Growing Up

Grace from Korea here.

Hi guys. I know I should be studying right now, but please, let me just take a rest for a few... few..... hours..?(Grace..) I'll promise I'll be back to study after this post. Well, yes now it's time for the final exam, it's just started from today and will be continued for this whole week. And, some of you might know that I actually have one more semester to graduate, but since I've almost taken all of the credits that I need to graduate, I only need to take one more class (which is 3credit) so I've decided to leave school, not to be in Busan next semester, but get a job earlier !! I found out that I can get that 3 credits through the online class (a.k.a OCU) so I'm going to be in somewhere else but Busan from next year. Maybe back to Seoul ; where I'm from or maybe another country..!?!?!?!? Who knows. (Actually there is something I'm going on recently but I'll let you know when it's really clear) 

A lot, I mean, a lot of things happened this year. Do you know what the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac is? Well, it's difficult to explain in English (well, I can in Korean!!), but basically, there's one specific animal each  year based on the cycle of the animal. So we all have each animals following to the year we were born. Mine is the Sheep ! And you know what? This year was the Year of the Sheep ! So it means 24 years have passed since I was born ! Well.. and we have this belief that when it's the Year I was born, something special and lucky will be happening throughout the year, that we'll be having a special year ! And i think I did. Throwing back to January, I got that chance to have a lot of fun with the kids at English camp as a Camp Counselor. That was a great opportunity for me because I've really wanted to have a chance to use English and have some time with kids at the same time. And during the first semester of this year, I got to make my own YouTube videos. It was lots of fun. Special thanks to my awesome professor Jeff ! And.. I also did the big project with my friends to visit Taiwan in August (which was the hottest month of my life!!!!) I think.. I've never mentioned that and written that on my blog.. oops. I'll be doing ! In sometime ! Right.. so many memories and great opportunities that I could step up to the next level of my life. Yes, I do think the year of 2015 has been so special. Yay, Sheep rocks!!

Oh, here are some pictures I took in Taiwan.. All food.. yes all food. heh :D

And something big has happened last week. My dear friend Jieun (Olivia) left to Singapore last Wednesday. She wanted to have that adventure of her life, wanted to learn and use English and have some experiences in another country. There was a great change to get a job in Singapore , connected to our university, so she was doing training in Korea for about one month and is doing another training in Singapore now. It's going to take a few months, like two or three months and she's going to get a job in Singapore. To be honest with you, I felt really complicated. I don't know why but I was of course happy but sad at the same time. She was always there in my life. She is my family, my sister, and my  greatest friend. So I think it's kind of weird for me to imagine a life without Jieun. I know we're not dying or what, but you know, it's still sad that we cannot see each other anytime we want to. But ! anyway ! I wish her all the best and luck throughout her journey. I'll keep on my praying for her. I miss her so much :(

< This is from the letter my Jieun wrote me on my birthday, last year.
Such a beautiful poem. I read this time to time and get a lot of strength from it.

I'm not sure whether I can upload this picture on my blog or not, but it's already uploaded on her instagram so, whatever! heh It's already online, right? :3 Yes I think she's doing really great, having lots of fun in there (You can see that haha) Please wish her good luck !

Okay, I think I need to wrap this up and go back to my books :( So lastly, I want to share one photo with you guys. It's some part, lyrics of the song 'Growing Up' from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Ed Sheeran) (Ed Sheeran's voice is more than amazing!!!!) It's the current background image of my macbook, I worked this because I was so inspired from this song. Such a beautiful song. It's also set on my iPhone and every time I see it, I just cannot help but think that I can get relaxed and do what I really want to do from the bottom of my heart. 

Here's the song from YouTube.

OK. Let's put the work in and don't worry about the praise, everybody. I also will and I won't !

:D See you.

Great Experience - Giving a Presentation

Grace from Korea here.

It's getting quite chilly in Korea, how are you over there? :D

Well.. yesterday, December 1st, I had a great opportunity to give a presentation in front of many students and professors from my faculty. The theme of this presentation was 'The programs I've been participated in which has changed my college life'

Since it was the very first time I gave a presentation in a big hall, in front of many people, I was very nervous. But after seeing some sparkles in students' eyes, I got relaxed and confident :) so I could finish my presentation safely after all.

To give you more information about myself, I was really not good at study and hanging out with friends in university until my sophomore year. I had low self-esteem and felt so impotent. I could not help but took a year and a half off.

When I was back to school, I made a brand-new start.

I took my courage to take some special lectures and participate in various programs. As experiences file by, I got more and more confident. I mean, after participating many programs, I was changed a lot because I realized what the real important things in life are. As a result, my grades got so much better and I also could get my high score at TOEIC and Opic test.

So I know how exactly it feels like to not have any reasons to go to school,

to have less confident and low self-esteem. That's why I wanted to give my message to young students (if they were struggling with college life) that they also can be changed.

The presentation went well. (I think :D) It made my day.

It also became one of my precious experiences.

On my way back home, 

I found my university church had a Christmas decoration on. It was so pretty :) 

There it is !

Right, only few more weeks until Christmas. It also means that I have only about 10 more days until my final-exam. I should be prepared for that!

I hope you guys are having a great winter days (or summer days for you living down there).

:D