Day 64

One day can be amazing. The next can be heartbreaking. I don't know what else to say, but:

R.I.P. Goong Goong

<3,>

Day 60

So much has happened since last week. After so much piled up stress, I feel like more than a few weights have been lifted off of my shoulders. First, I finished all of my midterms in two consecutive days. It was really intense and I'm not exactly sure of how I did, but I was just happy to get through them and finish.

After my Korean midterm on Friday, I had my first meal in two days. I was super exhausted and napped for a while that night, until I ended up going to NB2 in 홍대 with Alex, Christine, Frank, Angie, Lily, Jimi and Misha. NB2 was sooo crowded and at times, the music was really bad. But at other times, they played 2NE1 and I was all over it. I couldn't contain my excitement over hearing their songs playing. Even Ke$ha was played, so I'd say it was a successful night.

The next morning, I was supposed to wake up at 9am to go to the G20 Concert, but I ended up leaving at around 3pm lol. The concert was at 잠실 stadium. We were pretty far back, but it was okay. There was nobody there that I was extremely excited to see. The ones who I did enjoy seeing were 4minute, Kara, Beast, BoA, Rain, etc. I fell asleep during the Taiwanese guy because I was so tired. Nothing much happened after the concert was over. We got back to 연세 and I knocked out from 5am to 4pm.

Sunday, I resolved all that happened from last week. After being Gretchen'd ("You can't sit with us!!") last week, I could finally think without having to worry about losing a friend. But if there's anything that I've learned in the past week, it's that I shouldn't have fallen into the same pattern, the same routine, with the same people. Being forced to stay away from the people I had seen every single day since my arrival in Korea, I was able to make new connections. And despite feeling like I had dug myself a hole, I pulled myself out. I feel like my life here will be different for the better.

Monday was like any normal day until dinner. I ate dinner with the original folks and we went to the place above Jessica's Kitchen (The restaurant does have a name, but I like to refer to it in regards to Jessica's Kitchen.) Dinner seemed normal until the lady at the table next to us offered us a bowl of rice. I thought it was really nice of her. She then proceeded to hand over another bowl of rice. And another. Next came the 파전 and a full 불고기 dinner! I couldn't believe it when she kept handing over stuff to us. She said she liked foreign students and we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Finally, she gave us 4 bottles of 막걸리! It was almost too good to be true. Her and her group asked us to sing for them, and we had no choice but to. They were so nice to us! It was the best meal I had eaten in Korea so far. :DDD

Last night, I got my hurr did along with Joon and Wayne. I swear the lady who cut my hair really loves to cut hair. She took so long and even after getting it washed, she cut some more. But she styled it very nice. I swear she didn't put wax in it. It was magic. Maybe it was just because she used a blowdryer on it, but I loved it. I'm sad that it'll probably never look like that again, but I can deal with it.

Later on, I bought a phone card and called my grandparents because it was my grandfather's birthday a couple of days ago. When I called, my mom answered the phone. She seemed surprised that I called and talked about Joey's winning film and their trip down to San Diego. I wish I could've been there, but I'm still very happy for him. I told my mom to let me say happy birthday to my grandfather, which I did, but barely got a response from. He can barely speak anymore. My family doesn't even take him outside anymore because it's too hard for him to move. I feel so sad for him. I know that things just happen and you can't change it, but it's a sad thought. I can't imagine what it feels like to basically feel trapped inside of your body. You can see and think clearly, but your body won't do what it tells you to. :(

The weather has been getting very cold lately. Last night, it was down to about 36 degrees. That's the lowest it'll be this week, but it should start snowing next month. I'm excited, but I'm worried too. I need snow boots and more jackets. This calls for some Gmarket shopping.

Day 54

I'm in such a fragile state. I really feel like after my glorious birthday, everything has just come crashing down and I'm trying to carry it all on my shoulders. There's so much piled stress. I basically have 7 midterms in two days. And half of this, I don't even understand. Not to mention that I feel like I've lost a huge part of me in Korea the other night. I don't even know if my life here will ever be the same was it was before. I did come to the realization, however, that if I could go back and start this journey over, I would. And I would do things much differently. But I can't change anything and I just have to live with it. Whether I like it or not, I'm here for two semesters and if I'm gonna make the most of it, I have to keep trudging along.

