미안해요, team

Last midterm tomorrow and I have yet to start but I feel that I need to write my thoughts down hahaha they were kinda triggered because today they asked us (Aly + me, cos we're on exchange) for our jersey sizes over whatsapp.

Coming here on exchange, I feel like I've left a lot of things behind? And detached myself from a lot of things as well. Prior to this exchange, we just finished (fina-freaking-lly) our PM Cup just the week before I flew over.

While I'm here on my extended break/holiday from the last season, everyone else went back to training one week later. And I feel that coming over here, I've forgotten how tough it is for them to go back to training after only a week break, after 1 year plus of non-stop training. :'(

And because I forgot how everyone else back home is probably struggling and hurting, I feel apologetic for errr not going through what everyone else is going through, for not 一起-ing with the rest of them. Sigh.

Sometimes I feel bad that I'm enjoying myself, hardly doing much here in Korea on exchange while everyone else is struggling. Yes, I do struggle here in my classes but there is less pressure because I'm on exchange - to be honest, my biggest worry is failing. While it is a super valid worry because I seriously run the risk of failing here lol at home, there's training, there's CAP and grades :'(

Kian also said something super apt the other day. I said I spent my entire Saturday writing postcards and whatsapping, and he said that whatsapp is a very powerful tool. It's true. I'm super thankful for whatsapp and all other forms of social media because otherwise it'll be so hard to keep in touch with all the people I love back home. It's especially heart-warming, Kian mentioned this point (I'm rephrasing lol), when you receive whatsapp messages that remind you of normality back home. So true!!!! Every time dbg says things like "lunch anybody?" I'll butt in and say me HAHA well also because it's lunch time here in Korea......

Will be back soon okay, 一起, really.

Love of my life ♥️

Hehehehe today I'm gonna introduce to y'all the love my life hehe

He's big, tall, and super super SUPER cute......

Rilakkuma

So cute hor?????

Saw this rilakkuma before at Hongik University and I wanted to take a photo with it then, but there were too many high school girls terrorizing it so I couldn't and I was quite sad about it haha

But yesterday when I went back there, rilakkuma was there too!! Hehehehe my favourite

We even had a casual conversation together HAHAHA

Just having a casual conversation with my love HAHAHA

Ahhhhh I can't explain why I even love this bear so much lol it's currently my pillow too (my lovely juniors gave it to me at the airport before I came over :')) - it's a rilakkuma cushion that's big enough to double up as a pillow ahaha

And I hug this rilakkuma neck cushion to sleep like it's a bolster ahahaha

Ok bottom line is I'm super happy to have taken photos with rilakkuma hahahahahah

"Autumn in my heart" hahaha photo credits to eatsee!!

Hehe! ♥️.♥️ (heart eyes hahaha)

Ugh (rant sorry)

I should be studying but I'm so damn distracted and annoyed by the fact that I never had to worry about midterms back in Singapore because all we had were term papers but now I've been thrown into this midterm cycle and it's killing me because I'm 1) not used to it 2) can't study for nuts 3) would rather write essays full of long winding reasons than study for AN AFRICAN HISTORY MIDTERM.

I get even more annoyed when I think about how the lectures were full of content that were useless because the prof simply threw us into the subject when all of us had ZERO knowledge about it - and this makes studying so much more painful now ugh I'm trying to find joy in it, like joy in understanding Africa better because I like learning about history and feeling intelligent but the reading is SO DIFFICULT. WHY. WHY does the author keep writing in winding sentences and it's so choppy and hard to read I feel like raging at the paper.

In other news, I'm beginning to write like that annoying author from my reading as evident in this long and winding post that has zero content and is 100% full on ranting and complaints.

Argh.

연어 (salmon) catching!

Blublublublub...

(trying to imitate bubble noises ahahah)


Went salmon catching the day after climbing Seoraksan! Initially we'd booked the salmon catching slot to be 12pm but because the only suitable bus timing to Yangyang was 8.20am with the next bus being at 11.45am (which would have made us late for salmon catching since the ride was an hour long!). So we ended up reaching Yangyang at about 9+am in the morning.

The salmon festival wasn't very far from the bus terminal so we took a walk over.

Reached, registered, and managed to get into the 10am batch! (Also because Konrad's reservation mysteriously disappeared lol it's so weird how things work in Korea because things keep getting mysteriously cancelled etc)

Ajusshis herding the salmons around

After walking around the grounds of the festival, it was time to go salmon catching!!

Konrad caught one when we got in, gotta be fast cos everyone's catching too!! We took photos with that one single fish. Lol. Then Pat waited for us while we hunted for more salmons.

I was super freaked out to be honest, because I hate squirmy things lol memories of the fish spa in Bangkok came into my mins but these fishes were HUGE and they just kept darting past your legs!!!!

Anyway I was determined to catch one for myself. But we took too long to go back in, there weren't a lot of salmons left ahahaha but there were a few in the corner of the pool cos some people caught too many (one person one fish) and the uncles ajusshis put the salmons back in.

