The End of February

To be honest, I'd say this month was the one month where I had the most up and downs of emotions, all jumbled up together. I was actually quite stressed last week, I had to juggle many things, including tight deadlines and experiencing pressure from everyone. So, I've shed a couple of tears this week, and I feel like I've hit rock bottom. But through these experiences ( I don't want to go into too much detail), I've learned a lot. Who will be there for me when in need, who genuinely cares, and who is able to give me motivation in life.  But what cheered me up this week was a phone call, and a text message that gave me tears of happiness. I've learned that, being at the bottom is the best place to be, because you have nowhere to go, except up. The people around me, have been around me, are starting to show their true colors. I'm not sure if that's good, or bad. But better revealed than hidden, right?

I've learned more about myself. I've always known I was more idealistic, and I really need to work on being practical.  I know that I have many goals for myself, but I am never able to fully achieve those goals. Laziness and procrastination are always in the way of me. And the God of Internet, too. Stop sucking me in, goddamn it. Without all these things, I would truly achieve so much more. I really wished there was someone that can be my temporary mother, make me do things, tell me when I'm doing something wrong, be there for me. I want someone to take care of me, and I'm not afraid to say that. All this "I'm independent, I don't need anyone" bullshit I've made myself believe, is wrong. I just want somebody to genuinely care for me, not out of politeness, but from the heart. Just a friend, that genuinely cares for me.

 Yes, I've lost motivation lately, in everything. Let's just say, life in general. It's like, I've given up on life. I'm skipping classes, I'm not doing my work, etc. But I'm slowly trying to break out of that vicious cycle of sleeping in and skipping classes, then staying up all night. I'm forcing myself to go to class now. That's a start. And not procrastinate on work, which is really hard. Bad habits are hard to break, huh?

Recently, for an English essay I had to write for, I wrote on the theme of paralysis in both "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" and "The Dubliners" (Okay, I read the sparknotes edition. No shame.) But, I find that I'm very much alike with Maggie and Eveline. Both were tragic heros, protagonists of the story. Both were 'paralyzed' in the sense that they were not happy with their environment, their family, and their monotonous lives. For me, I can say that for the most part, I'm not entirely happy with my life right now. And similar to them, I've had a 'plan of escape'. But it failed. Just like them. I hope my life won't go downhill from there, just like those characters in the books. But I guess, I create my own fate, huh?
If only I had more motivation....

In terms of schoolwork, it's not going that well. In terms of friends here in college, it's pretty much the same, except that the same problem still exists (which I won't dwell on). And my high school friends, I still keep in contact with them, but I've started to slowly lose contact with one of them, but weirdly, I got closer to another during this period of time. Closer in the sense that the friend showed me a side of him/her I never knew since high school. Anyways, I'm the kind of person that really values friends, so I'm hoping to keep in contact until ....forever and ever :) Though I must say that it has been pretty difficult for me because I feel like I'm always the person to initiate conversations, and no one is interested in keeping in touch with me. I feel like it's always me making the effort, you know? And sometimes, just sometimes, I'm tired of feeling unwanted and unloved.

Anyhow, there were a few highlights of this month/week, as I mentioned here in the first paragraph, one of them including my birthday (some of the pictures were posted in my last post!). Anyways, here are some of my selfies/OOTDs/lifestyle pix, however you want to call them, from this week:

My sloppy nails for Valentine's Day: Pale Pink Polka Dots on a White Background, Silver Lining.  And Hearts, of course.

Valentine's Day: Got myself a heart shaped jelly filled donut, some chocolate/cookies from my family (They gave me a bunch of packages for Valentine's and my birthday!! )

Selfie: Truth be told, I didn't put on that much blush, I just enhanced the colors of the picture.  (Post All Nighter)

In Progress of All Nighter: Studying for Art History Exam + Writing English Essay

Drawing Skeletons for...Drawing

Lately, I'm addicted to online shopping and I've also been really into BATHS [electronic pop] & Tokimonsta.

