Mama Yoon and Papa Kim in London

Their plane was delayed for three hours :/ So, I got extra three hours of sleep. The website said that the plane will be arriving at 9: 15, but when I checked again, it changed to 8:25. WTF. I quickly rolled out of bed and ran to Heathrow. I got there right at 9:00 when they were at the baggage claims. I waited about 20 minuates and they arrived!!! They didn’t change a bit; they did look quite old… Dad with grey hair and mom eyes were little saggy T.T We rested for like an hour at Starbucks and rode the underground to Kings Cross. Maybe it was a bad idea to take the tube because dad looked like he was about to throw up. They liked Nido, very moderned, but Nido was too smal for them. Three big adults living in this small cube. Yuk! They brought 4 lugguages, so it’s quite crowded.

We slept for like 3 hours and went outside. It’s suppose to rain, but its now HOT AND SUNNY! We first took 91 bus and sat in the front row at the double decker bus. Then we walked to Trafalgar Square (watched a lame show infront of the gallery), and enjoyed art in the National Gallery. Then we walked to Buckingham Palace (through St. Jame’s Park). It was a long and tiring walk ( I shouldn’t have gone to Buckingham because then we had to walk back to Big Ben).. So, we did. We went and took pictures and walked back. Infront of Big Ben, there were Thelmis people protesting. Thousands of them! We took more pictures infront of Westminister Abbey and Big Ben. We carried our lazy ass to London Eye. I may have been dragging them because it was a long walk. Infront of london eye, we went into the game zone. Ate Mcdonald’s McFlurry and played some game… Then we headed to London eye but it was fucking 17pounds per person! we thought it was too much and mom was hungry, so we went to wagamamas. Big mistake! it was like cafeteria. There was this big long table and people just sat there. No barriers, no privacy. And it tasted exactly like Hares and Tourtouis. I was quite disappointed. Then we dragged our ass to Kings Cross. I wanted them to try Guinness, so we went to the O’neils. They were playing a football match. Parents thought the Guinness was sort of bitter. When we got home, we were jetlagged and tired. We slept nice and soundly

Places that I have been to… outside of London

First semester:

Bath

Stonehedge

Liverpool

Northern Wales

Paris

Amsterdam

Second semester:

Cambridge

Brussels, Bruges, Belgium

Windchester

Portsmouth

Themepark…

Scotland

Brighton

Stonehedge

Cornwall

Oxford

Decobrain

you guys might be wondering…

where the hell i’ve been?

i’ve been here and there.

i’m really lazy to post my past events, so i’m just gonna skip all that and (hopefully) i’ll catch up.

My family finally reunited this weekend. We went to Vermont and had lovely meals and etc. When we came back, we had a nice cup of tea. We decided to bring back out memories by watching some home video. We found a clip of dad in his 90’s in his office– Decobrain. Then, my dad decided to tell his life story. Let me rephrase myself –a  successful life story which changed my perspective towards him. He was from a family that lives on pennies. He was poor and lived in a suburban area with 5 other siblings. He was always interested in art and decided to pursue his dream. He was the first son, out of five, to move to Seoul. He lived on pennies and instant ramen. He couldn’t visit his family in Dae-gu, because he didn’t have money to buy the bus/train tickets. He stayed home during christmas, new years eve, and birthdays. He was working in a big corporations until he wanted to open his own company. His goal was to own a building in Chungmooro, which was like the centre of the city in Seoul back then. He finally reached his goals in the 88′. From this point on, i was amazed. One day, a worker from a big company entered my dad’s office. He passed on the message about  Canon creating their first colour printer in Japan. My dad who was working for a coffee company thought this was an excellent chance. He was drawing and colouring a coffee cup for about thousand times with his hand. With this colour printer, this work could be done in nano-seconds. Before he knew it,  he was already in Japan. He took the sample printer and came to Korea. If it was this simple, then I would not have been interested. But, of course, it wasn’t. Apparently, my dad was the first person to bring the colour printer to South Korea. The printer was not for sale in the public til next year. So, the government was not prepared. They were afraid that my dad would make an illegal copy. For example, if you look at Korean currency (1000 won), you can clearly see a face if you hold the money under the light. Also, there is a dotted line across the paper, so it is impossible to copy them. However, in 88′, those did not exist. So, it was possible for anyone to copy money. Because my dad had the first access to the printer, he needed an approval. He was even contacted by the secret service. (isn’t that awesome?!?!) because he did not have any connections in that area, it took him forever. He had to bring up a strong case to convince the secret service. Saying how the color printer can positively affect Korea. For example, there are thousands and thousands of different type of colours. There are red, reddish yellow, reddish brown, reddish orange,… If my dad surveyed Americans or Japanese, average of them knew about 10~20 types of colours. However, Koreans were only exposed to seven colours. Proving how the Koreans are delayed and slowed, my dad finally got the approval. My dad had about 2 years with the printer alone. (Canon was just getting ready to sell the printer soon). Of course, people went crazy over the colour printer because they’ve never seen one. During those two years, my dad reached his highest point of his life. (88′ Olympics also helped his way.) My dad earned about 200,000 dollars per month. How crazy is that??!! Although business path is tricky and dangerous, when you are hooked then you are hooked for good. ^____^ There were even rumors that my dad copied illegal documents and money. Even some documentary producers disguised themselves as customers. For example, they would bringin like a Russian diploma and asked for a copy. Of course, my dad specifically told his workers to not to copy any sort of documents. The workers defintely did not know Russian, so they copied it. After that day, my dad was on the news and shows. Although he had some rough time, everything worked out. His company got bigger and more successful. However, the colour printers finally entered South Korea, and the work was never the same. Every designers in the 90s knew my father’s name. Every wannabe designers wanted to get the internship from my father. He was THE man. Not only he owned several buildings in Chungmuro, his company became the centre stage in graphic design. My dad knew that his spotlight would not be eternal, so he decided to come to America for different ideas. I guess he didn’t really find anything that was suitable because Decobrain no longer exists now. My dad closed down because there were just too much competitions and not enough work. Everybody saw it coming, and my dad stepped out of the centre stage before it was too late.

