deegotseoul

New blog.

2009-12-18T09:13:00.001Z

deegotseoul.tumblr.com
So much easier.
<3

My house.

2009-11-17T14:36:00.003Z

I love living in an apartment, it makes things so much easier to clean.
And everything is close by :)

I'm actually a lion. Honest.

2009-11-17T13:38:00.010Z

On a spur of the moment thing after class we went to the zoo. Honestly, after being on safari like 1092381029381 times I'm over animals! But it was mega fun because all my friends are insane ^__^. We didn't have much time because we took forever getting there, and then us forgetting that it's winter and it gets dark sooner didn't help. PLUS IT WAS FREAKING COLD! We went on a chair lift and I realised that I really really don't like heights.

How I could have gone all these years of my life without realising that I honestly don't like tall things. There is no safety. I wanted to get off as soon as I'd got on. It didn't help that I was sat next to the two MOST relaxed people ever. Gah~ Amy turned into a monkey and decided to move around constantly trying to get good pictures of the view. I have no idea why she kept trying to give me heart attacks.

That and making fun of me for being so scared. I love my big sister even though she hates me T___T haha!

The caged animals were really sad.. T__T. Probably because they were in cages.

My favourite was the tomato frog!

All in all a fun fun day ^__^~
I will go back though we didn't get to see that many animals u__u.

A really fun day ^__^ <3~

노래방

2009-11-17T13:16:00.004Z

Fear. This is what I felt when I thought about 노레방 (Karaoke). I'm a terrible singer, honestly... I'm awful, I know this, I've come to terms with it. I love love singing, but I know I make other people cry. My cousin is a producer (shoutout to the puppet master ^__*), and he laughed a lot at my singing. T_____T So naturally the thought of these places filled me with both fear and ... mostly fear.

BUT, it is the most fun to do EVER!

So if you can try it some time, do it. It's a lot of fun.

ALSO~ This is what Youtube has to say about uploading videos... if someone can show me a faster method I would love to put up some interesting 노레방 moments~!

(본인확인제로 인해 한국 국가 설정시 동영상/댓글 업로드 기능을 자발적으로 비활성화합니다.
We have voluntarily disabled this functionality on kr.youtube.com because of the Korean real-name verification law.)

Folk Village.

2009-11-17T12:38:00.007Z

I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures for this one because honestly, I had so much fun here. This was the second school trip and this time we went to only one place, a Korean Folk Village on the outskirts of Seoul.

We ran around the village, dressing up taking pictures, being stupid and having a lot of fun.

We made 떡,(glutinous rice cake) by pounding on some rice. It was awesome~ get that rage out!

I'm too tall so I had to crouch down to make the hanbok look good!

I got to wear a hanbok and get inside a wedding box.

I also wore a policeman's uniform (i think~ might have been a guard).

We saw a traditional wedding ceremony, soo pretty!

It was fun goofing around with Amy, Simona, Minna, Sada and I pretending to be in Korea's next top model (I won of course). David's shirtless run through the rain cannot be forgotten, no matter how hard I try. My roommate Stella asking what a cow was, and the most interesting farmer's dance I have ever seen with Soo being hit on by one of the dancers.

GOD, I had so much fun that day, I think I'll think back to it as one of the silliest times I've had in Korea.

<3

Purple.

2009-11-17T12:18:00.004Z

Korean Women are fashionable. It's actually slightly intimidating, I lie... really intimidating. ESPECIALLY when you come from a country where there is such a wide variety of clothing styles and most people live in jeans. Today, well yesterday I noticed that EVERYONE is wearing Purple! I know I don't speak Korean, but even foreigners were, I think I missed the memo u__u~ This is uncool. I own nothing Purple! I think I'll have to go shopping for my pre-birthday party and buy something purple. Gah, I had to spend a year in the MOST trendy country huh?

It's been 3 months and I'm getting used to the fashion style here, and even though I'm too big to fit into the pretty little dresses I've ventured out and bought a few items.

