because it's now or never, things get much more complicated than ever

CHEN JIAXUAN and siblings and friends came to SEOUL!!! haha. It's amazing. I felt so homely when I met them on Thursday night. We're so singaporean just that we were physically in Seoul. COOOOL. We had a nice dinner and did some shopping at Myeong Dong and Hongdae before we head to Sinchon to meet the rest of my exchange friends. :))) It's always nice to be in our comfort zone. We don't have to explain ourselves much. We could communicate silently. She could understand me without me verbally expressing what I want to say to her. Communication became a simpler thing,

We had a floor dinner on Friday night. Everyone who lives on the 7th floor went out to have sam geop sal (korean BBQ) together. Though we lived on the same floor, we did not interact much with everyone. It was always the usual few so it was a great opportunity that we got together. It was the first time I spoke to one of them, Andreas. Anyway, it was g reat dinner. We played some games and I lost so many times... so I had to drink a lot of soju. After dinner, we went to a bar and that's when I got really drunk. I could not remember a single thing at the bar the next day. My friends said I french kissed one of the floor mates, a girl. -__-

Floor mates!!

My room mate, Ayaka, and floor mate, Akiko

Saturday night was dramatic. How could things get so complicated. I would not have imagined that the life of an exchange student could be so complicated. Anyway, I'm surprised by how Japanese can be so expressive but conservative at the same time. They're so different from most of the Singaporeans or people around me. When they like someone, they just tell him or her. And I'm especially shocked because she's a Jap girl and she's so conservative at the same time. I'm amazed. I would never be able to do the same.

The Crew.

Mid terms are coming and I haven't been studying!!! This week is really the week to study hard and more importantly study efficiently. No time to waste! I miss singapore food so much. At the same time, we've been cooking our own meals more often. Anyway we drink so much beer that we probably don't need any food.

Regular class room in Ewha Womans Uni.

Life in Seoul

My half-completed ceramics house! :D

This week is one of the most happening week I've spent here so far.

I had homecook dinner, again by Nico. AWESOME. He added the tomato paste for Spaghetti into the tuna + rice mix and it was AWESOMEEEEE. I will definitely do it myself when I go back to Sg.

I visited a flea market at Dongmyo last sunday with Wisara, Oni, Shalini, Alison, Max and Aaron. There was nothing much at the flea market, basically old stuff for the older people and a lot of food.

During the week, I went to Insadong and Namdaemun with Nico. Namdaemun is a market that sells stuff for old people and a lot of food. It has nothing much but Insadong is really interesting. It's touristy with nice looking shops that sells Korean traditional masks, cutleries, paintings and food. It has fancy looking restaurants. We went into one shop that sells traditional masks and the lady who attended to us was soooo cute. She's about 50 yrs old, speaks pretty good english (it's rare here) and was joking with us the whole time. She thought that Nico was a brazilian and I blabbered, "oh no, brazilian guys are hotter." haha. Anyway, Insadong is certainly worth a visit :)

We went to a bar on friday. They have some games for their customers. One of them is beer pong where cups half-filled with water are placed to form a triangle shape, just like bowling. The opponent then have to throw a ping pong ball from a distance. Each cup with ball thrown in will be removed from the triangle. So the team who gets rid of the cups the earliest wins. Pretty cool but I suck at it. haha. The other one is to stuck nails on a wood table and the players take turns to hammer their nails into the wood. The player who hammers his nail completely into the wood the earliest wins. I think it's probably a game only for guys. It was barfly after that, pretty usual.

Yesterday was farm experience day. About 100 students went to visit Garume village, located in Yang-pyung Kyung-ki province. We took a 2.5 hour bus ride before we finally reach there. We made some pancakes, rice cakes and rubber guns! The last activity was strawberry picking! We had an empty box each and we went to a strawberry farm, picked the strawberries and went home with it :) The strawberries taste seoul good. They're sweet :)

Last night was really happening. We met up with Jaeyeon, Younhee and her friend, Jihan. We had pretty good dinner at a Korean restaurant then we went to Papa Gorilla. It was really a real clubbing night. We had several tequila shots and Rio got wasted. So Nico, Martin and I took her back to dorm and we partied in 709 with some awfully loud music and Yoghurt Soju. The rest joined us after that and it was crazy. Everyone was drunk.

Us at the Prof's cafeteria where he felt like he got "Banan" and blamed me the whole time for recommending that place. "Banan" is a french expression which has a similar meaning as being "cabbaged" in Singlish.

A regular meal in school's cafeteria.

Haven't been updating my blog for almost 2 weeks already. OOPS.

Anyway, life here's great. I party every weekend and visit touristy places maybe once a week. I met some really good friends here - esp The Crew.

what we do at times on a lazy night.

and then a crazy night. I was almost 2M tall on his back!

Pic courtesy of Alex.

