[Part 2] 029. 30 August 2010 Monday

So today was the first day of school, after a 4 months break during which my brain rotted.
If I can successfully get all 6 modules, Mondays and Wednesdays are the worst for me:
Mondays & Wednesdays: 12.30-6.15pm (12.30-1.45pm International Financial Management, 2-3.15pm Korean, 3.30-4.45pm Management Strategy, 5-6.15pm Corporate Finance)
Tuesdays & Thursdays: 10.30-3.15pm (10.30-11.45am Investments, 12.30-1.45pm Consumer Behaviour, 2-3.15pm Korean)
Jeannie wanted to cook omelette for the both of us this morning but the big pot in the kitchen mysteriously disappeared so we ended up having lunch at a Chinese eatery nearby with Yuhong before class started. One of the waiters/chefs can speak Chinese and he even correctly guessed where we're from! Smart guy.

Group work is required for our International Financial Management class for which Alex is also attending so we've already formed our group of 5: me, Jeannie, Yuhong, Alex and a new friend, JungHyun (who has just returned from serving the army).

Jeannie showing her good side

I think Korean classes will be fun because of a really nice Korean teacher who isn't intimidating! There are quite a few angmohs and Japanese in our class too.

On our way to Korean class

Today's weather was fantastic! Blue sky (I like) and cooling :) Autumn is coming!!!
Management strategy class was a little scary and we're going to split up for the group component because it's a level 4 module so it'll be good if we work with some Korean students and not amongst ourselves. Group work isn't required for Corporate Finance unless we want to do the optional presentation. What a pity when we're actually in a class together with Korean friends (Junho oppa and Junghyun unni)! I made a new friend too...Alejandro from Chile. My first friend from Chile! I think he has Korean blood though.

After our classes finally ended at 6.15pm, we went to the bookstore to get our books before heading for dinner at an eatery near our place...Ginseng chicken soup.

Right after I dumped my stuff in my room, we took bus 1212 to Sungsin Womans University area to shop for JeeHyun unni's birthday present but we didn't find anything for her there. Instead, we shopped for ourselves! I bought a white blouse for 22,000KRW and a black skirt for 14,000KRW. Things there are quite cheap and it's near to Anam as well so I believe we'll be frequenting that area quite a bit.
Back in my room, I skyped with my parents and I stupidly told them that I wanted to go out of my room to switch on the central air-conditioner because some person had to switch it off when I'm burning in my room. But no, my parents told me not to go out of my room because it's dangerous outside. But it's like the corridor and the air-conditioner is right outside of my room, a few seconds away from me. And now I have to burn in my room because I decided to listen to them and not defy their wishes.

Mummy trying to make me miss Singapore by showing me her loot from Takashimaya yesterday...snowskin mooncakes!!! She looked funny in this picture so I blurred her out.

showing me another mooncake

I've no idea why my parents decided to do this!

Alright, time to sleep because I'm becoming incoherent and I have a thousand and one things to plan and do and I have my Investments class at 10.30am tomorrow -.-

GMARKET purchases

My purchases were made on 16 August Monday night and by 18 August Wednesday afternoon, I had received 3 of the 5 items I purchased.

Item #1. Item no. 187705794 27,000KRW in Beige

I've been eyeing this top since April this year but put off making my purchase till I reached Seoul. Shopping on Gmarket when you're in Korea is better because you don't have to pay the international shipping fee and you receive the items in a really short time! So you can imagine my elation upon receiving my purchases. Within the next few days, I wore this top to a baseball match between SK and Lotte and it was the perfect top to wear on a hot summer day!

Item #2. Item no. 190545942 in 카키 31,300KRW

I haven't gotten a chance to wear this blouse yet. It's actually quite heavy on the details so I think it'll look better when tucked inside a skirt.