Like this fabulous winter coat from Forever 21. It's pretty much the Korean branch of an American store so it was easy to find things. I LOVE it there! It's almost like being in Topshop back home, which I adore.. but never buy things from. Lol. Meh.
The coat is so warm and so snuggly and so me, that I'm really glad I have it even though it means eating Ramen for two weeks or until I throw up ^__^

It's really hard to find things here because everyone seems to be so small, initially it was slightly frustrating because I got the strangest looks from vendors when I told them my shoe size. Many horrified... it was kinda easy to get offended. However, it's not a common size here! Plus, they are naturally smaller than African women.. sooo how can I be surprised when things don't fit?! Thankfully, I found some boots to keep my foot warm, they are size smaller but they fit perfectly, unless I walk in them too long then it just hurts *sobs* so I have to be careful not to wear them on long walking trips. I also bought some flat shoes, boring yada yada.
OH, the main difference with shopping here and back home is not the size availability but where people shop. Most of the shopping here is either in department stores (for name brand items) or in markets and subway stations (for non-name brand). Clothing and accessories are so cheap in the subway stations, I love it. Back home if you buy from the subway (if you even could) or buy from the market... it might be considered a little trashy. You buy clothes from stores! But here it's the norm and I love it and the prices.

I haven't really bought anything else here besides a few knick-nacks. I fell into the bad habit of buying pretty bows, now I have too many~ GAH!

<3

Cold & Happy.

2009-11-11T15:45:00.006Z

So I went to the Seoul light Festival~

So so very cold. Figured out how to take good pictures with my camera... but it was too cold to go back and take better pictures.

Best Present EVER~

MY FIRST POSTAL PACKAGE!
<3 Stu forever for this. I haven't read them yet, saving them for when I need something in English! HA~ They really came at a time when I was feeling a lot homesick and they super cheered up my day.

God works in lovely ways ^__^
<3~

Oral Exam

2009-10-13T02:32:00.003+01:00

(나무서워)
안녕하세요~

저는데보라오이인카이에요.
나이지리아사람이에요.
영국살아요.
스물한살이에요.
추미는빌레하고요리이에요.
어마하고아빠하고동생있어요.
남자진고잆어요.

안녀히계세요~!

I hope it's correct and that it makes sense to my teacher
u.u~

Things I miss from home.

2009-10-11T08:00:00.004+01:00

This is working list of the things I cannot buy, or cannot justify paying so much for while I'm out in Seoul. I'm not complaining, there are so many things here that is so much cheaper for me, but there are also things which I haven't bought yet... or just can't find.

• I'm unlucky, my shoe size is 260 here and the biggest size they seem to stock is 255. Ahhhh! I really really need new shoes. u.u two have broken down already!
• Neutrogena Visibly Clear is my skin care range, I use it and my skin clears up… overnight. It works like magic for me and they don’t seem to have it anywhere. At all.
• Cheese & butter. If I want cheese I have to eat out, the prices are astronomical~ it’s actually a little bit crazy for me how expensive it is. I used to buy grated cheese all the time, here there is no block cheese only the `plastic` slices. What’s a girl to do without her beloved cheese T.T?! Lose like 5lbs daily that’s what!

I'm sure there is more, for sure there is, but I have to go study for midterms!
<3 ~

The View.

2009-10-09T04:55:00.002+01:00

My school has an amazing skyline, it's so hard to focus in class when outside looks so beautiful. So I'm going to share with you a few pictures of the amazing view.
Enjoy & wish you were here!

Frankly my dear..

2009-10-05T16:06:00.013+01:00

...it's been a while! I know everyone will be berating me for not keeping you informed like I originally planned to do. Once a week emails I said? I ended up just keeping people informed as I go, and totally ignored the idea of a huge mass email.
Clearly I'm enjoying Korea.
My first week here was amazing, I took in everything, tried everything, wanted to go everywhere. Having a camera seriously hindered my having fun time because I wanted to just document everything for everyone back at home... then when I finally got the camera I was so used to just enjoying the moment that I forgot to take pictures. But I do have many now and I will try and share them with you.