Rain Smell- Baths

Aminal- Baths

Darkest- Tokimonsta

They're chill and peaceful, yet upbeat enough for me to stay awake through the night. I hope you enjoy! 

I've also been really into writing letters, I've been in search for a penpal for a while now. I really think that receiving handwritten letters, mail, packages is one of the best feelings on earth. So, I've started to send letters to my friends now. And even if I don't know you, I'm happy to send you mail. You can contact me, and we can be penpals! :) 

Damn it. Blogger didn't save my last paragraph, and I'm too lazy to write another one so...

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Lots of love,

mishe

Week in Photos

The irony.

And Happy Valentine's Day (or Singles' Awareness Day = S.A.D)

Here are some valentine's day puns to cheer you up, historical style:

Ja Ne,

mishe.

2013 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

Image Source

As I promised, I present....*drumroll* my new year resolutions this year! Sorry it's almost a month late, but better late than never, right? Many times a new year means a fresh start, a clean slate, a chance for you to start anew. Be a new you, closer to the person you really want to be. However, I feel like this repetitive new year's resolution is hard to keep up. All of us have bad habits we want to change, but habits are habits, and it takes a lot of motivation to get rid of them. So, this year, I've decided to not just have a general goal, but actual steps on how to approach it better and make my goals into reality. 

1. Be fit: Exercise

Not for weight loss or sex appeal purposes, but for the sake of taking care of my health and body, I want to be fit. I've learned that every cent counts, every step you take when you're young counts. When you eat that french fry, it will take a toll on your body when you are 80 years old in the hospital bed getting checked up for clogged arteries and heart diseases (Didn't mean to scare you there, but it's true). I've recently got the motivation to be more fit because A. I found that I can't go up a few flights of stairs without panting like a dog and passing out (okay exaggeration there) B. My doctor once said that I have the health of an 80 year old grandmother. Nice, huh? C. I have a table tennis competition coming up in a few weeks, and in order to not pass out after a game or two and fully embarrass myself, I should really get into shape. 

Each week, I will make an effort to do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, in any form. Whether it be yoga, pilates, jogging, biking, I will try. No excuses for it being too cold, since exercise can be done indoors on a mat. (Check out Youtube channel Blogilates) 

Personal Schedule:

M   |   T     |    W   |  TH |    F     |   S    | SU |

Run   Drill    Yoga   Run  Drill     TT    TT

2. Time Management

A. Time Drainage on Unproductive Tasks Another one of my goals is to be more productive, and stop draining time on useless sites like facebook or tumblr. Time is money, and you'd rather tell your grandparents in the future that you got a PhD than speaking of that one time where you reached the post limit on tumblr, right? I'll try to limit myself to 30 minutes every day on facebook, 20 minutes on tumblr, and chatting for 30 minutes on Skype unless I'm done with work. And for youtube/drama, that will only be reserved for the weekend. A little strict for an internet whore, but I shall try it.

B. Don't procrastinate! A lot of the times we find ourselves putting off work or just collapsing on the bed thinking of how much work we have to do, but we have to act! I used to be (and still am) those adrenaline-holics where I can only highly focus when I have a time limit, when I have to dropbox it at 12pm and the clock is running. Then our fingers will have the motivation to finally fly across the keyboard on...Microsoft Word (and not skype conversations). So task to myself? Work on the homework, or start working on it, the DAY it's assigned, no matter what. 

C. Being Late will be a no-no for me! I've always been known as the girl who's late....to everything. To classes, to hang outs, meet ups, appointments, exams (bad experience), everything. And I've always made a mental note and swear to not be late again after the initial embarrassment (immediate spotlight flashed on you when you're late, which I absolutely despise). But it always repeats itself. This bad habit of mine has got to stop. No matter what, I will wake up an hour before class (instead of 5-10 mins, or sometimes, the time the class starts), and actually not need to rush anything. 