But if I could go home right now for a while, that would be nice. :(

Day 51

I have to say, spending my 20th birthday in Korea has been amazing. I've never been a really big birthday person, but this time I finally let that go and I had a blast.

It all started on Thursday when we went out for dinner to celebrate for both me and Sophia. We were born on the exact same day, only 16 minutes apart. We're also both Sociology majors. Creepy.

TWINFUN!!!

After dinner, Krissy and Roger leave to get us a cake while the rest of us run back in the cold rain. The cake was cute. It had two polar bears on it, hugging each other. It was delicious too. At first, we both said that we didn't want a cake but I finally gave in just to make them feel happy for getting it for us.

On Friday, I had class all day so I didn't do much during the day. But once 8pm came along, I was getting ready to go to the club again. See, last Thursday's clubbing event was a 2 for 1 deal, so everyone got in for free. It was a pretty expensive place too, in an expensive-looking area of Seoul.

After getting wristbands, we hit up the local Family Mart, downed a bunch of 소주 and 맥주 and were good to go. The club was pretty nice, actually. At first, the DJ only played trance and techno music but finally got around to pop songs. Mostly the Black Eyed Peas, but I think that's because he was their DJ or something. Once again, I had so much energy on the dance floor. I'm surprised I didn't lose my voice either because I was singing along really loud.

We were getting pretty tired and it was almost time for us to leave, but the club never wants me to leave. Just like last Thursday, we were getting ready to go when all of a sudden, I hear Kesha. I grab Krissy and we run back in for her and Lady Gaga. It was the perfect way to end the night.

The next morning, my ears were ringing. I woke up and went to the Charlie Brown Cafe with Krissy. I think it's pretty expensive for a cafe, but I guess it's all about the decorations. There was Charlie Brown everywhere, just like the Hello Kitty Cafe. Afterwards, she bought me food from my favorite food cart in 이대 and we went back to SK.

Good grief, you're too expensive!

After going back, I left again with Frank to go to 한강. I had never been there before, so I was pretty excited to see it.

It was so nice. The water actually looked clean, unlike the other rivers I've seen in Korea. While walking around, I found 5,000 won on the ground and I also noticed there were also tons of bikers around that had the same bike, so I made us go look for them to rent. Frank was really scared because he said that he wasn't good at riding, but I made him anyway. And it was a really nice bike ride along the river for only 3,000 won.

For dinner, we had 삼겹살. At first, I said it was too expensive, but when we ate it, I realized why it cost so much. The meat was so fresh and so delicious. It was one of the best meals I've eaten in Korea so far.

After dinner, we took the subway back to 신촌 and he brought me into Baskin Robbins where Christine and Erin were sitting with a panda ice cream cake. It was sooo cute and I felt bad for destroying it, but it did taste good too.

:(

I could honestly say that my 20th birthday was the best birthday that I've ever had. I can't believe that I spent the entire time in Korea. And knowing that there are people here who care about me means a lot. I <3>

Day 49

Today, we all went to some Samsung building for a tour of all the Samsung products. It was alright. I wanted to win the prizes at the end, but I lost after getting the second question wrong. Diana eventually won the 500gb harddrive. T_T

But after the Samsung building, I went to 동대문 to go shopping with Roger, Caitlin, Krissy and Karina. We even took along a real Korean with us, Jihye who helped bargain clothes for us. 동대문 is actually kind of fun, but really intense. As soon as we walked up to the men's floor, all the sellers were all over me. They tried to talk to me, getting me to buy their clothes. There wasn't much that I looked at because I didn't feel that comfortable browsing with them hovering over me. But I did get to a jeans place and I fit the pair perfectly. The original price was 40,000, but Jihye was a pro and got them down to 32,000 for me. It was greatly appreciated. I even got a new pair of shoes from 48,000 to 37,000.

Shopping was tiring, so we tried to look for a place to eat. The restaurants at 동대문 are seriously just like the stores. The workers will try to grab you and make you eat at their place. Everything was too expensive for us, so we just ate at Lotteria.

Day 48

If last night wasn't fun, crazy, tiring, sad, precious and hilarious all wrapped up into one epic package with a bow on it, I don't know what is. There are some nights that you'll remember for the rest of your life and last night was definitely one of the very few that'll stay in my mind.

