oh dear, intense!!

wahhhh, what an intense week!!!

My Saturday was spent shopping at Hongdae. Got some cute stuff. Not that interesting haha I have a few pics of earrings and stuff but that's just me being weird hahaha.

I went to Lotte World for my birthday, which was...interesting. I was really excited because it was a really cheap ticket to get into the amusement park, but I didn't realize my pass only lasted until 5pm :( Oops haha. Another weird thing is that you have to PAY to go on certain rides. You've already paid for your tickets but you have to pay extra for these rides. LOL not cool hahaha

But once Manuela, Jenny, and I went OUTSIDE of the indoor park (but still in the amusement park haha), we had tons of fun. It was a lot more young-adult oriented, versus preschool-child oriented. Yes, I'm being ageist lol. They had these CRAZY rides that just...WOW hahaha. Explanations under the pictures lol. Manuela and Jenny were super sweet. Manuela bought this AMAZING cake (everything tastes better in Korea hahaha) and Jenny gave me a cute card hahaha.

Lotte World also has a National Folk Museum which was really, really cool. They recreated a bunch of dynasties in Korea and also recreated the lives of the common people of Korea. We were exhausted by this point but this place was AWESOME. I mean, the detail, the history, the coolness of it all...oh fudgenuts, super cool :D

But once we walked out, we found ourselves in the Lotte Department store...

Ummm...consumerism much?

During the week (Lotte World was Sunday), Jenny and I went to get our registration cards (FINALLY) and then...well, just continued with life haha. I had Korean class, a Korean film class (more on that later), Korea through ethnography class, and capitalism and democracy in Korea class.

I love them all. Korean class is filled with great people and awesome teachers. We all manage to have fun and learn at the same time hahaha. We have the class separated into zones too hahaha...There's a winner's corner, buffer zone, and the loser corner hehehe...I'm in the loser corner hahaha

My Korean film class is SO COOL! We watched a film called "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird." Inspired by the spaghetti Western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" but with a Korean vibe. I really, really enjoyed it. It's really interesting because themes of the Wild West are those of having no country, no home, greed for money, colonization, violence, etc. But those themes segue really nicely into Korean history because during the time when Korea was colonized by Japan, Koreans had that atmosphere. Anger, fear, no hope, lawlessness, etc. So this film is awesome hahaha.

My other classes are pretty cool too but not much that I can speak on right now.

Aside from classes, I've been realizing just HOW much money I've been spending these past few weeks. I've taken a huge chunk out of my financial aid and it's only been a month. I'm going to get a cheap cashbook (more money to spend -.- ) to help me keep track of my finances. Manuela and Jenny both have one so I'm going to copy them hahaha.

I will hopefully get my cellphone tomorrow (more money ick)...I'm almost considering not getting one but its good for emergencies, I guess. Blegh. I prefer life without one.

...but now I move into the cool stuff.

The Yon-Kor Jun.

Oh, you think it's not that interesting. But it's much more than you expect.

See, every fall, the two biggest (read: richest) private schools in Seoul have a...yell/dance/sing/sports-off. It's seriously this huge party for two days (Friday and Saturday...Wed. and Thurs. are included but not as intense) where the two universities just face-off big time.

I've never really had school spirit...but this time??? HOLY SHIZZNIT, if Davis had rallies/etc. like this, even I would be filled with school spirit hahahhaa. I have videos but they don't capture the feeling that you got while you were there. Just seeing these MASSES of people coordinating their movements (there are choreographed dances) all to outdance the other side??? HAHAHAHA awesome. There was a baseball game on while I was there but...umm...hahaha I only paid attention when I was too tired to dance. I think that's how the majority of the students were. Most of the people didn't even seem to care whether they lost or won haha.

After leaving the Yon-Kor Jun (I couldn't go to the whole thing because I'd planned to meet up with Connie), I took the subway/train to see Connie...I love Connie. Her place is so cute too! Small, but cute. She took me to this awesome park in Guri, where she lives. She also took me to their open-air market. I'll go back one day, but only after I figure out how to say Korean numbers :( We got ripped off hahaha

As a side note, Guri also has TONS of love hotels. They look super shady hahahaha.

Pictures and videos will be up on Facebook. Too much time and effort up here :P hahaha