Steph's Seoul

Okay so my bad. I know I have not updated in over a month....oops.

Well the bad news is that this post will have no pictures. The reason: I lost my phone. Yes that's right, my iPhone is probabaly somewhere in China right now with someone looking through all my stuff...
Luckily a friend of mine gave me his older smart phone that I can use while I am here. Thanks Turki!!! Unfortunately every time I go to the phone store to get a phone number there is a different problem. The first time was with my iPhone saying it wasn't unlocked, then something about my bank account and then yesterday the store was open but it was a holiday so you can't contract. Why be open then?!?!
Well I'll get a number soon, hopefully.

So what else has happened in the month of May you ask. I'm not really sure any more either :D
Mari, Brenda, and Benny came to Korea so we got to hang out some. Kim and I picked them up from the airport, but we were late because the trains were really stupid. Some of the trains only go halfway to the airport then turn around and go back or just stop. We realized this too late and had to wait about 20min at random stop for the right train. At least we made it though, right?

I also took my final exams, and passed!! Some of my grades were better and some were a little worse. I feel that the final exam was twice as hard as the midterm and I know there are a lot of people that would agree with me. After finals we got a 3 week break, which ends next Wednesday (I'm not ready to go back yet). I'm also a little sad the semester is over because as soon as you start really getting to know the people in your class, it's over. About 3/4 of the students in my class all returned home, so next semester I will be in a class with all new classmates and teachers. It's like that dreadful first day of school every 12 weeks!!!!! I did make 2 good friends from class, one is Japanese and she will be back for the next level. The other girl is French, but sadly she had to return to France. *cries*

Oh this is the highlight of my break! About 3 weeks ago I was walking down the street with Kim when I saw someone that looked kind of familiar. I decided to call out his name, and to my surprise it really was him. Who is "him" you ask? He is Solomon, a friend I met 3 years ago while studying in Japan. We haven't seen each other in 3 years and haven't talked in about 1 year. He is in the US Army stationed in Korea. He took Kim and I to the base to show us around and we were able to buy some American goods like medicine and shampoo!!!

I started tutoring a little bit of English but my "agent" is pushy, greedy and crazy. All the people she finds for me are 2 hours away from my house and she wants me to tutor 2-3 people in a row since I am already going that way, which wouldn't be too bad if it didn't take me 2 hours there and back and be during the middle of the week, when I have class. So I would have to leave by 2 and not get home until 11:30 at night, then still have to eat and do my homework and sleep for class the next. She doesn't understand why this isn't going to work. I know I need to work but my schooling is more important to me. One of the students said he is willing to drive to where I live every other week, which I don't mind. Also that student doesn't speak any English at all. He seems to be okay with me being his tutor but I really have no idea how to teach English in Korea... this will be an adventure.

So I know I've mentioned this before but I kind of live in the middle of nowhere, right? Well the good news is that the club/bar/music/coffee/food/younger generation hangout place is less then a 20min bus ride from my place. Kim and I go there almost every weekend even if its just to eat, walk around, or just get us out of the house. We meet friends there a lot because there are so many different things to do. On the weekends at night people set up on the street to perform. It's pretty interesting to just walk around and look at the different performances.

I'm not saying I'm fluent in Korean yet, because I'm not, but I can tell I have gotten better. Kim and I have made some friends that don't speak any English so the only way to communicate is in Korean. I know that they dumb it down and use really simple Korean for us but hey we are still having conversations in Korean, right?!?!

Ah yesterday my beautiful cousin Nikki got married. Unfortunately I could not be there but I was able to skype my brother and watch the wedding.Everything looked amazing! Congrats Nikki and Danny!!!!!


Well I think that's really it. My life really isn't that exciting here, it's just like any other broke college student life. If there is anything in particular you guys are curious about (School, Korea, ME!) just let me know and I'll try to post about it.

I miss you all and love you~

Stephanie <3