around and chatted about life and what was up with us.

We met up with the rest of our other friends at Miss Shirley’s for brunch, which was a 40 minute wait at 12:30 PM. We yapped about life, politics, and art until the place closed, then our friend, who drove, took us to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

We spent some time in there before it closed, then dropped our friend off at Penn Station. To round off the time together, the rest of us went to the Hopkins campus to see what it was like. I had never been there, so I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the campus and how serene it was—considering it’s in the middle of Baltimore City.

Then my friends dropped me off for the final part of my night!

Day 3, part 2: No Land Beyond (the perfect board game bar!) and Kong Pocha

They left me off at No Land Beyond, where I was meeting with other friends to play board games. It’s a board game bar not too far from the Hopkins campus. You pay a $5 fee to use the games, then can order food and drinks. There’s a lot of room and over 300 games to choose from.

My friend and I arrived an hour before our other friends, so we ordered food and drinks at the bar then picked out a game to play. I will say the tater tots at this place are genuinely some of the best I’ve ever had. I got the kimchi ones and they were absolutely delicious.

My friend was three drinks deep and eating her hot dog when our other friends showed up. We spent about two and a half hours in there just ordering food and playing games, and once it was about time for No Land Beyond to close, we walked around the corner to Kong Pocha.

Kong reminded me exactly of the ones that you would go to in Korea, the smell included. I liked it a lot in there, although I don’t know if I would order the fried chicken again if we’re being honest. I would try their other food next time.

We spent another hour and a half in there talking and eating, then it was time to end the night yet again. I’m grateful to have spent so much time with my family and friends, and it was really fun doing so much.

Does my wallet hurt a little? Yes, but I could afford it and had a lot fo fun. Definitely some core memories made here.

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