I will always miss seeing the big yellow Decobrain sign in middle of Chungmuro’s street. Who knows? Maybe I can carry-on my dad’s title. I am really proud of my dad, and I am embarrased. I always thought my dad as a successful businessman, but I always looked down on him because he didn’t have a job. He would always struggle in English, and I didn’t understand why he wanted to stay in America. But now, there is this huge wall of respect for him. I think he deserves his rest, and maybe it is my time to carry the torch. Well, I have his blood, so I have the passion. I just need to find the perfect idea, time, and place.

I’m going back to London this Thursday. This time… IT’S GONNA BE DIFFERENT.

It’s my time and my opportunity. I don’t want to waste them.

Midterms

Oyy…

This long week is finally over!!! AH! I had two papers due last week and two midterms this week. It was definitely a hell. On the other hand, I think i did pretty okay . I barely got enough sleep and became coffee and red bull addict, but I feel fine now. For Social, we just had to write a general theme essay, which wasn’t bad at all. For Cultural, we had quote ID (which was pain in the ass because I didn’t really read) and an essay. This was also pretty easy, but so much things to write. I got a huge huge huge headache after the test ><

Whatever. It’s over, and I AM FREE!!!!

Before Cultural exam, it snowed. So, I was really excited and distracted before the test T.T. It never snows in London, but it did!! Although it was icy and wet, it made everybody’s day ^^. Since its fall break (Uni students don’t have fall break or midterms… lucky bastards), I am going to Paris and Amsterdam!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHH

you have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this week… I think I deserve this. Seriously I worked my butt off on those essays and exams. I’ve also been saving money, so I could spend money at Disneyland in Paris …

So, we are traveling on Eurostar (train that goes under water to get to Paris!) and on the way home, I hope I can get my friend to take the cruise ship. It’s an overnight ferry. They have two beds and a table and a chair in each room. They also serve dinner buffet and breakfast buffet for less money than the plane. Doesn’t it sound awesome??? I thought it would be a great adventure… Traveling Europe in train and ship ^^ I just need to convince Angie… hehe

So, this is MY plan so far…

Sunday:

8:20~10:20 – Train to Paris

10:20~2 – Hostel

2~ ? – Tour of Paris

Monday:

10:00~8:00 – Disneyland in Paris!!!

Tuesday:

Tour of Paris

Wednesday:

6:25am ~ 12:00pm – Train to Amsterdam

12:00~2 – Hostel

2 ~? – Tour of Amsterdam

Thursday:

? – 6 Tour of Amsterdam

8 – next day : Plane / Ship to London!

AHHHHH this week is gonna be the best week of my lifeeeeee

I am sooo excited ^___^ I’ll def come back on Friday to tell you guys more about my trip!

see you then!!

Major Update…

I haven’t updated for a long time… Sorry about that
So, I’ll catch up you guys from last Friday.

October 3rd, 2008 (Friday)
Another Friday came… Angela, Lena, Meg, and I finally had our girls’ night out. We first went to ULU and then the Rocket (again…) We all dressed up preppy and had a drink of ‘cheap’ wine. ***
We got on route 73 bus to go to ULU for the fresher fare venue. The drinks were pretty cheap and it was semi pact. (No cute guys whatsoever) We were just all drink and talking until we met these two guys who needed help with their girlfriends. Hahahha. Yes, we became their girlfriends’ counselors.. Apparently this guy has a ‘friend’ who still talks to his ex girlfriend and still keeps the ‘box’ of his ex girlfriend. Now, the new girlfriend is pissed off that he still has that kind of stuff and talks to his ex girlfriend. WTF. HOW WOULD I KNOW?? pshh. I only had one fucking lousy experience, and how can I give him an advice on things that even I didn’t go through?? But I’m a PROFESSIONAL.
I made some shit up. Then we went to the Rocket and blah blah blah. (I promised that I wouldn’t go to the rocket cuz we always go there every weekend!! it’s too Americanized and I can do better than that :p)