I've done so much in Korea already and I feel like I've been here forever. I really really enjoy it here, I can see myself enjoying this year thoroughly! Especially if it is anything like the first month.

But don't worry, I have a small, "My life in Korea diary", where I write down what happened in my daily life, so I can fill you in in order of what fun things happened to me and when! Haha~ long post filled with pictures coming up!

September 1stMy first day of school was so much fun! I had World Peace which turned out not to be an easy class (yikes) but an advanced politics class, but it's good because I want to be in Government Marketing. You should see the size of the text book! It's a copy book of sample chapters and various articles. It's very very scary! I had my first Korean Class! Yay, so much fun. I was so excited to learn, I met so many nice people.

September 2ndSecond day of school was not so much fun, I had New Media, which I was so looking forward to but the lecturer kept speaking in Korean, I was the only English native speaker there... the material was kinda basic, most students were taking it to fulfil English language class credits, I hated it. So I dropped the class, I was in a foul mood because some people were staring at me on the bus like a zoo animal plus I had a tummy ache. Safe to say I was not pleased with that day. But my friend made me some noodle soup and I felt so much better!

September 3rdAfter class, I met up with Tania and we went to eat some chicken. It looked familiar but it did not taste like any fried chicken I knew! we went to the Bongeusa Temple next to Coex mall, and it was nice. Very peaceful & beautiful, but everything was in Korean so we didn't really know what to do but walk around and take pictures.

October 4thAlien Registration card day! My passport had to be sent away T.T! I bought my first piece of clothing in Korea. I'm not a normal size here so it was a huge achievement! Haha~ and I bought in the subway station, such a pretty dress. Bought my phone, so I could finally keep in contact with people.

September 5thHappy Birthday Cetin! Had some good indian food in Itaewon. Nom nom!

September 6thI relaxed my hair by myself for the first time, I made the front of my hair super slick and smooth... however the middle has a huge chunk of pretty much natural hair! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9aQt5sCAv4 was a good help to me if you're thinking of going at it alone. I also had a very patient teacher back in England, Louise who helped me the very first time I tried to do it alone. n_n~ My housemates were so intrigued by my hair that they helped me take out the braids, thank GOD I was so scared I'd have to do it all alone!

September 7th&8thThe first days working at the E-lounge & Kindergarten had a lot fun, the kids are so so cute at the Kindergarten. E-Lounge is so much fun too, its the best way to meet the native Korean students. The E-lounge is where native speakers sit in a room and native Korean students can come and talk to us. It's a really really good concept, though at times like almost any job there are times when you really really don't want to go in and work your shift. But you must anyway! I work 10 hours a week in the E-lounge, Tuesdays and Fridays off *yay* and 2 hours a week in the Kindergarten. Also went on a stroll by the Han River, I had a 'My GOD I'm in Korea' moment. The view took my breath away... I haven't been back with my camera yet.

September 15thBlack Music Festival.
They really love hip hip in Korea. Like a lot.

September 17thLUCAUS Festival - Drunken Tiger.

I went to the school LUCAUS festival and we saw Hurrah-C the school dance team and Drunken Tiger perform. Both were really good and entertaining. The whole thing did drag a bit because I have no idea about what they were talking about in Korean! But language barrier aside it was so much fun! Like I said Koreans love Hip Hop, when Drunken Tiger came out they all went CRAZY! I was like "WHOAH".

September 18thKBS Musicbank!
All I can say is THANKYOU Yiorgos! You made my experience in Korea so much more memorable! We went to see lots of acts perform at KBS tv station for the MusicBank show. SO MUCH FUN. Eun Hee and I kept screaming and our seats were amazing, I couldn't believe that I was that close to people who I thought I'd only see on youtube not even tv!

From the 20th I got sick, and pretty much skipped the next week. I got a lovely case of the flu and the medication kept me pretty much sedated 90% of the time. Gah!

September 26thSchool Trip!
We went to so many places, this is our schedule:
Schedule
10:00 - 10:30 Visit Imjingak, Pyeonghwa Nuri Park
11:00 - 12:00 Visit Sanmeoru Winery
12:40 - 13:50 Lunch at Meju & Celist
14:00 - 14:40 Visit Taepoong Ovservatory
15:20 - 16:50 Herb Village

We didn't follow the order though.

