Exchange is not a bed of roses.

The first reaction I get from my friends back home when I break the news of me going on exchange is "Wow, you are going on exchange! Korea? You are going to have so much fun!" The second reaction was mostly "But you are already studying overseas in Beijing what. Still go exchange for what?". 

I applied for exchange mainly because studying abroad has taught me more than a few intangible things and challenged in more ways than I thought possible. After 2 years in Beijing, I have adapted to the life there and have gotten so comfortable that the itch to venture out of my comfort zone returned, big time. Life in Beijing has had its ups and downs, but the ups outnumber the downs (eg. the once-a-year-food-poisoning-hospital-visit) Returning home to Singapore was like taking a break from my life in Beijing. Imagine the clock time keeping clock used in a Scrabble competition, one clock ticks and the other stops, and this repeats itself. In many ways, going home to Singapore was like putting my Beijing life on pause for a few weeks, then letting it tick again. It was time to stop playing pause and play. How many other opportunities will I have in the rest of my life where I can live for months in a foreign country (excluding work)? Probably none. 

The rational self me decided to pursue my logical, dominant strategy of GOING ON EXCHANGE (YAY!) before any other actor comes into play and turns this into a prisoners' dilemma. I had a semester to ready myself for the reality of uprooting and moving to a country whose language I cannot fluently speak/understand, BY MYSELF. Yet arriving in Korea after the rowdy and heartwarming sendoff from my friends the night before in Beijing, I realised that I had not fully prepared myself to deal with the loneliness that struck the moment my plane landed at Incheon International Airport. And it struck hard. 

Four weeks on, the loneliness has slowly ebbed away, only appearing abruptly in moments when I feel helpless or tired. The first week of school was when loneliness was on its prowl, and a fresh wave of tears would make its way to my eyes when I thought I spotted a familiar face but realise in a split second that it was not possible for that friend was back in Beijing. Sometimes I feel like if I turn back, I can see a friend zipping down the road in her little pink scooter and asking me if I would like a lift to wherever I am going. One of the first thoughts when I make a new discovery was wishing that my friends were here to share that moment. 

Don't get me wrong: I have made more than a few friends here, and they have been nothing short of AWESOME, but this saying totally describes how I feel- new friends are silver and old friends are gold. All precious, but incomparable. 

So all those moments you see on Instagram/Facebook/Wechat? They are but fleeting moments, and I shared them because I wanted to be able to look back and know that there were good times. Don't know if it is just me, but I recall the moments of anxiety, worry and stress way more easily than I do the happy ones, so those moments are mainly for my references when I talk a walk down memory's lane.

I have been here almost four weeks, and already I feel like I am a slightly different person than when I left Beijing a month ago, and most definitely more grown up than the me who had just completed high school and who naively thought university would be way better than high school (right now I would rank them equally).

Would I have had chosen another path had I been able to turn the clock back to 2011? I can tell you in a heartbeat that I would not. As Frost aptly wrote:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Excited about the MT tomorrow~ Goodnight:)

Korea the Land of Waffles.

I am currently on a semester exchange to Kyunghee University (경희 대학교 국제 캠퍼스) in Korea. A much welcomed break from the smog that is constantly plaguing Beijing and putting a dampener to all outdoor activities I would like to do in spring. Making the choice to go on exchange was not easy, primarily because I am worried that I would not have cleared enough credits to graduate by July 2015. The convoluted administrative system sent me running around 5 offices (back and forth between them no less) to get stamps so that I can put in my application to put my studies at Peking University on hold for a semester. What I cannot understand is why this cannot all be done online (since I did have to start out by filling in an online application, get it approved by office one, then embark on the torturous stamp collecting process>.<). But enough brooding over what is already in the past, and onward to my KOREA ADVENTURE!:)

I will cover the highs and lows of being in a foreign land and having to start making friends all over again in another post. Today's is dedicated to one of my many discoveries in my three weeks here- 

WAFFLES ^.^

Not just any waffles, but one with crispy, caramelised edges and a fragrance which compels you to have one despite the knowledge that you just had dinner,or that you are going to have dinner in 30 minutes. In my universe, I would be able to capture the fresh waffle smell on my iPhone and put a link of it here on this post so you guys can smell it too...but sadly since we are living in the Real World, pictures shall have to do. 

Waffle Bant original waffle- 1500 원

Cream Cheese waffle- 2700 원

The waffles are from a Korean waffle chain store called WAFFLE BANT (와플 반트), which sells Belgium style waffles. Though it has been three years since I had waffles in Belgium (ie. I can't remember the taste actually), this is the first time in a long while that I had a waffle that ticked most boxes off the my mental waffle checklist.

It was a tiny store tucked away in an unassuming location, and looks pretty normal on the outside. But if you push the door open, you will walk into a brick wall which smells like waffle heaven. Definitely worth a try if you are coming to Korea and would like something resembling afternoon tea (a concept that is not as popular here as it is in Singapore). 

The interior walls.

Point card- you get one chop for every waffle you buy, and with ten you get to redeem one! Quite an easy target to achieve even if you are just in Korea for a holiday, especially if you are travelling in a group.

Waffle Bant offers waffle-drink sets as well (different flavours of waffles + different types of drink) for a range of prices, and my personal favourite is the Original flavour plus Affogato set (5000원), as seen below:

Affogato: One shot of expresso poured over a serving of vanilla ice cream.

Other waffle flavours which my friends and I have tried (3 times in the past two weeks since I discovered it!) include sweet potato (고구마), walnut (월너트), blueberry (블루베리), white chocolate (화이트 초콜릿), dark chocolate (블랙 초콜릿) and cream cheese (크림 치즈). If you were wondering, yes we tried everything on the list:) An achievement!

In case you were wondering, the pink drink is actually a strawberry milkshake (of sorts). 

In my three times there, I noticed quite a few parents who bring their young children (probably between 5-8 years old) and the staff always asked if they would like for the waffle to be cut up and served on a plate, with forks and all, for the kids. So if you are touring and have kids, this is a good place to go! As with most Korean eating places, drinking water is self serve and always available:)

For more details you could check out their website: http://www.wafflebant.com/main_kr.php (ENGLISH IS AVAILABLE:))

Now that I am done with this post, I have half a mind to go there tomorrow after class. Be still, my fluttering heart.