Last Week:

Now I’m on the bus leaving from Busan to Seoul. This time, I won’t come back. It’s raining outside and I’m sitting next to the window. The feeling of sitting on the bus this time is different from before. I used to feel either excited or tired on the bus. The excitement was when I leave Busan for Seoul for a trip. This time. I feel happy and sad. I am happy because I am finally moving to Seoul, a dream city I want to be a part of and I am sad at the same time because I am leaving a city that contains so many precious memories.

Busan from the window of the bus today is so beautiful. Another reason that I am sad is when I realize that time flies so fast. It was like yesterday when I stepped into Korea and it’s been a year already. I have only 2 more years in Korea.

A year in Busan was an amazing year in my life. Within this one year, lots of wonderful things happened. Moreover, it is sad to be away from my KGSP friends. Once, we are apart, I don’t know when will we be able to see each other again. After we finish our graduate course, we will go back to our own countries and all we can do is get updated on each other’s lives on social networks.

Today:

I am now in Seoul, Dongdaemun District. I moved in here a week ago. I have been so busy unpacking stuff and organizing my new place. I don’t stay in a university dormitory. I am staying in a small house called “One Room”. It is small but fit enough for one person to stay alone. The reason that I decided to stay in One Room instead of a dormitory is that I want to have my own place as I wanted to experience living independently away from family as well as without a roommate. Another reason is that my university dormitory does not have a kitchen so I have to eat out every day if I stay in a dorm. I love cooking especially Cambodian foods so the kitchen is really important for me. I prefer my own cooking to eating out. Moreover, I don’t like a curfew. It is not that I always hang out late at night but I don’t have to feel like I have to come back before a limited hour. Last but not least, it is convenient when my friends or relatives visit me so that they can stay at my place and we can cook and have a meal together. Anyway, my house is so convenient as it is close to my university as well as the downtown street. It takes only 2 or 3 minutes to walk from my house to the university and it is surrounded by lots of markets, shops, cafes, and restaurants. I am now sitting in a cafe called “Cafe Nomads” at the corner of the block near my house. I love the environment here. The music is not really loud as in most of the cafes I have been to before. It has become my favorite cafe and I will come here often.

I am now on a summer vacation. I will start my graduate class later next month so now I am free for one month. Summer vacation is all about festivals and events. There are so many fun festivals and cool events to join especially when you are in Seoul. Although I moved here in less than a week, I joined a few events already such as Color Run, Mud Festival, and Watergun Festival. It was so much fun and I have gained other new experiences. Next month, I will be traveling to Taiwan with my friends. It is going to be my Eating Trip because I am really craving Chinese foods. It is hard to have authentic Chinese foods in Korea. Even though they named it Chinese food but its taste is not really Chinese food.

My graduate school life is about to begin. I am ready for a new challenge and a new environment. I have heard lots of struggling complaints from my friends. I somehow feel scared but I am also curious and want to experience it too. I am going to study in the English language because I am in the Graduate School of International and Areas Studies (GSIAS). However, I am so thankful to the Korean government for giving me 1 year to study the Korean language. It helps me a lot in everyday life. I can communicate with Korean people and I can do a lot of work easily since everything and everywhere are in the Korean language. Without a knowledge of the Korean language, it would be hard for me to communicate with my house owner and live alone by myself. My Korean is not really good though. It is just understandable.

That’s all for today! I will be back and write more about my new life journey in Seoul as well as my good moments in Busan. One thing that I am pretty sure of is that I will visit Busan often because I miss my dear brothers there as well as cool places that I haven’t been to yet. 

Have a good day! Xoxo.