After the little girl calling me 오빠, I was in a really good mood. The next few hours, I was in a club. Now anyone who knows me could tell you that I'm not a clubbing person. I constantly tell people that I've never been clubbing because it's not really my thing. But I wanted to finally experience it and have a good time too. Immediately after getting there, I took about 1/3 bottle of 참이슬 and was feeling it within minutes. It was too early though and I decided to wait for more people on the dance floor. When we finally got to the dance floor, Krissy wasn't feeling it yet so she made me go back to GS25 and we split another bottle. At this point, we were both ready and went kind of crazy.

While being incredibly attractive at the same time. Thnx Caitlin for uploading this beautiful picture. <3

But really, I was having a lot of fun. On a regular day you'd never catch me on the stage dancing, and there I was, not caring about how I looked or what people though of me. I even did a little bit of 2ne1's 박수 쳐 dance. They kicked us off three times though, probably because they were afraid we'd fall off.

There were also some rap performances by Basick and Swings. I had no idea who Basick was, but I knew Swings from a few songs. Even though I didn't really know who he was I felt like I was his biggest fan lol.

As Krissy's best bud in Korea, I always feel the need to watch over her. Especially since she can't drink that much. It was nearing 2:30am and we were just sitting down, resting. We decided it was time to leave so we got up and headed towards the door. As soon as we started walking, my wishes came true. The DJ started playing Kesha. This is what I had wanted for the entire night. I wanted Kesha the whole night and I finally got it. We spent about five more minutes until we grabbed a taxi outside and headed to Yonsei's Main Gate.

Minutes after the taxi left, Krissy noticed that her necklace was missing. It was an expensive necklace so I insisted that we go back to the club and look for it. We got into another cab, went back in the club and looked for it for about 10 minutes. We couldn't find it anywhere and the lights in the club weren't helping any. With no luck, the two of us tried looking for another taxi. All of them were rejecting us because Yonsei was too close by and they wanted more money. Krissy suggested we waited until 5:30am (2 hours later) until the next subway train came. Obviously, I wasn't going to do this so we kept searching until we finally found a cab that would take us back.

The taxi driver dropped us off near 딸기 and we headed towards the dorm. But then I thought it might be a good idea to check the Main Gate again to see if her necklace fell off when we were getting out of the taxi. She was reluctant to go back, but when I found ₩12,000 on the ground, I was in a good mood. We started walking back and she got tired. Eventually, she hopped on my back and I carried her most of the way to the Main Gate. The necklace was still nowhere to be found so we just gave up and walked back to SK Global, this time through the campus instead of on the street. I carried her for a while until eventually my legs started to give out. We took a few breaks, but she was still walking really slowly. At this point, it was about 4:30am and we had to get back. The next thing I know, she's wearing my shoes and I'm walking around campus in socks.

Before entered the lobby, she gave me my shoes back. We looked like such a mess walking in. My shoes were both untied. Her shoes were falling apart. And we were both completely exhausted. The night was finally over.

I feel really bad that she lost her necklace because she had it for a long time. It wasn't just some ordinary necklace either. It was really nice. But the only thing I could do was help her out and make sure she was okay. When we stopped to take a break from walking, she said she hoped that the necklace was broken because she didn't want anyone to have stolen it. I told her that the future love of her life probably has it now and will probably give it to her later. Then I told her that if it fell off on the dance floor, it probably belongs on the dance floor. Just like how Rose's necklace belonged in the ocean. It's sad, but it was gone and there's nothing to do about it now.

To be honest, the entire night made us much closer friends too. It's not everyday that I'll carry someone on my back just to find a lost necklace. But I feel like that's the way I do things when it comes to friendship. Last night I learned that even though I may not take care or watch over everyone, if I pick someone to stick by and help out, I will stick by that person no matter what is in his or her way.

And in a way, the entire situation was pretty hilarious. We were probably the hottest mess in Seoul last night. People were probably staring, but I could care less. I guess you have to have that kind of experience at least once in my life and it's something that I'm going to remember forever.

Day 47

Today while I was eating dinner, this little girl and I were waving back and forth to each other. When I was leaving, I turned back to wave goodbye and she says, "오빠! 안녕!"

I couldn't have asked for a better moment. <3