First Semester: CHECK!

Happy first of September! I hate to be cliché but…where has summer gone!?!?!? I can’t believe I’ve already been back here for over 3 months. We’ve just completed the summer semester at school (there’s 4 semesters of 3 months each at Korean hagwons) and it feels really good to have an entire semester under my belt. I feel like I now fully understand how things work here, and how the semester begins, progresses, and ends, and I can make this semester better than the last. It feels really nice to have a fresh start!

It only seems fitting that the start of a new semester coincides with the weather getting cooler and that smell in the air of summer’s lurking end. Last weekend while sitting out on a local rooftop bar in Ali’s neighborhood, I had goose bumps for the first time in 3 months! It feels good not to be absolutely covered in sweat all day, but I’m sad that summer is on its way out. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE fall (scarfs, beautiful leaves, Christmas shopping, PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES!!!), but it’s been such a great summer—reuniting with Korea and my friends here, making new friends, feeling relief from all the stress and instability of the past year—sometimes I just wish I could hit the pause button in life!

On Sunday afternoon, we were wandering around Ganghwamun to hit up the English bookstore and we ended up in Insadong (one of the markets here) and found ourselves wandering off a side alley and stumbling upon this most amazing little café, complete with different levels of outdoor patios, surrounded by gardens, and created out of recycled materials. It was the coolest place I’ve come across in awhile! There was a little cross bridge connected one outdoor seating area to another made of old fire hydrants, and there was a large area covered in old neon yellow spray painted tires. And to top things off, the food was AMAZING Italian done absolutely right—big portions and free garlic bread. J It was such a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I also reconnected with The Sopranos this weekend—I bought all 6 seasons a year and a half ago in China, and have been working my way though them ever since. I watched two episodes Saturday night to finish up season 5, and consequently couldn’t sleep for two nights. A very main character got killed and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. They need to put something on the case like: “WARNING: not for viewers who get emotionally attached to characters and prefer happy endings.”