Hmm, how should I even begin to write about my Christmas Eve.. I had a lot of fun, the company was perfect and even though we celebrated it in Ansan where there was hardly any christmas cheer, the people I was with really made it feel so special.

The morning of Christmas eve started with us frantically packing and moving. We had to move from the familiar dorm 2 to dorm 4, because the school wanted to conserve electricity by gathering all the leftover students in one dorm. So christmas eve for me started off on a slightly sad, and literally heavy note. My best korean girlfriend Juri, came over to help us move. Thankfully she was around because there were some paperwork that needed to be settled with the people at the dorm office and she being there just made the communication so much smoother, and well, more efficient. So we bidded our 3month old crib goodbye, said thank you to the friendly guard for the last time, and headed to our new home for the next ten days, before we finally head back home.

Byebye room - the moldy and rusty heater that sounds like a train when it's turned on, the leaky pipes and the thin mushy piece of sponge we collapse onto after each long tiring day. It's funny how I started off hating everything about this rundown room, but yet they have all grown to be such a personal part of my life in Ansan. I think I'd never forget all the memories of this place..

And byebye security ajeshi. I've grown so used to saying hello to you almost every day and seeing your nice cheerful smile. It always brightens up my day. Saying goodbye to you was harder than I thought it would be.

After we settled things in the new dorm, we dressed up and headed to VIPS, a restaurant famous for steak and ribs. Chang, Disheng, Zhongxian and Sky came to join the girls.

All dressed and ready to go!

When we got to VIPS, we were told that the waiting time was 2 hours! So we headed to the arcade to kill some time, and by the time we started it was already almost 9pm! We had a 3 hour long dinner - eating and chatting, and at some point in time, I laughed till my sides ache and I couldn't sit up straight, and that's when I realised that these people mean a lot to me. I've grown so much in the past 5 months; grown to be so much more independent, and so much more assured of my own capabilities. And these are the people whom have shared this journey of growth with me, simply by being such a big part of it. I'm not sure what will happen in 5, or even 10 years time. Maybe the koreans and the singaporeans might have grown apart, or maybe the singaporeans themselves would have drifted apart from each other, but one thing I know for sure, is that no matter what happens between all of us in the future, I'd always remember and treasure moments like these. Some things in your life, you just don't ever forget.



We spent the first hour of Christmas day singing at a noraebang (korean karaokae). Then we headed to a bar and ate the log cake after singing "we wish you a merry christmas". After a lot of beer, korean wine, cocktails and snacks, I walked back to the dorm feeling very very happy, and warm despite the minus zero freezing weather outside.


I have no idea why, but even as I sit writing this in the new dorm with facilities way better than the previous dorm, I somehow miss the old, dilapidated, scruffy room I had spent my last 3 months in. Is it just me, or is there someone else feeling the same way?

Anyway, I had a very very good Christmas. I hope you guys had a good one too, if not better! Merry Christmas, and may you all be abundantly blessed with everything good in life!

Yuting and I visited Hongdae a couple of days ago! I accompanied Yuting to the cafe where they filmed the very popular korean drama Coffee Prince!! Yuting was extremely excited but when I got there I wasn't exceptionally impressed haha. But Yut says it's because I didn't watch the drama. But still, I'm glad I had her company of walking through the dynamic streets of Hongdae and caught a glimpse of the vibrant night life.

Inside coffee prince cafe, those people who watched the drama probably would find these familiar heh

Before we headed to the cafe, we were distracted by the boutiques along the street. Actually Hongdae is the area outside Hongik University, and it is famous for its clubs, cafes and boutiques. Yut and I were wondering how the students can concentrate on their studies when they have to trudge through so much temptations when they go home from school. If I studied there, I would be shopping everyday after school haha! But I guess that's what makes the lives of korean teenagers so different from us singaporeans. They somehow can achieve a pretty even balance between study and play, so they enjoy what they do, and do what they enjoy. And it shows.

Anyway, we spent so much time in the shops that by the time we got to the coffee prince cafe it was 11. We left the place at around 12, forgetting that there would be no train!! So we got stranded at Guro, which is maybe a 45 mins drive away from our dormitory, with a bunch of drunkards, at the Guro subway station not knowing what to do. We tried to find a jimjibang (a public bathhouse where people can stay overnight for a very cheap price) but that area was very isolated so we failed to do so. Previous experience (it was the second time I missed the train and got stuck at Guro!) told me that it would be extremely difficult to get a taxi because most cabs would not want to travel inter-city distances to bring us back to Ansan. We considered going to the police station and act like we were lost students and wanted to see if we could get a free ride back. Haha, crazy things people do when they're desperate. But in the end we dropped the idea when we heard a taxi driver walking around and yelling that he's going to Suwon, which is near Ansan! So we ran towards him, not knowing that at the same time two other guys were doing the same things as us too! Haha, so the most ridiculous thing happened. Yut and I jumped into a cab with two unknown strangers, and had to pay 30,000won (35-40$S) for the ride. We found out later that those two guys were uni students like us, but were from a neighbourhood uni. They were very very impressed with us because apparently Hanyang University is one of the top unis in the whole of Korea. Impressive huh haha. On the way back, we got stuck in a traffic jam and witnessed an accident, and a dead man lying in the middle of the road. And just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, we were locked out of the dorm. Roomie had to come down and wake the security guard, and we were unlucky because it was the horrible one that was on duty! He let Yut and I in on the account that it was raining outside and really really cold, but not before giving us a lecture in Korean. Oh well, it didn't bother us anyway, because we couldn't understand a single word he said hahaha.