October 3rd추석(Chuseok)
Korean Thanksgiving Day. Spent it with my buddy.

As you can see, Korea is plenty of fun so far. I'll try to make regular updates instead of the one big lump like this.

<3~

Korea so far!

2009-09-05T05:17:00.000+01:00

Good Morning all! Well, it's very early morning for you, but almost afternoon for me.
Korea has been so amazing so far and it's only my third day! So far I've spent only. £20 and I've eaten out twice, taken the subway and the bus (you get an oyster card style transport card, so I've prepaid money on it) and gone out for traditional drinks with my house mates and assorted exchange people.
The first day was awesome, I was met by my friends from Hull! To see their faces as I tugged all my belongings through the door and into Korea was amazing! I instantly felt at home. So far I haven't had the whole homesickness or culture shock thing... But many people assure me it will come!
Getting to my house was the funnest most dramatic thing ever! No-one knew where it was and my buddy Yujin run up a hill (there are so many hills and steps, I'm going to be tiny when I get back) and figure it out. Turns out we took the really really long way with the most hills. The regular way just includes lots of steps... Not really much of a trade off! I had a shower, then it was off for Chinese food, which was ok, but not great. When I got home I met my room mate and house mate that assured me Chinese food was not Korea's forte and not to worry they have other great foods.

Ummm, the next day we went to pick up a friend I made from facebook who was also an exchange student. Her house is half an hour away from campus. Mine is 5 minutes. She'd been abandoned by her buddy until Monday and her house mates were not super friendly. So we went to get her to go and make up a bank account and change money! But we got to the bank 5 minutes late T_T!! The hills we had to climb and the weather did not make for a happy group of people. But it was okay. We ran to another bank open till 5, changed my money & they gave me a free pen! The exchange rate was so so so very good :)
Then we went to a department store to get me a camera, but they had such a poor selection.
Oh my goodness... When I say department store, don't think debenhams. Think Selfridge, then think much much much bigger. There were so so many floors selling everything. It was beautiful! With all kinds of stores! Some high fashion with the latest season's pieces mixed with regular stores. Ahhhhhh!! Send more money so I can go serious shopping! Hahaha~
We then had the most delicious Vietnamese noodles!

Then we went out and ate some shrimp pancake and drank some rice thing called mockoli and soju. It was really nice!

Now we're up waiting for our final house mate! There are four of us now. Then I guess we're gonna go for Lunch!

Love you lots!

(Pictures)
1. You give food as presents!
The melon was like £20!!

2. Mockoli

3.Random view of street

4. Roomate - Stella
Friend - Hye-Ja
Buddy - Yujin
(On the subway)
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Guess where I am?

2009-08-28T05:48:00.008+01:00

I'm finally here, and I let me tell you now that it wasn't easy. 18hours in total =u.u=~!
Saying goodbye was actually easier than I thought it would be. I'm so surprised. I didn't cry, but I had sniffle, I did feel terrible, but to be honest I was way more excited than sad, so I pushed my feelings way way down. I hung out and bought some food, nom nom. Bought the wrong kind of cookies and was really upset on the plane. I think I used that to mask the fact that I was actually upset about leaving. A few tears rolled down my face, but like .... I didn't actually sob. Shhh. Lemme alone.

The best journey was from London to Dubai, I watched so many movies, there was no one next to me.. it was so relaxing. I ate the BEST dessert in the whole world.

I watched the most stupid movies and tv programs, and listened to random music. It was amazing. I had the best time on the airport, and the best time to come in Korea!

Is that the time?!

2009-08-20T11:03:00.003+01:00

It's been a while, I know...!
So I got my visa and booked my ticket about 10 minutes later, I think from then on I had no doubt I was leaving. I mean how could I? The E-ticket was in my hand!
To be honest, since I bought the ticket, it's been a whirlwind of packing and repacking and shopping.. my GOD more shopping than I thought I could ever deal with. But it was worth it, no last minute major panics about, "do I have toothpaste"!? Which I do by the way.