Basically, my salmon was kinda concussed I think hahahaha it wasn't struggling in the water and the ajusshi told me to pick it up hahahaha he was pretty nice, I guess my fear was quite apparent haha

Konrad and his second fish ahahahaha his struggled and splashed around in the water!

Fishmonger me

Who has the bigger mouth? Hahaha (It's the fish OKAY)

After that we got the fishes cut and cleaned, and cooked them on the grill!! (We gave one of our fishes away and ate two - but even then it was too much for us hahaha waste of food sigh :-()

Our cardboard box salmon picnic!!

After that our mini picnic with the salmon, we started on a freaking 5 hour long bus journey back to Seoul omg I had never felt so frustrated sitting in a bus before hahahaha but there was a pretty sky to look at on the way back - the sunset.

:-)


That aside..............

It's midterm season right now and I've bombed a few tests hahaha actually feeling worried I might fail University in Korea....the Koreans study so hard!!!!! I don't, so I should be contented with the scores I have (which is a just pass kinda score) but then I have that azn spirit in me so I feel like I can do better blahblah but I still can't be bothered to study hard lol.

I don't want to get poor grades and throw face here in Korea :-( Catch salmon some more lah. Climb mountain some more. I SHOULD BE STUDYING TSK

Ok bye, have to study for Thursday's midterm before I bomb another one again

단풍 어디에요???

This weekend's adventure: to Gangwon-do province!


Took the bus to Seoraksan on Saturday morning and since we were a pretty big group we ended up reaching quite late (because we needed seats for 9 people and they only had a bus for that many at about 10am lol). Then there was a jam going up towards Seoraksan National Park because everyone wanted to look at the autumn foliage I guess.

According to online sources it is supposed to peak this weekend (21 October to be exact) but I guess our sources were wrong and Kian's tourist guide friend said it peaks next week. -______- My 단풍 ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Pardon my many selfies ahahahaha I'm not a selfie person - well not till I came here LOL (cos no one judges here!!)

The nicest of all the 단풍 we could see!!

But it's okay because we still managed to climb towards Ulsanbawi (lol we kept saying Ulsanbawi on our way up and that was like our main aim). I say towards because we didn't make it to the top - not enough time before the sun starts setting (~5.50pm! SO EARLY)

Photos from ALMOST Ulsanbawi!!

And photos from my Olympus pen! (Damn it there's this stain on my lens or something argh) From (almost) Ulsanbawi~

Still sad there was not much autumn foliage to look at though. Sighpie


By the time we left the park it was dark! So since there were a lot of people leaving too, we decided to take a cab. And three of us took to Wontong/Inje while the rest went back to Sokcho Bus Terminal (we took a bus from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal in Seoul to Sokcho!) to go back to Seoul - for the three of us, we were going salmon catching the next day in Yangyang!

(To be continued...) lolol

NUS SEP Application

I guess now it's the SEP application season and friends have been flooding me with questions (sometimes irrelevant questions haha) so I'll just put a rough guide over here~

Things you will need to do in your application (from what I remember) (and in no particular order):

1. Personal Statement
2. List down your CCA achievements/contributions/whatnot
3. "Map" your modules
4. Rank/Choose the schools you wish to go to
5. SUCK UP

Hahahaha ok that was quite a sarcastic list of things to do, but 1-4 are completely relevant DON'T LOOK DOWN ON THEM ahahahah

1. Personal Statement
Basically, you will write about yourself and your future exchange. I'm not going to tell you the contents that should be in it because really, it has to come from the heart. HAHA kidding but if you think deep you will find the answer and end up with a beautiful personal statement.

Dig deep, think deep. Trust me. Don't go around searching for answers because there is no fixed answer to writing a personal statement!!!! All the best.


2. List down your CCA achievements/contributions/whatnot
Most people will list down their University achievements but if you haven't got a CCA/contributed to the school then I guess okay, you can list down your JC achievements. But honestly, I think they would like to look at what you've done while in University.

It's completely fine to leave this blank, really. Don't stress out!


3. "Map" your modules
The point of "mapping" your modules is to show the school that you've done your homework, that you're not blindly applying to a school only to pull out of the program later! So this assures them you're in it and you're serious about it haha. Anyway, what you map now will not necessarily be what you map in the future after you've gotten your SEP. But I thought this was a pretty important process because it gave me an idea of how I would want to rank my choice of schools. Also gave me an idea on what modules I should plan to take in my second semester of Year 2 at NUS because planning is very important - going on SEP you get "free" S/Us which you shouldn't waste!!

Admittedly, there were loopholes in my planning (and I also got derailed by getting a poor grade for one of modules during that semester) so plan properly!!


