Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my blog about my experiences studying abroad at Korea University in South Korea!

Below is my journal-like blog from my time in South Korea. In the above bar there are different pages that I have created if you are looking for more information about studying abroad at Korea University or in South Korea in general.

I most likely will not be posting on this blog anymore because I have a new active blog now at

XdotTina.com

Here, you can follow me as I return back to South Korea to teach English!

Please feel free to comment or contact me if you have any questions or requests at XdotTina@gmail.com.

 - Christina*

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I'm Home Now

I left Korea on June 27, 2011. I've been home now for a while. I do plan however to go back to Korea to teach English sometime in the future.

* Christina

It's May!

So yeah - it's like May already!

Who would have thought that April would just fly by like that? I don't even remember doing anything in April besides the last week and a half when I had my midterms and started my diet!

OMG - midterms . . . . I didn't do as well as I expected on the accounting midterm, and I didn't receive my score back for my geology course, but I don't need to. I know for a fact that I did not do well on that exam. My friend is like I'm pretty sure you did okay - yeah, the lowest score someone got was a 37/100. . . . yeah, I'm willing to bet that that loser was me! LOL!!!!

The other exams (2) I feel went a lot better. So I'm not worried about them. But now midterms are over and I am trying to lose this weight to get a head start on my life back in America. I am not going to say how much I have lost so far in the past 10 day, but I will say that I'm pretty sure whoever picks me up from the airport is going to get a big surprise!!

Other than that - nothing has been going on, beside the news that Osama was found and killed. I don't think that he's dead, but we'll see what proof they'll put out - but even then, anyone can say that a DNA test proved that the person they killed was him . . . I don't know.

Well, I'm going to bed! I worked out for too long today and a cow is TIRED!! LOL

Goodnight (Korea)/Good Morning (America),

Christina*

Long Time, No See!!! What's Up?!!

So yeah . . . it's been FOREVER since I last made a post! It would take me months to blog about what I've done and experienced since the last post, but I will shorten everything up a bit.

Since I've arrived in Korea, I have yet to adjust to the time change . . . Can you imagine having jet lag for 8 months??? This has been my life since the last post: trying to find sleep whenever I can! For some odd reason I cannot go to sleep at night! I guess I had this problem at home before I left, but it was never this extreme! I'm sleepy during the day when I have classes, but I am also sleepy at night, but I can't go to sleep.

After finals at the end of December, I went to doctor to see what was up and he diagnosed me with sever chronic insomnia. He asked me if I was stressed or depressed, and I was like, "uhhh, no?" LOL. I was expecting to go through a sleep test, but all he did was prescribe me this medication that's super addictive, so he just gave me enough for a week for me to get some sleep. I don't remember the exact name, but I do know that it was a drug Michael Jackson was taking before died . . . yeah, LOL.

I also met a new friend after my appointment with the doctor. His name is Hyun Su. He is a volunteer at the hospital in the International Medical Department that helps international patients with going to the counter to pay and stuff like that. He also goes to the same university as I, Korea University. We exchanged numbers and we still try to hang out now, but it's difficult since I try to spend my free time sleeping.

Winter break at Korea University is 2 and half months long!! OMG - I go sooooo much sleep - hold up! I forgot! My birthday was December 31! I turned 21, and guess what I did? I woke up at 1, my friends took me to my favorite Italian restaurant here in town, and I went to sleep! LOL!!!! I My friends had to go to a concert or something like that, so I couldn't spend the day with them, so I thought I'd give myself a birthday present by getting some much needed sleep. HOWEVER, they did call me at 11pm to a bar to have some birthday drinks since it wouldn't be right if I didn't drink any alcohol "legally" (drinking age in Korea is 19) on my 21st birthday. I didn't get drunk, but they sure did, LOL!!!!

So, like I was saying - Korea University's winter break is 2 and half months long! It's technically they're summer break because they're academic schedule is opposite from our in the States. Our 1st semester is in the Fall while for them, it's their 2nd. So, spring semester in their 1st semester . . . yeah, who want's a longer break during the winter with the cold weather and all??? I think that Korea was just trying to be different, LOL.