All this means no cry baby nonsense. I'm leaving for a whole new country, I've already made some lovely friends along the way, I've reached the point of no return... well I'd reached it a couple of weeks back!

The packing was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be to be honest. I kept expecting to have way more stuff than I could fit in, but I kept downsizing and with the vacuum pack, I have waaayyy more space this way. I just hope I get to Seoul and I have enough stuff with me, I want to stay clear of the shopping for a while.

Yiorgos keeps posting pictures of Seoul and making me jealous! I want to be there already dude..! Oh oh! Hyunji is coming to the airport to meet me, I'm so excited. YAY!

<3

:)

2009-07-27T16:46:00.000+01:00

Today progress happened! I sent off my visa application, informed my LEA of my new semester timetable, booked my immunisations, sorted my information pack should I be stopped at the airport & ordered some Korean Won! 100,00, I'm ballin'.
Really the only thing left to do is book my plane tickets and pack. First I have to unpack from when I went to Ghana and when I went to Hull. I've done the clothes but now if got to sort out the *stuff*. Of which there is lots. Gah~!

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Slowly...

2009-07-20T09:26:00.001+01:00

Its all seemed to slow to a halt, waiting for visa guidance and for that woman to call me back from the language institute. I have a month left. That's insane.
Today we received the course sign up list and I really want to sign up for the 5 hour a day Korean language course. But I won't of course, its intense! I haven't had it approved by my lecturer either so that's a stupid idea.
I want to book my ticket! I want to pack! I'm so excited to leave, but I have no ruddy visa!

Gah.

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Africa

2009-07-09T18:55:00.001+01:00

To those that know me, I am me. I refuse to be grouped with all those that constantly assert their identity as Black or African. In fact it annoys me, why must you constantly state your differences to a world that constantly reminds you of it? I look in the mirror daily and I am aware as those are around me of the colour of my skin. I know I'm different, and I've simply accept my colour and live my life. To me, my identity is fluid, as a child born in Nigeria who moved to England, I've had the opportunity to belong to two different countries, to become a child of two very different worlds. My love of all things East Asian marks me out further and my upcoming exchange to Seoul affords me another window into a new world. And this is fantastic. Really.

Yet, part of me almost forgot. I'd become lost in my own amalgamation of cultures, that's I'd forgotten that people still define me as a Black woman and will treat me as such. Racism exists and I know this, in fact its been a major worry for me over in Korea. I know all about the slave trade and I well up like most decent human beings when I hear about. "Those poor Africans", we think and move on, not changing a damn thing in our lives. Bad things happen all the time, far too many for us to really pay due attention. Why should we care?! Because it can never happen again. Never ever ever. The slave trade never really ended, the law may have stopped the physical trading of people, but it has crippled the minds of millions. The poison that ate into the hearts of man white and black alike is still going strong today. Africa has never recovered, and neither has the rest of the world. Our minds are still warped, Africa still crippled.

As black people living in other parts of the world, we should not be looking to Africa to ask what she can do for us how we can live like kings on a salary we would starve on in the West. We should not move back to get rich quick, to steal from our motherland. No. We should look to Africa, and ask what can we give back to the land that we came from. We should ask what we can put back into our beautiful red soil.
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Sorted!

2009-06-18T12:43:00.003+01:00

So I'm a panic-adin, this whole leaving home for a foreign land is just too exciting for me not to freak out at every possible opportunity.
Yesterday I unpacked *some* of my belongings from university, I'm actually fearful of posting the picture in case you run to the hills screaming, begging for your eyes to be clawed out. Ok, so not that bad, but pretty tragic all the same. I managed to get most of it tidied away but I'm really not looking forward to sorting out the mess that is my life neatly tucked away in the attic. I will have to sooner than I want, as soon as I've got this wedding (not mine) out of the way, and I come back from Ghana (where I predict lots of language learning) I'll have to sift through the madness and throw things out. I hope I get treated to a shopping trip to fund my new hot and fly Korean wardrobe, because I doubt I'll fit into anything over there.