3. Pushing Myself to the Limit (Do my very best in everything, and take RISKS!)

In terms of VOICE

Situation A: Inside of Classroom - Speak Up! Speak at least once per class, express opinion and such. Raise questions, and let your presence be known to the classroom. (<--That already sounds very gutsy and sends chills to my back, to be honest)

Situation B- When someone/something annoys you, be it roommates being too loud, or someone saying something that offends you, speak your mind and not be afraid of judgement. 

In terms of work ethic, just trying my very best in everything I do. Pour my heart and soul into anything and everything, and not just do things for it to be handed in and be done & over with.

4. Think positive, and be nice. 

Actions and words reflect your thoughts, your character, your very being. By thinking positive, you will automatically be able to influence others, and help create a lively and positive atmosphere. When you catch yourself thinking negatively, stop, and change the perspective. Life is all about perspective. Everything looks different under a new light. Been dumped? "Smile because it happened." It will give you experience and knowledge for what not to do next time. It will give you an idea of what kind of person you're looking for as a soulmate. 

One of my major beliefs is to be nice. Kill them with kindness. As they said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." There's no point for revenge, karma acts up and it will just become a cycle of viciousness and bad spirit. If you're nice to people, you can not only enlighten them, make their days better, change their viewpoint in life (hopefully), and they will have nothing bad to say about you! Win-win situation, huh? And even if they don't get anything out of it, you yourself will feel better. Bad energy is bad energy. It won't be good for your health and mental state, either. So why hurt yourself and others when you have better things to do in life?  

Do a good deed everyday. Write a handwritten note, thank someone, open a door for someone, smile at a stranger, say hi. You never know if your one act or one action can save a person's life. 

5. Learn Something New Everyday

Image Source

Life is a journey, and being a student, is a lifetime job. You're never too old to take up something, or learn a new skill. It's about finding your identity, your interests, what you love, what you hate. It doesn't have to be biology terms (I mean that works too) or academic related things, it could be learning about your city/hometown, learning a new skill/hobby, borrowing a book or two from the library, taking extra classes you're interested in, talking to your grandparents about those good ol' times. You can learn a lot from people's life stories, too.

And with that said, reflection is quite important too. Keeping a diary, can be a useful form of reflection, time/record keeping, to mark the trivial events in your life that when you look back into your life, become drastically eventful and life-changing. (Since I really have been trying to keep a diary when I was young and never really kept up with it, I know this is an unrealistic goal. So let's just say, I'll write more in my own free time. And draw more, too!) 

6. Love yourself

I strongly believe in the saying that if you don't love yourself, how can you expect anybody else to love you? If someone loves you more than you love yourself, isn't that quite sad? You won't even have the ability to love someone else truly. The relationship will just be unbalanced, and not bear good fruits. 

So, you ask, how do you love yourself? Well, it's hard to pinpoint. But, loving yourself comes from a sense of self discovery, knowing your place in the world and the process of accepting yourself fully. When you stare at yourself in the mirror, after you remove those layers of makeup, would you turn away in disgust? Would you reach your hands out and trace your features carefully, every contour, every bump, every "imperfection"? After you've accepted yourself, you have to take care of yourself.

This goes back to my first goal of being fit, treat yourself like treasure. Value yourself. From your physical body (your face & body) to your mind, spirit and soul. Eat healthy, clean and shower daily, maybe put on some makeup (confidently). One thing I want to get back into is meditation, we often only focus on taking care of the physical, but not from within. We need to take care of our soul, too. It needs time to relax from all the stress from your daily life. Step back, and relax. Look at the bigger picture, map out your life. Dream big, know your goals and plans. What you want to do in life. Acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. Make a jar of all the good things that happened this year, maybe, so when next year comes, you will smile at the past, and receive the new year in a positive light. 

Remember, though, 

Image Source

There's so much more I want to say, so much more I want to do, but we'll leave it for now before this turns into a 10 page paper on my views in life. As cliche and old school it sounds....

Live, laugh and love,

mishe

xoxo

My Winter Break '12/13

Dear Blog Readers,

I've been quite lazy lately, and I apologize for not updating for a month and a half (time flies by so fast, really). But let's dive into some of my updates! 