October 4th, 2008 (Saturday)
So, another girls’ night out. We decided to go to the World’s End in Camden Town. It’s a really famous bar in London. It’s huge (6X size of The Rocket), but the drinks were so expansive. Pint of beer was around 2.50. (WTF) Also, the crowd wasn’t really too friendly. It’s definitely not a place for single girls looking for decent British guys to buy drinks for them. So, we literally stayed like 20 minutes and ditched the place. We went back on the bus… made a fool of ourselves on the double deck!!!! (our first time!) *** Sadly, I think that was better than the trip to the World’s End…
Then the girls wanted to go to The Rocket AGAIN.. So, I ditched them and caught  up with my beauty sleep

Now this week…
I seriously had a full week. (I’m so proud of myself ^^)

Tuesday…
I finally met up with Nick. (Nick was NYU’s orientation tour guide. He’s an UCL student who was working for a part time. He was my tour guide, and my first English friend) Oh, did I mention he’s Asian?! Hahahaha. He was my first English mate, and he is  Asian! (Eric Wei : remember how I said it would be funny to meet an British Asian?? (the accent is soo fucking cool!) He picked me up from the Academic Centre cuz I was too stupid to know where the starbucks was. We went to Tottenham Court Road for a really nice pizza. It reminded me of the pizza restaurant next to Central Park. Cheese pizza was only 3.50 and others were 4.50. (NOT BAD AT ALL). We basically caught up with each other’s lives for 3 hours..

Wednesday…
Because my Thursday class was cancelled, I decided to go out with my new Nido friends. I randomly met them in Nido cafe, and never hung out since. Most of them are in their 20~23. Either go to Kings, Imperial, West Minister, Fashion school… amazing people~ We went to the Cheapskates in Soho. (There were actually a lot of clubs and bars over there. So much better than the Rocket!!)  The entrance fee was 5 pounds and coat room was a pound, but the drinks were only 80p! The music was ehh (more like rollingstones, which I do not listen to) But we made it fun. It took several shots to kick into my party mode. I was surprised that I didn’t spend so much money. I think the guys kept buying drinks, which was really nice. I only spent 10 pounds in total (excluding taxi fee..) So, we took few hours to get some drinks. We all went to the dance floor, and started to dance. The guys were hilarious!! They are perfect guys to bring clubs because they are just so much fun. We did all type of dances. (Ballroom, salsa, hiphop, popping, and WHATEVER DANCES we could make) It was even getting better until some of the ppl left. So, I was left with MaryAnn, Ricardo, Zohan, and Wessel. 3 guys and 2 girls. Hmmmm. Hahahaha. Don’t get the wrong idea, but it was really fun. We would do hit eachother’s butts for no reason. The guys would lift me up for no reasons. The guys would piggyback me for no reasons. Yea you guys can see the point. It was just so much fun in general. It was really nice to hang out with different crowds and going to different places instead of the Rocket. I realized that there are SO MCUH PLACES out there. We are definitely in our little bubble and we really need to go out cuz there are so much better places just right outside of Nido!

Thursday… (NO CLASS!)
Sleeping around 5am from yesterday, I was pretty much dead by the morning. I was gonna do some grocery shopping, but never woke up in time. There is this program called SHINE. It’s a volunteer program where you help a teacher out in a Primary School. So, I was assigned to go to the St. Andrews. It’s a really small primary school (apparently… Public school is a private school over here. When you pay your money to go to a school then it’s a public school. When the government is paying, it is called a state school). I got class 3 (7 to 8 years old). There was only one class three. So, it was pretty big size. When I got there, they were holding their winter musical audition. THEY WERE SOOO ADORABLE!!! They sang and did a routine at the same time, and they read some lines. Some of them were really cute, and some of them were really shy.  Teachers were really bitchy and strict as hell. They would have this fake smile for their students, and their face would 180 change for their bad students. WTF. They were really young teachers and I thought they did a pretty bad job. You can’t always tell these little kids to be quiet and shut up. You got to give some love and attentions. Well, I’ll keep observing them and let you guys know. On the other hand, there was an another volunteer woman. She was in her mid forties, and she had nothing better to do. So, she decided to volunteer during her spare time. I didn’t really mingle with her because I was exhausted from last night. However, she was soooooo nice! She offered a cup of tea at her place, and asked me if I wanted a drive through Camden Town. Of course, I couldn’t say no to that. So, I went to her place. My first English house visit. It was AWESOME!!! It’s definitely like the house in the Notting Hill. It’s not wide like American houses. Instead, it’s tall and skinny. When you walk in, you are entering a hall. After you walk in with several steps, you enter a sitting room area. When you walk down to basement then it’s a living room and dining room. Second, third, fourth, and fifth floors  would be bedrooms. Isn’t it awesme? I drank some water and then ate some grapes. She decided to take me on a drive to Primrose Hill (it’s a park/hill right next to the Regent’s Park. She said it has the best view of london) She was not kidding it. It was the most romantic place I’ve ever been in my life. I could not believe that there would be a place like this in middle of London. It’s just green and goes on a hill. When you get there, you see EVERYTHING. I saw Nido, St.Paul, Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye… It’s crazyy. (I felt soo guilty cuz I didn’t bring my camera T.T I’ll def take some pictures later) Then she drove me around the Camden Market, which is like Myung Dong, Seoul. So many street carts. It is THE place to go right after school. It was just all school kids there. (mostly punks… I dunno why) Then she drove me to London’s Zoo, Regent’s Park, and Queen Mary’s Garden. These gardens were soooooo pretty. I would love to take my future boyfriend there hahahahhahah it was sooo romantic. Especially the colored trees were breathtaking!