Eek, so with a lot of tweeking, elbow grease, internet forums and faith, I finally installed Korean & Japanese language support on my Blackberry! YAY! Though I'll have to memorise the Korean keyboard map first, which is just effort, but needed. I really want a Korean BB, but looking at the prices, I'm probably better off getting a lollipop-esque phone and using my bb on wifi. That'll work right? I really don't want to sell off my Edna!

Alas! My Finance woes are totally unfounded! I have money and pots of it. I say pots, I mean enough for me to enjoy myself and not starve to death. Chung Ang provided a guideline of how my money should be spent, and so help me if they've underestimated I will hurt someone, because that's the rule of thumb we're going on.
I receive:

1) Global Leader Scholarship
Eligibility: Native speakers of English
Amount: 1,500,000 Korean Won per one semester
(Roughly about 731.2350 GBP ... says xe.com)
Duration: 12 weeks of each semester
Activities: 12 hours of cultural and language exchange activities per week

2) As well as £2,906 from my loving LEA.

3) Plus, my loving father has promised (as I'd hoped he would) to provide financial support when needed.

My accomodation is free thanks to the Global Leader Scholarship, and I'm also in the running (I believe) for the Asem Duo scholarship. But some lucky bugger got it from my university before, so I'm less likely to. And they go on GPA... sooo. YAH! Lol. All in all, my fear of running out of money and being forced to dance for kimchi is totally unfounded. Yes it is true I won't be shopping at Gucci any time soon. I will be able to live (I hope) pretty comfortably, and afford some pretty wicked awesome nights out. I fully intend on acting like a total groupie and buying the albums of Big Bang & Super Junior *drool*.

Ah Deborah fighting~!

Home Sweet, Home

2009-06-15T11:17:00.004+01:00

Back in my home town, the sun is shining! Running around the past couple of days enjoying myself and relaxing. I sleep till LATE son. Lol. It's super fun, but the fun must come to an end as I start getting down to the nitty gritty. :)

I received my student finance final notification and my travel allowance form(yay!) but as always the information they gave me and the information I have in my hand has a discrepancy. Gah. I'm sure when I was planning this all those years ago this was way easier! I'm a grant student with my parents generously covering the cost of everything else. They really don't want me to leave University with a debt. The student loans in this country are so much more generous than other countries I've heard of, you pay what you can and it doesn't count towards your credit rating. After a certain number of years they drop it all together if I'm right. However, all I receive is an increased rate of loan, which is a huge amount, and will be MORE than enough. So I guess that's the route I'll have to take.. well hopefully. I hope my dad will see that this is logical because I'd rather not put any pressure on my family to finance this. Part of me thought, on financial principles I should just leave it, however, I heard my mother on the phone to someone, talking about how I'll be away and how I speak Japanese but it won't really help me there and she sounded so proud. I felt that I couldn't let her down, or myself really.
Officially pushing all negative thoughts aside and focusing on the wonderful experience in front of me. Starting to learn more Hangul this week. I will have myself able to read it all by the time I get there. Fact.

The travel grant form is a little confusing. I don't really understand it so well, but from what I understand I can attempt to claim a 'reasonable' amount (though not sure what the costs for that are for Asia) but I have to use the cheapest form of transport at ALL times (eek). Assuming I'm reading this right, I have to pay for the first £303 of travel costs (it doesn't say total so I'm not sure if it's on every flight) I can claim for the cost of travel cards when I am in Seoul, the cost of up to two return flights, the cost of my visa (woot though it is only £28), any vaccinations I need and 40% of my medical insurance.

Eek I almost forgot today is the re-assessment & mitigating circumstances board meeting. GAH, lets all pray for Dee to win her claims ok? Mega.

That's all for now. Love you guys.

Dee x~

Today is.

2009-06-10T20:02:00.000+01:00

My last day in Hull for a while, its been a long day, spent saying goodbye where needed. Mostly spent lugging the last of my belongings from my house to Ben's.
We're going to have steak for dinner, just so we can remember to put it in his recipe book.
But for now, we're going to the cinema. Night at the museum 2, we haven't seen 1. But what they hey! Love does as it does.

