Hunt for a one room

Alright everyone! So here's my story on how I found my oneroom.

There are multiple reasons I want to leave the dorm. The main reason is that it's a 7-10 minute walk from campus. I know that doesn't sound bad. But KU is on a friggin' mountain and I'm ready to pass out by the time I get to class. Plus, the walk back to the dorm is worse. It feels a million miles away PLUS there's a big hill AND 111 stairs to hike up. EXERCISE! YAY!

Also, the dorms are really strict about visitors these days. And even coming and leaving the dorm. I'm not even talking segregation. Because Korea is very segregated. Our "uni-sex" dorm is one building with two different entrances for each sex and two different study rooms/laundry rooms. Everything. That isn't really a problem though. I don't mind that too much. 

Also, I have been spending so much money on food. And there isn't a fridge or a microwave in the dorm so I could never cook food. I also REALLY miss vegetables. So I mostly wanted a oneroom so I could get some broccoli and start eating salads again. (I don't want to be part of the freshman 15 ><)

Don't get me wrong, the dorms are VERY nice. I'm in Frontier Building. I have a bathroom that I share with one roommate. The bathroom gets cleaned once a week and I don't have a curfew (since I'm international) the Korean students have to be back by 12:30 for some reason.

My parents didn't really want me leaving the dorms because they said I won't meet anyone once I leave the dorm. 

The thing is, I only have 2 friends that I actually MET in the dorm. Emily and Estelle,who, if you remember, were kidnapped by Keith's mom. Other then them, all of my other friends I met in class, on facebook or on the street. 80% of the international students I know live off campus anyway.

SO! I pretty much started off by talking to all of my Korean friends about how they found their oneroom... but they all told me that they dropped a good 2,000-5,000$ deposit >__< 
That wasn't happening. I found cheaper onerooms that were a few subway stops from campus, but my parents said they wouldn't pay for the apt if it was expensive or not near campus. 

I found one place that had the perfect pricing. $500 deposit and 480$ a month. But the only problem was it was kind of like a dorm. The landlord kept calling it a "public place." I didn't want to leave the dorms for another dorm-like atmosphere. Plus this place didn't allow visitors. There's 2 problems with that: 


1) all of my exchange student friends are leaving right after I move in and I promised them that we would have a sleep over. Yumi (my roommate) especially because I'm going to be in pieces when she's gone. So she's going to come and we're going to party hard in my apt. 

2) I have a boyfriend. 'Nough said.
Anyway, Chad and I dedicated one day to finding a oneroom for me. What we thought would take a whole day literally took like an hour. I wanted to be near the school just in case I ended up having to pay a 2,000$ deposit and I could sell my parents with how close it is to the school. So we called the first number we saw. It was full. But there were a million other "For Rent" signs. We basically stood in one spot and spun in a circle going from number to number. 

Most of them were full. The rest wanted a $5,000 deposit. I was about to loose hope when we called the last number on the street.

There was space at the end of the semester. We could come look at the room now. The deposit is $500 and the monthly bill if $400. 

PERFECT! We walked up the hill. I looked at the room. Talked the to current (foreign) tenants and gave half the deposit and signed the contract.  I HAVE A ONE ROOM!!!

I move in June 22. (18 more days!) I'm so excited. Yumi is going to come over and cook and we're going to have a blast. 

I cannot waiiiittt!!!!!!!!! I get to buy carrots and I Can stay in my room and eat and not have to leave if I don't wnat to.

and the best part is no more stairs because it is literally RIGHT ACROSS the street from the main gates of the campus. A 2 minute walk to my classes compared to 10. I'm so happy.

That's a long post. Hope you guys are actually reading this  O.o

If you have any questions feel free to ask~~~

xx

Keith Cho pt 2 (not as exciting)

So basically after I punched him, he ran after me and made me go back to the restaurant. He told me he wasn't leaving, but he was recommended to go to Afghanistan. I made him promise he wouldn't.

Then we went back to his apartment and hung out with his mom. Keith is so cute around his mother,,, he can't act cool around me because I've met his mother and it's adorable. 


But we basically just hung out for an entire week. We went out to eat, we went to karaoke (we totally rock at it, I might add). He took me on a picnic. He let me take pictures!! When he came to visit me in France, he never wanted me to take his picture and I got really made at him... so now he lets me capture his precious face in photos :D :D 

...I basically skipped class all week >__< But, I mean, can you blame me?! He surprised me out of the blue, and I wasn't about to ditch him for stupid classes (sorry mom :p ) 

With all the tension going on between North and South Korea, Keith hasn't been able to call much which has been really worrying me.  I miss him and I want him to be safe. But he called me this morning telling me he was fine and there was nothing to worry about. I was so relieved to hear his voice. I had been freaking out all week. But during the call he told me he might be able to get a break once a month. So I might be able to see him again in May!!!!! If everything goes according to plan and we don't get blown up that it......

That was basically our week. Not that exciting for you guys, I know. But I loved it and I can't wait to see him again. I miss him so much.


Also, I died my hair,,, I post some pics soon. 

I got class soon, plus I'm trying to decide if I should leave the country or not. I don't really feel uncomfortable with the whole Korea situation, but maybe just to be safe, I might go to Hong Kong for a few days. 

Nothing has been decided though. Keith seemed very okay with the idea of me leaving the country,, which bothers me.... but no other Korean I know seems to be freaking out. So I won't either. 

I'll post again soon. Gotta run

xx

Another Keith Cho Text PT 1

SO…. 

Sunday March 31… I broke up with Keith. 