But, other than sleeping, I did do A LOT of SHOPPING!!! I love spending money! I mean who doesn't? (If that's you, you need to get some prayer for that demon, LOL) I got lots of socks, which to those of you who don't know me might seem strange, but to everyone else it's very normal, LOL. I bought some souvenirs, saw some palaces, and of course, I slept!

School started on March 2nd. My classes are more intense this semester than the last. I'm taking 5 course: Poetry, Art and Culture, Environment, Human Geography, and Accounting. Super random course, trust me, I know, LOL. It's really hard to choose courses out here because if you don't speak Korea, then you have a very limited number of choices of courses taught in English. Ahh, I don''t even know if I want to talk about how that's going. Let's just say, professors should probably be assessed by native English speaking teachers to see if they are ready to teach a course in English. That's all.-

Right now it is midterms week while most of America's college students are preparing for finals - so jealous. I have 4 midterms. I just got done with 2 of them on Thursday, accounting 1st and then human geography 3 hours later. I was so shocked on how easy the accounting midterm was. I am probably the only non-accounting or business major student in the class, but it seemed like students were just over thinking. They didn't know the answers to what I thought were common sense problems. I don't know . . . BUT, let me tell you . . . that human geography midterm was crazy!!! I was already worried on how I was going to do before the exam since the professor didn't tell us anything about it and said that anything from lecture to his jokes could be on the exam. Plus, I had spent most of my time studying for the accounting midterm. So when I get the exam, I look at it and I see 4 front and back pages (so really 8 pages, LOL) of essay questions. The 1st question, "what is a cartigram?" That's when I knew . . . . this was not going to be my best exam, LOL!!! OMG - I didn't know half of the stuff that was on there!! My friend who is also part of the AsiaLearn program finished her test so quickly - I was like . . . huh? I couldn't even give my professor my exam until the end of our time because I didn't want him to look at my answers like while I left like he was doing the other student who had finished before me, LOL.

Today is Saturday, getting ready to turn into Easter Sunday. I started my 17 Day Diet today, and it went well. Tomorrow, I have to study for my poetry midterm which I am also worried about because poetry is just hard - period. Then on Tuesday I have my environment midterm, but I'm not worried about that one because it's mostly multiple choice and the class is really simple. I still can't sleep, LOL. And I saw Dr. John too many times to want to go see him again, just for some sleeping pills that don't work - plus, he like to talk, LOL.

So - that has been my life so far here in Korea, LOL. I am ready to go home. There are some things here that I could never get used to starting with everyone just spitting everywhere - literally! People don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom! They just fix their hair in the mirror (right in front of the sink) and they just leave. . . I can't take this anymore!! LOL - So just 2 more months left! I'm both excited and sad. And I have to apologize because I had no clue that people could leave comments on post! LOL - I just read them and I feel so bad!! I would have committed to posting more often and replying!! So, I'm going to try to commit to posting every week leading up to my departure! I PROMISE!! I'll also post my pictures up since the zoo, LOL!!

Thanks for reading!!!!! - Christina*

Seoul Zoo

I love Chuseok!

I know this past a while ago, but I've been busy and stuff . . . so yeah, I have time now :D.

Chuseok is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. You get a week off from school, or at least we did at my school. The student usually go home for the week and spend time with their families and do stuff I guess. Well, since my family isn't here, I spent time with my Besties and we went to so many places during Chuseok and the Seoul Zoo was one of those things.

I was really excited to see what was in a zoo in another country. Am I going to see animals that I've never seen before? Is it going to be grand? . .. Uhh - No! This zoo was run down and disgusting. I felt so sorry for the animals here! They we dirty and looked sad. I know some of the animals in the zoos in America are probably sad too, but at least they get to live nicely and clean. This place was dirty! And all the animals were animals that I had seen before - well, except dirtier. Plus there wasn't even a tiger!!! How is there not a tiger in an Asian zoo, but plenty in America?!!!! I was appalled! Lol!!

Anyway, take a look at the many photos that I took. It best to watch it in full screen. If you don't do that than I really don't know how you're going to see the photos properly.

If you're wondering how I'm doing, I'm doing just fine. These people are starting to get on my nerves though. Don't get me wrong, I love Korea, but their culture overall is kind of rude and not caring at all. I'm sure to them this is just a normal thing, but many of the foreigners have been complaining about the people of Korea. I wonder what the Koreans think about how we feel about them??? I don't know. I'm hungry, but I'm too lazy to go make anything, plus it's almost 12, so I'm going to try to make myself go to sleep. It's hot in this room and I need a fan!!!

