| | so, time for a short update on what's been going on in seoul, south korea.
first off, i just watched transformers with friends from my program, and that movie was CRAZY! the effects and cg animation were amazing, and just seeing another one of my childhood cartoons coming to life was awesome.
stay for some extra scenes at the end, too, btw.
the dorms here aren't great, but they're habitable. i have a roommate. he's leaving soon though. sometime this week or next week. i have AC, ptl. not that the heat's that bad. but then again, i wouldn't know cause i have ac. hehehe.
classes are looooooooong.
we have three 1 hour 40 minute classes. sometimes they go over.
the schedule is like this, monday through thursday.
9:10 a.m.~ 10:50 a.m. Current Issues in Korean Economy and Politics
11:05 a.m.~12:45 p.m. Culture and Society of Contemporary Korea
2:00 p.m.~3:40 p.m. East Asia: Democracy, Markets and Security
4:00 p.m.~ 4:50 p.m. Korean language class
5:00 p.m.~ 5:50 p.m. Korean language class
that's MONDAY through THURSDAY. crazy tiring.
friday is left for field trips and rest and catching up on reading.
and we have HUNDREDS of pages of reading to do. of course, no one's going to be able to get through it all, not unless they're a speed reader and are reading nonstop.
btw, i've been placed in the highest level of the korean language classes... interesting... it's only because i know how to write and spell though. my speaking and listening suck compared to the other korean-americans. but they say i have a good accent and pronunciation. yay ^^v
i went to kyoung-ju last weekend. it was fun. 24 of us had fun getting to know each other, on the bus and at the hotel. and the teachers paid for 2 hours of noraebang (karaoke) for us. that was cool.
last wednesday, the president of Seoul National University provided lunch for us. right before the lunch, at the beginning of the second period, one of the t.a.'s for the class comes up to me and tells me that i'm to make a welcome speech to the president.
i was like, "WHAT?"
anyways, long story short, i spent that entire period thinking about that "speech". i started out by writing in korean, but then got stuck on some formal stuff, so i ended up writing it in english and asked one of the t.a.'s to help me translate it. he did, and i tried to memorize it, but when the time came to recite it, i didn't have the confidence that i'd memorized it well, so i just ended up reading it from the paper.
when the lady introduced me for the speech, she told everyone that i had gotten a scholarship from the president of the university and that i had the highest gpa out of the entire group... which of course, led to everyone asking me what my gpa was later on. anyways, i got through the 1 minute speech without incident and retreated back to my little corner. hehe.
that was a very cool honor though. i didn't know why she wanted ME to give the speech until she introduced me for the speech. i just thought that i was the only president's scholar there. anyways, yeah.
oh and i found out that i beat out other berkeley students to get this scholarship. they didn't tell me that when i sent in my paperwork. i just sort of thought that i was a last resort and that they hadn't found anyone else who wanted to go... cool!
although now, it makes me feel like i have to study even MORE. i have to make myself worthy of this scholarship. egh. and i have to represent my school and protect its reputation. and also the reputation of the professors back at home. since this is the FIRST time that they're doing this and i don't want them to go next year and say, "egh, the berkeley student from last year wasn't so great. why should we give them another chance?"
that's how i'm thinking right now...
on another note, i went to two different churches already.
last week i went to sarang church. it was really cool, but i had to leave early cause my orientation was that day, too.
this past sunday (yesterday), i went to onnuri church. they were cool too, but i think i like sarang a little better.
i figure, since i'm in korea for only 7 weeks, i should go check out a bunch of different churches.
i want to go to yoido full gospel church next week.
these korean mega churches are crazy huge. it's cool, but intimidating and a little too commercialized, i feel. and impersonal. *shrugs*
ummmmmm... what else...
clubbox has 1 mb/sec download rates in korea! that's fast. i only get about 120 kbs rates in the u.s.
i think that's all for now...
i'll update again later.
mom, dad, ingrina, di > i love you guys and miss you all!
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| | Posted 7/2/2007 9:46 AM - 83 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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