Lunch + Dessert with my cupcake Janet!

My winter break lasted for about a month, and I went back to Hong Kong (where I come from), along with taking a few day trips to Taipei and Shenzhen for fun. In HK, I met up with mostly my high school friends whom I've missed incredibly so since college, and a few other friends I've met from art camp back in HS. It felt good to catch up with them again, and I still miss them...a lot. Here are a few pics here and there:

Maid Cafe Date with Marcie! Then Bowling with Chelsey, Ellen, and Marcie. Haven't been bowling for a  while~

Chill night with Angela: First dinner at the elements (Chinese meal) and then Ozone bar, sipping our dragontinis and overlooking the Harbor View. We be classy. 

3 hour karaoke session with Ellen and Marcie (sorry about the blurry pics!) 

Photoshoot with Hannah in the playground where I live...then Sleepover time! :)

Street food @ Mong Kok! Spicy noodles are spicy.

Disneyland date with le bff ^^

Dim Sum Date with Angela a few days after my arrival!

 Thrift store/vintage shopping with Kim, Ah Wing, and Gigi

And surprisingly, the either dead silence of my dorms or the constant chattering and crazy laughter of my korean roommates will never be able to compare to that warm hearted sounds I hear from my family. I miss hearing them, interacting with them, being with them. I miss my mom. I miss Hong Kong, the convenience, the food, the background noise, the people. Wow, I'm so sorry this turned into a sappy, nostalgic post. But I'm in a full on I MISS HK mode these days. I'm still living in HK's time zone! Some pictures of my family....

Buying Makeup together at Lane Crawford

Aww my very attractive bro at the back :)

I have about a gazillion pics of him "modelling"and this is one of his poses. Oh, my dad....

One of my stepbrothers and my sister in law came back for winter break too~

I won't go into much detail of my hangouts and what I did on a day to day basis, but all in all, from this trip, I've realized how much I truly loved Hong Kong as a country, as a place. I realized I was so stupid to not have applied university in Hong Kong, but then my parents told me studying abroad is an opportunity, with better education and such. I've thought that way too, but....I've also never thought that leaving my homecountry would be so hard. I've never experienced homesickness before, despite the many month to two month long summer camps I've been to since elementary school. Homesickness is about love, about attachment. And being in Hong Kong this break has lent me a whole new perspective on this place. 

People say you only learn to cherish when you've lost. In this case, I haven't lost my homecountry, but I have learned to cherish it more after I've left. Riding the MTR, a mode of public transportation, is the key to a taste of local culture. The way people dress, how people interact with each other, with strangers, the way they act and talk....if you close your eyes, you'll learn that every country has its own distinct soundtrack. The symphony of cars honking, people talking on the phone, joking around, laughing, the couple being all lovey dovey, etc. And I miss that soundtrack. It brings a smile to my face. So, if you see me riding on the MTR and slowly smiling like a creep, you'll know that I'm appreciating the "noise" around me, the warmth I feel from all that, and the familiarity of the language and the place of it all. 

Being a person who has lived in Hong Kong for about 16 years (I lived 2 years in Guangzhou), I can't say I've been to every station on the MTR map, every touristy spot. I can't say I know Hong Kong from its alleyways and shops. But I want to. I want to explore my hometown. I want to see it under the perspective of a local, and a tourist. When I went to school there, all I went to was a few districts over and over again, nothing new, nothing fresh. But I will definitely do it in the summer.

On Taipei: 

Taipei 101 on a not-so-nice-weather night

This was a 3 day trip with my dad, and I haven't gone to Taiwan since 8th grade. So, I took a chance and travelled alongside my dad, even though I knew he was there for business trip and had no time to be with me. It's my first time doing touristy things alone actually, and being the cheapa*s I am, I took public transportation. It's really fun figuring out the public modes of transportation, because I still firmly believe that it's how I can experience local culture. Better than being alone on a taxi where the only interaction with local people is the taxi driver (=.=)" So, I know it's really shallow of me, but I'm not quite as interested as going to historical sites and such. Instead, I spent the three days there trying out the food there, going to book stores, cafes, night markets, and shopping! Through that, I was able to learn to actually attempt to bargain in another language (Mandarin is not my first language)! To be honest, I usually just accept the price and walk away unless the price is ridiculous.

