Midterms and what it brought

So it's been some time since I've wrote anything about what I've done here.

Basically though, things have been generally about the same week in and week out.

Weather. It's been dropping significantly. Nowadays, don't even think of exposing any skin for extended periods of time outside! Especially since my body has been living in a tropical climate the past 21 years, the cold is not something to get used to with a snap of the fingers.

But I'd say, compared to just jumping straight into the blistering winter condition when I was here for vacation twice before, the dropping of temperatures does wonders for acclimatizing. A few weeks ago, 18 degC nights will make me shiver my butt off while walking. And now in the day, it is easily 11 degC, and I shiver minimally. I'd say a good job to myself and my body (:

Also, I love it how when I wake up the sun is already up in the sky. This is provided my roommate cooperates and not pull the blinds down all the way, turning my room into a cave/dungeon. I rely heavily on the sun to wake up, even back in Singapore. If it's dark, my body says it's not time to wake up yet. But because it's fall going to winter, the sun sets ever so early. Usually in the evening when my roommate is in, my room becomes a dungeon and the only light source I have is my table lamp (which I  still have to shield by opening my books in front of it and stuff because she complains it shines right into her eyes).

The leaves are starting to turn yellow and then red. Now, there are more of those 'blond' trees because this is the week where the trees will all decide it's too cold to put up all these burdensome leaves and decide to shed them all.

I haven't been shopping much because of the hassle of walking. Schoolwork is also catching up fast and nowadays, GMarket has been my best friend for all my coldwear needs! I've bought boots for about 20,000 won, a coat for less than 20,000 won, and a few pieces of long sleeved shirts at a decent price. It won't stop there, trust me. Too convenient, too reasonable a price. Some shops do shipping overseas, so if you are considering getting some coats and winter wear, do drop by GMarket!
(Not an advertorial)

Winter boots for the near future!

The one time I did went out for some shopping at Ewha, the only purchase I was really happy with were these Rilakkuma socks, because they were the cutest things ever.

Alright then, let's jump in to the main topic. MIDTERMS.

We have just finished midterms, it was last week. It killed us in several ways. Firstly, there was no term break, or a 'reading week'. You see, in NUS, we have a term break in the middle of the semester, and right after that is the hotspot for midterms. Although we have no stipulated midterm-week per se, the week after term break is where most midterms take place. Of course, there are a few that take place before term break and some that occur the week after the hotweek. So our midterms are pretty much well spread out most of the time.

In Yonsei University though, or I would say, ALL Korean Universities... There is a dedicated midterm week. Which means that during that week, there would be no regular classes so we just go to take our midterms. Which also means that all the midterms are clustered together. Studying for midterms like that, is no joke.

The papers are marked pretty fast too. Out of my 4 midterms, I've gotten results for 2 of them. Sadly, I failed one of them with 59 marks. What? Did you just thought I passed since I scored above 50%? No, because in Yonsei, a passing grade (which means anything higher than an F), is 63.
Yea, you heard me. The other test, I got 80. So it was alright, didn't feel anything special about that.

It is terrible because everytime we hear from seniors saying that exchange is usually a breeze and we should play when we can. We (Rekha and I), had studied for this, staying up late (more of on Rekha's side), and we get worrying scores. That's just nuts.

Somedays, Rekha and I stroll back to our dorms and on the way, we sadly just wonder why we made this decision.
(Though, apart from academics, we have fun with Korean living and culture. It's great.)

Oh yes, so I failed one. And on the other one which I scored 80, the professor was nice and decided that he would give everyone a second chance in the form of a retest, and he would take the higher score. Now, why wouldn't the other professor be nice and give us a retest too? Though, he also said he recommends people who scored below a 90 to take the retest. Argh. Fine.

Apart from struggling with exams... I've also been to Tea Club meetings. We drink tea, eat some snacks, have fun and usually they go out for dinner and a whole night of drinking. I don't drink alcohol, so I usually don't join in at those last parts.

I actually learnt how to brew tea properly, a lot of different teas. The setup above is for oolong tea or red teas. I also learnt how to properly use a tea set, something which nobody bothers with back in Singapore. A delicate art! (:

One of those meetings ended one day and we went to have BBQ ribs for dinner. It was really fun because ever since summer ended, I didn't have a group of friends who'd go out for food and stuff. This is actually one of the rare times I get to eat BBQ with a large group of people!

갈매기!

Looks delicious? (: Yea, it was delicious. We also had a lot of fun chatting and talking about different countries with the other members ^_^

Also, one day, Han decided to be awesome and played on the prize machine. He got Rekha and I each a really cute phone holder!

The green one is for Rekha and the blue on for me!

You know Rekha has been an awesome friend, so glad I've got her. We've had lots of laughter together, we share room stories, she listens to my night life on the computer and I listen to her night life outside.. HTHT!! She's like my person over here -touched-

I like it when we eat together. Especially because when we eat together, we sometimes have chicken, like that. Chicken is awesome. It is SO good, that we're willing to pay that much for dinner even though most times we can't finish the entire thing. Super unhealthy, I know, but one does not simply say NO to chicken.