4. Rank/Choose the schools you wish to go to
In my case, I wanted to go to Korea so I had the S.K.Y universities in my choices. But I also toyed with the idea of going to Canada/Copenhagen so they made up the remaining of my 5 choices. Research on the schools you plan to go to. I chose SNU over Korea University (KU) despite KU having more sociology modules because I read that SNU gave priority to international students - you're likely to get the class even if it is fully booked (but still, no guarantees just higher probability!!). English courses are super important to me because there is NO WAY I will survive in a Korean-taught course - my command of Korean is not there yet lol so look at your needs and cater to them!!

Others also looked at accommodation options, cost of living in that country, weather etc. I wanted to go to a place I enjoyed and wouldn't experience too great of a culture shock (when I went to London for a holiday, I had a mini culture shock because I couldn't believe how the trains were so...backwards? Yeah.) I love trains and Korea's pretty easy to travel in which makes it more enjoyable for me. Apart from that, I also quite like the food although it's always a headache deciding on a place to eat with my friends. Haha but given the option, I'm ok with soup/stew + rice. I hardly eat meat (although I should eat more lol proteinnnn) and am more of a rice girl after all haha


5. SUCK UP
Yep, in your personal statement, interview (if you have any - FASS kids don't). Sucking up is very important but don't over-do it or you'll end up sounding quite fake hahaha

As with anything you do - always remember there is a fine line and don't cross that line!!


Right, I guess that's about it. I'll talk more about my courses next time~ Feel free to leave a comment and ask questions too hahahahaha (if there's anyone even reading this ahaha - i'm friendly!!)

Jeollanamdo: Trippin' to the Korean countryside

Just got back from a 2D1N trip to Jeollanamdo for only 10,000won!! Whoop whoop it was a tour organized by KORAIL. Basically, it's government sponsored that's why it's so cheap.

My first time out into the Korean countryside!! Daegu didn't count since it was essentially a city. Signed up for it with the impression that it would be an English-speaking tour but it ended up conducted in Korean/Chinese?! WTF expression right here ha ha ha but yeah anyway. There were loads of Chinese-speaking students/people on the tour so we ended up being translators for the minority who couldn't speak Chinese (there were about 5). All because we're from Singapore...

But the thing is we have super poor command of Chinese lol. Joke. Had such a hard time talking to this guy from China who studies at Shandong University and is on exchange to a university at Suwon! Gah, I think it's harder to understand their Chinese as compared to Taiwanese Chinese? Lol just my opinion. They seem to have super a lot of specific terms that I've never come across before because we tend to speak conversational/Singapore kind of Chinese hahaha


Anyway we went to Namdo Food Festival (struggled cos we didn't know much Korean) and well the food was just okay but it was an interesting place, it being a traditional kind of village? 민박춘, I think. You can see from the photos how the roofs are constructed!

Photos from the Food Festival, taken by my Olympus Pen!! Some photos, basically panoramas mostly, are from my iPhone though! I think the quality difference is pretty obvious haha (Photos from my camera are finally making their debut lol)

SUPER CUTE kids enacting the punishment process/apparatus hahahaha

Found a rice paddy field hehehe my dream field~

Scarecrow LOL

Afterwards we headed off to the green tea terraces (녹차밭) at Bo-Seong (보성)! It was really pretty I really loved that place haha we even climbed to the top so that we could see the sea~ And thank goodness for good weather cos it wouldn't be visible if there was rain, cloudy weather or fog!!

Hehe miniature effect from my camera!! I luv my camera so much lol

View of the sea!!

Then we headed off to our accommodation which was this resort that was in the middle of NOWHERE. Freaking ulu place I tell you.

End of Day 1. Hahaha the next day we woke up early and went to this dinosaur fossil track site. No idea how real it is honestly. I could hardly see the footprints in the fossil track site but there were lots of flowers so I could continue my "I want to be a flower" series lol (at part 3 now) - if you follow me on Instagram you would know!

Can you see the dinosaur tracks? Lol

"I want to be a flower part III."

Then we headed back to the Namdo Food Festival lawllllll but this time we climbed to the top of the village (there was a tiny hill) and we could see the view from above~

Oh and we ate raw clams for lunch. Thank goodness my stomach's still holding up haha

LOL I JUST REALIZED THE RAW CLAMS AREN'T IN THE PHOTO LOL #loser

Afterwards we headed to Suncheon Bay Garden to see "Fields of Gold" - basically it's just reeds hahaha but it was really pretty!! Speed walked up to Mt. Yongsan Observatory (HAH that's another mini mountain right there) and had a view from above~ Really spectacular. Too bad there wasn't enough time to have a look at the beach sigh

Afterwards it was back to Seoul~ Agonizing 4 plus hours bus ride hahaha



Interesting trip although it was agonizing conversing in Chinese haha. I really regret not speaking more when I was younger/in Singapore because now I have problems expressing myself in Chinese - in particular to the China people. Feel like this problem wasn't that apparent in Singapore where I'm surrounded by others who are similar in terms of our speaking ability? Hahaha I would catch myself saying "Then 那个......" etc lol a mix of Chinese and English.


10,000won only; ok lah. HAHAHA