He called me early morning, no idea why. But I just started crying because I missed him so much. And for some damn reason my brain was like “Hey, Maggie, waiting hurts you, so just break up with the boy”

So… I did. I broke up with him. I cried and cried and then I hung up on him. He called me back a few hours later begging me to rethink. He told me he’d start calling more and he’d put more effort into our long distance. He said he’d start talking to me and telling me what he thinks. Which has always been a problem for us. He’s afraid to look weak to me, so he never expresses his feelings. But that just pushes me away. I told him that…

I don’t know how I did it, I have no idea how I managed to, but I hung up on him. I said “Keith, I have to go, this is too hard for me” and I hung up.

Lord only knows how…..

But I went on with my day, regretting it and then trying to convince myself that it was the best thing. 

Waiting hurts. I spend every night staring at my phone hoping he’ll call. I’ll send him a dozen emails a day expressing how much I love and miss him and never receive a reply. And I can’t get mad at him for it because he’s in the army, he’s busy. He doesn’t have time to think about me or call me. I understand that„, he calls me when he can. I have to accept that and not torture him for it. 

I figured breaking up with him would be easier for both of us.


Anyways, Monday morning April 1, I was in a cafe with my friend telling her about the break up and then I get a text message from Keith’s mom saying that she wants to meet tonight- she has a gift for me from Keith. 

I freaked out. It was 11am, she said to meet at 7h20 pm. I was having panic attacks allllll day. What could the gift be?? What could Keith possibly ask his mother to buy for me??

I decided that I should write a letter to her explaining why I broke up with him. I wasn’t going to be able to express my feelings otherwise because I don’t speak Korean. So I got my tutor to translate a short letter which I copied onto some pretty paper. I put it in my bag and I went to wait for her…….

I was panicking. I didn’t know what to say to her or what she was going to give me. 

I was in the midst of a small attack when I hear:

“Maggie” 

I look up and who the hell is standing in front of me but Keith Cho himself. I was hoping it would be him, but I didn’t wan to get my hopes up because there was no way he could’ve gotten a break on such short notice. 

I literally almost fainted. 


I just jumped into his arms and hugged him for a good 5 minutes before he asked me to take him to a restaurant. 

Wanna know what my goddamn boyfriend did to me then?!

We sat at the restaurant and I asked him

“Keith, how did you get this break? Why are you here?”

“I had to tell you something Maggie…….I’ve decided to go to Afghanistan.”

My heart exploded. I got so angry at him..

“Why???”

He said “Well, they recommended that I go a few days ago, but I turned them down because I knew you wouldn’t like it… but considering the circumstances now, I’ve decided to go”

I started bawling my eyes out at this point. I kept telling him how stupid he was, he should know by know that our break ups last a month at most. We always get back together.

“When do you leave?” I asked.

“At the end of the week, I’ll be back in December”

I start bawling even harder.
He sees that I’m distraught and he stands up and grabs my arm and asks me to come outside. I refuse. He asks again… so I let him lead me out of the restaurant.







“April fools, Maggie”


I punched him and walked away.



I’ll post PT 2 with pictures later, I have class now~~

Classes~~

I got class in an hour and I'm in one of the moods that I just don't want to do anything. 

My Korean speaking for beginners class is sooo boring because I'm surrounded by people that can't speak so we had to start from the beginning. Which let me tell you, is SUPER boring. I basically text the entire class while the teacher and students repeat the alphabet over and over like a machine. 
"아 야 어 여 오 요 우유 으 이"
"가 거 고 구 그 기"

I don't know how much more of that I can handle >___<
Hopefully today we'll start working on comprehensible and useful phrases. 

As for my English class, haha, my teacher is...... what's a good word?....eccentric. 
I swear she looks like a skinny Asian Einstein. Her hair is all over the place and she talks like a crazy genius. She has the heeeaavvy Korean/British accent which makes listening to her speak really difficult. 
it's so fun though. It's one of the classes where we discuss books and stories and we end up debating for hours on the importance of virtue and morals. 

However, The Moon and Sixpence is the book we are beginning to read. I read the first chapter and I have NO freaking clue what is going on. 

Why can't we just read something like Harry Potter?? Or Of Mice and Men, I like that book. I want to discuss that book. So, I need to figure that book out tonight before class starts tomorrow O.o

Alright... I got to sleep.

I'm Terrible at Korean Games...

So, I went out with a friend the other night because he wanted to teach me how to play Korean billiards (I'm American,, I call it pool, but whatever)

Anyways..  should've taken pictures because I'm going to suck at explaining this properly. 

Here goes nothing:

The table is exactly the same size as a normal pool table except there aren't any ball pockets (is that the technical term for holes...?) instead of the normal 13(?) balls there are 4. There's a white ball, a yellow ball and two red balls. 

Basically the point of the game was to get rid of points by making your ball (either yellow or white) hit the two read balls without hitting your opponents ball. 

I was white and my friend was yellow. He is like a master at this game. He would make his ball bounce all around the table squeak past my ball and manage to hit both red balls. It was incredible. He gave me a handicap because he started of with 12 points and I only started off with 5.

Guess who won.....?? 

I was doing really well (not really) until I got to my last point. I played with one point left for almost an hour while my friend was just getting rid of points left and right. In the hour it took me to get rid of 4 points he got rid of 11.

It was really haaaarrrdddd!! 

but soooo much fun. Give me a few months (or years) and I'm sure I could kick his a**!! 

This might not be a Korean game, but I've only ever seen it played in Korea and it seems to be a big thing here. Either way, I'm going to practice and one day become master~~ ^^

xx

KU Spirit!

Check out my terrible video that I took from my phone during a kind of "pep rally."

KU probably has the most intense school spirit I have ever witnessed. It's amazing. We had this cheering practice thing yesterday and the entire school piled into Tiger Dome which is the stadium thing (my vocabulary is impeccable, I know) and we just screamed and jumped up and down and sang and bonded for a good 3.5 hours.