On Shenzhen: 

Shenzhen has changed quite a lot since I last went! From my impressions, it was this polluted, dirty place with uncivilized people that sell fake products. But now, the environment has changed. The malls are more high class, the people a bit friendlier, just nicer, really! I went with my whole family actually, and it was quite fun. I played some table tennis, got my hair done, cheap manicures and mainly, I just really enjoyed spending time with the fam. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces and just the warm atmosphere everything gives off. Homecooked meals, too, will always have a special place in my heart. 

PS. Pictures will be uploaded when not feeling as lazy.

PPS. I thought this post was long enough already, so my belated New Years' Resolution post will be up another time!

I'm not back in my dorms, waiting for college to start. It's quite depressing, actually. My mind is still in Hong Kong. Can't wait till summer! I've now immersed myself in three dramas recently: (1) Flower Boy Next Door (Korean Drama) <-Highly recommend  (2) Switch Girl Season 2  (3) Inbound Troubles (HK TVB Drama). I'm fully caught up on all three, and might start to watch a drama from the flower boy series Flower Boy Ramyun Shop in order to wait for the next episodes to air for those three (since they're fairly new). It's back to drama addiction time!

And since I didn't have a chance to say Merry X'mas, merry x'mas and a happy new year! (<-Super late, I know)

PIKA PIKA!

mishe

November Favorites

So, it's THAT time of the year again (no, not that time).....Anyways, it's my first favorites blog post. It's almost december, so I'm just in time. A lot of youtube gurus do this, but I'm just gonna be doing this for fun, and in the form of text.

So, during this month, I've been into....

FASHION

Oxblood

Houndstooth

Beanies/Hats

Infinity Scarves

Sweaters

Velvet (Leggings)

Turtleneck Crop Top

Button Ups

MAKEUP/ SKIN CARE

Masks

Serum

Toner

BB Cream

Vampy Lips

NAILS

- Dark Red/ Dark Purple/Metallic Green

Currently wearing...

Doesn't show up too well on camera (the glitter chunks of dark blue and purple) but it looks amazing under light

MUSIC  (linked with videos when you hover on the song names!)

- Lana Del Rey (Particular favorites: Pepsi, Blue Jeans, National Anthem)

- One Direction's "Take Me Home"

- Block B [Newest Music Video]

- CN BLUE'S "Robot" 

- Lee Hi's 1234

- HyunA's Ice Cream

- Epik High's UP

- Cauliflower's Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

VIDEOS

- Youtube Channels: grav3yardgirl, sunbeamsjess

- Taiwanese Variety Shows

RANDOM

- Makgeolli (rice wine)

- Christmas Lights

- Snow

- Japanese Fashion Magazines (Currently reading EGG's newest issue)

- Cat Cafes/Maid Cafes

- Tissue....(<--I'm sick)

Ooh...11:50! Just in time! And december comes in 10 minutes~ 

Endure your finals (everyone who's in college) and break will come in the blink of an eye,

mishe

xoxo

Thanksgiving in Korea

Day 1 
16 Nov (Friday)

Utica --> Penn Station  *by train
Penn Station --> Holiday Inn (Near Newark Airport) *by cab

Originally had an 8:30 class that day (3D), but I decided to skip it because I didn't finish packing the night before as I had too much chores/homework to do before the break. At around 12, I went to get something quick to eat in the cafeteria, and shared a cab together with a friend (Lisa) to the train station. I had to call the cab 30 minutes beforehand, and when we arrived, there was delay for the train. So, we waited in the station, along with another girl from our class we saw (Imani), and I read one of my psychology books.