Alexis and Nicolas are from France. They're my floor mates. I feel really as if we're a small family. Maybe they're two big brothers to me when I'm drunk and I'm the big sister when I'm clear minded. Haha. Sounds weird to put it this way but it's quite true because they take care of me most of the time especially when I'm drunk while I sew their clothes for them and maybe help with washing the dishes during the weekdays. Nico is quite a smart cook. Last Friday, we went to do some grocery shopping with Kai and Martin (the Giant). We came back and he prepared dinner - tuna with rice and milk. Yes, milk with rice and tuna. Never would I imagine adding milk to rice and tuna. It was very simple but it's creative and healthy :) Awesome.

Cook at work.

Nico's one interesting and charming guy who always get checked out by the girls here in the uni. Someone who knows who I truly am. He knows me so well that I was surprised. He points out to my flaws that I'm eager to change them so that he stops pointing them out. Treats me like i'm his little sister and always calling me a small thing.

Alex is one of the most talented non-professional photographer I've met. He takes great pictures with his Canon DSLR. He is one of my most appreciated friends I made here. He takes great care of me when I feel down. He's always looking out for me when we go to parties but appears to be a meanie when I'm sober. He's always pretending to be mean but he's not at all. Maybe just boyish at times which may not be a bad thing afterall.

And Martin, the german giant. Like he said, "it's always funny to watch the both of us together." He's 1.96M tall. My tallest friend ever. He's kind, lovely and absolutely honest. Always so real. That's what I like about him. And yea, he always get drunk (with me). Haha.

And Rio, a girl from Japan. She amazed me with her beliefs (as with most Japanese) and thoughts. I never knew that Japanese were so "asian". I mean, conservative, in some ways.

We make a great crew. Though there were times when things had not been so good, I think we're all good now :)

It was Jonas's farewell party on Friday. Daniel was leaving in 6 hours. I was drunk that night so I could not remember a lot of things. From what I heard, Daniel cried hard because he had to leave Seoul. This place holds so much memories for him and I'm sure it will for me too. I cannot imagine how I would feel on the day I leave this place. The friends I make here are better than awesome. I could never imagine me getting to know people like Nico and Alex. We're such good friends in just 4 weeks? Now I truly experience the phrase: Life's like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you'll be getting next.

The crew and two other newly made Korean friends visited Kyung Bok Kung on Sat. It's a palace with great structures that looked totally ancient and located right in the middle of the city (which is strange when you look at all the modern buildings from inside). It reminds me of those Korean dramas like Da Chang Jing. What was missing were people dressed in traditional Korean costume. I saw only 1 lady in the Korean traditional costume. The place is so touristy that you see tourists everywhere.

Yesterday, I finally FINALLY went to a wine bar in Seoul since I got here. I've been missing wine SO much and I finally got the chance to taste it, again. :) It was pretty awesome esp with the company of Nico Alex Martin and two Korean buddies. I love my time here.

Us having food at a road side stall because of the 1.86M tall Alex. He's always feeling hungry.

On a separate note, I'm taking Korean Ceramics now!! I was at buddy lunch (a daily affair where intl students and buddies may gather to go to lunch tgt) and Nico was gonna head to his Ceramics class after lunch. It was third week of school already but I am really interested in it. So Nico brought me along and I was lucky that the Prof had 1 more vacancy left. The course registration deadline has passed which means that I will not be getting credits for the class but it does not matter to me. It was so fun. It reminds me of primary school days when we had to do Art & Craft. Last week's task was to make a house. I'm almost done with mine. It's a Korean traditional house. I hope it'll turn out good :)

Good things come with the two brothers - Nico and Alex. I love them so much.

At the same time, I miss my family and friends in Singapore too; but not SMU.

Had an awesome party on wednesday. It was Daniel's birthday. and last night, it was basti's birthday and we party again. It was an insane night. SOJU is a real bitch.

I couldn't remember a lot of things that happened. I remember I was drunk at the place we were eating. Then we went to karaoke. I didn't sing at all.

Then I remember we went to Barfly for some clubbing. By then, I was sober. The music was so loud. I couldn't stand it so I went out but it was freezing cold outside so I went back in again. Then I saw Martin, alone, looking drunk. I helped him out and he got wasted, so wasted.

After I got home, I was so shocked to see my bruises. I was falling all the time but I didn't know. There're bruises everywhere on my legs. What's up, seriously. SOJU is a real bitch.

I've never felt being such a representative of my country before. It may sound funny to put it this way but some of the newer friends whom I don't know well refer to me as the girl from Singapore. I think it's because there are only a few Singaporeans here. The exchange students are mainly French and German.

I should not drink so much in future. It was a crazy night.

Korean house visit tip 1: take off your shoes

When I just checked into the dorm with my buddy, I went into the dorm with my shoes on because my luggage was killing me. My buddy was so shocked and she said, "in Korea, you have to remove your shoes before entering the house." Ahh, first lesson learnt.

Anyway, I'm wrapping my textbooks now and I really miss my primary school days when mummy used to do it for me and my brother. How nice. I miss mummy and my home.