My back hurts to bad, but I feel so much closer with the school. It was amazing. We started at 4:30 and my KUBA group left around 8..... I'm pretty sure the cheering didn't stop until around 9/9:30. It was sooo long. My group just got hungry and tired so we left to get food.

I have to say I'm in love with Korean food.

I'll post again about my first day of classes soon! I'm sorry!

I'll make a more detailed post about the cheering later too, I'm just in a hurry because I have to go take a placement test for some class that I have to take (I'm not even sure what the class is~~)

Peace out, yo.

xx

I don't know why I got all gangster.

pictures soon!

Myeongdong~~~

So on Saturday I met up with my Korean tutor and we went to Myeongdong for shopping.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into...
I had to use the subway to get there and I was really nervous to do it by myself. Myeongdong is only like a 20 min subway trip so it really wasn't bad at all and I di it!!! 

Anyways, when I got there I had to wait for my tutor. And the friggin' subway station is a mall!!! So I ran around and bought some earrings and this preciousssssss cat shaped bag (I love bags)

So once she arrived we just ran up stairs and entered heaven. I swear, Myeongdong is REALLY cool. There were so many people and so many stores and little kiosk things in the streets. The big stores had a few clothes in my size which was very exciting. But there were a whole bunch of really cute little stores that I couldn't fit into :((( We bought some delicious Korean street food and then ate some chicken galbi (I can't remember it's a Korean dish). She is really awesome and chill. I really like her. She has a lot of energy like me so we get along really well :D :D

The problem with Korea is that since everyone is basically the same size, I guess there is no need for dressing rooms. So it's really hard to decide if something will fit me if I can't try it on.

I had to leave a whole bunch of cute clothes behind because I couldn't try them on.

BUT! I bought this really cute skirt and shirt for when I see Keith on Saturday!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to look so cute! It's going to be great.

I've kinda gone through this HUGE style transformation which Keith hasn't seen yet. I used to only wear very large teeshirts and sweatshirt and never wore makeup and stuff. Now I actually put some effort into myself in the morning to look better. So I'm excited to see what Keith thinks. Keith's mom is going to pick me up Saturday morning at 10 and we are going to drive to go pick up my 오빠~~~~!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!! I haven't seen him in 9 months :( So when we get back to Gangnam we are going to go to Coex mall so I can get a polariod camera so I can take a million pictures of him *^.^*

I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures yet :((((((

I'm so lazy. ㅠㅠ

But, I start classes tomorrow which is so surreal to me.  I'm a freshman in college. and not just any college, but one of the top colleges in South Korea.

It's crazy!!

I'll post again about my first day soon~~

I'm so nervous.

xx

PS This post is kinda lackluster, I'm sorry. I'll be better next time and provide more detail of stuff >_<

Class Registration is Stressful

So, I Would like to point out that I'm a international FRESHMAN student.

I have never ever registered for classes before

And all of my exchange friends keep talking about the horrors they went through while registering for classes. I'm SO nervous~~~~

I had orientation yesterday, which I would like to say was pretty useless. Most of the international students are Chinese, there are only like 15 non-Chinese international students so basically the entire orientation was about what Chinese students need to do for visas and stuff.

She only covered class registration for a minute. She didn't say anything about what credit I need or anything. She just said "You need 130 credits to graduate and I recommend you do 12 credits your first semester"

12 credits of what?!!?! Am I required to take a science? or a math? or even History? Because if you don't tell me I'm going to avoid those subjects at all costs.

So basically I chose all the English classes I could find (that weren't any of the subjects stated above) There aren't very many classes in English, but there are definitely enough to have a couple semesters of just English classes, which is nice.

So hopefully my schedule will look something like this:

Intermediate French Tues-Fri
Korean for beginners Mon-Thurs
Language and Culture Tues & Thurs
English and Human Mind Mon &Weds
Syntax Mon &Weds

Once again, I pray this will be my schedule. Sadly, I don't really have any days off, but that's okay. I'm new at this. I can perfect my scheduling later when I'm not so stressed.

There were only 3 classes related to my linguistics majour in English and the level wasn't specified. So, I just signed up for Syntax just in case all the other classes were junior level classes or something. I can always drop the class.

I have 6 back up classes just in case I don't get any of these, but I'm REALLY hoping I can get those. Based on the horror stories from my friends and my parents I'm probably going to end up in some really stupid class taught in Korean.

I don't speak Korean.

On the bright side!!!
While I was at orientation I started talking to this one girl and SHE'S FRENCH! So, I'll have a 4-yr undergrad French friend!! I'm so excited. I think there is also another international linguistics freshman. So, hopefully i can make a few non-exchange student friends. I do love my exchangey friends, but they are leaving me in a few months sooo..... yeah.

I woke up 3 hours before  registration begins because that's what everyone recommended I do so I have nothing to do right now...

I'm just going to listen to some kpop and refresh the registration page until I die.

xx

I made it!!

I MADE IT!!


I made it through the first three days with Keith's mom and it was wonderful!! I think I accomplished my goal of becoming her BFF,,,  I don't know if that is a Korean mother thing or she just REALLY likes me~~ it's much better than her treating me like the Korean Mothers in the Kdramas!

She's so cute though, she was so worried about me when we finally made it to the dorms.

OHMIGOD,

So, I don't know if I have mentioned this or not, but I basically haven't spent any money since I've been here because Keith's mom has bought me everything. Like, they have probably spent over $500 on me... It's so thoughtful, but I also feel really bad that I didn't give her much as a gift. I feel like it wasn't enough. They bought me a phone!!! 

