PurpleHello98

Well, I seem to be caught in the middle of two periods of busy-ness. I just got home from college for the summer not three days ago, and already my bags are mostly packed for the Great Korea Trip of 2025. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but I have some family who just moved over there a couple of years ago (my Travelbug Aunt, her husband, and their son--my eldest cousin, a.k.a. #1 for longtime blog readers, if there are any). They're a roving/travelling bunch, but they've finally settled down in one spot the past year (a little town just outside Seoul) and they're likely going to come back to the US in a few months for my uncle's job, so my mum and I realized it was now or never to go visit them! Yes, we could go to Korea on our own holiday, but this way we can live in their apartment for free instead of paying exorbitant hotel prices. (Assuming hotels over there are exorbitant as they are here--unlike that branch of my family, I'm not a well-travelled person.

And so, just after moving a whole dorm's worth of stuff back (and you'd be surprised at how much yours truly can fit in a dorm) and strewing it haphazardly around my room because I also had to finish my English final essays (three two-to-three-page essays each--and I actually managed to finish the one and a half I hadn't done in one afternoon, which is record time!!!), I've spent today emptying one of my suitcases to take abroad and filling it back up with other stuff. Ditto with my backpack, which is going to be my carry-on. My Travelbug Aunt (the one whom I'm visiting) just texted us today thinking that we should take monochrome clothes so as to blend in. Well, sorry to break it to you, but I really don't own much of anything monochrome. The best I can do that looks halfway decent is a pair of jeans/jean shorts and this black-and-white-striped Mary Tyler Moore-looking thing that I can't tell if it's a jacket or a top.

Anyways, if you know me, you know blending in... isn't exactly my specialty, but I'll have to try my best. I want to be respectful of the culture over there, of course, and Heaven knows I don't want to be a Loud, Annoying American Tourist. I just want to go, see the sights, learn, shop (of course), and have fun!

But anyway, my room looks like someone was ransacking it at the moment, because of the whole packing-unpacking shuffle, and since I won't be able to actually properly unpack until after our trip I just have to hope I can forget this mess while I'm abroad and that a day or two of locking in upon my return will get it looking presentable once again.

And then I have to go through this whole mess again in August when I move back in. Methinks I need to learn to pack "just the essentials". And Heaven help us all when I go on my study-abroad semesters. On a related note, does anyone know of an airline that allows ten carry-ons?

In other news, I got a new phone the other night--and finally (only after debating it for going on three years) made the switch to a flip phone! I got the Kyocera 902KC from Japan, and so far I'm absolutely loving it! It's super cute and easy to use. The only thing I had to change is the texting app, but otherwise it's been a piece of cake. Now, granted, it was pretty hard for me to figure out how to sideload apps, because nothing I was trying worked. Until I tried using it from the Windows 10 partition on my old MacBook Air, and it worked perfectly. So I guess older computers and Macs just don't play well with Android, but oh well.

I haven't decorated my phone yet--I will when I get back, and I also want to try and find a phone charm loop thing in Korea! My Travelbug Aunt says they're all the rage so I should be able to procure one pretty easily. My phone even has a little hole built in to hang charms out of! I'm really excited to make it all cute. :)

That's just about everything I can think of! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find some more monochrome outfits to wear. Although at this point my only hope of finding a monochrome outfit might be a black-and-white filter on my camera. Wish me luck!

Well, holy crap, y'all! I meant to post this weekend, but my weekend was too jam-packed!

Saturday morning, the two kids I teach English played each other in little league soccer (or whatever it's called. I may be a soccer teacher (does that exist?) but I'm not a soccer mom yet. In any case, I think I might sign my kids up for dance instead.) and since one of the members of my English teaching group is coach for one of their teams, a lot of us went out to support them! It was also a sort of team-building activity, but, y'know, an actually fun one--not a ropes course or crap like that. I HATE ROPES COURSES! Which is why I've always come up with excuses not to go on them. Ha ha ha! Anyways, one of the kids comes from Latin America, and his family had a bunch of snacks from their home country that they shared with us, which was really sweet of them! I don't remember the name, but it was some sort of special bread with chicken, mayo and some various veggies. They were so good! I even got to take one home for dinner that night.

And then as soon as I got home, two of my roommates and I went and had pizza and ice cream! It was really fun, even though I'm always at odds with one of them. I mean, with my three current roommates, I have one I love, that one I have a love-hate relationship with, and the other one that I'm just always annoyed with--but enough of airing my dirty laundry on the Internet. It was a really nice time! And I got them both to like a k-pop song--MAGO by GFRIEND, to be exact.

Then that night, a friend and I went to Wal-Mart! We're in the K-Pop Club together at our college, and we were buying some presents for two of our members, since we have one graduating and one transferring.

The next day, another friend and I went to this little Chinese restaurant in town (who had maybe the best beef and broccoli and vegetable lo mein I've ever had!!) and then went to Wal-Mart again! This time we got a prize for the activity we had planned for our meeting tonight (a Kahoot where we guessed who added what song to our group Spotify playlist) and I got some DVDs, and I got a cookie cake (because I lurrrve cookie cakes) for our meeting tonight. And then I called Blue and Green (for any newcomers to my blog, Blue is my bestie for the restie that I've known since middle school, and Green is our other best friend from high school) until pretty late.

And then there was today! We had our last k-pop club meeting of the semester tonight, and it was a little emotional. Both our leaving members really liked their gifts, which was really heartwarming! I'm gonna miss them all so much but I'm so glad I've gotten to know them. :)

(There was some more here but my browser crashed and I lost it! Grr D:< )

What can I do but dread the next two weeks? The finals countdown has begun! I have one more mini-assignment each in compuer science, linguistics and statistics, but beside that everything's in full finals swing. I already have my French final essay assignment, and I'm getting my English one tomorrow. I suppose I should start studying for statistics as well today, and computer science later on. But I'm quite tired and wish I didn't have to! But I just have to remind myself that I only have a week and a half left till I can blow this popsicle stand! I just have to power through and probably drink a lot of tea to do so.

The past few days have actually been quite good, however! The calm before the storm, I guess. Friday afternoon, I had my stats test, and I actually think I did well! And then I sat down underneath a tree and read for a while before dinner, which was absolutely idyllic! I felt like a character in a novel, almost. I hope I can catch some more moments of peace like that! I kind of did the next day, too, actually, because I went to my friend's birthday picnic! It was in this cute local park and all the food was really good. It was super fun! Although I did sunburn my nose. :(

Yesterday was pretty run-of-the-mill. I had this really cute outfit on that my pastor's wife complimented at church! She and her husband are both so sweet. I've seen their son, too--he goes to college in a different city--and I thought he was really handsome. :) Sadly, he's graduating anyways, but oh well. Anyways, my English teaching also went well yesterday--it was one of my students' birthdays and so we had a little party for him, and he gave me a few of his duplicate Pokemon cards! The girl who taught the kids before me was right when she said eventually they kind of feel like "your" kids. :)

And that brings me to today. I have to do linguistics homework and start working on my French paper--ugh! I have no clue what I'm going to write about. And there's something else I'm forgetting. And classes, and a club meeting tonight, which is the bright spot in my day, even though it's just making me even busier. But oh well. Now I should probably start paying attention to my French class again. Toodles!