Preparing for Finals and New Experiences

Seoul Forest Park

📖 Midterm Season

Luckily I only had two midterms (out of four classes) to prepare for! My first midterm was an open-book take-home exam with a 48-hour window. This was by far the first exam I had that had a vast limit. On the other hand, my second midterm was an in-person exam with a one-page cheat sheet. My two other classes did not have exams. Instead, we had to prepare for our presentations and essays towards the end of the semester. Since I wanted to give myself more time to be flexible with plans outside of school, I started studying for the in-person exam two weeks before the midterm date.

🚲 My Childhood

On my break day, I decided to visit Seoul Forest Park to be in a different environment. On the first day, I discovered the cafe district in Seongsu-dong and coincidentally bumped into a flea market on the street. The time was ideal for getting gimbap to eat in the park. I finally decided to visit the D Museum after realizing I hadn't seen as many museums as I had planned.

A few days later, I went back to Seongsu-dong with Ben and Rebecca to book an appointment at the Sumsei Terrarium. This exhibition was an interactive multi-sensory experience of going through different levels of nature. We decided to book the exhibition for the following day since we had difficulty with booking through Naver. Later that evening we rented bikes for $2/hour to ride around the park! Since I haven't ridden a bicycle since the fifth grade, I was eager to experience it in Korea! I used to frequently ride my bike to Makiki Park as a child, so getting on a bike again after a ten-year hiatus made me feel incredibly happy. As the sun set and the lamplight gleamed in the dark, I wished there were a way to capture how the bike ride appeared to me.

🥋 Progress in Taekwondo

One month after taking Taekwondo lessons, I upgraded to a yellow belt! There’s a lot of room for improvement, but I’m now more flexible from warming up and stretching daily. After getting a promotion, the class went out to eat for dinner for the first time near campus, and it was nice to find a new delicious katsu restaurant.

🍂 Visiting A Hanok Village

Toward the end of October, I took a one-hour bus ride to Eunpyeong Hanok Village with Sarah! The view and nice menu options sold me right away and I knew I had to pin the location on my map. After arriving at the destination, my friend and I walked around the small village and stumbled upon a CU (convenience store) that was also designed as a hanok. The area was peaceful, and I noticed that I’d been missing the quiet nature environment. We ate delicious brunch food and ended our short day trip with chocolate desserts before rushing to taekwondo practice (as in we ran). Despite all the times we hastily ran back after making plans, we were still the first ones to arrive. This experience inspired me to go out of the city more.

Overall

The past week has been more manageable since I’m able to prioritize my academic tasks by having particular days dedicated to studying and getting work done. I knew from the start that studying for a whole day is usually not something I am best at, so studying earlier on to split sections and review towards the end is a method that I decided to be consistent with. While studying is important, I also made time to explore new places and this allowed me to take a break while being in control of my goals.