Some days I’ll stay in and just nap all day between episodes of whatever drama I’m watching. Other days I’ll meet up with people I met through TEAN or Gilman. I went to one of the TEAN people’s event in Gangam. They were throwing a birthday party for a member of Red Velvet. The cafe was expensive though, so I just waited to eat. The girl from Gilman I met the other day was also there. She showed up late though and by the time we left I was so hungry. I went to SMTown and the Coex mall today. I bought some skincare and earrings for myself and as souvenirs. I miss my friends and having people to hang out with from TEAN. I need to stop spending money on food though. I’m going to start eating kimbap from the convenience stores or ramen more often just to save money. Cooking here is a little expensive and fresh produce isn’t super close to me.

I don’t know how to meet people here, yet. I hope that I will make more friends once school starts, but because classes are online I’m not sure how that’ll go. I need to email KU about my student ID because I think TEAN used their email and I need to change it to my personal one. I also need to figure out my phone plan for when the one they gave me expires.

I mentioned the girl from Gilman a few times. She’s really nice. I saw her post in the FB group and reached out. Her program was cancelled the day she landed and she’ll be leaving Thursday. I think she’s going to switch to TEAN in the fall. I hope she has a good time.

I don’t know if I miss America or I just miss being around people. I like Korea, but because I’m here under extenuating circumstances, I feel like I don’t have a good and complete view of what the city is like. So many people are staying in, but today was the first time I took the subway when it was super crowded. I didn’t like that much, especially when people started coughing or sneezing. That’s just me being paranoid. I want to be able to wander around and explore, but that just doesn’t seem like a good idea at the moment.

When people back home keep messaging me about how I am, I appreciate the concern, but I also wish they would just call or tell jokes or act like things are normal. I want to not think about how many people are sick all the time. But I also know that I have to balance that with being realistic about my health.

What are my goals here? Why am I in Korea? I think these are things that I have to rethink. I knew why I wanted to go to China. Why did I want to stay in Korea? In part, it was an impulse decision because of the time crunch, but I do like this city. What can I learn here? What can I find out about this city and myself? How will this change my views on life?