Keith's dad is VERY high up in the Samsung world, so he has ins. So he brought me back a Galaxy Note one day after work and told me they'd pay the monthly fee. I told them that once I get a Korean card I'd start to pay for it, but they told me no >___<

Anyways,

THEY GOT A LIMO! Not like a stretch limo, but a SUPER nice car an a driver to take me to the dorm. Both Keith's parents woke up early on Saturday and helped me pack and then Keith's dad called HIS driver and he came and picked us up and took us to the dorm................AMAZING.


Then Keith's mom and I went shopping for dorm stuff like toilet paper an pencil holders and the such. ~~She paid for everything. 

She unpacked everything for me. She wouldn't let me do it. She then proceeded to hand wash my underwear and plane clothes... This woman is dedicated.

Sidenote: I don't know if I mentioned this either, but she called me her daughter once! ^_^**

Anyways, so she unpacked everything and was really worried I wasn't going to leave the room to go eat because I didn't know anybody (which is so true) so she kidnapped people. 

Keith's mom disappeared for a bit and came back with an American girl who looked terrified and was like "here Maggie, a friend!" and the American girl (Emily) then told me that she ran into Keith's mom on the elevator who started to speak Korean, Emily didn't understand so Keith's mom grabbed her arm and guided her to my room >__< hahahaha

It was really funny. She did the same thing to this one girl because she somehow found out there is a French girl here. So, she knocked on the French girl's door and kidnapped her too. 

I have friends, YAY!

They are exchange students though. I haven't met a single real 4-year student yet. My roommate hasn't even arrived. So, I'm making friends with these really cool girls (there's like 13 of them), but they are all exchange students and are going to be gone in e few months. I need to make some undergrad friends too... 

Hopefully my roommate will arrive soon. And hopefully she's Korean and will be here for forever. 

OH! Also, yesterday morning my friends and I were all gettin ready to leave for brunch and I was in one of their rooms and I here "Maggie!" and I automatically answer in Korean and look out into the hall and who do I see??

Keith's mom is knocking on my door. She came just to sew up some socks that I ripped. She brought me a broom and dustpan. She also brought the costco croissants and some milk with a cup. She then started sewing up my socks and demanding I drink milk. Once she finished she said have fun with your friends!! And left...she took the subway here. It's like an hour lon subway ride. 

Do you see what I mean by clingy?

I mean I REALLY appreciate it!!!! Like so much! I'd be so lost without her. But I do feel like I haven't done enough for her. I think she just misses Keith. And she also never got to do this school stuff with him. She's so cute.

Anyways, my dorm is beautiful and the view is awesome.

The only problem: 

I have to take 111 steps to get anywhere. I feel like I have already lost weight just by going up and down those steps. Not to mention the entire Anam campus is on a mountain so everywhere is uphill. Even downhill is uphill...

I'll post pictures soon. I have orientation today (I think) and I have no idea where I'm supposed to go, so I'm probably going to get some breakfast and explore the campus so I can find this orientation building. 

So, I'm off!

I'll update again soon, hopefully with pictures!!

xx

I'm so full.

Alright, so here's a summary of my day.

I'm super jetlagged so I woke up at 530. Keith's dad got up at 6 and left at 630 (I'd like to point out that he didn't come home til after 10,, koreans work too much) When I woke up Keith's mom told me to come watch TV with her while she made me breakfast.
For breakfast, I had steak. I mean it was def beef and she cut it up an gave me rice and kimchi. I'm just going to say steak. It was yummy, but I'm still full.
We then went to Costco. Korean costco. Still as amazing as American, if not better. ^^

There I picked up towels because I read somewhere that it's hard to fint a real like large towel. So I was excited to go to an American store and be able to find an Amurican sized towel. Keith's mom made me buy little ones to so I can wash me face.... haha

She is VERY concened with my skin. I got off th eplane and she forced me to put on lotion and stuff. She picked out lots of face lotion at costco and then we went and got food.

Koreans are all over the free sampling stuff. Everytime we saw something she would get it and give one to me. I had maybe three different types of vitamins that were on sample. Im'm not even sure what kinda vitamins they were O.o 

Anyways, we then went to the check out. Where SHE PAID FOR ALL MY STUFF. I was going to make a scene in costco, but I wasn't sure if it was rude of not to refuse...her money, I guess haha. I tried to buy for it but she yelled at me. So I just thanked her a lot.

We then went home and I passed out got a good 5 hours. So jetlagged. Wehn we woke up she took me to dinner.

I'd like to point out that I pravtially didn't use my hands. She was hand feeding me everything. It was sooooo good the first couple of mouthfuls, then I got full. And she continued to give me food, I was trying very hard not to throwup from food overdose haha. IT's so sweet!! But I don't know if it'll be rude to refuse the food, so I just ate it all. I feel like I've gained 20 pounds already. 

She's SO nice though. I wasn't able to find pens at costco so we passed a store that had pens and stuff and I was so excited I picked out a whole bunch and she was holding them like she was going to pay. And in the store they had REALLY cute bows and stuff. Let me tell ya, I LOVE BOWS. I have SO my hair bows it's scary. But I didn't buy any because I knew she was going to pay again and I didn't want her to. So, I had to leave the bows :(

I'll be back though! I know where it is!! And I'm sure there are more bows in Korea to be bought.

When we got back to the house KEith's mom and I just talked. She showed me pictured of Keih in the army. I showed her pictures of Keith and I while I was visiting Korea last Christmas. We talked about the cell phone that they are giving me. Keith's dad is a "high-up" at Samsung, so he always has the latest gadgets. They ahd a Galaxy Note lying around so they just gave it to me. We are going to activate it tomorrow, I guess. Hopefully they let me pay the monthly bill. 

We are going to go to Coex mall tomorrow so I can get a whole bunch of cute things. But I'm going to make a scene if she tries to pay for more stuff. Iwill start screaming or something.... not really. But I'll fight.

