Random Moment

For my midterm exam in one of my classes, I had to visit a palace for a group paper. Everyone at the palace was so serious. If you know my personality, you know I had to break that! Who says you can't have fun? Haha!

Deokbu Palace in the Heart of Seoul

Japan Excursion

I love my program! Shout outs to CIEE because without them, I would have never thought about going to Japan! All the program participants took a trip of a lifetime!

We spent a day in Kyoto touring Buddhist temples and ancient palaces, drove to Osaka. Now Osaka is where it's at! The timing was perfect because the cherry blossoms were blooming! Absolutely gorgeous! The temples we visited were cool too, and I learned lots of history.

Food was good and interesting. I'll admit I was a little nervous to eat certain foods that didn't seem familiar, but I ate them anyways. The sushi was cheap and delicious too! You'll see! Now I'm addicted to sushi, but I still don't trust sushi in a landlocked state like Colorado lol!

I love Japanese people! I've never felt more comfortable in a foreign country in my life! I feel like they treat me like a regular person instead of a foreigner, and they value individualism more. Everyone has their own personal style~~no matter how unique or strange it seems. The hospitality is great too! I like that most Japanese didn't speak english to me and assumed I knew their language. It makes me think that if I lived in Japan I'd definitely need to speak Japanese to get by in life.

 The nightlife in Osaka is amazing! Me and my friends went clubbing the first night, and it was really cool! Expensive though~~ Girls only paid 2,500 yen and men 4,000 yen ($30 & $45). There were many  foreigners, but everyone was nice. Especially the Japanese women! I made many new friends just from that night. The Japanese men are friendly too! Nobody was standing on the wall, everyone was dancing! There's so much to do in Osaka at night! Ahh, I wanna go back!

There are many pictures, so I'll put some pictures up soon ^^

Korean MT Experience

Note: Always sip responsibly.

Now what is MT? Membership training for majors or clubs at Korean universities. Usually it's for the newbies to get comfortable with one another. The president describes it as a retreat for people to bond, let loose, and have fun. When I think of a retreat I picture being in the wilderness, and gathering around a campfire singing koombaya with one another. Well, that wasn't really the case.

I'm sure you've heard all about the stories, but for people who don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain. ~~~~~~ All you do is drink. Yep, I said it! You go to a secluded area with people, eat delicious food, drink, and play games.

When I asked Koreans here about MT, they won't want to tell you the honest truth or they leave things out. So who else would I ask? Foreigners! Unfortunately all they told me were horror stories~~ But I have an optimistic personality.

Now before you go pumping your fist pumping in excitement or be frightened, I am writing this to put you at ease. Let me explain~

I went to my first MT last night and had the time of my life. We all met on campus, paid a small fee, and took the bus to a remote place in Seoul. The mentors rented out a big room with a small room inside. Haha, the small room didn't have any doors. We were all in a huge room eating ramen and samgyeopsal. Then the drinking began~~ Some people got smashed quickly, but the non-koreans and people who don't drink alcohol just joked around and danced. The Koreans were the first to pass out! I mean they passed out early. The only ones awake were me and my friends. Even though it was an overnight thing, I went back with my friends early in the morning. Overall, it was a very fun time, and I developed a closer bond with people.

No need to be scared. All it comes down to is self-respect. Setting rules, standards, requirements for yourself and following them.

Yonsei International Dorms: You Should Know...

They are SMALL.

I get messages from people who wanna study at Yonsei as an exchange student, and they wanna know how the dorms are. It's not like I had a choice, but I wish I had someone tell me how the dorms were. Well aren't you lucky! ^.^

Video coming shortly

Making Friends at Yonsei University

My suggestion for making friends while studying abroad~~ Join a club! It's the best way to make friends and constantly see them.

I made it into the hip-hop dance club (Harie) I told ya'll about earlier, and so did most of my American friends. They invited all the "freshmen" to a welcome party, and I got to watch videos of their previous performances.

Now it was weird at first, because the ice wasn't broken yet. No one really got to know each other yet. But when we went to dinner, that was a different story.

It was sprinkling rain outside and I didn't have an umbrella. A friendly korean girl shared her umbrella with me and my friend, which was really nice. There were about 30 dancers, so it's surprising that the leaders kept all of us together.