It took about 5 hours to arrive to Penn Station...and before moving on, I ate a quick dinner. I didn't know what food there was, so as soon as I saw food, I went there. I bought a hot dog first (left) and then later realized there were more food options so I bought meatball with pasta, and also garlic bread (wrapped in tin foil). The bread was complimentary. After that, I took a cab to the hotel, and since it was thanksgiving break, it took abnormally long. There was traffic, and the taxi driver said he would have to count it as holiday rate....what was originally 5 miles long costed me $100 in the end (plus tax). What a ripoff!

OOTD (not very clear, sorry): Purple Cowl Neck sweater dress (H&M) with purple leggings with star design (Singapore boutique), paired with boots (Le Saunda)

At last, I get to chill in the hotel room by myself, all checked in, changed into my pj's and went on the laptop for a while before I went to sleep. The next morning was a morning flight, so I was prepared to not have that much sleep anyways. Time was spent watching various taiwanese variety shows on youtube, watching TV, etc. I think I ended up sleeping at around 12 and waking up at 3:30am the next day.

Day 2
17 Nov (Saturday)

NEWARK --> SFO *by plane
SFO --> SEOUL *by plane

So I go out the door at 4am, took a shuttle to the airport from the hotel, checked in, went through security check and immigration. After that, I had some time to spare so I stopped at the food court and got myself some hot breakfast. I actually ate some of the leftover garlic bread at the hotel, but I was still hungry. So, I got hashbrown/bacon, along with freshly squeezed apple juice.

Eating food, and then waiting...I got complimented on my mint sweater when waiting in line~

Then, I boarded the plane, the flight ride took about 3 hours(?) and I landed in SFO Airport!!

Since the flight was delayed, and I was really hungry, I got california rolls as a pre-dinner and spent the rest of the time watching more variety show episodes on my laptop at the gate. Went around the book store too, to look at magazines, but there was nothing I wanted....

Day 3

The flight from SFO to Seoul was so long, but one movie I really liked from the plane ride was "Liberal Arts". It inspired me so much that I was tempted to write an essay slash reflection afterwards...but I was too lazy to get my laptop. So, I just ended up writing an outline/bullet points of some concepts I thought were important (hehe, nerdy me)

When I arrived to seoul, my first thought was "F*cking thank god, finally". There were so many people in line for the air train, I almost died (top right). After immigration and all that jazz, I finally came out. But, I didn't see my parents. Since I didn't have a Korean number or an international phone (that was roaming), it was like a hide and seek game with my parents. I heard my name on the announcement at an airport, and arrived to the information desk like it said. But, there was no one. After a while, I sat down, waited for a long time, and connected to the wifi on my phone. I saw the whatsapp messages and our family was reunited! After exchanges of "where were you" conversations, they bombarded me with "you got so much fatter" comments and then we went on a cab to the hotel. Woot! None of us wanted to go out to eat dinner, so we ordered in room dining YAY!

Here's another pic since it was soo good:

My dad ordered pizza, I ordered Thai curry chicken w/coconut rice, and mom ordered bibimbap with soup. We also had side dishes! It was yummy :) and comfortable to eat in our own room.....

Day 4

OOTD: Plaid Shirt (H&M), Ombre pants (H&M), Boots (Le Saunda), Spiked Leopard Skin Hairband (Gangnam Station)

Woke up around 9 or 10, had breakfast downstairs (buffet style) with my mom since my dad had work to do:

and went shopping at CO-EX. We went to Etude House and Skin Food. From Etude House, I bought some BB cream, eyeliner remover, concealer, lipstick, and lip pencil. And from Skin Food, I only bought a sparkly blue nail polish that's perfect for X'mas! (Depends on my mood, I'll probably show you all the products I bought from my whole trip haha). We also went to accessory stores, and I bought some headbands/beanies there as well~

Then, we took the subway to the famous Gangnam and shopped there. It was cheap and just the way I liked it~ Underground street fashion? From there I bought many clothes (mostly sweaters, but bottoms as well), iphone cases, and accessories...