Also, I'm writing this in the dark at 4am (jetlagg is a bitch) so excuse any spelling errors and stuff, I can't see the keyboard. 

In which I forgot mt iPod...

I’m writing this from my wonderful window sit on my United flight to Seoul, South Korea! It’s been about 5 hours since we’ve taken off and I’m sitting in the darkness so that the plane can sleep. I don’t understand why everyone is sleeping though, I mean it’s only 7:00pm in the US and it’s 9AM in Korea. Shouldn’t they stay awake so they won’t be jetlagged??

That’s my plan anyway, I’m not going to sleep anymore. I don’t have enough battery on my computer to watch any more movies though…. And this plane doesn’t have those TV things on the back of the seat like I’m used to, they only have the really big ones up front and you can only watch the movies they choose, which is stupid. I don’t want to watch Wreck It Ralph. So, I have no idea what I’m going to do for the next 7 hours… I’ll probably read.

I started reading Of Mice and Men on the 6 hour flight from Raleigh to San Francisco, but I was sitting behind an obnoxious kid who wouldn’t stop crying. That’s awlays the greatest, isn’t it? Having a long flight and listening to a whiney 2 year old scream the whooooooole time…. Wanna know the worst part?

I
forgot
my
ipod.

Yes, I’m an idoit. I forgot my iPod which leads to very difficult and boring travels. I’m literally on the verge of dying because I don’t have my wonderful kpop. I’m so stupid.

Anyway, I get off the plane soon and hopefully my luggage made it. Also, hopefully Keith’s mom didn’t forget about me. I texted her yesterday telling her I was getting on the plane soon. I hope that she’s excited to hang out with me. I mean I really don’t want to impose. My mom said that she would be very excited to let Keith stay with her regardless of my presence. I pray that Keith’s mom feels the same way.

Ugh, my knees hurt. I’d like to point out that I have VERY long legs. I’m crammed in a small seat and the person in front of me decided to put her chair all the way back, I mean who can blame her? But still, I can’t move. Literally, I can’t do anything with my legs because there is no room. So, very uncomfortable flight, but I’m still going to Korea.

Which brings me to my next point. It still hasn’t hit me. I said goodbye to my parents today and I didn’t feel anything because it didn’t feel like I was going anywhere. It hasn’t hit me that I’m going to be away from them for possibly a few years. I’m sure it’ll hit when I land. I’m not prone to get homesick though, I’m used to being away from home, so it won’t be hard. I’m sure at some point I’ll call mom missing her though. It’s weird, I’m sitting on the plane 7 hours from arriving in Korea, which has been my dream for the past couple years and I’m not nervous/excited/scared. Anything. I’m so indifferent. I think my brain thinks I should be sitting on the couch at home or selling shoes. It can’t comprehend the fact that I’m embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. So strange….

I still can’t believe I forgot my iPod…. That needs to be mailed to me ASAP. My computer is dying, I should stop writing anyway. This post is getting kinda long.

See you in Seoul!

xx

Packed!!!

I'm so totally finished with packing. I literally packed everything. I don't have anything to wear for the next three days.

Mom and I went shopping again, so I ended up with WAY more clothes than before. Both of my suitcases are teetering the 50 pound limit >_<

I did buy this REALLY cute dress to wear on the plane so that I look adorable when I see Keith's mom. I just hop I can get to my make up when I get off the plane to touch up so I don't look like a zombie.

My mom and I packed ALL of my stuff before we realised that we hadn't packed Keith's mom's present yet. The thing with Koreans is they are so hospitable Everytime Keith or my friend Bonnie came and stayed at my house they brought an inordinate amount of gifts, like simple traditional Korean trinkets and stuff. Being that I'm from American, we don't have any "traditional" "cultural" things. So mom and I ran around trying to think of stuff to give her. We finally got a good amount of little things and one super nice thing.

I'm getting super nervous. Everytime I go through my Korea workbooks, I think that I'll be okay for 3 days with Keith's mom. I know enough vocab and grammar to converse with her.... but then she'll send me a text message or something on kakoatalk and I don't understand a word of it >______<

I'm so screwed. I just hope I don't shut down and become super awkward, I need to try. The least I can get from her is kudos for trying so hard. ㅋㅋㅋ

I'm thinking about taking the innocent look while I'm with her. I'm not going to out on too much makeup. Just some mascara. Unless I look like a train wreck, in which case lots of eyeshadow and eyeliner will be involved.
I
am
so
nervous.

But once the three days have passed I move into my beautiful dorm!!!! It's going to be awesome. I need to buy sheets though, and pillows and a phone. I especially need a phone. I can't decide between and Samsung Galaxy SIII or the Note II. My friend who has used both phones says that the Note II is so much better. I can't decide though...

I should go help my mother clean though.
I probably won't update until I arrive at the dorm the 23.

xx

Shoes!!

So, I used to always judge girls when they told me that they always pack a bag dedicated to shoes…


Now I understand. I have literally filled an entire suitcase with shoes. I didn’t even realise I had this many shoes. I guess that’s what I get for working at a shoe store. I’ve heard from multiple resources that Korea doesn’t really make shoes larger than a 8…. I’m a 9.

WHY IS KOREA SO SMALL?!

I am literally not going to be able to buy anything there because I’m too big for all the clothes/shoes. *curses*

But I do get to hang out with Keith’s mom soon! Part of me is very excited and the other part keeps repeating “don’t get nervous and shut down, don’t get nervous an not talk” in my head. 

I need to collect some courage and not be scared to talk to her in Korean regardless of how incomprehensible it is. 

She’ll appreciate me for trying! (I hope….)