Item #3. Item no. 177354906 피트양R넥 in 네이비for 9,900KRW

This is a pretty fitted t-shirt that only looks nice on the model. There is only 1 size for this top and it's too big for me, perhaps because I'm not as well-endowed as the model :( 

On the 19th, I received another parcel containing another top which I've wanted for the longest time.

Item #4. Item no. 189147100 요플레BL in Brown 브라운 for 35,500KRW

While this blouse is the most expensive piece of all my Gmarket purchases here, it's my favourite and I wore it on the first day of my orientation at Korea University. I really love the material! Highly recommended item :)

Item #5. Item no. 179632336 F-155 투포켓블라우스베이지F for 9,900KRW

I was really looking forward to receiving this blouse and matching it with my black tank dress or a black spaghetti top. BUT I decided to cancel the purchase when it was more than 10 days since my order was placed and the item status was still under "on request". I emailed Gmarket's Help Centre about my cancellation request and the refund was promptly made to me.

Overall, my 1st Gmarket purchase on this trip has been quite successful JUST THAT I had trouble adding a new address to my address book. The address just couldn't be added using a Macbook or a Windows laptop. Luckily, Youngjin helped me by using his father's PC so I figured that from now onwards, I can only change my address using a Korean laptop or PC.
There were no mishaps whatsoever with the delivery as well. It is great that Gmarket sends me SMS alerts when my payment has been received and when my items have been sent out and this time round, I didn't get any calls from any delivery man! 

Oh my goodness, my little brother just sent me an email about what he wants from Gmarket! Since when did my brother know about Gmarket and shopping about Gmarket?! At least now, I don't have to worry about what I can get for him because he can tell me what he wants on Gmarket :)

[Part 2] 028. 29 August 2010 Sunday

Today was a day spent doing almost nothing (alright, nothing significant).

I met Yuhong at 4pm and we headed down to Yongsan together as he wanted to get a Razer headset. There's an E-mart there as well so we shopped for our groceries and had our dinner at the food court before coming back. 

Alright, I've nothing else to say for today and I need to sleep now because tomorrow's (or rather, today since it's now 2.26am Korea time) my first day of school. It feels as though I'm going to school for the first time!
I'll be blogging about my Gmarket shopping experience here in Korea in one of my next few entries, so stay tuned!

[Part 2] 027. 28 August 2010 Saturday

I had a great day, even though I didn't go to a noraebang.

My day started off with meeting Alex, JaeHyun, Jimin and Justine at Anam Station at 2pm. We went to Woodang Hall to use the computers there to check where our classrooms are and what textbooks we need for our modules. I'm so upset that Alex got his Consumer Behaviour class and we actually submitted our course registration forms together. In fact, I submitted mine a few seconds before he did so why is it that he got the course but not me? By random? Our buddies showed us where our schools were before Jimin and Justine left for Insadong while the rest of us went to the bookstore to get our books. I got my Investments, International Financial Management, Korean 3 and Korean 4 textbooks as well as some stationery. Free book wrapping was provided for my business textbooks but not for my Korean books for some unknown reason. I decided to buy Korean 4 for self-reading to improve my competency in the language during my remaining 4 months here. Time, please pass slowly! 

Initially, Alex wanted to get a printer but due to the on-off drizzle/rain and the sheer number of items he had to carry (his bag, heavy bag of textbooks and an umbrella), he decided that it wasn't a good day to buy a printer so he went back to his place while JaeHyun, being ever the gentleman, carried my 2 bags of textbooks for me. Since it was still really early and neither of us had any plans for the rest of the day, we went to the cafe at the Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall for strawberry shaved ice bingsu. He wanted to treat me but I insisted on paying because he helped me carry my books.

