Surprise Concert!

Okay guys. For the first time ever, I was taking pictures when my camera memory card filled up. All 8 gigs. That's about 3,000 pictures. The last thing I uploaded was from NYC... you guys can guess the extent of my flickr backup. I'm working on it, I promise!!

Anyway. Last week... what happened? I got to hang out with photo club some more. Met up with some friends here and there, getting dinner, coffee and such. Friday I finally went to immigration to get my second Alien Registration card (the first one got taken when I left the country... kinda pointless if you ask me). It took 2 hours of waiting. And there were still 150 people queued for the afternoon when I left. The lady treated me like an elementary student with a note pinned to my shirt. I had my document. My fee. My pictures. My passport(s). I had them stored in my classroom notes file folder that I take with me everywhere. The lady asks me for my folder... to check all my documents... I was like... "What?" She proceeds to thumb through all my personal notes and documents. The experience was a little humiliating, I do say so myself. I didn't even do anything wrong. She had all she needed in her hands to start with. Anyway I have to go back in a week to pick it up. Fun.

I then proceeded to Sinchon to hang out with my last standing foreigner friends: the Australians. They're still here because their school year works on the same Korean schedule: start in spring and end in winter. We went to get some Indian food. Decided then that we should noraebang for a few hours. And then we moved on to Adventure bar. I loved Adventure bar. It was big enough so that you don't stare at every group in the establishment, it's rather very private no matter where you are. Also, they have good anju (the food that you have to order with drinks). AND you can write on the walls. Sadly, the graffiti my fall 2009 friends so gracefully bestowed upon our favorite booths was swept away over the summer when they put up new wallpaper. [Sadface]. No worries. We started the process again. Always bring a sharpie around Seoul.

Saturday was lazy. Until it was time to go to a concert that my friends invited me to go to. They had an extra ticket and offered me to join. I got to see a slew of current pop artists including Jaebum and DJ Doc. It was great. Just like the last concerts, rather dangerous because of the crazed fans. They always present a safety hazard. But I left with all of my things in tact and about 400 pictures richer. I would have had more hadn't my memory card filled up. But honestly, I'm glad. I spent less time looking at my camera and more time looking at the stage. Good deal.

Today, I was supposed to meet with a friend. Because he needed some recovery time from a night out with his sonbaes (class seniors), it was rescheduled to Tuesday. Instead, I'm staying in my apartment catching up on some homework and eating some yang-nyeom chicken (almost like general tsao meets pad thai...) and watching tv movies and game shows. Today starts my search for an affordably good chicken place around my neighborhood. This review: $5 for a chicken, but there's too much sauce. Luckily there are about 4 shops along the main road, so hopefully one will be a hit.

Tomorrow? Class, I guess. A lot of classes are 'cancelled' due to ChuSeok (Korean Thanksgiving) which is on Wednesday, but Tuesday and Thursday are also considered part of the holiday. Two of my classes on Monday are rather optional, but I shall go ahead and go since I'll be on campus to drop off my homework. And because I love to go to class of course! Heh...

[Promise of pictures!] Actually, some are on Facebook, if you're aware of my facebook page. Go go go!

PS- Check this video out by EatYourKimchi. It shows what the supermarket looks like these days leading up to ChuSeok. Look at the large packages, and try and guess what's in them. They'relarge gift showcases of anything from shampoo to spam.

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KoYon Jun and Such.

This past weekend held the annual varsity competition between Korea University and Yonsei University. I covered the basics of it from last year. Notably, last year I was on the blue side of the stadium with Yonsei. This year, I got to see the world through a red lens of Korea University. It'd be a cute story to say that I had a newfound pride in my new university, that this time it was just like home, blah blah blah, but honestly I was a little nostalgic for Yonsei from start to finish. I know most of the cheers by heart and I knew so many faces. Korea, however, was a little foreign to me. Last year, it looked like an intimidating crowd, and this year it was the same... but closer. Haha.

I still had fun. I got to cheer with my friends at Yonsei, and I got to bond with my new ones at Korea University. It might be seen as a double allegiance, betrayal even, but it's all in good spirit. Oh, and Yonsei won.

Other than that, I guess I can summarize the major accomplishments this week. Classes are going well. We've been assigned to groups in most of the classes that have group projects. I wandered over to the student union building to find their photo club, HoYong Hui*. Between classes and these guys, I actually have a few recognizable faces on campus.

*HoYong Hui is YonYong Hui's (Yonsei Photo Club) arch rival. If you're interested in the name breakdown, here's how they go:

1. Yon (YONsei)
2. Yong (for the Chinese character, shadow, 影, pinyin: ying)
3. Hui (means group, meeting, 會, pinyin: hui)
4. HoYong Hui follows the same kind of pattern, but the exception is the first character isn't a shortened school name, but rather a reference to the mascot, a tiger (in Korean, horang-i), hence HOYong Hui.

Okay, Korean class dismissed. I guess pictures to be uploaded later. You guys have to nag me.

Korea Part II

Alas, I have found myself back in Korea. Study abroad went so well that I decided to come back as a regular student at Korea University, from where I should graduate in 2012. I wish I had been blogging through that decision and process, cause it was a crazy one. Basically up until now (the first week of school) everything has been last minute and by chance, despite my best attempts at organization. It's the nature of the Korean-foreigner relationship (jumping through hoops).

I promised a lot of people that I would keep up a blog this time around. I did a horrible job at doing one during study abroad. Things have been busy. I wanted to post as soon as I got to Korea, but amidst the craziness of trying to find an apartment (we took midnight rides with my friend's cousin's realtor friend to find some), the financial loops of phones, cards, and rent, and the madness of last minute registration for classes has exhausted my time for making coherent stories in writing.

But these days I'm feeling really good. I got everything worked out and I feel like for the first time in months, I can at least predict the upcoming week (which will include the YonKo Jun festival. excitement doesn't describe my anticipation enough. glee?). This weekend is pretty relaxed. The last bits of household needs are coming in: the stuff I left with my friend from my old apartment, a table for my oneroom, and a few odds and ends like a ricecooker and pots and pans so I can cook my own meals now. I can't wait. haha.

I was talking to a friend of mine from the first semester of study abroad. We came to the conclusion that this time around in Korea, things are completely different for me. I think that the objective is so much clearer to me. Independence might be the right word. This isn't school housing, this isn't a program, and for once I really have to live on my own. As scary as that sounds, it's a very motivating idea. I have the space I need, certainly all the opportunities I could ask for, and all the time in the world to make things happen.

Cheers to a new school year!