I still don’t know how I feel about calling her mom, I know it’s totally normal in Korea, but it’s not a western thing to call your boyfriend’s mother “mom”
It might be weird for her too, I mean I am a foreigner. 

SO NERVOUSSS!!!

9 MORE DAYS!

Okayokay…

So I leave in 9 days and I’m not remotely close to finishing packing or shopping for essentials. 

I STILL NEED BRAS!! (AHHHH)

I AM however super ready to get out of the hell-hole of a town. It’s literally the epitome of boring here. Plus, the fact that I have no social life here kinda adds to the hellishness of it.

ANYWAY!

I’m nervous about what to get my boyfriend’s mother. Whenever my Korean friends come and visit me they bring me and my parents a million gifts. Mostly traditional Korean things that are beautiful. Since I live in American though, I don’t have in beautiful traditional things (screw the melting pot culture). 

 My mom made Keith’s mom some potholders that are really pretty, but I feel like that’s not enough. So, since I work at a shoe store I figured I could use that to my advantage. 

UGG slippers are on sale! Koreans don’t wear shoes in the house, their feet should still be comfy and cozy! 

So why not a nice pair of slippers for my 어머니? It’s good, right? I talked to Keith last night and he said that his mom wears like a 255 (which I guess is a 9 US size…), but he didn’t sound very convincing when he said it. I’m scared I’ll get the wrong size >.<

So, I don’t know„, should I risk getting her the wrong size?! I’ll just wait til Keith calls on Tuesday and really grill him until he’s sure about the size ^_^

I’m going to finish staring at my suitcase and hoping it packs itself!

xx

Too early to pack?

So I leave in 15 days.

I feel like 2 weeks before departure is a reasonable time to start packing… right?

Except, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO PACK!?
I’m going to have to bring a lot of clothes because I don’t exactly have a Korean sized body, especially in the chesty area. Everywhere I read says that if you wear larger than a B is going to be pretty hard to find bras/shirts that fit. So, basically I’m screwed!

WHY, MOTHER, HAVE YOU CURSED ME WITH LARGE BOOBS?! ALL I WANT IS TO WEAR CUTE KOREAN CLOTHES.

*sigh*

I might be able to fit some of the “one size fits all” shirts, but come on, their Korean. Their “one size fits all” really means “you might be able to wear this if you normally wear a medium, otherwise don’t bother.” My boobs wear a large (sometimes XL, it’s bad)… the rest of me is medium. I’m so disfigured >___<
Anyways, I don’t know if I should focus on packing warm clothes or cold clothes because it is going to be REALLY cold when I get there, but it’s almost spring and it gets REALLY hot too. Ooooh the conflict!

What about shoes? I don’t know how that works in Korea. I wear a 9USA/40EU/7UK, I have no idea what I wear in Korea or if they make shoes that big. Do Korean women have big feet?? I dunno….

So, I’m basically going to be staring at my closet for the rest of the day. Wish my luck!

xx

16 More Days!

So, I basically spent my entire last semester at high school dreaming of leaving for Korea. It’s getting so close and it hasn’t hit me yet. I’m excited, but it still feels like a distant dream.

I mean come on, Maggie, you’re going to be living in Korea for the next 4 years!!! 

It’ll take me awhile to get used to the idea. It still hasn’t really clicked in my head that I spent all last year in France. 

Anyways, it’s taking a lot of effort to prevent me from packing now. I still have two weeks. I need to wear something! I just have no idea what I should pack and what I should buy there. 

Speaking of! So, my boyfriend is Korean and he’s in the army doing his mandatory service. But, he told me a few weeks ago that I should arrive in Korea 3 days before I actually need to be there because he might be able to get a break and hang out with me for three days. Obviously I was very excited because I haven’t seen him since he randomly showed up at my door 7 months ago.

Guess what he told me a few days ago? He wasn’t able to get his break. So I was going to arrive in Korea 3 days before the dorms open with no where to stay.

“Don’t worry Maggie! You can just stay with my mom, she’ll pick you up from the airport.” 
Keith (that’s his name), your mom doesn’t speak English. My Korean is beginner. I can have a small conversation involving the whereabouts of cats
“고양이가 탁자 밑애 있어요— the cat’s under the table” I can understand stuff, but that’s only because I watch WAY too many kdramas. I’m basically learning my Korean from Lee Min Ho (bless him). 

Well! Screw it! I want Keith’s mom to like me, she seemed like she liked me when I visited last year. So I’m going to be spending three days with my boyfriends mother without said boyfriend. 

I’m FREAKING out. I speak enough Korean to get by without starving or dying, but I don’t know formal conjugations. Formality is very important in Korea. And I know Keith’s mom will not be insulted by my speaking informally to her because I’m a foreigner learning Korea, but I still want her to know that I respect her and I would speak formally if I knew how!

Why is Korean so difficult?!

Anyways, I can’t wait to move into my dorm. I was originally supposed to stay in Anam hall, which is the cheapest dorm. However, they filled up fast and now I’m staying in the Frontier House which is awesome! I GET MY OWN BATHROOM! I’m so excited. I’ll only have on roommate instead of 2. And we have our own bathroom.

This is long, I’ll try to keep up with this blog better than my blog to France, I kinda failed with that. 

xx

La Premier Jour du Reste de Ta Vie

First off,

I falled down stairs :(
I was going to do my laundry and... and... I slipped and fell. I can tell you, scariest thing EVER. How my pinky down is the only thing suffering is beyond me, I did every acrobatic trick I could think off as I was falling. My foot, my ENTIRE foot was the size of a football, the above picture was taken after the swelling went down a bit. I thought my pinky toe was broken, but it's just badly sprained and very angry at me.