Okay enough about scenery…

I attended my first break dancing class at ULU with mia. I thought it would be fun, but it was just too much wrist movements!! I just couldn’t do it >< too hard man too hard. But after two hours session, all the pros decided do a little performance. They were insane!! They weren’t professionals but they were still really good. One of the best guy was actually Korean. (red headed T.T) Mia was obsessed with him, so she went up to him and talked to him. Yes, she got his number but thats not all. There’s this UK bboy championship on sunday and, on monday, all Korean bboys are gathering at a club. AHHHH KOREAN BBOYS! They are the best. They won first place at the international championships, so they are the shit. I can’t wait…

Friday…
After I went to tae hoon’s room for drinks, I woke up around 10 (fucking late), so I could catch the bus to LIVERPOOL. (It’s for HOST program. It’s a program where you get to stay with an English family) The bus ride was HORRIBLE. I got stuck with this guy with ADD. He would stare at me and then ’sigh’ constantly. I couldn’t do anything cuz the guy would stare at me every time. Also, my earphones are dead. WTF. And I couldn’t carry out my laptop cuz I was really scared.. After 6 LONG fucking rides, I got two carsicks. I got a really really really bad car sick on the moment I stepped onto the bus. I was half drunk and half sick. Ugh. It was horrible. I wanted to go to sleep, but  I couldn’t due to the sickness. Ughhh the bus ride was just WAYYYY too long. But, when I got out, this really nice old man was there to pick me up. He is Keith Linsay. He’s a retired university lecturer. The moment I got out of the car, Mrs. Linsay ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever! She’s such a sweetheart. Then we finally ate… (AHHH HOME COOKED MEAL!!) It was pretty decent. It was called Fish Pie. (Mashed potato, prawns, salmon, vegetables). But I really need to learn the table etiquette. I felt so out of place.. The place mats, forks, spoons, napkins,,,, it was sooo ENGLISH! We did our prayers. (good thing I waited because I think I was suppose to wait until everybody is ready). We put our napkins onto our thighs. Grap fork with left hand and grap knife with right hand. I ate pretty slow, but I realized I need to eat fast and keep up with the family because it’s rude to make them wait. Also, I denied for having an extra dish, but I realized I should say yes and stuff my face with food. It just seemed disrespectful. And I dont want them to think of me coming from a poor etiquette class. You really need to CLEAN your dish. You should scrub every last bit of the meal. Then, she brought our ice cream with two waffles. (yummy!) Then, we had our teas with dark chocolate. It was a very traditional dinner. I really liked it. Also, I talked a lot about business with Keith because he used to be a lecturer for business management classes. I told him about my econ situation and my majors. We talked about language&business.. Sociology&marketing&writing… statistics … pretty intense stuff.
Then we planned out tomorrow’s trip. They are so nice because they are giving up their Saturday to give me a tour!! Instead of travelling in Liverpool (4th largest city), we decided to go to the country side. I’m going to WALES (Northern Wales to be specific)! We are gonna visit some castles and drive around the country side. She’s packing tuna sandwich, so we can picnic ^^. I’m excited!!! I need to think about more questions because there were a lot of awkward silences in our talks during dinner.
I think this is such an awesome opportunity. They are the nicest people because they are providing me food, shelter, and so much more for free.

Saturday (morning)

Oops. I totally overslept. The bed and the room was so cozy and comfortable. Breakfast was around 9 and Rachel had to knock to wake me up around 8:55. >< Of course, they were very traditional. We had our casual breakfast in the kitchen. First, I was really confused because she told me to help myself with musely. It was a combination of oats, raisins, and nuts. But, she gave me such a tiny little bowl, so I didn’t think of it as cereal. But it WAS a cereal. After finishing that, she made me a toast with special jams. She actually makes them! It was 유자차 and plum. It was really nice. She said this is not your typical English breakfast because she didn’t have anything cooked. They drank tea or coffee first then musely then toast with cheese!!! (She made me try cheddar and chester. They were actually pretty good. I’m really not a cheese person but these were bearable. So, she put cheese on top of the jam toast). After we finished our breakfast (I finished everything…), she made sandwiches for lunch. (Tuna, butter, salad dressing, cucumber)  While she was making our lunches, we had a really nice talk.Keith is a retired university lecturer and Rachel is a retired dietician. Keith originally was born from South Africa! Rachel was there around 26 to work in South Africa. How crazy and romantic is that? Keith came to England to marry her and decided to change his work to lecturer instead of sailing business.