- Christina*

2010 Ko Yon Games \(^o^)/

Ko Yon Games were awesome!

So every year in September Korea University and Yonsei University have Ko Yon games or Yon Ko games, it depends who hosts. There's a baseball game, basketball game, ice hockey game, rugby game, and a soccer game. I only went to the Baseball and Soccer game. The crowd was so crazy and most people stood up the entire game! I couldn't even stay up for a half and hour!

It was a lot of fun though. After the games are over there are parties EVERYWHERE! In the streets, subway stations, restaurants, and there's a LOT of beer, LOL. I didn't go to any of the parties though, by the time we got back home my feet were to big to even put into my shoes. Yes, they were that swollen. My ankles are usually really small compared to my calves, but let's just say that they looked normal after the games were over. That's how I knew they were swollen, lol.

So check out the video and the pictures below and enjoy!

- Christina*

Oh, Korea University . . . (<.<)

I've been in Korea for almost 3 weeks now.

September 8th will be day that marks the longest I have ever been outside of the United States. I was is Spain for only 3 weeks. I will be in Korea until the end of June.

School started on the 30th of August. We call the first week Drop and Add week because it's the only time you can add or drop a class that you've registered for. I dropped 2 classes and replaced them with 2 others. I dropped them because they were upper division. Yes, I know I'll have to take upper division when I get back to my home university. But I rather take upper division courses on a campus I've grown to understand than to take upper division classes on a campus that only offers a hand full of classes in English.

The classes that I am taking are: Understanding Korea Art, Art Through the Ages, Korean History: A New Perspective, and Korean 1+. I got put in the upper division of Korean because the school's Korean levels are different from Korean classes in the States. There expectation are higher, and plus I basically bombed the oral exam and literally begged my way into Korean plus. Having been in the class for a little over a week now, it's super easy. Everything is basically a review. But that's good. We do a lot of speaking which is where I need the most improvement on.

As far as Korean History: New Perspective . . . . I wish I was taking more credits so that I could drop this class!!! It's only a 100 level class, which is exactly the same as a 1000 level class at the U of M, but the teacher teaches and has given assignments as if it was a 400/4000 level course! He wants us to write a 7 page paper, in 11 size font, SINGLE SPACED!!!!!!! Not only that, but for our midterm and final exam, we have to write another "LONG," his word exactly, essay choosing one of the topics he gives us on the day of the exam! Oh yeah, we only have 1 hour to write it!!! MOMMY! OK, let me stop talking about that, uhh.

I don't what's up, but every semester I find myself taking some sort of class about art. The classes before were actually hands on, but Understanding Korean Art and Art Through The Ages aren't. There almost the exact same class, but Art Through The Ages goes beyond just Korean art. We get to go visit many museums, and the writing assignments are super easy. Maybe they seem easy because it's something that I'm interested in. I like Korean history, even though I've never taken a Korean history class, but the Korean History: A New Perspective class is not about classical Korean history. It's about some stuff the teacher has made up and probably some day in the future will get fired for teaching it. Yeah, it's that bad.

I love my roommate. Her name is Gao. She is also from Minnesota, but she goes to U of M Duluth. We have "roomie shoes," lol. Roomie shoes is a pair of shoes that both you and your roommate both have. Yeah, it's not a big deal to you, but to us it IS!! Lol. We don't have any problems at all. I love her \(^o^)/.

Oh yeah, the next video. The next video will be on Busan. It may take longer to make that the 1st one because I'm taking classes now, and it just takes a long time to make the videos anyway. So, I'm going to try to get started. I have to organize all the videos that I took while I was there and edit them and all this stuff. So, be patient.

I miss you all back at home. I almost got a little teary when I opened my package with a book sent to me from my Mom because it said "I love you and I miss - Mom." I MISS YOU TOO MOMMY!!! Lol. Then I saw a picture of my brother's new puppy, Kobe. That's when I started to thing about my baby Goku!!! Yeah, I guess I miss you too Dominique, lol - nah hah. It feels weird not calling anyone a fagot or homosexual bastard every ten minutes, LOL!!!!!!

So yeah, heads up for new updates and other crap -

- Christina*