I ended up going to bed around 1 am last night, but set my alarm for 8:30. I got out of bed at 9 and forced myself to take a shower. Getting up early makes me feel a lot more productive. I think I need to continue keeping this routine. Movement is important and I even worked out in my small room today.

I’m having some trouble with my architecture class because although it’s taught in English, the student group chat is all in Korean. The other students know I don’t speak English and one of them reached out to me and said she would help translate if I needed to know anything. I just worry. But I messaged the professor and he said that I shouldn’t worry since it’s a first year course and the other students also don’t have any background in theory.

I went to the print shop today to print my Korean homework and it was the same guy from last time. He tried to speak to me in Korean again and when I awkwardly said, “No Korean,” he looked at the printout of the alphabet and just raised his eyebrows. I always feel so awkward when this happens, but he just showed me the price on the calculator and I went to a cafe with the Norwegian girl.

The cafes here are so nice. They’re often multiple stories and always have so much seating. I usually don’t buy anything, but the people I go with do. The Norwegian girl got persimmon juice and I had mango juice from another place. Unfortunately, we sat near the smoking section. It’s kind of common here for there to be an area sectioned off with a clear wall for smokers to go to. I left after a few hours of working on Korean and my architecture project. I am not too worried about my courses, but I feel like I should be doing more. But I also know that this pandemic means I need to be more cautious about where I go. I’m also constantly thinking about the coat I’m supposed to buy my sister. I’m not sure when/where I’ll go.

The other day I went to an outside market again. It was more like a bunch of thrift stores altogether and outside. I loved the energy there and I’m sure it’s usually more crowded when things are normal. I hope to go back and buy some clothes and shoes. I only brought one pair of shoes, so I’m sure they’ll wear out at some point. The market is interesting because some stalls only have a few pair of shoes, a pile of clothes, some used cutlery, books, bags, etc and others look more like a store. I think I could get used to living in Asia. I just think I need to feel like I’m part of a community and that’s the thing I’m lacking without a program and in-person group meetings.