And we’re back for another installment of my time in Korea. On the last episode, I had just finished quarantine and was about to move into the dorms before school started. Well now school has started and so much has happened.

To get the bad part out of the way first. I had déjà vu because I went into quarantine AGAIN. This time, however, was because of me actually getting corona (thanks Tram 🙂, more on her later this post). Honestly, much like last time, I didn’t really mind quarantine since I love having time to myself. The only bad things were having to be across the hall from Tram (the criminal), getting egg salad sandwiches almost every morning, and getting scared that I would have to move to a government facility and out of the quarantine dorm.

But, I actually made it through yet another quarantine and, to be honest, I didn’t have any symptoms apart from a sore throat the first 2 days. Now, I’m back to normal and just finished my first week of classes in person (however, ALL of my teachers have covid now so next week I’m going to be online ALL WEEK… how fun).

With that out of the way, a little on my classes now. I am taking 2 Korean language courses and a premodern history of Korea class. The Korean classes are completely in Korean which for me is only a little bit scary because listening and speaking in a foreign language have plagued me ever since I learned French in middle and high school. But, it is actually not that bad. Do I understand 100% of what they’re saying? No. Do I sometimes just nod in agreement after they finish a statement? Yes. Do I also sometimes wait to hear other people’s answers so I can follow their lead like a sheep? Absolutely (and there is no shame in my game). While I’m on the topic, I would just like to say that my Practical Korean teacher on Thursday is the nicest woman ever and I hope every thing good in life happens to her (Her name is Moon too, which just makes things even better). She speaks slowly and always repeats things to make sure we understand. Her smile is also iconic (honestly I’m her #1 fan and if she ran for president, I would find a way to vote for her as a non-Korean citizen). If you remember me saying I’m also taking a premodern history course, let’s just treat it like Bruno and not talk about it.

Now to the fun part. F R I E N D S! *claps ×4* I have met so many great people here! My first friend I made here was quite random. We were both starving in the dorm and she slid up on my Instagram story and asked “Hey do you know where the student cafe is and how we access it? I’m starving!”. I wish I knew the person she was today because I would’ve told her “too bad, starve ❤”. If you haven’t guessed it yet, this was the infamous Tram (I honestly love her and am very grateful that she came into my life, but I won’t publicly admit that). Funny enough, while we were out, we met 2 other girls on the street (one of which I am also grateful came into my life named Michelle). Michelle is truly a slice of home in human form, southern-ish and knows how to have a good time (when she’s not humbling men of course). Little did I know, we would hang out almost everyday after that.

We also met some other girls randomly in the subway station (Lily and Sam), then went on to meet plenty of other random people on the street or subway. The moral of the story is if you want to meet people, just stand on a corner or in the middle of the subway station.

Lastly, the food. There are so many places I have eaten at and don’t really have time to go through all of them, so I’ll show some of my favs.

And we’ve reached the end of this episode. Much more to come in the next one. But for now: so long, farewell, to you my friends goodbye, for now, until w-

ACTUALLY, one last thing!!! Do NOT go to Outback Steakhouse in Korea if you’re expecting a light snack. It is actual fine dining here with $60-$100 steaks. Five of us went there and had to share one pasta, one salad, and the free bread. Humbling experience to say the least 🙃.