Gangnam~ Sorry for the blurry pic, I feel quite self conscious when taking pictures in public venues

Then dinner (or happy hour) was in the hotel, and after that, pretty much chilled in the hotel and the day was over. Shopping is quite tiring actually.

Day 5

OOTD: Felt pretty androgynous that day, so I opted for a button up with some ripped detailing (Gangnam Station) and my polka dot pants (Lowry's Pants), and the boots (Le Saunda)

More pictures:

Met up with an old friend called JY, we planned to meet at around 3 in the afternoon. So after breakfast, I pretty much waited around and chilled on my laptop. Since it takes about an hour and a half for him to get near my place, it was understandable that he was an hour late....So, we basically met around 4, before that, I quickly went down to the department store to get some kimbap because I was hungry.

We met up at CO-EX, a mall near where I was staying. He wanted to watch a movie, so we went to the movie theater and got 2 tickets. It was for the movie "Upside Down". Here's the trailer if you're interested:

Since we still had lots of time till the movie, we ate dinner first at Donburi (famous for rice with egg on top? I'm not good explaining). There we talked about the go to topic: college life. We walked around more, and I stopped at this store, mainly because of the cute rilakkuma and totoro stuffed animals.

 Bought an iced tea, went to the movie theater, and watched the movie while eating kimbap. It was actually a movie with a fresh & interesting concept, the shots were nice, everything was in HD, it was my cup of tea (romance), BUT it felt a little too long, and there were too many kissing scenes. That's the only criticism I had. 

After that, we sat on a bench in the ball, and I spilled some of my iced tea. So we moved and went to drink some coffee. I ordered mint mocha, and he ordered some sort of coffee. And since I felt bad, I gave him a big dollar bill to repay him back, since he paid for everything that day. And here, we had one of the deepest conversations I've had in a while. We talked about our beliefs in supernatural beings, experiences, beliefs in love, and gender equality. We were the last ones there and finally got kicked out by the store owner. After that, we went to the subway station, and he walked me back (the majority of the way) to the hotel. Then, hangout was over at 10 something at night. Went back to the hotel, and parents were talking about my brother's applications to college. I then did some edits on my brother's essay cause they asked me to, and went to sleep....

Day 6

Morning was spent stocking up on Korean food in the supermarket after breakfast! I bought rice, sauce, canned foods, noodles, etc.

Then, surprise surprise, we shopped more....and bought more accessories~~

I wanted to go to Insadong, mainly because of 1) the artsy atmosphere 2) coffee/tea time planet , and the main reason: I wanted to go to Miss Lee Cafe, because Yonghwa (& Seohyun...) went to the cafe and I wanted to try it out and trace their footsteps?

The service was excellent, there were some other high school girls/college girls there as well...We got free stuff (like a free cup of cappuccino) and a free bag of desserts. I think it was because we were foreigners...because the other tables didn't get any of this service.

Lavender tea (what I ordered), 5 Nut + Toffee Latte (what mom ordered), lunch box + crab soup (me), dessert (mom), and free service: cappucino + bag of desserts!

My message that I hanged in Miss Lee Cafe

After we left the cafe, we walked around and entered some art galleries. It was quite interesting to see the works of Korean artists~

And guess what? More shopping (I LOVE THIS PLACE FOR SHOPPING. IT IS PARADISE.)
I went a little crazy here....#shopaholicproblems

For dinner, we went to Noryangjin Fish Market. We chose the seafood we wanted, and asked the restauraunt to cook it. This was my first time trying live squid (it is quite an experience) and makgeolli (rice wine). Makgeolli is so good! I had 6 full bowls of it hehe :) Then, we went to their apartment and chilled for a while, looked at their wedding photos (my half bro and his wife)....I did take some pics, but it's a typical apartment so there's nothing much to look at.

Day 7

After a haircut at the mall and some traditional Korean brunch (gingseng chicken soup + spicy chicken as main course), my parents and I joined Kaori (half bro's wife) in Dongdaemun and shopped~

OOTD: Sweater (Gangnam), Pants (H&M), Bags (H&M), Hat (Thrifted near college)

After a while of shopping, we chilled at Cafffe Pascucci, and I ordered cheesecake with sweet potato latte (<--so good!)

