Reflection Week

A rather short blog- for the simple reason that I got a bit tired of reflecting on myself all the time.

Before I left the Netherlands, I made a prediction: I will probably try to adjust to the new culture in every way possible, get really insecure and frustrated, and after a month realize that this is not the way to go. I will then probably say “whatever, I am myself and that’s fine, and they’re them and that’s fine too”. And after that I will be able to relax and enjoy stuff even more. I can now proudly say that I am quite good in making predictions, although the month turned out to be about six weeks. But at least I got my self-worth back and that makes it so much easier to just be.

So, instead of writing about all the crazy things that are happing (which frankly, is not much at the moment), I would just like to say that the craziest thing is that you eventually get used to everything. I don’t even see all the faces staring at me when I enter the subway. My initial feminist anger about the sudden gender-segregation of the elevators has turned in a rather practical irritation: every time I have to wait for the thing to come down from the seventh floor, there is the male-elevator just ready for any boy to pop in. I crave for spicy food, and don’t even bother to think how to get those extra vitamins. (Although my hair did suddenly start falling out, not a good sign…) Sometimes I almost forget that I am actually living at the other side of the world! So to prevent this mundane everyday life from getting boring, we started to make plans for our Post-Korea adventure: Philippines (where I will see my brother!!!), Vietnam and Thailand are on the list. In the meantime, I am craving for the exams to be over and some new adventures here in Korea, big or small.

I wasn’t sure whether visiting a Cat Café was worthy of even the name ‘small adventure’, and subsequently a place in my blog, but here is my experience anyway: You buy a drink, try to pet a cat, they are bored of humans and ignore you, it smells, the cats are irritated, and after an hour you mostly want to wash your hands. I love cats and it was nice to be surrounded by them, but I prefer my boring, yet cuddly little fur balls back home.

I wish I had some more exciting stories, but to be honest: midterms are here and it’s simply studying at the moment. Which ends up in writing blog entries of course, because that’s a better type of procrastinating that watching Doctor Who. (Although, I do need to watch three more seasons before the 23rd of November… Or shouldn’t I be exploring Seoul? No wait, exams!) I don’t really like the studying here, for I have to mostly learn stuff by heart. (Somehow UCMers always feel they are ‘above’ this…) Anyways, when I could finally write my first paper, I immediately wrote twice the required amount, which was only five pages – only five! How am I supposed to make a point in only five pages? Eh…. NERD ALERT!


Oh, almost forget to spread some love to you guys! As I said, sometimes I am a bit bored with reflecting on myself. Living somewhere else and adjusting to new experiences makes that I am so occupied with mainly, well myself. But a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about all the people I love. And I hope you are all doing well. Even if it’s expressed in a virtual reality blog environment, I still mean it ;)

And that’s that!