We had a nice chat and...buddy, I'll remember the buffet date at Lotte Hotel ok! Anyway, we checked out some alumni museum in the Samsung Hall before heading back to my place for me to dump my books. The air-conditioning at the museum is FANTASTIC so on a hot day, you know where to head to for some respite from the heat. I ran out of drinks to offer JaeHyun so I gave him a choco pie :) 

He needed to get his textbooks from a bookstore in Coex Mall near his place so I decided to accompany him there and do some window shopping, since it was more than a year since I went there together with Mel, G and Chun. I bought some stickers (one of my greatest weaknesses) from a supermarket and he got his Immunology textbook from the bookstore before we did more window shopping and went to the food hall in the basement for an early dinner. Dinner was on him and he bought his favourite food for us to share. Delicious stuff! I ate all the shells too, haha :)

We did more window shopping again after dinner and when I walked past the jeans section, JaeHyun pointed out the True Religion brand to me. I casually plucked out a price tag and was speechless for awhile. A pair of jeans costs a whooping 698,000KRW and he says his favourite brand is True Religion. It's truly expensive...He got me to try some fox fur vest too and I looked weird -_- I guess I better start figuring out how I'll dress when the weather gets cooler. Not used to dressing up for Fall! I tried looking for Longchamp as well in Hyundai Department Store but the sales assistants gave us wrong information -_- When we were on the 3rd floor, someone told us it was on the 2nd floor. When we went down to the 2nd floor, someone else told us it was on the 3rd floor so we went back up but couldn't find it. So we went back down to the 2nd floor and the sales assistant at Mulberry told us that there's no Longchamp there. Alright, thank you very much for your service! Anyway, we left Coex Mall at around 8pm and took 2 buses back to Anam. 

I think JaeHyun's really nice. I can't believe he went allllllll the way to KU just to show Alex and I our classrooms/schools and to help us with the purchase of our textbooks. He put me to shame and I now realize how terrible a buddy I was back in NUS! So I just wanted to accompany him on his long journey home to show my gratitude as well and to shop around in Coex Mall. My original plan was to shop alone but he actually accompanied me. I thought that after he had bought his textbook, he would head straight home but no, he treated me to dinner. And what was worse was that I could just take the subway/bus back to Anam on my own BUT he insisted on accompanying me BACK TO ANAM. Coex Mall/Gangnam area is like super far from Anam and he went back and forth today for Alex and I. I felt so bad :( And he's really gentlemanly as well...like when I'm walking in the mall, subway station or along the streets and someone pushes past me, he actually switches sides with me to prevent me from getting pushed. Such a rare breed and I need to gush about this because I've never met someone as nice as him and my brother doesn't even do this for me. My brother even tells me that I cannot sleep on his shoulder because it's reserved for his future girlfriend -_- So JaeHyun, I'm so glad I got to know you :)
The bus journey back took quite some time and I had to try really hard to stay awake and not fall asleep like what I normally do because if I were to sleep, my head will swing about and the last thing I want to do is something stupid and funny. 

Back in my room, I packed my stuff for awhile before meeting Jeannie and Zechy. I brought her to Aritaum to purchase her Laneige products (the same as mine) before we walked around the Anam area and popped by Baskin Robbins for my favourite Peach Melba regular cone. Great day indeed! Just that it was spoiled by an email from my mum saying that my hair looks like a curtain -_- I guess I need to drop by a hair salon soon to perm my fringe again and get a trim as well. 

[Part 2] 026. 27 August 2010 Friday

There isn't a day whereby I can just stay in my room and slack or rot. KUBS decided to give us a hell of a night yesterday when we only got 4 out of the 6 modules we wanted: International Financial Management, Corporate Finance, Investments and Korean Intermediate 1. What about Consumer Behaviour and Management Strategy??? So, we had to wake up early to go to the Business School Main Hall to talk to Ms Woojin Rhee and register for the other modules that we want again. It was sooooo frustrating...seeing that all the classes we wanted are full and that we had to search for other modules to map back to NUS. Management strategy is definitely a course I want to take here and not back in NUS but there isn't any other module that can be mapped back to BSP3001, not even International Business. Thank you KU. For not giving me a place to stay in CJ House when I had already planned to do so since last August (in 2009) and for not giving me the classes I want when I had already planned what to take since June 2010. Our frantic search for alternative modules and calls back to NUS about module mapping resulted in us being late for our meeting with JeeHyun unni and her boyfriend. The fact that I had the wrong number for JeeHyun's handphone exacerbated the situation because I had smsed her at least half an hour in advance informing her that we would be late but she never received it because I sent it to the wrong number -_- As a result, we took a cab from Anam to Hongdae.

