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I just wanted to write something about Seoul and Asia in general because it gave me the better half of my year.
As I write this something one of my friend said comes to mind "the wonderful thing about youth, is that you can go anywhere." I laugh both because he was being facetious(& now I am putting it in a more serious context) and because that saying actually speaks to my 20s more poignantly than expected.
I think I will miss my time abroad because mistakes were inconsequential and life here felt like a dream. I am not advocating living your life like this because reality and working towards you goals are necessary, while constant hedonism and instant gratification aren't. Yet, in your 20s you should at one point live with this kind of reckless abandon. Just think about the next day and not the day after the next. Eat well, play well, sleep little but when you do sleep sleep for more than 12 hours at a time, play really trite pop songs and launch fireworks illegally on the beach, skip a lot of classes, travel with poor and/or no planning...
I'm going to miss how eerily homogenous Koreans dress, the sticky floors at Damotori and hip-hop lite regulars in Hongdae, the long talks over soju outside convenience stores, the heart to hearts and the 36 questions to fall in love, the salmon bagels in Edae, the cheaper than cheap char siu and beef noodle soups and taxis and public transportation (except not in Japan...), the airconditioned storefronts that punctuated the humid weather, the fish markets, the streets of Kyoto, the Japan trains that stretch over greenery and rivers, the feeling that I'm going to get hit by a car because pedestrians have no right of way, the less than $4 meals, the mixed currency in my wallet, the feeling of lack of sleep and the sudden sobriety that comes with seeing the sun come up at 7am. Rallying despite fever and the brink of death. The warm feeling in my tummy I get from eating soondubu after a night out. The airports, staying out all night and hopping on a five hour flight plagued with the worst fever of my life, pushing yourself to the physical limits but..oh well..I'm young, I can take it...right?
Being able to travel with just my backpack. Being able to travel from one city to the next by myself but being able to see old faces in new cities and meeting new faces in old cities
I'm going to miss how eerily homogenous Koreans dress, the sticky floors at Damotori and hip-hop lite regulars in Hongdae, the long talks over soju outside convenience stores, the heart to hearts and the 36 questions to fall in love, the salmon bagels in Edae, the cheaper than cheap char siu and beef noodle soups and taxis and public transportation (except not in Japan...), the airconditioned storefronts that punctuated the humid weather, the fish markets, the streets of Kyoto, the Japan trains that stretch over greenery and rivers, the feeling that I'm going to get hit by a car because pedestrians have no right of way, the less than $4 meals, the mixed currency in my wallet, the feeling of lack of sleep and the sudden sobriety that comes with seeing the sun come up at 7am. Rallying despite fever and the brink of death. The warm feeling in my tummy I get from eating soondubu after a night out. The airports, staying out all night and hopping on a five hour flight plagued with the worst fever of my life, pushing yourself to the physical limits but..oh well..I'm young, I can take it...right?
Being able to travel with just my backpack. Being able to travel from one city to the next by myself but being able to see old faces in new cities and meeting new faces in old cities
So cheers to the last five months for taking what's left of my youth, sleep, money, and reminding me that fun is fun and that good things can happen after 2AM but the best things happen after 5AM when you finally reach your bed and decide to not wake up until the sun has set.