~dee x
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Finally.

2009-06-09T09:26:00.000+01:00

I'm such a grump.
http://neweng.cau.ac.kr/intro/content.php?num=14
Best video ever. Excitement ensues.

<3 xx
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Today.

2009-06-08T01:35:00.001+01:00

I still don't feel like I'm going to go. You know when you're planning a trip... you visualise it happening. You place yourself there. I'm trying and coming up with nothing. I know this sounds all angsty and whatnot, but I really feel like eh.. I keep saying, "When I go to Seoul" or "When I'm in Seoul", but I'm devoid of excitement. When my mother was at the briefing meeting, I grabbed her arm and told her I didn't want to go. She dismissed it as nerves, and to be honest so did I. My friend who came over from Seoul is fine, even the exchange students are fine.

Update: I received my offer letter. I've been accepted.
I don't want to leave.
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Wow... already?

2009-05-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

So, I've come to realise that I've very little time left in the UK, and I'm tryna deal with that. June seems like it will go on forever, but I'm going home for my mum's birthday on the 12th, then there's the wedding and seeing the old 'gang'... By then its almost July. Ghana sometime then. Voila August appears and I'm on a plane to Seoul.
I think it's all the forms I'm filling out for Chung Ang, and the fact that some of my friends are leaving already(!), but I'm scared. I'm going to a far away place where everyone is drastically different from me... (still learning hangul) and besides Lin, I'll know no-one. When I took this decision 3 years ago (albeit for another university), I took it based on two things, one, I don't get homesick and two, its a wonderful opportunity. I still stand by the second one, anything to set me appart in this economic climate... But now I do get homesick! And just from only Hull! I miss my mother and home and my bed and my room. I've always gone on school trips and been the last to want to leave! Now I get these odd feelings of longing for home. How much more in Seoul? Especially when the time difference is so big...
I know I'll find great people who are in the same boat as me, missing home and feeling lost. But for the now, I feel like I don't want to go... You're all so wonderful here.
Gosh, Dee afraid of the unknown? Who would have thunk it?

xx
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Late Night!

2009-05-21T09:43:00.000+01:00

Worked on the book. :(
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Today

2009-05-12T09:22:00.000+01:00

Should be spent doing my student finance forms and sorting out my passport. Wish me luck, that all goes well this time!
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deep breath

2009-05-10T23:40:00.002+01:00

Egads.
So the mad crazy assignment week is OVER! I did the Japanese exam exhausted with about 4 hours sleep in a total of 3 days. I think it went well, it probably did... eh!

My mother came to school to the last farewell meeting.. It scared me to be honest. I can't think of a day this past week that I haven't cried on Ben's shoulders wanting to take back my decision to go to Seoul. There is a huge part of me that wants to be like, "HAHAHAH, just joking guys! I want to stay in England!" But I know I have to take this step that I've been planning on since the LONGEST of times.

Lots and lots and LOTS of Chung Ang information at the meeting. I don't think I'll even remember it all!
There was a huge kerfuffle with my passport pictures... I took them twice and paid for the verification at the Post Office, and the letter came today saying they weren't good enough. Even though it's like another 2 weeks maybe, I'm SO glad. The pictures made me look like a fat, overfed, yet charity advert African kid. It was horrible. My mother laughed her ASS off at them. So a little bit grateful that they were a no go. I still only have 3 weeks to get the passport sorted out, *drama*.

Still waiting on my student finance forms, they haven't arrived... gonna have to yell.

Waiting on my mommy to send my vaccine list.

So, Chung Ang have secured accommodation for me *squeals*, and they requested my course plan, here it is.
Fall Semester
(34480) New Media & society
(29037) Corporate Public Relations
(6822) Marketing Research
(33437) National Security & Intelligence
(30671) Learn Korean

Spring Semester
(27696) Government Marketing
(28186) International Relations
(25300) E-Business
(32301) International Organisation & Product Development
(30649) Learn Korean

Marketing and Government politics, sounds like fun huh? -_- don't lie. It bores you. But that's ok, because to me it sounds like the most interesting course schedule in the world to me!

