Seoul Searching

I woke up early today either because I was nervous or just restless. It’s different waking up alone then knowing someone in your home is there. Although I felt like I’ve adjusted, I miss home so much, I usually skype in my free time, once in the morning and once at night. However, it is not just me because my family and friends reach out to me. Thanks for those who got Kakao!! I figured out how to make my laptop a wifi hotspot with the ethernet cable, so it’ll be easier to communicate when I am in my dorm! The power of google haha. So while I skyped, I made my expensive peanut butter sandwich and drank a lot of water. My appetite is really weird here, so I just try to eat. My back and my neck still feel uncomfortable, meaning I have some sort of hidden stress. I need to go to a spa or get a massage or something. Aigoo~ It helps being here when the girls I’ve met are super nice and awesome and helpful. Anyways, it is monsoon season, meaning that the whole week, and maybe most of these two months is full of rain and strong winds. Once again, similar to Hong Kong! But even though HK and Korea are similar in many ways, everything just feels different. The rain is on and off, so you never know when it rains. The winds are really strong though, so even if you have an umbrella, you can still get drenched. Luckily, today I was able to dodge the strong rain. One of the girls has been here for a semester already, so we didn’t even exit the building to go to class!

After breakfast and a long time of skyping, we went out to lunch. I had curry tonkatsu while my friend had kimchi bogeumbap and chicken bogeumbap. If you are Korean and reading this, forgive my romanization because I am just spelling the way I am hearing the words. My katsu was soo good! All the food here is filling for pretty cheap, so food is one thing you don’t need to worry much about when coming to Korea ^^. I think that the only thing to worry about when coming here is the plane tickets, because cheap living can be found by going to hostels. They are not like the movie Hostel in Europe O_O;;. They have been used by many students who come to study, so they are not much to worry about and can easily be found. When we were stopping by the dorms, I found out that in the International House ( I am in the SK global house) where they use communal bathrooms, they need to discard all toilet paper and trash into the waste basket! I thought that was so crazy! I don’t know if I would be able to handle that, so I do feel kind of lucky to have my own room and bathroom. My first class was about the Korean Hallyu wave, but mostly just introduction. I felt that it would be nice, but after lunch I was just so sleepy. I also haven’t been used to lectures in a while again, so I hope I can start waking up! My professor loves YG entertainment and I thought that it was cool haha. I’m currently listening to a random kpop mix list, hopefully to get me back into my Korean insanity phase mwuahahaha! Next class was Korean, but today was just the placement, and of course since I have been taught nothing, I didn’t have to take it ^^. So we just waited for those who did take the test to come out and then had dinner.

The place that we had dinner had galbi (grilled meat). One thing that I learned was that with certain things, they do not like it when people share or not everyone is eating (even though the place may be empty). Two of our friends had to leave, but they went to shop and waited for us to head back to the dorms. The guy there was really grumpy and my friend said that he probably hates his life, but you guys should’ve seen his face and attitude! We got the Yoogane (restaurant name) Marinated Galbi, and it was pretty tasty. The others got the super spicy one and it was just very hot! The dinner was good and for all that meat, it was about 7,500 won (FOR DINNER WHICH IS WAY CHEAP COMPARED TO NYC). We headed back to the dorms, but I didn’t want to retire so early. One of my friends and I decided to have tea and maybe have a little snack, so we met up after resting for ~1hr. We went back to the Cafe (Cafe Arvo) and had cheesecake and lavendar tea. Everything was good as usual and inexpensive. Koreans like to have tea or coffee and just sit in the cafes, even to do their work. If I could find a cheap cafe like this in NYC, I would do it to, but its like impossible. Seoul is just relaxing and super adorable. I would definitely comeback here again just to relax and do everyday things, or maybe even sightsee again when I visit again. We just chatted about things back home and just drank the tea and ate the cake. It was nice. Some things that you feel are just hard to explain. One more day and it’s a week! Time does fly!

Something I have learned from living alone is the burden of my trash, my hair all over the floor, and doing laundry. Haha, well the trash and the laundry is because I don’t want people to see me separating my trash because we have to throw it in a communal room where the different bins are located. The laundry is done in a laundry room, and I don’t mind washing my clothes at home because its my home, but  I just feel awkard doing it in there. I have rarely in NYC ever done my laundry at a laundromat. The worst is my hair all over the floor!!!!! I shed like a dog, and like it is just turning into a hairball! Food is also a hassle because I don’t cook, nor do I really want to cook here, so I always eat out. Luckily it’s cheaper here. One other odd thing that I noticed here is that my picture habits have changed haha. I try to be more cute with the peace sign and stuff. Idk, it just naturally occurs now, and we joke about it, but its real!

Advice:-Bring a sturdy umbrella if you plan to come during July~August. It is the hottest and most rainy season!
-Bring your own rainboots, especially if you are a larger size. It is already hard to find 8, and anything above is almost impossible. To find a good pair, the price can range, so if you already have a pair at home, bring it. Otherwise, wear shoes that dry easy or that are open . I use my croc flats since I decided not to bring my croc boots. I thought it would be hot when it rained, but it is actually very cool and cold, because the winds are strong and the rain is cold. I guess, also bring some warmer clothing for the colder rainy days.
-If you get sick easily, the weather changes may mess you up, so take a lot of vitamin c and other supplements to boost your immune system. Don’t forget to bring medicine!
-Relax~! Your flight is forever and you are in a new land, so of course you will be stressed. There are many cafes and teashops around, so just sit down and talk with a group of people! Like the sites I have uploaded, there are many activities where not much thinking is needed. Sit down and put your feet in a stream, listen to music, live laugh & love~

Pictures:

Aigoo~ No more space to upload photos, so I am using tinypic D: so I maybe uploading less or taking longer to upload 🙁 sorry guyssssss~