The Rest of My Semester

Whew! Time flies.

After Rachael left, I had two very busy weeks of school left. For some reason, my econ professor gave us 3 homework assignments in that time. I also managed to write a big paper for math (on factorization methods) and do a presentation on it. That was a bit stressful. A week after Rachael left, I had my first final, in math. I also had 2 papers and an econ final. I'm extremely glad that I'm finished. Another semester down, three to go.

Inbetween all of that, I made some sweet purchases at the electronics market and around my university. Walking through the markets for the last time made me sad, because there's really nothing quite like it in the States. I'll miss bartering and getting free things (service). I'll definitely miss the food, though I'd like to mix it up a bit every once in a while. The multitude of shoes for sale and women's clothing in front of Ewha will be greatly missed. Now what am I going to do if I need a pair of shoes fast? Also, the easy and cheap transportion will be missed. Perhaps not the crazy taxi or bus drivers...

As our last dinner in Korea, Simon and I ate samgyeopsal. It was absolutely delicious, and I'll surely be sad when I can't fry big pieces of bacon or marinated kalbi in front of me. We said goodbye to our PEACE buddies and are almost done packing the last things. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving for Belgium. I'm staying for ten days, then heading home for the holidays. I'm really hoping to bring home a wheel of cheese if I can. My suitcase is going to HEAVY!

Until I get home, keep it real.

So, My Sister Visited...

This should be a rather long entry, but I can't remember everything that we did. I wrote everything on a sheet. However, I put it in the box that I sent home by boat. Thus, I will update this entry when I get that box in a month.

Brrr!

Monday (11/17) was the turning point of the seasons. We woke up to a chilly morning, which has only stuck around since. Yesterday (11/20), we had rain and snow for a short span of time. Of course, none of the snow stuck around, but it was sort of fun to see. However, this doesn't mean that I'm really a fan of snow. I suppose I would rather have it snow than rain at this point.

Rachael will be here tomorrow night. I'm sure we'll have a good time and hilarity will ensue. She said her suitcase is half full, so she can bring lots of shoes, etc back. Who wouldn't want to buy lots of inexpensive shoes?

Holiday, Election, Mathematics

Halloween has come and gone. Unfortunately, Korea does not really have pumpkin patches or apple tree farms. So, I missed out on carving jack-o-lanterns, drinking hot cider, and trick-or-treating this year. Luckily, Simon knew that I wanted a jack-o-lantern and he did the best he could. We're not allowed to have candles in the dorm, so he put his cell phone in it for a while to light it up^^ I think it's creative!
On more historically, monumental note, Barack Obama is the new president-elect. All of the Europeans are happy with this, for the obvious reasons. This was the first presidential election that I voted in, and I voted by absentee ballot. I am rather proud to say that I am a part of the amazing history taking place. This is the extent of my political views.


Also, I have a math project to do with 4 other Korean girls. We have to write an 8-10 page paper about factorization methods, Fermat numbers, and the Pollard rho method. You know about these topics? Then, we have to make a 10 minute power point presentation in front of the class, where 2 of us speak about our respective topics (in English). When this project was announced, I had to face that I going to present, no matter whose group I am in, because I am the only native English speaker in the class. At first, I dreaded writing the paper, because I would have to teach myself the material. However, it's not as difficult as I thought it might be. Last night, I sat in the computer lab and created some sweet excel files. I plug certain numbers into the cells, and it does all the work for me. I love Excel!

Quick Update on My Life

I'm failing to keep up with my blog entries. There seems to be so much going on, but not enough time to write it all down. Okay, major events that have happened since I've last written:

*Simon and I went to Sunny's wedding. Sunny was the international program coordinator at Ewha, last semester. Her husband, Eliot mostly grew up in America, so they're moving somewhere on the east coast. Anyway, it was interesting to see a wedding in Korea. First, everyone cheered and clapped when Eliot walked down the aisle. Then, everyone cheered and clapped as Sunny and her father walked down the aisle. It was a bizarre way to begin the ceremony. Afterward, they took pictures with everyone. It was long and dragged out. Then we had a fabulous buffet dinner of delicious Korean food. Sunny and Eliot came down in traditional Korean clothing. Simon and I got to say hello, but sadly, we had to leave early. So, we missed the traditional Korean wedding ceremony. The reason we had to leave early was because we had a airport pick-up that evening.