Gah, tired.

Love you major.
<3

Freaking out.

2009-04-30T15:27:00.000+01:00

Korea son. The papers have to be in soon. I actually am freaking out about what needs to be done. Needs to be in Korea by 31st! Gahhhh!! Thought for the HU international office. My god.
*sigh* someone want to do my assignments for me?!
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o_o

2009-04-25T17:51:00.002+01:00

So my student finance application is going badly. It froze on the system, Student Finance were like "Lol", so now I have to fill out a paper form, which cannot be sent to Hull, but has to be sent to Oxford due to some error on the computer. GOD. Oxfordshire City council STILL won't give me any information concerning how much money I'll be getting, the rumour is £5000 grant, but.. eh. All I know is there is some travel allowance but it's means tested, so there's no specifics... OR YOU COULD GIVE ME A CHART AND I CAN FIND OUT WHERE I AM ON IT like with EVERY OTHER grant scheme you do. GOSH. Sorry, I was on hold for a long time it got to me.
>_<
Annoyed as well as the second half of my bursary was used to pay my tuition fee, which is so irritating, because the reason it's late is their own fault! So now I don't have that £500 to ofset the costs I have to pay for things I don't want to ask my parents for as I'm relying on them so much already.

Money money money.
Dee. Looking forward to a cheaper next year.

Love you all
(grumpy) x

-_-

2009-04-25T10:01:00.001+01:00

How am I supposed to fit my life into 20kg?

screams

2009-04-23T10:39:00.002+01:00

YAY, so I have official dates and figures for my arrivial in Seoul!
Study Period : Sep 1 ~ Dec 21, 2009

Arrival Date: Aug 26 ~ 28, 2009

Orientation : Aug 28, 2009

Application Deadline : May 31, 2009

Obviously I'll be in Seoul earlier than they say, I want to ajust a little bit before enroling and being a student. I'm sure my mother will too. (Lol, she's coming with me.)
*jumps up and down like a mad thing*
They've sent me an application form and numerous other thingys to read and fill out.

So I've got to take 15-18 Credits per semester and that works out to be about 5 or 6 classes, which is pretty much the same as here.

So I'm looking for flights, found some on Emirates for roughly £500 return. SWEET.

La La la, so excited!

And today..

2009-04-23T00:08:00.000+01:00

Saw a flurry of activity, small but a flurry nevertheless!
We had an International Visa meeting today! Yayyy! My Visa process is super easy, couple of forms a £28 fee and Bob's your uncle!
It got me super excited and pumped up again, assignments have been getting me down. I've got my nice red folder with all my official documents and checklists, I'll post the checklist, so you can see how I'm doing. So far all I've got are my status letters.
Tomorrow, must must must fill in Student Finance forms *sigh* chore, but needed.
Scary thing, need to get some immunisations, anyone know a GP that is still accepting patients?

Love you major!
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Worries.

2009-04-15T23:18:00.004+01:00

So people are worried about me, thanks it means a lot and this is why. I'm not a big political expert, tbh I don't really know much about Asian politics at all. I'd love to shout out, "I'm going to South Korea" (honestly if one more person makes that mistake again I'm gonna kill them) but I thank them for their thoughtfulness because I know they are only concerned about me.
There really isn't a lot I can do but watch how the situation goes down, at the moment it looks like we just have to watch and wait.

Love you all major.
<3

~woah!

2009-04-14T22:52:00.000+01:00

So, I'm heading off to Korea soon~ish, crazy huh!? I'll be an exchange student in Chung Ang University, so I'm busily learning Korean so far all I can do is write my name in Hangul (데보러)and say a few key phrases and all I can say that it's seriously taking away from my other studying. I lie, my laziness is taking away from my other studies.
I'm fully excited for this whole study abroad, though I'll miss the husband more than anything, by husband I mean boyfriend ^o^ lets not get carried away here! Ha~!

So this is my blog to keep everyone informed on how things are going!
Loves <3