100 Days

I've been here for 100 days and I leave Seoul in 20. I don't know where the time went. I'll have a much bigger farewell post, but it's a really bittersweet time. Firstly, finals. Korean finals. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF. 
These tests are trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for "Phuck I hope I pass my courses." I hope that made you laugh, Pop. Others who are reading, look it up, minus the whole Phuck part. Also, I cannot make a "I'll take the physical challenge" joke when it comes to exams because Super Sloppy Double Dare was not aired in Korea. This actually makes me extraordinarily sad, and if you actually know me you'll know that I am not joking about that whatsoever.

Secondly: I'm gonna miss this place. I'm going to miss the cheap food, the outrageous things I see every evening on the streets, the smiles from old ladies when I speak basic Korean, the glares from old ladies when I can't speak fluent Korean, the bitchin' blazers that old dudes wear, not having to tip, the cheap beer, the rampant high function alcoholism, the music, the feminine dudes, the American tunes with Korean words that always catch me off guard, I could go on forever. Expect me to do so in person once I get back to America as well. I could talk about this place for days. Weeks. I'm going to be retelling the same stories over and over to my friends and family, and you're all gonna hate me for it. Just please give me a week to get back into the American swing of things and get over the longing to return to this paradise.

Thirdly: I'm gonna miss the people. I've met Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, other Americans, people from all over Europe, and people from everywhere else. And I'll probably never see about 90% of them ever again. That's actually very sad to see written down. I'm not going to be a fun road trip on a three-day-weekend away from a large majority of these people. Realizing that the world is smaller than I imagined, yet unfathomably large is a very strange feeling. REALLY strange. Growing up sucks. At least I'm another 4 months closer to no more homework. Just kidding, I want to go to graduate school.

Now onto the sweet part:

I get to see my amazing family, with the addition of a new dog. His name is Chesley and only assume he has the tastes of an English gentleman. I assume he has no idea why people make fun of Lyndsey Buckingham's name, or what colors are. He's a retired guide dog too, so he's really good at not shitting on the rug. Always a plus. Also, most of my family is really good at that, PLUS they can see colors! I can't wait to talk about trials with my dad at dinner, make fun of how hard my mom laughs at fart jokes and Jonah Hill, brush the cats with my grandma and be fruitplate bitch for my three wonderful sisters. But so help me God, if I watch one more episode of West Wing...

Then there's my friends. You know who you are. Next year's going to be amazing, I can't wait to see what the Fall semester has in store. SEASSPAN, E-Council, OT, Kappa Sigma, and the one and only Wigwam. Not to mention all my friends in Scarsdale who I'll see in the awkward month I have home where I do nothing to do except work out and watch all of Game of Thrones and Star Trek The Next Generation, both of which I have somehow managed to never get into. Yeah, I'm gonna expand my geek repertoire, it has been long overdue. And no, I will not watch Dr. Who instead.

Lastly, I can feel some happiness upon leaving because of this reason. Although MacArthur said, "Never try to regain the past, the fire will have become ashes," (the biography is really good, Pop), I love this city and this country. Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be partying with KU students when I come back to Seoul, but I'll be with the friends I made here during my semester abroad, as well as new friends and coworkers. Let's hope it's an engineering job over here because I need more people who can laugh about all the times we actually used the limit definition of the derivative in a practical problem. (Hint, the answer is 0 times). Also, being paid in Won would be super cool because there would be three extra zeroes at the end of my paycheck.

 But I don't really know what my future with Seoul holds, I don't know if I'll be working here or here on vacation, whether the Peninsula will be unified next time I head across the Pacific, or whether or not I'll be one of  the GW Alumni to have young punks like me over for an American dinner while I tell them stories of what Seoul was like back when I was young and had a haircut like Johnny Damon did when he played for the Red Sox.