I also finally weighed myself!!!! I think I gained 3 kg T.T So, it’s not that bad because I ate a LOT since I came to London… Now we are going to Wales right now. I’ll take a lot of pictures at wales. See you tonight!! ^__^

So, I am back…

I am in LOVE with Wales. It is absolutely beautiful! Except Welsh which is a turn off… hahahhaa (no offense T.T) I did not know that Welsh was a different kind of language. I thought it was in English with different dialect. HELL NO. It’s like an alien language. There are no vowels.. ***

We went to Conwy Castle. The scenery made me breathless. Because we are in middle of Fall, the mountains were so colorful. On the way, Keith took the country road, so I got a chance to see at least100 sheeps and cows today. They are literally everywhere. Rachel made me sit in front, so I get a better view (aww). There were green grass everywhere. In order to distinguish the lands, they formed hedges. So, sheeps would be in one side and cows would be on the other. It was absolutely beautiful. Also, they showed me English houses. A lot of English live in SEMI DETACHED houses. They are two houses, but attached. There is only one chimney, which saves a lot of energy. It is cheaper, and most of English live in those. Also, on the way, we passed few castles. People are actually living in one of those!!!! AHHH!!! Keith told me that they are not royal familes, but they must be filthy rich!! (AHH I’m sooo jealous) Finally, I arrived at the Conwy’s castle. I was thrown away by the history and the castle itself. King Edward I built this castle and walls around the town, so the town would be safe from the enemies. There would be only one entrance to the castle. Some of the parts are destroyed, but main part of the castles were still intact (for 800 years!). I saw King’s chamber, church, prison hall, dining hall, and a lot more … If you were in middle of the castle, you can actually feel the energy. You can vision the King and the servants walking around you. Keith was an excellent tour guide. He would tell me about each rooms, which made me realized how I am part of the history now. It’s definitely different from reading it in the textbook. I felt like I jumped into one of the pictures in the text book.  I would love to live in there. You know it’s safe because the walls around the town would protect you. Also, the castle looked like one of those in Cinderella. I realized that America sucks T.T we have no fucking history. In England, everything has some kind of history (including houses, streets, castles, and more) And most of the people here can trace their ancestors back to whenever. I’m jealous…

FOOD: OMG They were AMAZING.
For Lunch: we had a picnic in front of Conwy’s Castle. We brought two chairs out and ate tuna sandwiches in middle of grass. It was tuna with salad dressing with butter and cucumbers ^^ The way my mum makes it. Also, they made this lemonade with grapefruit juice. (which was actually delicious) Then we had some apples and some oats for dessert.
For DINNER!!!!
ahhhhhhhh. She made this chicken stew. She cooked it for over 8 hours with her special sauce, which was amazing. We had mixed vegetables (with cooked cucumber and broccoli **my favorite) and also cooked potatoes. The sauce was unbelievable and of course chicken was so tender. I had two dishes ^^. I could not say NO for a second dish. For dessert, we had this plum pie with custard cream on top. OMG I LOVE CUSTARD !!! I’ve learned how to make it (it is quite easy!) and I’m gonna make it everyday!! mmhmm. I seriously think I’ve gained weight over here. They keep feeding me!!!

Also, Rachel bought me some souvenirs for the way back home. She bought me a coaster with Wale’s dragons on it. So, I would remember them and the Wales whenever I drink my tea ^^. Also, she bought me this little cute notebook with The Smallest House picture as the cover. I thought it was so sweet of her!!!!

When we arrived the house, I decided to take a short walk around here because Keith told me so much history about the town and the houses. So, around 6:00, I decided to go for a stroll. This is definitely a rich town. All the houses were HUGE. All of them had stonewalls and gates. Also, some of them had water fountains in middle of their driveway. OMG. They were filthy rich. Keith told me that one of the houses with the water fountain made indoor swimming pool yesterday. I’m definitely gonna wake up tomorrow early and go for another walk. It’s absolutely stunning! On my way back, I met up with Keith, who was sending his mail, he pointed some streets and some houses that has about a thousand years of history. He told me how most of the houses used to be stables back then. Also, some of the streets were filled with horses. Some of the houses actually had about 3 houses in their land. (about 20 rooms) one house used to be a stable; one house used to be for servants; one house used to be for a family. How crazy is that??

When I arrived home with Keith, dinner was served. MMMMHMMMMMM
OMFG. It has to be one of the best dinner. Of course, Rachel’s dessert was satisfying. The custard was so good with her home made plum dish. Finally, it wouldn’t be a meal without coffee with German’s Dark Chocolate. Rachel and I talked about her Dietician days. She is awesome! She went to South Africa to study and work with children with their diets. She would study them and observe their mothers too. Then she would make a plan for both of them to fix the child’s allergy and so on. Then Keith showed me some of his Sundial inventions. Because he is retired, he has a lot of time on his hand, so he makes a lot items out of wood and steel. He showed me this special sundial. It has four lines of time, which represents Keith, Rachel, Andrew, Keith’s birthdays and Keith and Rachel’s Anniversary. What a family man! Then Rachel showed me her artwork with plants. She’s taking some flower arrangement classes. I really respect these people. They are on top of things because seeing their gardens. It is absolutely beautiful. I know how much they must put into those gardens and into their houses. And on top of it, Rachel makes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts.  Finally, they take classes at some of the colleges. Wow… Hopefully, I can be like them. They were very successful at my age, and they don’t seem to be wasting one minute of their retired lives.

