Hello folks!

I have to admit, today was a pretty good day. This morning I still wasn’t entirely certain if I wanted to go, but I got cleaned up and went anyway. I’m glad that I did.

First, the food was great. The folks who done the cooking all done a good job. It was the first time that I had Korean food, and it was a good first impression! The kimchi was a surprise in that, in American terms, one can almost think of it as a salad with very spicy dressing. It’s good stuff.

However, I would have to say that I liked the kimchi pancake (”김치전”?) a bit more, but only because the spicy food was giving me the sniffles!

The bulgogi (”불고기”?) was the dish that everyone in the states would be most familiar with. A very simple way to describe it would be BBQ beef with a sweet sauce. Seriously yum, it’s the one that I liked the most from a familiarity point of view.

The rice was rice. There’s not much to say about it other than that, but it was decent and served its purpose.

Unfortunately those are the only foods that I had. It’s my own fault. They had others, but I hadn’t eaten breakfast so I had way too much on my plate. After eating all of that I had no room for their other dishes.

Aside from the food I also enjoyed a nice conversation with a classmate that lasted for about an hour (or so?). We snapped some pics (not shared here due to privacy concerns), which was fun, and got to know each other a bit more, and after that I walked over to the movie.

They showed Joint Security Area, which turned out to be darn good movie with a very tragic ending. It’s the type of film that takes the viewer through multiple twists, showing parts of the story’s time-line at different moments through out the movie.

It turned out to be a very good day, and to think that I came so close to missing all of that.

Of course, I also got in my 3 to 5 mile walk this evening, but that’s unrelated to everything else.

Good night, all!
~Steph

Technorati Tags: Korean, Chu’sok, chusok, Han-gawi, Korean thanksgiving, thanksgiving, Chuseok, Hangawi

Image says it all. I have to decide in time!

Technorati Tags: Korea, Korean

Feeling a fair bit better about this now, but it was nonetheless a magnificent forehead slapper.

So, I’ve spent I don’t know how much time studying Korean. I memorized the entire introduction, its pronunciations, everything. Had it memorized. No sweat.

I don’t feel like ever going back, frankly.

Another update -

The more that I read the more that it seems like this situation was over exaggerated. The boy’s father was in the military and apparently he (the kid arrested) knows how to use the gun. In one article that I came across he is claiming that his gun was disassembled.

I’m going to consider this issue something of a non-issue and an over reaction unless I hear otherwise. They really should have worded their bulk email considerably different.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ever have one of those moments? Yeah, I’m sure that you have.

Ya see, our Korean instructor happened to walk by the desk as I was intently studying a new sheet that had been handed out. With one swipe of the hand - and not missing a step - she turns the paper around.

…and I realized that I had been studying it upside down.

D’oh!! *smacks forehead*

Yeah, that was a real winner of a moment. In my defense, Ah, Ya, Yeo and so forth looked more-or-less as they should. Granted, “Hue” looked a bit odd, but that wasn’t what I was paying attention to at the time.

Well, live & learn. Live & learn…

~Steph

It turns out that my Lifetime Fitness Concepts class is going to be a lot more than just learning good dietary and physical habits: A physical exam is part of our grade. Not the results of the exam, but having one done.

Additionally I received the impression that we’ll be doing a number of physical things through out the year, and possibly additional physical exams. We’ll see.

This is mighty surprising, but it goes perfectly with the previous post. I won’t just have a photo, I’ll have hard facts about my current physical fitness level (which I’ll say right now is pretty damn poor).

Me likes!

~Steph

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, physical fitness, exams, physicals

No, I’m not going to keep a day-to-day log of classes. Also, there’s no photo for this post because Whitesitt Hall isn’t much to look at. It’s not falling down, but it’s old and completely uninteresting.

This morning’s class was Abnormal Psychology. In what is perhaps an ironic twist, I was once again met with the strangeness of everyone introducing themselves. At least this time it wasn’t forced, but I nonetheless find it oddly fascinating that humans have such a need to tell people about themselves.

Then again, I suppose that I shouldn’t forget the fact that I have a blog; does it serve a purpose beyond / deeper than just telling the world about myself? Is it my equivalent of the typical human need to say “I’m me!”? Hm. I see it as a means to release thoughts, both rambling and otherwise.

Anyway, I’m not taking a pot shot at any other class that I have this semester. Just say’n, I think that this human drive is weird… but hell, I’m weird.

The instructor seems to have a relaxed attitude, and the subject of Abnormal Psychology is extremely fascinating. Hopefully the work load from the class won’t blot out the incredibly interesting parts that Ab. Psych has to offer.

Five hours to go before I leave for my first karate class. Hm, in this time I need to complete my drawing for Drawing I, and I should definitely study the Korean Language vowels & consonants again. Fun Fun. ^^

~Steph

Technorati Tags: university, college, Pittstate, Pittsburg State University

Welp, today was the big day! Hopefully the semester will go as smoothly as today did.

Today’s classes were Drawing I and Korean Language & Culture I. The art class (Porter Hall, the art building on campus, is pictured here) was the most intimidating of the two. There were several things in the classroom that reminded me of the absolute ZERO drawing talent that I have… or don’t have, or whatever.

Cripes, I could be the first in history to flunk this class even if I make it every day.

Korean Language & Culture I went well. The instructor is a recent grad from Pittstate. She’s cute and seems to have a friendly attitude, though a part of me wonders how long she’ll put up with the class before we cause her to explode. Not that I’ll (deliberately) do anything to aid in that…

Anyway, it went fairly smoothly. It’s difficult to judge on a single day, but if we don’t manage to frazzle her nerves then *knock on wood* it should manage to go well.

I spent way too much money today on stuff. $58 (rounding up) on art supplies… granted, that wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Then basically spent $50 for two shirts; these were Under Armour shirts, and if you have ever worked out in one of these then you know that it’s worth it. The problem? I bought a different style this time and they are skin tight - no exaggeration! Those shirts are like a second skin…

I also spent about $30 on a couple of other shirts, but one of them are too small. :-/ Hopefully I can return it, I’d hate to waste $15.. (this irony does not escape me).

All total, including books thus far, I’ve spent roughly $260 or so. Hmm, yeouch.

Chihiro Onitsuka’s “Our Song”. This is a good song to end the evening on. Good night all.
~Steph

Technorati Tags: Pittstate, College, University, Pittsburg State University

Images from the PSU Campus.

Today I walked to campus, and then walked across the majority of the campus to take a total of 84 photos. There are still buildings and locations that I need to snap pictures of, but these photos will show you the main area where the majority of students spend their time at Pittstate.

Please note the description on the left side of the linked Flickr page. It explains that black band.

Technorati Tags: photos, photolog, photography, campus, university, Pittstate, Pittsburg State University, PSU, P.S.U., college, Kansas, Pittsburg, pictures, gorillas, Pittstate gorillas, GUS

I’m kind of tooting my own horn here so feel free to skip this post. You never know when something like this is going to be useful though, so tooting it I am…

I mentioned in a previous post that I had managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA this previous semester. Well, I noticed a few days ago that the university has released its Spring honor rolls.

People are going to hate me for this, but I hardly even study. Heh, ::shrug::.

Anyway! That’s enough of the horn tootage. There are a lot of people on that list… a lot.. so obviously I’m not in any sort of rare company. This Fall semester is going to be a real challenge, too, seeing as I’m going to be studying a foreign language. I wonder if I can mange to pull this off after such a class?

I’m actually going to have to study. Oh noes! pfffft ^.^ hehe, later.

~Steph

Technorati Tags: college, education, honors, honor roll