I'm here at Incheon Airport, with 35kg worth of luggage! ): i almost died dragging my luggage from my room on the 6th floor to the ground level. Was supposed to take the airport transfer bus but there was no way i could drag the luggage for 200m! In the end i had to spend 40 bucks on a cab ): but anyway it was raining, and if i took the bus i would have had to wait at the busstop in the rain,
The baggage allowance was only 20kg (check in) and 7kg (handcarry). But the cathay pacific staff were really nice, and only charged me 2kg's worth of penalty - which works out to be around 26sgd? Thank god, i was worrying like mad that i had to pay a few hundred dollars - so much so that i comtemplated throwing away my heavy new future jeans and 2 bath towels. I already threw all the toiletries away (I even threw my $3 fedora away): ) but still it weighs a ton. 

It feels a little weird to be going home, like what my roomie told me last night while i was sitting on my luggage trying to zip everything in, it seems like only yesterday that i just got here. This summer is way too short, but it is also without doubt the best summer i ever had. Like j said, our 21st has been nothing short of fantastic. (:

The five of us went crazy last night, packing, laughing, tripping over clothes and luggages. I'm going to miss these girls like mad. We had our all-time favourite food last night - BBQ pork and kimchi stew! It was raining like crazy, and we just hopped into a random restaurant. Turns out that the shop owner's chinese! We had THE best bbq pork ever. I love this, pork, soybean paste, seaweed, kimchi and rice wrapped in lettuce! it was so so good that for the first time, we ordered seconds! It makes super me happy to eat good food ((: Never thought i would say this, but i think i will actually miss the food here.

okay got to go, boarding time!

back from Nami island and Busan! think we're all pretty happy to be back in seoul, it feels a little like home walking down the ewha street, across the ECC plaza and beeping our electronic cards at the dorms.

I have exactly 6 days left. I am going to miss this place, the routine of meeting every morning at 8.40am, making breakfast for each other, going grocery shopping, buying things in bulk to share, looking forward to thursdays and long weekends, reading my textbook every night (i don't even do that back home haha). I've grown accustomed to this routine, this place, and the people here. And in a way, i love being alone and the independence that comes with it. If I don't do laundry, i have no clothes to wear. If i don't get up to buy food, i have no dinner. If i don't vacuum my room, there's no one else to do it and i have to live in my own mess. I am responsible for myself. Strangely, i don't really get homesick. As eve mentioned, we all feel a little guilty for not really missing home. Honestly, between lessons, planning for trips and the perpetual mad rush here and there, there isn't much time left for proper sleep, much less for homesickness.

The best part about the past month? the travelling. I really love the travelling - exploring other parts of korea. I love every step of it, the planning, getting lost, roaming around with our backpacks, speaking to strangers on the train, learning bits of korean. Jeju was the best weekend trip we had. The guesthouse was perfect, i think it made us girls feel like a family. The scenery was beautiful, inspiring. It was just awesome to be able to do this on our own.

Nami island was pretty too, but i think after Jeju, nothing can ever be as perfect. Busan was alright, i think we got off to a bad start. At Busan station we met a guy who was lying at the bottom of the escalator, flat, unmoving. There was a crowd around him, everybody whispering and pointing but nobody touched the guy. When we walked up the flight of stairs beside the escalator, we saw that his head was bleeding quite badly, think he fell from the escalator or something. That plus the fact that it was late at night when we reached Busan, creeped us out a little. Drama does not end here! when we exited the subway station, there was a drunken woman brandishing a beer bottle. She was visibly pissed at this other woman who was taunting her, and daring her to come hit her. Stupid move, really. the drunk woman swung her beer bottle and hit it on one of those stone stubs you see by the roadside. She pointed the jagged end of the bottle threatening at the woman. It was a pretty scary scene since we were like 2 meters away. Luckily, we met a really nice guy (we were wary at first, thinking he might have ill intentions) who brought us all the way to our hotel, which turned out to be a really bad motel. The motel was in an alley, and although it was a pretty brightly lit alley with karaoke shops and some food stalls, it looked pretty sleazy. Reminds me a little of geylang. The motel itself was a nightmare. The stairways were not lit/dimly lit, the room was pathetic (we slept on those thin mattresses on the floor), and it was creepy that we seem to be the only living inhabitants in the motel other than the owner (who smelt heavily of alcohol and i think is semi-drunk). We were supposed to stay two nights, but decided that we will find a better place in the morning.

In the end, we decided to stay together and squeeze all five of us into one tiny room - figured it was probably safer to stick together. It wasn't so bad in the room, except that we were all dying of thirst and didn't want to drink the water in the fridge cos the bottles in the fridge was not sealed. We improvised witht the bedding, and in the end managed to have a pretty comfortable night (we were exhausted).

In the morning, we went around searching for 3 star hotel, and stumbled upon (literally) one near Busan station. It was only 16 sgd per night per person! (the motel was 9 bucks). Less than double the price for proper housekeeping, proper beds, computer and free internet access in the room, and a bathroom that didn't have a sleazy see through glass window. (: It wasn't anything grand but at least it was in a safer area. After settling, we started on our sightseeing in Busan - shall talk more bout it when the pictures are up!

I intend to squeeze in as much last minute sightseeing (around seoul) and shopping as possible in my last 6 days. Plus i have a long list of korean food i really want to eat again before i leave. Am contemplating buying kimchi sauce back to make kimchi but i think i'm the only one in the family who will touch it. Plus, i'm seriously worried about exceeding the luggage weight limit since i wanna bring home some of the ceramic pieces we made in class =/ eeks. maybe i should consider shipping back some of the more unimportant stuff first. Packing will be a nightmare this week.

Gonna miss alot things, but i think i am ready to go home. (:

( TOO MANY PICTURES! )</div>