Another day older, and officially another year as well haha. Thank you for the birthday wishes everyone! :) I'm thankful for family and friends who make my birthday special, but honestly, I don't really have much interest in celebrating it anymore. One thing I do like about my birthday is that it is in the middle of the year. Along with New Year's, these are the two occasions that I really sit down and think about the past year. It's only during these times that I realize how much has happened and changed during that time.
When I say I'm (we're) getting old, even though we're still young, I mean old in regards to age and maturity (i.e., responsibilities). If I live to be 80, God willing, I'm already more than a quarter done with my life! Especially with senior year coming up, I feel the responsibilities piling up and need to prepare for the future. As my senior pastor always says, we must lead a 준비인생, a ready life. It seems like people aren't really preparing for anything, but taking life for granted, assuming that there always will be a tomorrow or next time. I sometimes wonder if people really take life seriously (this includes myself). If we live for the moment, living for the world, it will always disappoint us. Instead, we must live for that which is not of this world, the only way to true happiness and peace :)
"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them'" [Ecclesiastes 12:1]
Anywho, I have been enjoying my time in Busan, but before coming here, I stopped by Taipei for 6 days and had a very good time! Taiwan has indeed touched my heart (see MV below) <3>
Here are some of my pictores from the trip :)
My hostel, eight elephants, so hard to find! The address is broken down by street, lane, and then alley! I only took one picture, but i would recommend it! Good location, clean, and friendly staff :)
Cutie cynthiar, my tour guide (and peng you). Milk tea with pearls, aka mini bubbles ^^ (honestly regular size bubbles taste better but o well haha and cyn I like Come Buy better too)
Random street near my hostel. I visited the National Palace Museum because I felt like I should. The visit served to confirm the fact that I do not enjoy going to museums haha.
Students performing at Ximen (cynthia described it as the trendy area where all the teenyboppers hang out). Din Tai Fung for its famous xiao long bao, which was indeed very yummy. The staff (along with most Taiwanese ppl) was really friendly too!
Pandas on our heads :) Second pic is from the Shida night market. I love night markets! The cheap yummy food, gajillion stores, people watching...its mad crowded though as you can see from the picture.
Chillin by Bitan bridge at night and Danshui on a drizzly day <3
On a random note, when I started this blog, I meant to update pretty regularly (every few days) with short fun updates about my travels and my life, and maybe a 2-3 pictures per post. I did not not want to have looong entries that were more analytical (some may call this "boring") and took time to scroll through, since I'm usually too lazy to look at those kind entries myself haha. But...thats what my blog has become. Ah well! Hope y'all enjoy it anyway :)
Ciao! I feel refreshed after a wonderful 12 days at home, family, friends, and food! Too much eating out -_- It was good to catch up with people though. I feel like the people themselves didn't change, but circumstances did, if that makes sense. We're all getting older! Everyone's starting to finish college, start working, crazy! :O It was nice hanging out, strolling around Philly, graduations, busy busy!
For now, I'm back in London, jet lagged and putting off studying for my last final tomorrow (I guess not everything has changed haha). But once I'm done, I'm freeee! Then I shall fly off to Taiwan on Friday to join Cynthia and her mosquito friends and try to stay cool in the hot hot heat while eating yummy cheap food :P Then off to Busan to research with a professor and live with his family! Wahoo!!
Now...here are some very late Italy pictures haha. They're from the second half of April, just a little late...I shall try to keep this blog better updated in the summer. I wonder if I will keep blogging when my travels stop...we'll see!
Florence (Firenze):
Owls! As I was walking through the market, Vendor: You need something? Bag? Jacket? Boyfriend? Italian lover? Another vendor reading my shirt that said "work hard love hard": "work hard f*** hard?"Ah yes...harassment all over the world. Isn't it sad that its kinda expected now just walking down a street?
Near one of the famous bridges in Florence. Mozzarella and tomato sandwich!
This picture cracks me up haha the way our heads stick out :) Random neighborhood in Florence
Eunice the photographer. One of our dishes at a nice restaurant we ate at. I like how they don't rush you out after you eat, Italians are so chill!
The Korean hostel I stayed at. The ahjooma woke us up at 7 am and made sure we all ate breakfast -_- It was a lot cleaner than regular hostels, and I met interesting people including an unni from Busan who was gonna go to London soon, so we exchanged tips :) The Duomo (i always pronounced the name wrong -_-)...the spot everyone meets in Florence.
Chianti (region in Tuscany):
Little did we know what awaited us that day...