Then, we were off to Myeong dong as I wanted to go to the cat cafe! We shopped a little first, and stopped there~ Since mom was scared of cats, she went to search for her beloved Hanskin BB cream instead. I ordered peach tea, and my dad ordered green tea latte.

We went to get some seafood BBQ, which was pretty amazing

Day 9

OOTD

Mom left early in the morning that day back to HK, as she still has to take care of my brother. Anyways, I was still sleeping then, so there wasn't really a proper goodbye but she sent me a text with a longass paragraph afterwards to make up for it. I didn't feel very motivated that day, so I didn't go out of the hotel until in the late afternoon. My dad and I went to Namsan tower, as I haven't been before. And I really wanted to put a lock with me and Yonghwa's name on it (but it's too embarassing to do it in front of my dad, so I didn't)

It was extremely cold, and I was wearing only a few layers with no scarves/beanies/etc. I was really stupid and didn't think ahead that I was going to be on a mountain....Anyways, the Namsan tower was nice, had a nice view and everything. However, I lost my phone there. So that wasn't very nice. My dad was pissed at me for a while, and then I went to the Teddy Bear Museum. Sadly, all my pics are gone with the phone as well. So, these are from my dad's phone:

It was quite sad to go with my dad since this place is mainly for couples...but whatever, quite an experience~

Then, it was dinner with the bro and his wife again. They booked a good BBQ restaurant and it was quite a feast. We went there at 7 and left at 10 something. There were so many courses, I felt so full afterwards. It was also my first time trying live beef (completely raw) and I had a cup of beer with it as well. This place is in Dogok, called Byeokje Galbi @ Tower Palace. If you ever get a chance and come to Korea, I highly recommend this place although the price range is quite high. But once or twice is fine.

Since I was going to meet my other friend (Sonic) that night after dinner at around 10, and I didn't know it would take that long. He waited around there for a while, and probably was annoyed~ Anyways, we met up around Dogok, took the subway to Gangnam and found a place to drink. We mainly talked about superficial topics like college and drinking, and finished 3 bottles of soju/1 bottle of beer. This was done in a quick, fast paced manner with no break. Therefore, I was quite drunk and vomited a bit. When we finished, it was about 2am. And he took care of me, took me back to the hotel (which was quite a hassle--The taxis that took us back home were extremely dumb, and went to the wrong hotel twice. At last, we decided to ditch the taxi and just walk there) and we said goodbye. It was quite brisk, and quite embarassing as well.

Day 10
I woke up early (at around 7) since it was a morning flight and I still haven't finished packing. After packing, we went straight to the airport, checked in, and my luggage was thirty something kilograms. I had to take out 10 kg of stuff to give my dad to bring back to Hong Kong (heartbreaking to see some of my clothes and food go away). But I'll reunite with them during X'mas.

The travel went something like this:
By plane--
Korea --> Narita Airport (Long ass layover, bought EGG: a fashion magazine + white choco covered almonds to pass time, and got myself some beef udon. Had some laptop time here too)

Tokyo --> Newark

By bus

Newark --> Penn Station
Penn Station --> NYC
NYC --> Albany
Albany --> Utica

Sounds like nothing, but the buses were a pain in the ass to ride, because they were a few hours long, and I had to bring my huge luggage back and forth. Plus, bus terminals (the gates) are not fun to wait in. I arrived back to my dorm at around 2:20am on Sunday. And HERE I AM, back to college. My first day back from Thanksgiving was long and tiring. I think I'm suffering from jet lag, and am starting to get sick from the shitty weather (it's snowing here). But, at least it's pretty.

You have no idea how much I miss Asia (especially Hong Kong) right now, 19 days until X'mas break! Woot!

PS. Next up might be a haul post from Korea, a lifestyle post, or X'mas wishlist. Who knows. Stay tuned!