*Mom and the AUNTourage (Ann Marie, Maribeth, and Janis) visited for a week. They were very lucky to visit the time they did, because the exchange rate for the dollar to the won had increased by almost a third.

GENERAL SIGHTS AND EVENTS:
They went to the basic markets-Insadong, Namdaemun, and Dongademun- and bought enough gifts for half of America. They went to the Korean War Museum, and they even found their way to New Songdo City by themselves. The Auntourage went to the DMZ one day, and my mom and I went to Eastern to see the babies. Unfortunately, Madre lost her camera with the baby pictures :( Simon also hauled them up Gwanak Mountain. We should all be proud of them for not breaking hips. We also saw Ballerina Loves a B-boy performance. Too bad I forgot my camera again...Simon was asked to dance in front of the audience. Let's just say that hilarity ensued.

MAIN SHOPPING ITEM:
For some reason, scarves were the main attraction during shopping. Perhaps it was because most of the scarves were 5,000 won, and with the exchange rate, it was about $3.80. That is a steal. At Target, I'm sure the scarves are about 12 bucks each, which I think is a ridiculous price for a piece of cloth.

FOOD:
Every morning, they had to have Starbucks coffee and a donut from Dunkin Donuts. Leave it to the Americans to hold up such stereotypes. To counteract their extreme American behavior in Korea, Simon and I brought them out for lots of different foods, though not all Korean. We had shabu shabu, bulgogi, kimbap, samgyeopsal, and sushi. I think the Auntourage tried bibimbap one day. I brought my mom out for mandu seollongtang. Amazingly enough, every restaurant that we went to had forks for them.

*Midterm season has come, so I find myself studying most nights and weekends. Hopefully, I will find time to relax and not do homework for a night.

Fun Things Thus Far

In the haste to complain of my ailments, I forgot to mention all the fun stuff I have done.
So, here goes:

I went to Everland, again. This time Suji (Simon's buddy at Ewha), Andreas (Simon's brother), and obviously Simon made the trip. This time, I rode the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. The line was about half an hour wait, but it was definitely worth it. I was pumped with adrenaline, scared of falling out of the train (it was only a lap bar). However, it was one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on. It started with the huge drop (77 degrees of free fall). The dips and turns, though not always big, created enough force to make me feel like I was falling or going to be thrown out the side. To say the least, the thrill was maintained throughout the duration of ride. It's too bad that none of us brought a camera with that day.

I also went to Namsan Tower.
The fencing around the base observatory decks were heavy with locks. Sometimes they were simple locks with just the names and date, others were complex set of 12 red locks in the shape of a heart...

The War Memorial was very interesting. I kind of skipped over a whole lot, because I had a headache and couldn't read without adding to the pain. So, I would like to go again, before I leave.


LAST WEEKEND, Simon, Andreas, and I met up with Jimmy. He was an exchange student at Ewha last semester. He's Korean, but his family is in the process of moving to Canada. (I'm only mentioning this because otherwise the story is bizarre and unlikely.) His dad used to work for a company that has housing in Sokcho, where we wanted to go for the weekend. So, his dad booked a room for us, which ended up being free. Isn't it bizarre that a company would still offer a former employee a free room, which wasn't even for the former employee, but his son and friends? This is Korea.

We originally planned on going to the beach one day and mountain hiking the next. Saturday, the weather was okay in the morning, but it got cloudy and rained later in the afternoon. At the beach, I noticed that all of the Koreans just wore their regular clothes. If they got wet, they got wet. No Koreans wore swimming suits, which made the foreigners really noticeable. Although, most didn't even go swimming. They may have gotten a bit of their pants wet, but that's it. I think it's because many Koreans don't know how to swim. Jimmy was saying that swimming lessons aren't really a priority, and hardly any schools (besides large universities) have pools for people to learn. He was afraid to go in too far, because he doesn't know how to swim. This is just amazing to me.