Okay… I’m gonna go to sleep now. I can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow ^^ I’m gonna miss their companies and of course their food. I’m gonna try to wake up early tomorrow and take a walk. Then Rachel is gonna show me around her church. (Church of England). Then Keith is gonna drive me around Liverpool, so I can say to my friends that I went to Liverpool ><.

A Date with British Museum

So, I totally failed at studying this weekend. I NEEDED to study because I am so busy next week. Lets see  what I have… Econ HW (due MON), Book Review Paper (due WED), Culture Paper (due Thurs), Econ test (Fri). Yea, I do have a messed up week coming up. Yet here I am writing to my lovely readers ^^;; There are no places to study here. It sucks! If I was at NY, I could go to my SCHOOL library whenever. However, our Senate House Library closes damn early and my academic centre is just too far away from Nido. Yesterday, I tried to find places to study but failed. Today, I was gonna go to academic centre to study from 9am til whenever. But, it was fucking locked. WTF. I went to Senate House Library, but it was closed. WTF. I went to my local cafe, but it was closed. WTF. So, I decided to hit up British Museum, which is right next to the library and my academic centre. It is actually surprisingly nice. I actually went into some of the galleries. I think I’m gonna come here often and just look around (wow I sound really dorky) I went into China, Japan, and Korea galleries. It actually felt good to see some of my histories in London. I was proud to be part of this culture that has so much histories. Then, I checked out this cafe. It is pretty cozy and quiet. So, I popped out my laptop and my reading books. And here I am…

I went to Parthenon section because I have to pick a sculpture and relate it to any characters or settings about the Iliad. While I was observing (and being very studious) I came across at least 10 Korean tourists group. So there were at least 20 koreans in one group. So, I saw about 200 koreans today. (Thats enough krns right there) I heard different dialects and such. It was actually nice to hear koreans in the background. I saw so many korean families. It gave me a flashback when my family traveled. We traveled around when I was young, and I really miss it nowadays.
When I saw all these Korean tourists, i realized that I am really happy that I’m not just any tourists. I am actually a student in London. Not just any students but college student . I mean who can say that they have British Museum (one of the known museums) right next to their school. Who can say that they live right next to a transportation station that can take you to Paris in two hours? Who can say that during fall breaks they are traveling to European countries? hahahaha. you get my point. I’m starting to really like it here. It’s different. Some NYU upperclassman may say that ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have studied abroad in Freshman year because you’ll be missing out a lot of freshie stuff’. Well.. Screw them. I love challenging myself and I think this is one of the biggest challenge for me. Yes, I am missing Fresher’s week and a lot of parties. But I am learning about London, One of the best cities in the world. Also, being on my own in a different country is actually exciting. Even tho I am overwhelmed with work, it’s kinda exciting. Best of all is that I am REALLY REALLY excited to go back to NY in Sophomore year. I will love having the feeling of ‘Freshman’ when I go there in my 2nd year. I wouldn’t have that Soph’s slump. hahahhaha I realized that four years of my college is gonna go so fast. Freshman – London, Sophomore- NY, Junior – China, Senior – whats next?

okay now lets get back to my daily life…

Hmm. What have I done this week??
I actually have done nothing that was interesting.
OH OH
let me tell you about my Korean experience. There are very few Korean supermarkets around here. It is pretty small and small T.T I went into Hana Supermarket which is only literally two minutes away from my academic centre. It’s pretty nice. It sells everything from rice, ice cream, crackers, and instant noodles. My Krn guy friends took me to the basement where they serve korean food. Guess what…. they only serve bibibab and pork w/ rice. It’s soooooo sketchy. The basement is smaller than your normal basement. There are video shelves against the wall, and there are random tables in the middle. The tables are not even decent. They are like those you see in garage sales. And they don’t even have regular chairs. They are more like stools. And the FOOD!!! is not even decent. Bibibab is 3.50 – which is about 7 dollars. Pork with rice is 4.00 – which is about $8.50.  They serve miso soup in plastic cups. Although it was good to have korean meal, it was not worth the money. However, people kept coming into this dungeon basement. I don’t know why but they just kept coming. So, if I want to open a Krn restaurant over here, i shall make good money ^^

Also, on saturday, I went to a Korean Bar on Oxford Street with my Korean friends. It was soooo much fun. They served Soju and Korean beer with Korean side dish such as fried chicken, 야채 볶음, 과일, 골뱅이, 닭똥집, 오뎅국, 떡갈비, 떡볶이… However, the place was messed up.. It is actually PC Bang in the afternoon and it turns into a sketchy bar at night. However, being with 10 Korean friends, we made it fun. So many Koreans were there (all from UCL). They were all cheering “UCL UCL UCL!!” So, whenever we cheered, we were like NYU BABYYYY. HAHAHAHHA we were soo stupid but it was fun. We played all the Krn games (being obnoxious as we can be). We spent a lot of money that day. Soju was around 8 pounds (fucking 16 dollars), and the side dish was not cheap. It came up to around 120~150 pounds, so everybody had to chip in 20 pounds. So, I spent around 40 dollars that day. But it was worth it. Everybody was outside smoking, so we all started to mingle with other UCL students. Apparently there are about 300 Korean student body in UCL. Because it is Freshers’ week, they are throwing a party for them on Thursday, and they invited us. FUCK. I am sooo busy this week but I’ll try to make room for that day. Because I wanna meet more British Koreans. (British accent is sooooo funny on Koreans)

Maggie’s Night Hike

What’s Maggie’s Night Hike?