Living by myself is not easy at all. I have to take care of my own laundry, food, administrative matters, clear the bin and above all, be sociable enough to make more friends here so that I won't feel alone. So far, it has been good. My korean and international friends here are really nice. I think it's because we are all we have. So we tend to be very friendly and treat each other really nice. Whenever I meet someone new, I would feel the need to introduce myself and get to know that person better. It's very different when I'm home. In SMU or anywhere else, we could have seen the same person for a hundred times but never got to know the person and we're still perfectly fine with it. But here, it's different. I will feel uneasy somehow. I guess it's the same for everyone.

Waking up at 8am in the morning for the past 2 days have been killing me. I've got more to come. But I think it's worth it. Korean language (Hangeul) is interesting :)

I went to Namsangol (Southern Mountain Village) with the exchange students and buddies. I think some parts of it is artificial. Anyway, we tried on the Korean traditional clothes. It was cool. haha. I wouldn't say that we look good in them because we don't have the oriental face but it a great experience. :) Hang out with Shalini Oni Alexis and Wisara later on. Awesome bunch :)

Just came back from buddy lunch. It's a weekday affair where international students and the Ewha peace buddies meet to go to lunch together. It's not compulsory but it's sweet of them to organise these outings so that students like us won't be short of lunch mates. We had shabu shabu! yes, beef is spicy soup with mushrooms and veges. It was awesome.

Meng xuan, Kyung Mi, Youna, Jonas, Johan and me

I just bought my Korean cell phone. Couldn't imagine that I survived 1 week without a cell phone. haha. Dinner with them was AWESOME. one of the best I've had so far. the food is FREAKING GOOD. I mean it. It has chicken and vegetables mixed in spicy paste and served on a pan and topped with cheese. It was really spicy but it's very nice and flavourful. And after we finish the chicken, the pan with the remaining bits of chicken, veg and gravy was used to stir fry rice. Video below!

Though food here is great, but i still miss singapore food. Fried carrot cake, roti prata, fish soup (because I havent had fish since I came here), hokkien mee, nasi lemak and home-cooked food is nowhere to be found. I bought SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER yesterday for this morning's breakfast and it has never taste better. My SMU friends and I will be having home-cooked style dinner (though it'll be more like can-food style because my dorm has no stove, sadly, but it has a microwave oven) at my dorm's kitchnette. We'll be buying microwave rice and some can food from the mart later. It's gonna be fun ! :D yay :))

Day 6. Freezing cold.

Imagine streets filled with shops like these right outside my school gate. Really A LOT of shopping to be done.


Dinner I had few days ago with fellow exchange mates.


At a Ski resort with Vivian :)

my lunch for today. If you've watched the Korean drama that was shown some time ago (couldn't remember the name of the drama) and wonder what Chao Ma Mian is, this is it. Nice! It has texture of something in between ramen and udon. I like it :) it was cooked in spicy seafood soup. Really very very spicy but good to have on a freezing day. today's temperature is -6 to 2 deg C. MADNESS. My jacket is not thick enough to keep me from the cold.

The super chio performer of the musical - Ballerina who loves B-boy

I went to trim my hair today at a salon. After the hair stylist was done, he curled my hair for me. He didn't ask if I wanted it nor did I asked for it. Maybe it's their culture to do up the customers' hair for them. It was temporary curls and I didn't have to pay for the curling. It cost me about 18SGD for the haircut. So, pretty value for money :)

Orientation day

Yesterday was orientation day... Nothing special about the program to mention.

Somewhere near my school there's a Singapore Kopitiam toast cafe. They sell Kaya toast! I went to try it yesterday.. the toast is good except for the pathetic slab of kaya but the coffee didn't really taste like yakun kind of coffee. I think the condense milk they use is very different. Well anyway, better than not having home food here.

Then, joined a group of international exchange students for dinner. Met friends from Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, US, Japan, etc... and what really amazed me was... they really don't know much about Singapore other than its existence. There was this guy from Sweden who thought that Singapore was part of China. SERIOUSLY, are you kidding? Sg is so different and far from China. Well, this shows that Sg is insignifiant. There was another guy from US who was quite surprised that I speak good english. Then I told him that it's because we speak english in Singapore. Then he asked, "What's the national language of Singapore?". I said, "English". He goes "Really?! don't you guys speak Singlish?" Trust me, he didn't know that Singlish meant lah leh lor. I was like "No! hahaha." I think I changed his perception of Singapore totally.

We hit a club at night. It was organized by our Korean exchange buddies. It was a typical college kind of party. Very typical... some were kissing and hugging at the end of the thing. Of cos, not me. haha. anyway, it was cool. I really feel that I am an international student now.

AND this morning, I went to ski!!! that ski resort is VERY far. It's located almost at the outskirts of Seoul. We kind of lost our way initially but we were lucky to meet a group of very very helpful and friendly Ajumma (Aunties) and a kind uncle who helped us find our way there. They were making phone calls, helping us to check the correct way to get there. Generally, koreans are quite rude. There was once I helped a lady picked up her groceries which she dropped on the floor and she didn't say thanks. I dunno why but maybe it's because the elderly here are very much respected. So maybe because I was younger than her, she didn't see the need to say thanks. So this group of Ajumma really changed my perception of Koreans. They're really nice...