Happy 2008 and all that

So Xmas and New Year have been and gone – both were largely uneventful. I spent Xmas eve at the fresco studio working on my professor's fresco project, and had dinner in Myeong-dong on christmas day... Which was kind of crazy. There were so many people we could hardly move! Afterwards I didn't feel like heading home because, well, it was a bit miserable to spend xmas away from my family and friends. So I went around with my camera to get some pics of the Christmas lights around Myeong-dong and the Cheonggye-stream. [More photos? Ok!]


I wasn't sure what to do for New Year's as I just got back from Busan (read on) on 30th, so I was going around at 7 PM looking for someone (anyone!) to do something with. Eventually I somehow ended up going to three different nore-bangs (karaoke rooms) with Alex and Danielle and singing (sober, even!) until 5 AM. Haha. At least it was different. ^__^

Busan! It was great – I took the KTX train there on the 26th, met my Buddy Minsub and his two friends at the station in Busan and proceeded to have a wonderful four day minibreak from Seoul. They took me to see all the sights (not that many, actually), fed me well and took me out drinking every night. I was surprised I survived all that, but you can see in the pictures that the bags under my eyes are pretty impressive by the last day. I was kind of sorry to come back to Seoul (where all my friends have pretty much left), but I guess all good things come to an end.

I really liked Minsub's friends, too, and I'm a bit sad I'll probably not see them again, since Minsub's leaving for his own exchange year this month, and, well, they all live in Busan.

Oh yeah – the Busan photos can be seen here.

But on the other hand, the winter course for Korean language began today, and it seems like a really good deal: we go through the same amount of material in 4 weeks as we did in 4 months on the Beginner 1-course in the Fall semester. So if we get a minimum of 70% (B) in the final exam at the end of the month, we get to move straight to the Intermediate level. Yay! I guess this time I'll have to do some studying, too... Heh.



PS: I got A or A+ for all my six courses last semester. I know exchange students are given quite a lot of leeway, but it was still nice to see that in my transcript file!