Well, its when 16,000 people walk 20,000 km from City Hall. It starts at 10:00pm and ends at 9:00am.

NYU has asked me to be one of their volunteer and I chose the quickest shift (10:00pm ~ 2:30am).

However, all my friends signed shift til liek 9:00 am or 4:30 am. So, I was left alone T.T

There were 13 stations available for hikers. The stations may be just plane stations that serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate. Other stations had string quantet, acrobat, wine, beer, breakfast, and other shit. I relaly wished i was part of that walk. Maybe next year.. But I’m glad I was part of it. My station was 3rd or 4th at the Power House Station. I was too lazy to be outside and help people with directions, so I volunteered to be the server for coffee, soup, tea, hot chocolate… First, it was ncie and easy. I talked to the locals like how are you? hows the weather? hows the walk?? until 10,000 people marched in. IT WAS INSANE!!!!!! I burned and scratched my hands, but it was fun. I never served 16,000 Nescafe coffee before, so it’s definitely going on my resume Some people were funny and ALL of them were nice. Although my station was gay, it was definitely worth it. I wished I walked after that shift was over, but I was fucking tired. I had only 2 hours of sleep and woke up @ 7am for 2 make up classes.

BUT now, i’m all recovered. I’m going to Borough Market for my research paper. I think Mark is coming over, so we will defintely go out today. Probably Camden. If that doesn’t work out then we could go to CHINA WHITE. I’ve been wanting to go there since the first day.

Also, guess what??!! They accepted my HOST application, so I’m going to BIRKENHEAD on October 10th!!! I’ve been really wanting to go outside and my wish came true! It’s at the end of Great Britain. (right enxt to LIVERPOOL!!)  All i have to pay is the transportation then i’m fucking good!! i’m so excited. Also, that weekend is perfect because two of my classes got cancelled. ^^

It was meant to be.

My camera is ocming soon from US, so hopefully I’ll get it by Birkenhead weekend.

WTF?! my laptop is on crack…

So, I wrote a LONG interesting post 5 days ago, and it’s not here.

WTF… What a waste of time.

So, I’ll catch you guys up. I FUCKING MISSED A CLASS on Thursday. SHHHHHHHHHH It will never happen again (cross fingers). Before that night, I attended Shakespears’ Globe Theatre. They did A Midnight Summer’s Dream. It was hilarious, but I had to stand for three hours – which was not fun at all! Because the theatre was outside, it was freaking cold. So, by the itme I got home was midnight. I read Genesis again, so I could be prepared for tomorrow’s class. Then I started to do some research, so I wouldn’t have a lot of work to do over the weekend. BUT GUESS WHAT? I didn’t wake up. My class is 10~1. I woke up @ 12. WTF WTF WTF I was fucking going crazy. I was crying like a maniac. You should have seen me. None of my alarm clocks woke me up, which means I was physically and mentally tired. ugh. I really don’t want that to happen again. As I was running to my class, I realized I’ll only make 10 minutes of it. So, I walked. walked. walked. (trying to think of an excuse) At our orientation, the director made sure that attendance policy is STRICT!!!!! He kept saying that if we have ANY unexcused absence, 3% from our final grade would drop. I talked to my professor, Karbiner, first. She said she understands, but she fucking gave me 4 to 5 pages of an essay. WTF. Now, I’m fucking overwhelmed because I have Iliads, Politics, and two 4~5pages of essays. Sigh. whatever. My biggest fear was talking to the director. He looks so fucking scary,but he was actually really nice. (which makes my professor look like a bitch ) He listened to all of my crap, and gave lots of advice. He told me that it takes time to get settled down, and try not to get too overwhelemed… So, he let me off the hook. THANK GOD.

Now I finished writing my last post… lets move on…

I can’t talk as much because I have an essay due tomorrow.

Last weekend, I went to Bath and Stonehenge with my orientation group. It was really really really beautiful. It actually felt like I was in an european country. Every buildings literally looked like chapels T.T Stonehenge was beautiful as usual, but Bath made me speechless. Although I was tired and got disgusted after staying at hostile, I’m really glad I saw Bath. I didn’t know Britain had that kind of side. It made me realized that London isn’t everything that UK offers. So, I’m really looking forward to my HOST program, where I get to stay in British family. I hope it’s around Scotland or Ireland. ^^

The Rocket

So, I will tell you about EVERYTHING that happened to me at the Rocket.

