Well, hello again. It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Anyone who knows me well enough probably could have predicted my sudden halt in posting on here, but I'm back. I know it has been almost two months since I posted anything, and that's a lot to cover. However, I haven't been doing as many interesting things as the semester progresses, so there isn't really a need to cover every single day that has passed. From now on until I catch up to the present, I probably won't be writing in great detail because to be honest, the days do kind of blend together. And a description of every single one of my classes would probably put you to sleep more than the classes themselves. Let's get started, shall we? This should be interesting.
3-9-2015
Basing my memories off of the pictures on my phone and a few notes I had written down about this day, I was apparently still actually doing things during the day at this point besides just sitting around like I kind of do now. I had class in the morning, that much I know for sure. Afterwards, I went to officially open my bank account at the bank on campus. As all of the other exchange students were trying to do the same thing, the place was packed, and I waited for quite a while. I passed the time by observing who I believe was a security guard as he wandered around the room. What I was trying to figure out was whether the holster bulging out of the side of his suit coat was holding a tazer or a gun. I've heard that even the police in Korea don't carry loaded guns, so my bet was on tazer.
I didn't find out what it was before my number was called, which granted me freedom from the bank shortly afterwards. Sitting in one place for too long apparently makes me hungry because I then got lunch with a few friends at BonGousse, a rice burger place that has cheap and delicious food. This place has essentially become the home base for many of the exchange students, particularly my friends and me. We need one back home. I don't know what I'm going to do when I don't have a rice burger to fall back on when I'm in need of a quick meal.
In any event, we continued on to the area around Ehwa University for a bit of shopping. If you look back to my most recent post from ages ago, you will see that a group of us had just been there the day before. But I had come on a mission this time. I needed a backpack. Something smaller that I could use like a purse but also take to class because no one around here uses the heavy duty backpacks that we have back home. Not that having a Korean style backpack will make me fit in around here because, well, I just don't, but I wanted one nonetheless. The one I got actually just broke a few days ago (as I'm writing this at the end of April), but don't worry. I got a replacement that is completely identical. The walk back to campus was probably one of the strangest I have ever experienced. We were swimming upstream. And that stream wasn't your average stream. Oh, no! It was completely comprised of older women, referred to as 'ahjummas' in Korea. We struggled to navigate through the oncoming ladies until we reached the source. They were pouring out of an open door that was down an adjoining street. I kid you not, there was no end to them. Once we were passed the door though, it was smooth sailing, and we returned to campus safely.
Later that night marked the end of my nighttime freedom with the first of my Korean language classes (KLEC). It meets on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 6:50-8:40 p.m. Personally, I really enjoy the class. Well, at least the content because I find learning foreign languages really fun (I know, I'm a nerd). But having a night class is awful. Everyone in the class leaves dinner and goes right to class, and then we lose a good chunk of the night while we sit there repeating sounds and words over and over again to the point that we sound like toddlers. That class is working though. I can read in Korean faster than I could before, and I can put together basic sentences. Like I said before, it's fun.
3-10-2015
Tuesdays are never much fun, and this one was no exception. Class dragged on for the majority of the day before KLEC finally ended. A few hours after that, at 11 p.m., we all had our first floor meeting and room checks. Why is it so late at night you ask? Good question. I'm still asking it myself. Basically, all of the exchange students in the dorm are supposed to go down to the cafeteria for a five minute meeting to hear any important announcements. Yes, it is a pain to attend these every other week, thank you for asking. What's worse is having to intensively clean our rooms for these days, too. Following the meeting, the RAs go around to check each room. Mine takes all of five seconds to check the shower drain and toilet before leaving again. However, cleaning the shower drain this frequently is rather annoying. I would think they could invest in a better drain system. It's Korea; I'm sure they're out there.
My roommate and I were all nervous for this first check because we had heard that they were really strict about them, but as I already said, my RA barely leaves enough time for the door to close before she's gone again. Feeling relieved that we had survived the first check, a few of us ordered some pizza as a late night snack. Since guys and girls are separated into different buildings, we were forced to eat downstairs on the ping pong table. Not that location mattered because, you know, pizza.
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