We went on a 2.5 hour hike all over these hills. The scenery was nice but the group was strugglin haha. Oh we were with a bunch of ppl btw, but we kept lagging behind and taking pictures hehe
It rained the day before and our shoes got crazy muddy! You can't really see from the pictures, but those shoes were spotted brown like a cow after haha
The Italian villa (from the 1600s) we ate at for lunch! It was really nice, except it was mad cold and there was a big crazy dog that attacked a smaller one, as in literally attacked, it was biting its neck and outta control! :(
Tuscan bread has no salt (read mad bland) but the meat (salami, prosciutto, etc.) is saltier to balance it. Pesto pasta.
Rome (Roma):
I was tired and wanted an espresso, but was also craving gelato. Then I found this!! It's like a gourmet gelati, layered whip cream and frozen espresso (as in strong espresso, not just flavored). Perfect! And the second picture is a random lil band playing music at a piazza hehe
Cannolis! Mini ones! Eunice cooked us a yummy pasta dinner at her apartment :P
I walked around in circles looking for this bakery to buy get this famous pistachio cookie I read about in some guide books, only to realize I had passed it multiple times an hour ago -_- O well...the cookie was good haha but mad expensive! The second picture is the top of the pantheon, which has a big ol' hole. You can't really tell how huge it is, but I guess you can see the sunlight at least haha.
The Colosseum is smack dab in the middle of a street haha so random! Espressos...tiny but dangerous.
Being classy at a cute restaurant in Trastevere (those are breaded olives she's holding btw). Trastevere neighborhoods at night.
I didn't do much in Italy in terms of siteseeing, just walked around and people watched mostly haha. But I enjoyed my time, it was relaxing. I know most people think I wasted my time by not going to all the historic/famous spots and they want to go see it, but if you're going for the sake of going or to have said you've gone, is it really worth it?
Okie dokies must get some much needed sleep and get this sucker (final) over with. Then pack and ahhh blur blur. Life is a blur. Okie dokes...Ciao for now!
01/01 - 01/08: Home 01/09 - 04/05: London 04/06 - 04/10: Paris 04/11 - 04/14: London 04/15 - 04/18: Florence 04/18 - 04/22: Rome 04/22 - 05/18: London 05/18 - 05/25: Home :) 05/25 - 05/31: London 06/01 - 06/04: Taiwan to see Cynthiar! 06/05 - 07/??: Busan ^^ ? - 08/09(ish): Seoul 08/16 - 08/20: KPCHV retreat 08/30: And senior year begins...
Man this year has been and will continue to be a whirlwind. I'm tired thinking about it already haha. Working is hard. And so is playing.
Btw does anyone else have the problem of "aeroplane" ears? I definitely get it when the plane is landing. I am not looking forward to all this flying :(
Bonjour mes amis! I have returned from Paris and had a wonderful time! Before Paris, I went to an Easter retreat with the church I attend here. It was very cold, spring has not yet fully sprung on this side of the Atlantic :( The picture above is from the retreat center. The retreat got me thinking about many things, but I felt very frustrated at times because I couldn't express myself fully in Korean (its a Korean church)...
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." [1 John 5:11]
What is Easter to you? Eggs, chocolate, spring, fasting...? Like it says in Ecclesiastes, "Meaningless! Meaningless!...Everything is meaningless!" Unless you have faith that is. I hope that God will bless us all with the wisdom to have faith and to know the true meaning of life. Happy belated Easter everyone!
Subway entrance. By the Seine River. I love all the historical feeling of the city and all the green everywhere!
Lunch at a crêperie. In front of the giant Notre Dame Cathedral.
Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Guide books at the Louvre. Locks on a bridge by the Seine.
Next to the RER station by my friends house in the suburbs. The Eiffel Tower at night.
A beautiful day at Versailles. Inside the palace.
The beautiful garden behind the palace. "Unni jump!" This picture cracked us up for a while :)
Unni taking up all the room in our picture ;) Enjoying the b-e-a-uuuutiful weather.
Dinner at a brasserie. My sirloin steak. We ate...so...much...food! With my friend and her cutie parents.
At Montmartre. The view towards the top.
Macaroons from my friend's mom! At Champs-Élysées while thesun set behind the Arc de Triomphe.
My flatmate and her parents were so accommodating during out stay! I had low expectations going in, but I enjoyed Paris much more than I thought I would. Bits and pieces of the 6 years of French I took in junior high and high school started coming back to me, but only un peu haha. The weather was sunny and beautiful, which I think made a huge difference.
I shall be hopping off to Florence and Rome in a few days. I'm already getting tired from traveling and will have a whole lotta essay writing to do when I get back ㅠ.ㅠ Its weird that I consider my flat home now, I just wanted to pass out in my bed in London while I was going around. I know a lot of people think its exciting traveling and what not, but if I didn't have people to see in these places, I would be okay with not going. I think its the people that makes somewhere worth being, so enjoy your time with the ones your with! Au Revoir my friends! :)
