Day -20

Oh my word. Just the last few days were so stressful. Here's the story. Last week, I went to Wells Fargo and I paid for my housing fees by wiring the money to Yonsei's bank. The one thing that I noticed when I was filling out the form was that there were two bank account numbers. There was one in the Yonsei Guidebook and one from the housing website. I didn't know which one to use, so my teller (conveniently named Alex Yu) told me to just use the one from the Guidebook. He said that they probably had more than one account and that it would be okay. I agreed and I sent the wire out.

A few days had passed and my account on the housing website said that it was still unpaid. I asked a few friends who wired the money and they got a confirmation because they used the account number from the website. At this point, I was freaking out because I had just paid $1,300 and it was now missing. Worried, I called the housing office at I-House, which was less than helpful.

"Mr. Yee. You must pay to account 264-388501-18887 by July 30. I will send you email and you must pay."

"But I did pay! Can you check the other account?? T.T"

"Thank you." *click*

So what do I do when I start to panic? Call my dad of course. He always seems to know someone who can help me. He got his Korean friend to call them up and fix everything for me and within a couple of hours, my account said paid. Talk about culture shock before even entering the foreign country...

Today is the last day of July. Tomorrow marks the first day of August, which, I think, will probably be the most chaotic month of my life. I don't even know what I'm doing sitting around right now.

Day -22

Seoul is just one of many places I want to see in my lifetime. I truly don't think my life will be complete without seeing some of these places. As you can see, I like making lists of things.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Originally a Hindu temple. The architecture of this place is amazing when you look at it up close. All the walls have some sort of figure carved in to them.

Sydney, Australia

I love Australian accents. I think it's one of the better looking metropolises of the world.

The Great Wall of China

My roots, I guess. There's a place called the Hanging Temple that I want to see too. It's literally a temple that's built on the side of a cliff.

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

My sister went to Egypt last month and I'm pretty jealous about it. These, along with the Nile River would be amazing to see (while riding a camel too).

Somewhere in Africa to go on a real African Safari

Imagine being within striking distance of a cheetah. It's scary to think about, but how cool would it be to see everything in The Lion King up close and personal?

Italy

Italy > France, imo. A day feeling like gladiators at the Roman Colosseum and a romantic night down a canal in Venice. It's perfect!

Mt. Everest, Nepal

I don't want to climb it, but I want to see just how tall 29,000 feet really is.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Built by the Incas on top of a mountain ridge. I love climbing up large mountains and this one just looks breathtaking.

Petra, Jordan

The ancient city that's made out of a bunch of rocks. I don't know how they did THAT, but it's pretty awesome.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

How epic is Christ the Redeemer overlooking the entire city? I've wanted to go hang gliding over Rio since I was 11.

Potala Palace, Tibet

The palace that all the Dalai Lamas used to live in, until the current one left. I don't know what it is about me and mountains. I just love them.

Toronto, Canada

I've said before that I would live in this city if I could and I still do.

Day -35

I'm sorry. As I said before, this blog is supposed to be dedicated to me studying abroad in Korea for the year. I just realized that I never explained the reasons why I'm studying abroad. Sure, the Korean music and beautiful celebrities can account for much of my intent. That's probably the reason why I specifically chose to go to Korea. But most people seem to be scared silly at the idea of leaving for an entire school year. So why me? Why did I decide to, of all things, live in another country for almost a full year?

Here's how it all started. Back in November, I was pretty much set on going to Korea for summer 2010. At the time, it seemed like the perfect choice. I would be able to get away and have an exciting time (compared to last summer's borefest). The program was about 6 weeks, so I figured it would be a nice, long vacation even if I had to do school work. Perfect, right??

It wasn't until mi amigo Christina came back from the EAP meeting (I missed it) to tell me how amazing it would be to study in Korea for a year. This is how it went down.

"omg, I want to go to Korea for a year!!"

"lol k. Umm... I'm probably just gonna go for the summer."

"Yeah, there's more time to play and have fun. You could enjoy the city life, get internships at MTV and eat at food carts every night."

"orly??"

And that had me thinking the whole night. I sat in bed wondering, what if I really did go abroad for the entire school year? It was actually a scary thought at first. I didn't even consider it because I had the idea in the back of my mind that I needed to be at UCI or else I'd be behind. But then I thought again... "I'm a Sociology major! What in the world would I need to be at UCI for? And what in the world am I going to do here at UCI that'll be way more exciting than living in Seoul??"

If I've learned one thing since the beginning of my sophomore year, it's that love to constantly be in new settings. Sure, it's nice to settle in one place for a while. But eventually, I usually find myself bored. I haven't even left for Korea, but I think my decision to go for a year was the right one because I know I wouldn't be happy if I had to be at UCI for a third year in a row.

So the next step for me was to look at the requirements to go for a full year. It couldn't be too hard, right?

"o_____o"

Now if you knew me in freshman year, you'd know that I wasn't particularly fond of sitting in the library and studying for hours on end. I don't even remember even setting foot in the library during freshman year. Of course, this led me to have a measly GPA of 2.8. Sure, I was *sort of* close to the minimum requirement, but it was still not going to cut it. If that wasn't bad enough, it was halfway through the quarter and I already had mediocre grades on my midterms. It wasn't looking good for me, but the next day I sat myself down at the library and began an epic 5-6 week-long studying spree.

I don't think I had ever studied that much in my life before. But the more I studied, the more I wanted boost my GPA to even APPLY for EAP. It was a scary thought to know that all my hopes and dreams would be smashed into smithereens if I choked on an exam.

In the end, my grades were more than enough to raise my overall GPA. I applied. I was accepted. I was happy. Now I just have to get there.

And on top of that, all the library time during fall quarter changed my studying habits tremendously. Who knew?

Day -46

I need to post something to make it look like I post a lot. So keeping with the theme of my last post, for funsies I decided to make another short list of the Korean celebrities I need to see/stalk/kidnap.

1. Cha Tae Hyun

I have mad respect for this guy. He seems to be the go-to guy for roles of the unfortunate and physically abused. But he does it so well that you have to love him for it. He's a terrific actor. I especially loved his performance in 바보 where he played a mentally challenged man who would do anything to take care of his little sister. So amazing. <3

2. Sandara Park

Imo, she's probably the most useless member of 2NE1, but it doesn't matter because she's the prettiest and I'm shallow like that. When I first saw her, her freaky hair creeped me out so much. It's kind of hard to believe that she's 26 years old. She looks like a teenager sometimes. Her wardrobe consists mainly of baggy tshirts, hair accessories to make her about 3 feet taller, and this ensemble.

nom nom nom nom

3. Kwon Sang Woo & Luke Kwon

What could be better than a cute baby and his good looking father? Not much. Luke has inherited some amazing genes.

4. Ji Jin Hee (as Cho Jae Hee)

I admit that I don't enjoy Korean dramas as much as the next UCI robot, but The Man Who Can't Get Married had me hooked last summer. It had me laughing the whole way through and it was because of Ji Jin Hee's character as Cho Jae Hee, a childish 40 year old architect who refuses to get married because he's too stubborn, OCD and socially awkward. You just have to appreciate a hilar character like him.

What an expert.