Anyway recently, I've been battling with mosquitoes, again. My roommate isn't spared from this either, and this is probably the only reason why she bothers waking up at all. Sometimes I worry she might have a trypanasoma infection. (just kidding about this)

Battle scars from 'The War with Mosquitoes'

(The roommate complains every single time a mosquito bites her and it itches. I get huge welts like that and I don't whine about it.)
ANYWAY!!!
Yes, there was a night we both couldn't sleep because mosquitoes kept buzzing around my ear. I tried putting a towel over my face while I burrito-ed myself with the blanket but eventually got really warm in there and had to give it up. A few seconds later, I heard the mosquito buzzing at my ear. That was when my roommate stepped out of the room and I switched all the lights on and did mosquito hunting. I smacked the one nearest to me dead, and went back to sleep.

She then came back in awhile and I told her about the mosquito. We tried to go back to sleep but she insisted there was another one, switched on the lights, and shook me up just to smack it for her (this is really terrible behaviour, never do this to your roommate). So she kinda just pointed it out to me and I smacked it and we tried to go back to sleep. But because of the adrenaline, we couldn't fall back asleep and stayed awake, studying till the boredom got to us.

While studying, I killed another mosquito. That makes three. THREE of them. Not funny at all.
I eventually bought a mosquito mat, something that heats up a mat drenched with mosquito-killing chemicals, and causes death to mosquitoes. We haven't had much trouble since.

Die, you stupid bloodsucker.

Speaking of sleep disturbance, I was really pissed one day when I had three hours to sleep before I had to take my TOPIK (Korean language proficiency) test. During that night, my roommate once again proved to me how awfully loving she is -please sense the sarcasm here-.

Without any verbal notice, she went to switch on the main lights while I was about to enter deep sleep. She just did it without saying 'excuse me' or 'sorry but..', she just did it, like a boss. Not only that, she announced, 'Cassie! There's a mosquito in the room and it bit me..' wanting me to wake up to deal with it. I'm sorry but you're two years older than me, please grow up and deal with such things yourself, with consideration for others. Since I don't want to entertain such people and I was running low on sleeptime, I just pretended to pull the covers over my head and desperately tried to sleep. IGNORE. seriously.

See, this is what you should NEVER do to your roommate, and should never do in a shared room. As mentioned above, the room is shared. Respect your roommate, respect her at least as her own person. I really hate being pushed around by a tyrant like that, but I'm nice, that's why I try to help when I can but no... Please, I'm not doing shit for my roommate forever. She just overstays people's kindness for her, seriously.

Oh, and also, 승익 오빠 sent me a letter all the way from the awesome Sweden! I was happy receiving it because it's the first letter anyone has ever sent me since here. My parents have sent some small items to me, but no, no letters. And I was happy!! People have asked for my address and the only person who has used it is Seungik... ><
Thank you!! I hope you're having fun in Sweden! ^_^ Keep warm in the winter there!

So oh wells, even though days are more or less the same here... There are still little things that spark a lot of emotions from me la. And it's not the whole point of this blog so I won't go into too much detail. I have been working on a post which compares SK Global House and International House (I-House) on accommodation on-campus, and it's not done so... yea.

A smile for you after so long. Missed all you readers, and if you're here again, thank you thank you thank you!

As an extra bonus, here's an ice cream for you!

Wizard's Halloween flavour from Baskin Robbins.. It's chocolate with kinda minty blue parts, and little crackly sweet bits mixed in. Pretty delicious, but not the bestest I've had (:

See you again soon!

Checking in for a peep

Hello there!

Nice to see you here again~ If you want to know, I'm fine. Apart from some personal issues and stuff, I am mighty fine and smiling everyday from cheek to cheek (:

Well, the weather's getting colder as we reach the peak of fall and everything is starting to cool into winter. We average about 20 degrees everyday recently, with the nights falling below 20, into the 16s and 17s!

It's hard to dress, to be honest. In the mornings, it's really chilly. But because they do not switch on the air conditioners in their classrooms so everyday it's really stuffy in the classroom >.< HELP!
Not only that, mosquitoes live in the classrooms and I see many of them flying around every single lesson.

I make it my duty to catch as many as I can, but let me tell you, it's a really disgusting thing to be grabbing those things in the air.

So if I wear something warm, I will be melting in the classroom, and if I don't, and I stay out late, then I freeze. Sigh.

Though, the weather is better than the hot hot weather Singapore is perpetually stuck in...

So throughout my school life here, I haven't been attending a lot of outings because they always involve drinking, partying, or clubbing. Neither of the above suits me at all, so I am quite turned off by it. Sorry, I'm not a party animal.

The drinking here is scary.

The smoking here is equally as scary.

I just avoid it.

They also stay out really late and it isn't good for health, I'd much rather stay home.

I know many people say that exchange is a time to let your hair down, experience their culture, and do whatever things you can't or won't do back at home. However, I refuse to change myself to be drawn into their drinking and smoking culture.

Health, is still more important. So is safety.

Having fun is one thing, and being true to yourself is another. I mean, nobody should force you to do things you don't want to do!

So well, anyway~ Looking forward to the leaves changing colour starting about next week! Actually some plants are slowly yellowing their leaves already (: Half-pretty sight~

Look at this building in Yonsei! The vines on it are starting to turn red a little (:

BLUSH!

Haha~ I'll post more photos when the trees are in their full glory.

Peace!