This is Jimmy. We buried him well, with his favorite shirt to keep him warm.

Side note: my roommate and some other int'l students decided to go Seokcho the same Saturday. So, I ran into my roommate on the beach. I guess we had the same thought, but just didn't invite one another...

We also visited the Expo Tower. I gladly took the elevator up the 15 stories. Besides, I don't think we could walk up.

The weather was soooooo nice the next day, so we decided to hit up the beach again. We went speed boating, which was fun but too expensive. Simon really wanted to go, because he had never gone cruising around at high speeds in a boat before. We ended up discussing the differences in American and Belgian summer leisure time. Basically, Americans seem snobbish for owning toys like boats, jet skis, cabins, etc. He has never been water skiing or tubing in his life. I was rather shocked. I'm fairly certain that all of my friends have been speed boating, have gone water skiing/tubing/wakeboarding, or been to someone's cabin. Maybe Americans really are spoiled by such luxuries.

How Quickly a Semester Becomes a Year

So, my semester abroad has turned into a year abroad. I'm happy that I got to go home for 2 months, but I really missed Korea. Don't worry, dear family, I will be home for Christmas.

I went home June 17th, volunteered at a Korean culture camp (this time as a resident counselor) and I worked at 3M to pull in some extra cash. Here's the good news: I finally got a 30 cent raise. I am grateful they gave me a job when I came back, after skipping town for so long.


Before I came back to Korea, I went to Belgium for 9 days. That was a great adventure. I saw old buildings, small towns, ate wonderful mussels, fresh bread, rabbit, fries with mayo and ketchup...it was all delightful. Simon and I went to Amsterdam, too, to meet a friend from spring semester. We hung out at the zoo, which turned out to be quite an eventful day. We made it to Antwerp, which I thought was a lovely city. We found shelter inside a mall, since it was raining quite hard. I found a nice scarf when we were shopping. Then, we went to the seaside (Ostend), where I met his friends. They were very nice, except when they were throwing bread in my direction so the seagulls would flock over me. That was a frightening moment. The movie, Birds, came to mind. The next day, we went to Bruges, wandered the city, and took a lovely boat ride on the canal. I went to his university (Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven), ate a huge kebap, adventured on the outside of a cathedral (we couldn't find the entrance door...) We also went to an open air museum that showed the traditional parts of Belgium. I don't think much of the Midwest has museums like this. We have civil war reenactments. That's not really the same though. Maybe the east coast? I had a great time, and I want to visit again. I know there was so much that I didn't get to see.

Since I've been back to Korea, I've gotten really sick. Now, let me put this in a time frame for you. Classes began on September 1st. That day, I went to the clinic on campus. They basically give the same drugs for most ailments. Somehow, I made it to my classes that day, but obviously feeling terrible. On September 2nd, around 5am, I went to the ER. This was a very frustrating situation, because the nearest ER was apparently full. We were sent to a much smaller one, where the doctor kept asking me if I spoke Korean. I was in no way condition to practice speaking Korean when I was sick. The diagnosis: viral pneumonia. They gave me super strong medication, and I basically slept for 5 days. I slept through the rest of my classes that week. Good thing my schedule has free Fridays.

After sleeping for nearly a week, I was able to stay awake for Simon's birthday on the 7th. Simon's brother, Andreas and I went out to buy a cheesecake from Baskin Robbins. This is the time that I curse being lactose intolerant. I absolutely love cheesecake, and it doesn't matter how many lactaid pills I take, cheesecake is too much dairy in one serving. Take a smaller slice you say? I tried that. Maybe I can only have a bite, but that's just mean and tortuous to myself.

My second week of classes went much better. I was still exhausted, but at least I attended all of them. It's a holiday weekend here. This holiday is supposed to be the time that everyone can be with their families. No class on Monday! Happy Chuseok everyone.

Side Note: If you haven't seen Wall-E, go see it. I thought it was a great movie.