Bearing the heat and trudging to the Business School

Desperate search for other classes

We met JeeHyun unni and her boyfriend at the KFC by Exit 5 of Hongdae and they brought us to a pretty Italian restaurant "Bacio Baci" beside Banila & Co. It's quite a popular restaurant and we had to wait for quite some time before we were given seats upstairs. It was nice talking to JeeHyun and seeing her in person after I had last seen her in November last year when I sent her off at PGP. JeeHyun is Jeannie's Korean buddy in NUS in AY09/10 Semester 1. Her boyfriend's nice and I think they make a really cute couple!

Waiting for seats

Couple rings!

After lunch, we went in search for a Wii Cafe BUT unfortunately, the cafe didn't offer nice games such as Guitar Hero (actually, I don't play any games so I don't even know what Guitar Hero really is) so we went in search of a pretty cafe called Hoho Myoll which is quite near NB Club. When JeeHyun unni went to the toilet during lunch, her boyfriend told us that she actually did quite a bit of research to find out where to bring Jeannie and I to! Thank you, unni! She even gave Jeannie and I a Starbucks Korea cup each as gifts. I definitely had an enjoyable time with them :)

Cute couple take 1

Cute couple take 2

We found it!

Unfortunately, there isn't a photo of me with them because JeeHyun's bf didn't manage to take a photo :(  Oh wells, there's always a next time! 

I love this cafe!!! That's the food preparation area / kitchen.

Drinks preparation area 

The map to the places they wanted to bring us to

Our umbrellas

Filming in Hongdae area

Kim Jung Eun

After our tea session, JeeHyun and her bf sent us to the subway station before we went our separate ways. Jeannie and I went to Myeongdong to shop and we were subsequently joined by Zechy and Yuhong. I went back to H&M again and realised that I had bought the wrong size for my blouse and I have to go back to Myeongdong yet again to have my item changed before 30 days is up. The rain really marred everything and we had to seek shelter in American Apparel before heading towards Kraze Burgers where we had our dinner at and chatted until the rain stopped. Our conversation centralized on how scary life in the Business School is and how competitive it is to secure a good internship. I think it's better for us to rely on ourselves and not on the Career Centre...and to pull whatever strings we have (though I don't have many).

No other photos of me for the day :(

We had the Phillys set

Jeannie and Zechy

I had to rush back to buy a slice of cake from a bakery in the subway station and to skype with my family to celebrate my mother's birthday online. In the end, I was too late :( My family waited for me until the candles were half melted :( But at least, I was in time for the opening of my mother's birthday presents! And what a small world it is! My dad actually bought my mother's Lancome eye product from my primary school good friend, Sara Yeoh, who is currently working part time at Lancome! I hope my mother likes the Moony Orgel music box that I got from Insadong for her! Thank you Mel for bringing it back to Singapore for me :) If I still have enough money by the end of my trip here, I'll go back to buy one for myself. Also, my brother finally bought a nice birthday card for my mother (the first time he bought a card for someone) and he decided to be funny by showing me random stuff.

My way of celebrating with my family

Dearest mummy with her presents

The card my brother got

Crazy brother

Mummy with the music box

The aeroplane model box my dad put my mum's handbag in to fool her

After skyping with my family for half an hour, I joined Jeannie, Zechy and Yuhong in Samsung Chicken where they ate and drank. I'm on a self-imposed ban from eating fried chicken until my throat has cleared the sore throat danger zone!