I think I broke my iPod...

So I should be sleeping now since I leave for Japan in approximately five hours, but I felt like I needed to update my lovely little blog. On my lovely laptop. The weather here is getting slightly chilly, but nothing a Chicagoan can't handle.

School's progressing, I'm procrastinating, it's all good. :) Last Wednesday some CIEE people went to a drama cafe, where we dressed up in traditional Korean clothing and posed for the camera. I actually had a lot of fun! Thursday I attended a Filipino dance performance entitled Bahaghari, hosted by the Philippine embassy, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Korea. Of course I went with my Filipino friends. See that I do have friends here! Hehe.


Over the weekend Koreans celebrated Chusok (추석), or Korean Thanksgiving. For me that meant Friday off! I spent my three day weekend watching Chusok specials featuring the biggest k-pop groups, eating 7-11 food, and sleeping. It was all sorts of amazing. I actually ventured out on Saturday and ended up visiting 3 museums and 2 palaces in the span of 3 hours, all for free! It was surprisingly crowded, with a lot of families taking advantage of the cultural activities such as playing instruments, creating masks, and pounding rice cake. It was quite the experience being amongst so many Koreans and everybody (including myself) thoroughly enjoyed being out and about. This is Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) Palace.


Monday was all sorts of disastrous. I was out with friends and we had Indian food. Little did I know that there were nuts ground up in the curry. One bite was enough for me to get hives by nightfall, despite taking 2 Benedryl and some Korean allergy medicine. Parental units, I have officially learned my lesson and will ask about everything I have even the slightest doubt about. And I think a gayageum is over my price range, yet would be ideal for that heavy metal band. Yes, this is my way of answering comments. XD I ended up not doing Honors Research by the way, since it would be too difficult to focus on a topic as well as my current studies while in Korea. I'll just work hard to find a job come spring semester.

Wednesday with my language exchange partner went to eat delicious shabu-shabu. I then had a presentation about Irish conversations. In the evening the ambassador from Sweden talked to the CIEE group about Kyoto for our upcoming Japan trip! I will definitely blog about it when I get back!