On a happier note!
IT SNOWEDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Snow in France!! I've seen snow in America, Asia and Europe! It makes me happy, it wasn't that much because it hardly ever snows in Rennes. So, when it does, it's a VERY big deal. There were kids all over the place, trying desperately to create snowmen with the little amount of snow they were given, and throwing dirty snowballs. It was so cute! The pictures are taken from my window.

Speaking of snow, my friend Cole and I went iceskating on Saturday, it was interesting. Neither of us are any good at skating, but with Cole's determined personality and my clumsiness, we were quite a sight. Le Blizz is the only patinoire in Bretagne (I think that's right), there are two rinks, a small one and a large one. Whenever Cole and I go, we always use the small one because it's got kids and inexperienced people; we don't have to worry about being run over by experts. So, we were stumbling around the little rink, and I looked over at the large rink with a jealous eye to see what the older kids were doing... what do I find? A huge crowd of people in the centre of the rink watching something. I went to Cole and told him we were missing some kind of party, so we got up the courage to change rinks. Best.Idea, there was a group of boys break dancing on the ice, the were flipping, spinning, jumping, dancing, flying and just all around swagging. It was amazing. I wish I had my camera so I could film it. It was the coolest thing ever.

Quick side note:
I've been blaring this song for the past 30 minutes.
I <3 kpop.

As for the title of this blog, La premier jour du reste de ta vie is a really good French movie, it's really funny. You should check it out. I didn't get to watch the whole thing because it was midnight when it started, but what I did watch was awesome. Oh, that reminds me, my host family has never seen the movie La Guerre des Monde (War of the Worlds) with Tom Cruise, and we watched it last night. They were jumping out of their seats. It was so funny, they were so scared!! I know now not to show them horror movies.

OHH!!! So, as you might've already noticed, I'm kind of a Korean lover, and I've been watching Korean movies inbetween French stuff. If you want to enjoy a magical movie and cry your eyes out check out A Moment to Remember. Such an amazing movie. I know plenty more if you liked that one, let me know and I'll give you other suggestions.

Must do homework now, I'll post again soon!
xx

Korea!

Yummm, I sat on the floor when I ate this, I felt cool!

Bonnie and I at the palace!
These are the weird rice cake things at the cute cafe
The note that I wrote at the super cute cafe!
Keith's red scarf!
This is the tree in the really cute restaurant we went too.
Keith and I went to a Buddhist palace.
This is a different cafe, were my favourite kdrama (Korean TV show) was filmed.
The architecture in Korea is so cool!
First delivery in Korea!

Sorry! I haven't been posting a lot lately. I'll try to get better. But I went to KOREAAAA over Christmas break. It was the most amazing break ever.

Korea is very formal. Bowing to your elders is crucial and being polite and discreet is necessary. When I arrived, the first thing I saw was my boyfriend, Keith, waiting for me outside of customs. He lead me to his father, I was very nervous about meeting Keith's parents so I'd been practicing the phrase that Keith gave to say to his parents for weeks, which was basically a simple sentence thanking them for letting me stay with them.
경영오빠 집에머물게 해주 셔서감사합니다.
After bowing and thanking his dad, we got in the car and drove an hour or so to Keith's apartment, the drive was amazing. My dad once asked on a family vacation in Cambridge how could one tell that we were in a different country because everything was in English, I looked around and said the pound sign for the money... well not only is there the won sign in Korea, but it's very obvious as well because everything is in Korean and there are little Asian style buildings everywhere. it was amazing, I kept telling Keith in the car: "Keith! I'm in Korea! I've never before been to Asia!! I'm in Korea!!"

When we got to his apartment, Keith's dad had to leave for work, because it was only 8 in the morning. So, Keith and I got my bags out of the trunk and said goodbye to his dad and walked to his apartment. His mom was downstairs waiting for us. I bowed again and said hello, she came up and hugged me. We got on the elevator and went to the 14th floor. All the apartments in Korea have, other than a keyhole, and keypad.. the code is the key. Of course, once we entered there is a designated area for taking off your shoes. Keith's puppy Somang (meaning hope) was excitedly waiting.

She.is.so.cute.

Keith and I decided that it was best not to venture that day because we were both very jet-lagged, so we stayed in with his mom and watched movies and ate delicious food. Keith made me ramyun, which was magical. For dinner we ordered some bulgoggi and kimbab and some kind of omelet thing that had rice in it... it was all superb.

The next day we started a little late, I slept too much. So, Keith took me to the mall near his apartment. It's called the Coex mall. It's huge. I bought some ridiculously cute pens.

After that, the days went by way too fast. My best friend Bonnie came, and I went t stay with her, but she had classes everyday (because Koreans study ALL the time), so Keith would hang out with me during the day and Bonnie and I would chill together at night. But I did everything:

--I went to N-Seoul Tower for Christmas with Keith, because Christmas isn't really that big a deal in Korea. While we were there, Keith bought us a little magnetic box to write on and put on the wall at the tower, and it'll stay there for the next year! Then Keith can go get it, so we can keep it forever.

--Keith and I went to the movies, and let me tell you, the movie theatre in Korea is enormous and the coolest thing I have ever seen. They have caramel covered popcorn for crying out loud!!!! And the seats are HUGE and red and comfyyyy. Plus, when you buy you're tickets you get to choose where you sit, so you know for sure that there will be enough spots for you and you're friends!

Speaking of choosing where you sit... Seoul, is the most organised city I have ever been to. Not only do you reserve seats for the movies, but the metro is so organised!! Let me tell you... So when you are waiting to get on the metro you wait in line, not because you have to, but because it was mutually agreed to wait in line. There are two lines, one on either side of the door and then there is an empty space between the two lines, for the people that are getting off the train. And then when you're on the train there are three seats that NO ONE ever sits in, because it's for the elderly people, I went to go sit in one because I was tired. But Keith practically ripped my arm off to keep me away. It's reserved only for elders.