It was indeed an adventurous day for us!

Submission and Crit went pretty alright, but ended on a rather depressing note because for the koreans, it means that they would all be moving home to their hometown soon, and for us, it signifies the end of our time here in Korea. The exhibition was held at this posh gallery, and I was very impressed with how the school handled it. Everything was done very professionally, very well coordinated and organised. It seems like over here at the Hanyang side, they take this exchange very seriously, and it is a very prestigious joint venture between two schools. But the NUS side doesn't seem to care as much. The representative that they sent over, was a professor who didn't even teach architecture!
But anyway the exhibition went very well, and it was very satisfying seeing not just my own hardwork, but the works of everyone's labour displayed publicly. I was pretty contented with what I produced even though I know there's so much more I could push the design towards.

My panels and my model

Juri my best korean friend :) More like a sister to me.

Yut in front of her work..

Nicole and hers..

Sungil my eyecandy in school hahaha!

Dahee and Juri. On crit day, I spent some time going through their scripts with them because they were worried about having to present in english. I don't think I did much but I think they felt a lot more assured after going through their presentations a couple of times. In the end both of them did our studio proud by getting an award presented to the top 12 most interesting designs! And honestly, I felt so genuinely proud of them, and happy for them! Especially Juri who didn't turn up for school for 2 weeks during the semester cos she wanted to give up. I'm so glad she didn't and fought till the end. Sometimes it's funny how someone else's story could inspire me so much and gives me courage to fight my own battle instead. These girls have been amazing friends and I think it would be so hard when the day comes for us to say goodbye...

This is an urban design project. Combine efforts by Marc, Juri and I. Guess that's when I started growing so close to Juri. All the overnights and the late night walks back to studio together did provide us with many opportunities to talk. And surprisingly, we're so similiar. There are so many things in her life that I can relate too, and likewise, she understands me so well.


Check out Richard at the back destroying this picture of Chang and I haha.


Nicole and Juri!

Juri and I sneaked out during crit to get snacks because the crit sessions were getting really draggyyyy..

That's Heewon, the best looking korean in the third year! He's very very stylish I think, that's probably what makes him so attractive.

Melissa and her "egg" building!

Lirong trying to act studious. hahaha but cute larh.

haha catching a glimpse of my eyecandy!

All the profs standing in a row waiting to give out the awards

Our studio! We have two professors because prof kim (the old one) is a very coveted professional in the country and he is very well known for his designs of museums especially. So he is barely in the office. I tried to look for him in his office 11 times over the span of two weeks, but failed to find him!! Maybe that's why the school got another guy in to share his teaching duties. That probably explains why we're not close to either professor. But even as a studio we're not close, which is such a shame actually because I really wished we could do more things together as a studio. Truth is, we've never dined together as an entire studio before. Sigh.


Haha HYU and NUS joint project. Juri and I always go on joint shopping trips together. Occasionally I stay over at her dorm, and sometimes she sleeps over. Gotta treasure such times because there really aren't many days left.

This is our second proffesor, also known as prof kim, but more endearingly known as young kim among the studio people haha. That's how we distinguish the two profs, old kim and young kim. Guess I'm closer to young kim and somehow we're like friends. Think I've been very blessed because he has been very nice and encouraging towards me. He told me at the end at he is very proud of me and everything that I've done, almost made me cry..

That's old kim and I. I don't know why the picture turned out this way :(

At the end of the day when we had to bid each other goodbye. Prof said he was really happy to be able to teach us. He said we made him very very happy and that if he could, he would have given an award to every single one of us. Some people think that he's just being nice and saying very diplomatic things to us. But I was genuinely touched, and encouraged.

And as I pondered about the whole semester, I think I'm very glad things turned out the way they did. The studio I was allocated to, the people I met, the dorm groupings, everything happened for a reason and ultimately God was in total control. I don't know why those things made me so upset in the beginning, but maybe God was trying to test me and see how I would react. And through it all, I think I can safely say that I did not fail terribly. I know I've made some blunders along the way, but still God would be proud of me and how I've chosen to deal with all the situations. So yea, I've learnt so much this semester, not just about architecture, but also about myself and my relationship with God. It hasn't been easy, but I think I got through pretty alright. Like what they always say, what doesn't kill you will definitely makes you stronger :)


edit*
After the end of the exhibition, I popped by my old office in Spacegroup to pay my colleagues a visit. Sadly, most of them weren't there because they had stayed overnight the night before so many of them stayed home. Thankfully, I still got to see my big boss Mr Park, and Sun On-ni! When the boss saw me, he opened his arms wide to welcome me like he would a daughter. He took time to dig out the files on the projects I worked on previously, and explained to me the progress of the projects since I left. He pointed to the facade of the design and said to me "See, can you recognise this? It is your idea!" and then promptly pointed to the table I used to sit at and said "table still empty, table still waiting for you to come back!" Sobs, his kind words and gestures made me wish that time would stand still and that I can work in this team forever. I took some pictures with them, and then with more hugs, bidded them goodbye. I left the office with tears streaming down my face. Seems silly, but I really couldn't control myself. I think I will never forget this beautiful country and the wonderful people who have made such a difference to my life.