The Rocket is a public pub in Kings Cross. It’s only like 10 minutes away. It is literally the CHEAPEST place to hang out. There’s no entrance fee. On Saturday, there’s a decent DJ and one pine of beer is only one pound. However, when you meet decent guys, they buy you drinks

My main goal was to talk to the locals. (Yes, I didn’t go to get drunk T.T) Actually, I succeeded. I talked to at least 10 British guys. Megan and I were waiting in line for a drink, and this huge guy welcomes us to his table. He brought like 20 bottles of his own drinks (which is not allowed but he has connections ^^) The bottle was just a regular caffeine drink, so I got some of that. They were around 26 and from Wales. I relaized that different part of UK & Ireland have totally different accents. Also, I met more Nido people. They were from UC Berkely and others. I never seen them, but I will now ^^ They were super nice. Because they had their own table (with british guys), we just joined them and started talking to their British people. The British guys were HILARIOUS. One of the guy was trying to learn NY slang. (like Don’t you go there girlfriend >< or Oh No You didn’t! with snaps ><) hahahahhah He was from Bristole(Norfolk?) , and he taught me how to do Northern farmers’ accents. Also, I learned some of the slangs. Instead of saying dudes or bros, they say Mates. ^^; After talking to those british guys for hours, we decided to dance. (so, many nyu ppl were starting to makeout with some random british guys. It was sooo uncomfortable. When I got to my dorm, so many girls were crying to their BFs. Saying… I’m so sorry!! i was fucking drunk >< hahahha) There were so many cute british guys, but some of them are really shy. A guy on stripe shirt was super cute, so we decided to join their table. Although the guy was cute, i couldn’t carry a one decent conversation with him. however, i talked to guy that was next to him. Although he was fat and ugly, we had a decent conversation. We talked about NY and London and, of course, Sex and the City. ^^; On our way to the exit, we also met two PREPPY british guys. They were actually wearing sweaters >< Even though they were from London, I could not understand a word T.T I like going to the pub so much better than the club because you can’t really meet a guy in a club. At a club, there are a lot of sketchy guys trying to dance with you. At a pub, the guy comes to you or you go to them. ^^ It’s simple , safe, and better ^^

Ugh. School week is starting again.

more work work work. gtg babes!

Cough Cough Cough. (fucking London weather)

I went to the Greenwich (its pronouced as GRENwich) yesterday. I went on a boat tour @ Westminister Pier. It was beautiful. We passed the parliament, egg, big ben, queen’s house, etc… Although it was fucking cold, it was really nice to be a tourist.

MY CAMERA BROKE.

My camera was on my desk for few days. I didn’t touch it and I didn’t do anything with that camera. I brought it to the tour, and when I turned it on, it was blurry. It’s too blurry to take the pictures or even look at the pictures. WTF? I still have to travel Europe, and I want to take thousands and thousands of pictures of London. Maybe I’ll buy a new one. (probably not.. I need to save every fucking penny (its called PENCE over here)

New topic : THIS STORY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFEE

- I HAVE A RANDOM GUY SLEEPING IN MY ROOM.

hahahahhahah jkjkjk ^^; My friend Lena met up with one of her high school classmate. His name is Dan and he’s same age as us, 18. Instead of going to college, he defered a year and decided to travel. So, he is traveling Europe by himself. He only carries a HUGE backpack. I would never ever have the guts to do that. I would probably get raped on the first day ><.  So, he started from Ireland and works his way down. He’s goal is get to New Zealand. However, he doesn’t have visiting visa, so I don’t know how its gonna work out. From Ireland to London, he jsut got on a sketchy trolley and hitchhiked to London. He just stayed in the trunk when he passed Ireland. (WTF) Hes like one of those runaway ppl. Because he is on the tight budget, he tries to work. He told me that he literally went to 31 nightclubs and asked for a job. (job: collecting cups or washing the cups) He only got 4 pounds an hour (which is even LOWER than the minium wage). Also, he is also writing a book while he is traveling. Although it’s not about his journey, he has a good story about some religion crap.

I am mad jealous. His mind is crazy and all over the place. But when he sits down to write his book, he is focused and calm. Although he is not getting his college experience and education, he is learning about LIFE. He knows how to meet people and talk to them. Because without meeting new people, he wouldn’t have gotten to London right now. There’s so much to learn from him. He definetely made me realize that I should take London seriously. So, I made a promise to myself. I will travel in London or Europe once a week. Every weekend, I will pick a place from the guide book and just go there. (I finally got my oyster card, so I’m set) I don’t need a friend to tag along because I’m old enough to go by myself. (it’s also better to go alone because you have time to think about everything) I want to figure out what I want to do in life. I dont want to just study for four years because thats just wasting my $50,000 and my valuable time.

If you guys didn’t notice, I’m stopping facebook because it is an evil machine. It can make me stay online for more than 2 hours. After two hours, I’m always like… where was i?? I can’t lose my valuable time on one stupid website.

Instead i’ll use my wordpress ^^

I’m gonna go and study for 2 hours. Then i’ll go to the Rocket (pub) with my girls. I always stay in my circle when I go out. However, I realized that I should spread out my wings more often. A pub is a PERFECT place to meet new people. I just need to put on my confidence gear and go out. Beside, its a pound for a pint and theres a free DJ ^^

peace!