But with all this talk of finals and homework and such, I should probably talk about places to study here. I mean, places to study universally can't be very different no? There's home, the library, and cafés, to name a few. I'm sure a park isn't a bad place too, though it could be a bit distracting. From Korea, though, I've gained the appreciation of studying in a café, something which I thought was nice and relaxing, but not too productive for me, when I'd gone in the States.
A picture of été, my favorite café I've seen so far in Korea (thanks to Jesse and Becky for introducing it to us). The couches are nice, the coffee's pretty good, and the atmosphere is overall very relaxing. My only complaint is that the nice couch area is also the area where smoking is allowed, which causes for uncomfortable smells at times :\.
Maybe there's something about paying insane amounts of money for a simple coffee that causes you to want to take advantage of the time you have there to do work ^^. But unlike any of the other places, I can do work for a long time in cafés.
We didn't actually do any work at this café but it looked like it wouldn't be a bad place to sit around either. Unlike at home, where sitting around gets restless, and you just have a desire to go on AIM and talk to your friends, or, in the case of small rooms in Korea, it just feels too stuffy and claustrophobic to do work, and you get a desire to fall asleep, cafés are open and airy enough to get work done.
And as opposed to the library, which is just too quiet and stifling for my taste and makes me sleepy and restless after a while, not to mention hungry, cafés have a very free atmosphere, which is conducive to conversation as well as work when you need to, as long as there aren't too many people around and it's not too noisy.
Also, sitting at cafés is a good way for me to hear a lot of current Korean music :). I've gotten quite a few stuck in my head now just from sitting for hours in cafés. Now if only I could figure out the names of said songs...
(Picture of Doughnut Plant, which has yummy doughnuts :])So although buying coffee at a café in Korea (hoo alliteration) is expensive, there's always something very nice about sipping your coffee while whittling away at your work. And sometimes you get service, which is nice ^^. Once Jonathan, Min Jie, and I went and ordered some coffee, and surprise! We got a slice of yummy cake haha.
Now for picture summary of my final real week ^^:
Friday night Min Jie, Andy, Jonathan's German friend Florian, and I went to Jonathan's home to watch the opening Olympics ceremony. We had delicious samgyupsal (again) followed by the ceremonies ^^. Here's Min Jie sitting like a little boy excited to see his country lead the Olympics hehe.
Jonathan's place was really nice (and the same price per month as my small hasukjip, go figure--then again, there's electricity, water, etc.).
Not to mention 백석동 Baekseokdong in Ilsan is a really nice neighborhood, not to mention very clean, and having a nice park.
At night I met up with Thai friends for my first Thai meal in Korea! Here's some Poa Pia (Thai spring rolls) and some shrimp curry above, and pineapple fried rice and hobo noodles below. The food wasn't too bad...but it wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be unfortunately. Going home to my mom's cooking will be one of the first things I look forward to :).
Following dinner we hung out at a café for a bit and followed it up with...yes, again, karaoke! 린 Rin is a big fan of Mariah Carey haha.
It's funny because sometimes 100 is deserved, but sometimes it comes up randomly, even if you miss a lot of notes o_O. I've always been curious about how the system works. Maybe I'll find out...some day...
린 Rin and 타니차 Tanicha, tired after a long 2 hour + 40 minutes of service session of karaoke haha.
Monday, being our final day of real class, I brought my camera to class. Here Lee Hye Jeon 선생님 explains/acts someting out and 바기 Bagi laughs uncontrollably (I wish I could remember what happened here...).
Our second to final dialogue, which is actually about parting *tear*
We get up to practice our dialogue--which we apparently have to use on graduation day haha.
Mmm, Let's Be cold coffee, 500won (about 50cents) from the vending machine. Kept me alive most days at Sogang ^_^.
Our "휴게실 Resting Lounge." A little small...XD
Andy eating toast! The believed toast of Korea haha. Made with ham, cheese, eggs, and vegetables between two slices of bread, all well buttered and toasted. Very popular choice for breakfast among students ^^.
Our REAL last dialogue, about how time passes so fast--how fitting, eh? And bittersweetly sad.
말하기 class! With Jonathan hiding behind Min Jie haha.
During our last real 읽기듣기 reading and listening class, 정영미 takes my camera and takes pictures of everyone doing work haha. Nice pictures too!
Mmm, 뼈해장국 Yummy pork bone with a very fragrant and pungent soup ^^. Funny enough, 뼈 means bone, but 해장국 means "a broth used to chase a hangover" hahaha, 해장 meaning "drinking to relieve a hangover" and 국 meaning "soup."
Rie's "art" with the pepper in her finished soup hehe.
Our 읽기듣기 class. I actually have no idea what we're doing hahaha. Making hearts I guess?
Mm 사천자장면, that is, Szechuan Jajangmyeon. Spicy and delicious ^^.
And its nonspicy counterpart, which is delicious as well!
Haha meant to post this picture in the subway post, but it didn't exist yet ;p. Notice how the train's almost at Daeheung? ^^
I took the train to meet up with Rhee-Soo (right) and her friend Phoebe for patbingsu 팥빙수 mm!
Wednesday after school, we head to 향진 Hsiang Chen's (who Jonathan affectionately calls 할머니 (grandma) because she's one of the few people older than him haha) friend's home (who she's staying in while her friend is away) to eat and do homework.
And we have such an oh-so-healthy lunch of McDonald's haha.
As you can see, we studied very hard...the pillow being an indicator of the nap I took from being so sleepy ^_^.
And dinner--equally healthy meal of chicken wings and fries haha. What a fast food day. I'll admit, it WAS delicious lol.
Our struggle to get out Hsiang Chen's friend's computer from the box to check it out (this struggle took about 10-15 minutes because it was so stuck in there haha).
말하기 class yet again. Lee Hye Jeon 선생님 changed her hairstyle for our final haha.
Awww, Greg and Reiko, probably the only couple that surfaced this summer actually haha.
Reiko takes us to a delicious restaurant. It's funny how simple greens, rice, seasonings, and soup can make such a delicious meal in Korea.
And who do we have here? It's James Kim! A Light Fellow from China! He's staying in Korea for a week before heading home, so we hung out. And because he was craving 순두부 (Soondubu, Korean tofu soup), I had to take him to the 순두부 house in Sinchon.
After finishing the 순두부, James proceeds to finish the sticky rice at the bottom of his bowl--which Korean has a special name for that I can't remember right now...
Ahh, I know, I'm a freak, TOO MUCH KARAOKE! But James wanted to, so why not, right? Hehe. Yes, Andy is asleep with stuffed animals.
Andy and James duet 아리랑 Arirang, Korea's most well-known traditional folk song, using their best 할머니 grandma voices hahahaha.
It was excellent--they managed to score 100 too XD.
Following it with an excellent rendition of "Bye Bye Bye" by 'N Sync, complete with gestures hehe.
Rie, amused by the spectacle, takes many pictures hehe.So, next entry, my final week in Korea! It's been a great time here, but I do miss the States, home, and Yale ^^. But look forward to pictures of Sinchon next week, which I have neglected to take many of so far :).
2 comments:
Dude, you are going to get so fat.
If you can hide them, stock up on weird korean drinks because they are so expensive here. LimKis is really interesting.
I'M SO JEALOUS!!! but thanks for taking pictures :)
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