Eating~~ Now at first a couple of my American friends sat at a table, but nobody would sit with us. These were big tables, so in my mind I was a little disappointed. But luckily many people did later. It was so awkard! I hated it, so I broke the ice and tried to keep conversations going. It turned out one of the guys were in my chemistry class. And most of the koreans at the table were my age. YEY!
The food was really good, and it was bottomless! The servers just kept on bringing food to us. Ahh, it was delicious!

Drinking Games~~ I have a hard time remembering the names of all these games. But I learned a drinking song, played "Game of Death," and "Love Shot." I lost a couple times, but it's all good! Such a wonderful way to interact with each other.

Clubbing~~ A bunch of hip-hop dancers at a club together~ better make sure there's enough room! Harie took us to Barfly where we got more drinks and danced. Watching dancers actually get loose and freestyle was hilarious~ especially since some of them were drunk. My friend pushed me into the middle of the dance circle, and I hate freestyling. Even though alcohol is called "liquid courage," I feel like I don't dance well when I drink. Oh well, maybe people won't remember Haha!

Either way~~~ Eating+Drinking+Dancing= Good times! At least for me anyways ^.^

There IS Hip-hop in Korea!

Korean hip-hop is awesome! People assume I came for k-pop, but when I tell them that I'm interested in k-hip-hop they don't know what to say. It's quite funny! I went to my first hip-hop concert.

Holiday 1 Concert in Hongdae at V-Hall~~ Tickets were $38,000 won ($36), and the concert was held in Hongdae. I went with three female friends, and we are all foreigners. When we bought our tickets, we got a discount (I assume it was a foreigner discount). But I'm grateful!

Anyways, we walked into the door and the stage was right there! Seriously! We were thinking "oh let's just stay right here where we can see." WRONG. These Korean high school looking fan girls told us to move to the back because they were there first. Usually people just stood wherever they wanted if the tickets didn't have seat numbers.I didn't care, so we politely moved to the back.

Actually, we ended up winning at the end of the night. The rappers look out in the crowd, and not down close to the stage. Yep, the rappers noticed us easily! A few stared and another pointed and smiled! We all had the time of our lives!

Here is a list of the rappers we saw: Dok2, The Quiett, Beenzino, Geeks, Ugly Duck, B-Free, Andup, Zion t., Rhyme-A-, Palaoto, Ggangmo and a few others I don't remember~ Sorry. But the performances were hype!

A Different Kind of Hip-Hop Dance

I've been looking for some kind of hip-hop dance in Korea, and finally found it! My friend Ann signed me up a couple days ago. Unfortunately the hip-hop club had auditions, but the first day was just rehearsing the choreography they taught us. Anyways,  in order to prepare myself, I missed my korean class to stretch and warm-up. When I was done, I met up with seven other people (foreigners) to go.

I felt it coming, and I wasn't prepared for the initial reaction. I walked into the dance studio and everybody looked at me. One guy even had his eyes bulged with his mouth wide open. The korean girls were whispering to their friends and the guys just stared. Being the only black person isn't new for me, but here we go with the culture shock roller-coaster.

The class was split up into four corners~ popping, locking, waaking, and crumping. First I went to the waaking group, but then realized that it looked exactly like k-pop dance. After that discovery, I immediately went to crumping. I never did it before, and I was the only girl. The choreographer was really nice and at least his english was good. Now if you've seen crumping, it's basically showing all your power and strength~kind of releasing the inner beast.

Since the choreographer said (in korean) this was a dance black people do, I felt that pressure because I was black. Like I had to be like Chris Brown or something. Yeah I can keep a beat and I have my own attitude when I dance, but that shouldn't mean I'd take it seriously~~ Either way, I experienced a new kind of dance, and I actually enjoyed myself.

During the break, I watched waaking and girl's hip-hop which seemed like more edgier k-pop dancing in my opinion. The choreographer is really good though. But I guess that's what Koreans call hip-hop, and I accept that now.

Most of the women were in this group, while I was the only girl in mine. Back at home, my dance friends Amber, Angel, Moriah, and Raven would be with me. I'm not use to dancing without them. I miss my crew, but I had to be solo dolo.

It's all better, because I finally went into the hip-hop dance group with a few other girls! It was mostly popping, foot, and shoulder work though. No stomp the yard up in here! Actually it was pretty basic, which will make the audition go more smoothly. Only one of the choreographers talked to me, and I learned some footwork that I still have yet to perfect. But it's okay.

The audition is in a few days, I'll be getting together with a few others in the group to rehearse. I pray for all of us to make it, because I know we have the passion and potential. Wish us luck!!