Halfway mark, checked

Just popping by to update with some extracts from slides I done up for my speech done today done for Korean speaking class! Had a busy weekend having just finished up a 8 page report on leadership, preliminary research and brainstorming for a group project and the korean speech. Nights like yesterday's I'll always remember, staying up till 4am sitting on my room floor tracing, trimming and cutting pattern paper as well as muslin for my clothing construction homework. Then pricking myself numerous times with the silk pins when pinning the pieces together -__- That feeling of accomplishment when you finally get your work done is really rewarding. But as an after-effect of it all, I'm exhausted right now and am all ready hop into bed at 8:50pm. 

Still left with too much more to complete by next Monday! After then, a week of break before the finals roll in~ I'll be home after exams and about 2 weeks of traveling. Time really does fly!!!

busy times

People might think that exchange students have it easy.... right??? What if I tell you that isn't true? Currently abit swamped with assignments, assignments and assignments. Since whatever grades we get here is only accounted for on a pass/fail basis at our home university, the amount of effort invested in work here is really our own initiative. We have all been trying nothing but our best though- and that is where I confuse myself a little. 

Why put in so much effort then? (1) KU is a prestigious university here and we wish to find out how we stand amongst the local students. Especially since Koreans are known to be extremely hard working. (2) Why do something half-heartedly when you are aware you can do much better? This constantly runs through my mind when doing 5% reading log assignments, 5% quizzes, as well as my weekly clothing construction homework. It's not about the grades here, it's what I want to learn, achieve and experience as a person staying and studying here in KU.

And as for the photo above, it's a reminder to myself that this upcoming week and a half is a challenge and I will get by it!! Once it's over and done with it will be like an exit from being totally brain fried, heh. Plus I miss the girls and the fun we had during #nigusweekendout. But for now,  onward with the assignments, gooooooooo~~

Petite France - 050514

A few Saturdays ago, a bunch of us headed out of Seoul on a trip to Gyeonggi-do. We visited Petite France! Petite France is a small village-museum inspired by France and its architecture, along with the book The Little Prince. They have small exhibits or photo spots with The Little Prince figurines and so on. The weather that day was was really good -- warm sun accompanied by cool breeze~

It was my first trip out of Seoul city and I really enjoyed the scenery en-route to Gapyeong train station. Since it was a weekend morning, the train was filled to the brim with elderly people going mountain hiking. After transferring to a shuttle bus (one-day ticket was ₩5,000 and it goes to over 10 attractions in the area) at Gapyeong station, and a few stops later... we arrived at Petite France! The entire journey from home took about 2 hours+ I think. 

View from atop some stairs. I love the white rounded walls (?) along the stairs.

Pretty poppies!

Free puppet shows for visitors

We bought a tonkatsu ricebox for lunch.

Itsy bitsy tiny bunny which was only the size of my fist

Another baby bunny nomming on some vegetables

Colourful illustrations on the walls inside a building

Plates adorning the walls

Gorgeous views of a river and surrounding mountains

The one who inspired the creation of this place, The Little Prince.

Entrance tickets to Petite France was ₩8,000 or SGD10. It was a nice place to spend some time outside of Seoul especially if you're a Little Prince fan, but I didn't read the book nor watched the Korean dramas and shows which filmed in this location so it wasn't a particularly exciting place to me. Decided to give Nami Island a miss and to check out Gangchon Rail Park after this but sadly all Rail Park tickets for the day were already sold out by the time we reached :/

Since we were already at Gimyujeong station then, Kingsly and I decided to have lunch in the vicinity. Strangely enough, all the restaurants only sold Dakgalbi or stir fried chicken which is the city's specialty. The pictures below are post-processed using iphone apps so their colours are very saturated.

Our Dakgalbi - came with sesame leaves, sweet potatoes, chicken, rice cakes, kimchi, cabbage, leeks

Unique train station! The toilets and gantry entry were in this little building and we walked through an underground passage to the station platform beside it.

We did eventually manage to book tickets online for Gangchon Rail Park with 2 days of work and 5 people involved with the process, and visited on 11 May 2014. Will probably post about it another time!

More adventures to come

Have been absent from this space for some time because.... Kings is here in Korea! It's his eleventh day here counting from the day the plane touched down but it sure doesn't feel as long. There's so much to see and do but not enough time to cover everythinggggg T______T We head out whenever there's pockets of free time before/after my classes and usually wind up being exhausted at the end of the day. Our laundry pile had been left aside to grow into a monstrous size. Tiredness and monster laundry pile aside, I can't be any happier. Was feeling quite down for a week or two prior to this so his arrival is a perfect timing. Time to head out for more adventures! Till next time~~