Which leads me to my next point. Korea is very formal and polite. There is a specific way to speak to people who are older than you. And in Korea they have specific names for example, Keith is older than me, so I call him 오빠 (obba, which means brother) but only younger girls call older boys obba. Take Bonnie for example, since she is younger than Keith whenever she talks to him she has to call him obba and speak to him formally.
언니 (ani)- youner girls to older girls
누나 (noona)-younger boys to older girls
형(hyung)- younger boys to older guys

--One day, Keith was being very secretive about where we were going. We were at the mall and I was getting very curious... I had told him earlier that I wanted to do everything Korean, big mistake. Guess where he took me? Karaoke.... it was so embarrassing, I don't even want to blog about it. I'm holding a grudge against him for the rest of eternity.

--When you go to downtown Seoul there aren't any tourist shops, but that doesn't mean that Seoul doesn't have tourist shops. Seoul basically has roads dedicated to just tourist shops, I went to a couple a streets like this with Bonnie, my best friend, and there were hundreds of stores selling traditional Korean merchandise, the cheap and the good. There were stores selling the tourist-y stuff, like tee-shirts and socks (Korea has THE CUTEST socks ever!), and other gift-y things.

--At one of the tourist streets Keith and I found this really cute restaurant called Misslee Cafe. And I'm not kidding when I say this restaurant was adorable. It's a really quint restaurant on the second floor of a small building, and when you walk into the door, the first thing you see is a tree absolutely covered in rectangular strips of paper. The walls were covered by these papers too. Basically, one can write whatever they want on these papers and hang them where ever they please. I looked at a few, some people would write long stories, others would draw pictures or wishes. It was a really cool idea.
While I was there Keith and I ordered, in his terms, "very Korean food". First, we ate these foamy, puffy, rice cake things covered in sesame seeds (no idea what it's called), then the waiter brought us a thin box with a lid, Keith picked it up and shook it like there was no tomorrow and then opened it. Inside, there was a mixture of ham, rice, kimchi and egg. It was really good, I'm not a HUGE fan of kimchi, but I can eat it. After eating what I like to call the "Lunch Box", Keith ordered sherbet, which I thought was pretty normal...
this. thing. was. massive. It was pretty much a small cauldron of green sherbert with the craziest stuff mixed in. It had nuts, kiwi, peaches, tomatoes, red beans, bananas, chocolate covered rice chex (yum!), mochi and a whole ton of other things. I'm proud to say that Keith and I polished that cauldron off without any problem.

--Keith took also took me iceskating, indoors of course because it's colder than cold in Korea. But we pretty much got kicked out because we weren't wearing gloves, and it's a rule that you have to wear gloves. Silly, but true. I was surprised by how well Keith could iceskate. It was very amusing to watch.
Also in the same building as the iceskating rink there is an indoor amusement park could LotteWorld, or something. It's huge! And all the rides are so cute and fun. Keith and I went on the Crzy Loop, which is just a circle that you spin around on... funniest thing ever. Keith hates going upside down, the words that came out of his mouth on that ride... hilarious. It wasn't even that scary (no offense, Keith). However, he got his revenge by taking me to the haunted house... not funny at all.

-- So, in Asia there are these photo booths that the teenagers go to. But it's not like any photo booth I've ever seen. After choosing backgrounds for your pictures and taking them, you go into another booth and decorate each photo with cute stickers or words. Afterwards you choose a layout for printing based on how many people there are and then it prints teeny little pictures!! It's so cute!!!! I did this three or four times with Bonnie and Keith.

-- Cat Cafe. I really don't need to say anything else. It was, by far, the mostest amazingest bestest perfectest place ever. There were CATS. CATS IN THE CAFE! ...speechless. My heart exploded with fuzziness.

-- Bonnie and I went to the palace Gyeongbokgung which is thousands of years old. It was amazingly beautiful. But it was also very cold, so we didn't stay long. But the palace was built in 1394....which is exaclty 6,000 years before I was born.... yeah, I feel pretty insignificant being only 17 and all. Bonnie and I took a lot of silly pictures with the actors being traditional guards. It was fun.

Speaking of cold, the hottest it got in Korea the entire 2 weeks I was there was 4 degrees Celsius, which is 38 Fahrenheit. It was ridiculous. I did not pack for the cold, and while Keith and I were at the tourist street, I was freezing to death. So, I stole Keith's scarf, which helped tremendously. However, Keith became cold, he literally made me run to the nearest store that sold scarves so he could buy a new one. The store was pretty close, so out of breath we entered and grabbed the first scarf we could find. It was a big, thick, red scarf for 30,00₩ ($30). Keith didn't hesitate because it was below 0degrees. The funny thing is 2 minutes after we bought this expensive scarf, we came across other stores that were selling scarves for only 5,000₩ ($5)... Keith regrets nothing, the red one is a nice scarf and we both were warm. Morale of the story: if you plan on going to Korea during the winter season, pack very warmly and bring enough scarves for the family.

Here are some of my favourite Kpop (Korean pop) songs:
Clazzi's This Is How We Feel
Super Junior's Mr. Simple
2NE1's I Am the Best
10cm 죽겠네 (basically anything by 10cm is amazing)
Big Bang's Love Song
CNBlue's Love Girl and Love
There are a million more... if you want some more, just ask! I know plenty.

and if you want to watch a cute show, Flower Boy Ramyun Shop is amazing.

That was the longest blog post I have ever written, I've been working on this for the past 3 days. I'm sorry that I have been so lazy about blogging. I'm going to start a weekly posting binge starting now. Chaque vendredi il y aura un nouveau blog. Promise!!