My week in photos: the "From Slovakia to Korea" edition

By: Zana

Hey guys!

Just wanted to upload some photos I took as it is exactly a week since I left for South Korea :-)
 

     

                                   Breakfast at hotel in Prague                              All packed up at the airport

The view of our plane

Literally flew across whole Asia to Seoul

I took a no-make-up selfie at the airport

My first lunch in Korea (which I ordered by myself...in Korean... wooop)
btw: looks better than it tastes

   

Then I ate some more... Kimbap...my favorite :-)

   

        I wore black on white on gray                                 Took a selfie                                               Made myself a green dark rice tea

    

Got a first coffee in Korea....which came with a Merry Christmas wish... in March

                                         Got bored 

    

Walked around and found a park

And found a typical Korean market

Foreigner in Korea: First impressions

By: Zana

                               Hello people! J

As I promised I’m writing my first blogpost from Korea! I survived my 16 hours long flight(s) (in total with transfer) and happily landed in Seoul on Friday 11am. Then I traveled by train to Busan where we got picked up by our Korean buddies (students who are supposed to be helping us here) and took us to Gimhae, where we all had dinner together.

I have spent my first week-end just wandering around the town looking at everything, still trying to actually believe that I am in Korea. People here are very nice and always try to help you. 

Beautiful wall graffiti :-)

Apart from Gimhae being really clean and tidy (no trash on the ground whatsoever… okay, maybe from here and there, but really minimal) I have been struck by the stares and glances I get all the time. I was walking with my friend around and a few people actually stopped by to say how beautiful we were just because we were foreigners. :-D It is kind of nice but sometimes the stares are the sort of unwanted attention that makes me uncomfortable. :-)      

As far as the food goes, I am not really a fan of spiciness that makes you tear up a little, so the food for me is not the best part. But when I'm able to find something that isn't spicy (like Kimbap on the left), it's really good! 

At school, we had our placement test today and according to our results all three of us (I came here to study with 2 classmates, if you didn't figure that out yet) ended up in the advanced level of Korean language and my first thought was. R.I.P. Hopefully, I will manage :-) 

My first classes start tomorrow and I am excited and curious how it's gonna be.  

The one thing that's definitely crazy is the traffic! Koreans drive insanely insane, fast and it makes me feel unsafe at some points. 

Another thing that caught my eye is how fashionable 99% of Koreans are. They always try to look their best and even when they are wearing sweatpants they are really well dressed around it. They simply care about their appearance more than in Slovakia. Even though Gimhae is a very small town in comparison to Seoul or Busan, young people here are always dressy.  (I will maybe try to get some pictures of Korean fashion...I don't know.)

At campus

Small stream with a nice and calm path- great for walks

View form the dormitory window 

Restaurant with hanging lamps (must look cool while dark) 

That's it for now, I will write again with more exciting stories :) 

See you soon :-) 

My next big thing: Travelling to KOREA!

By: Z.

In just two days I am leaving to experience the most exciting and frightening trip of my life. I have received a scholarship to spend one semester studying in Gimhae, South Korea. I have never been away from home (home meaning Slovakia) for more than a week or so.... So yeah, spending four months on the other side of the world is quite unimaginable. But at the same time I am really looking forward to it. I kind of see it as my next big thing bc these past few months I have been doing nothing exciting :-) 

I'm gonna make sure to document my whole trip right here on our blog as well as on our instagram and my twitter acc (@followzuzu)... 

Travel blogging has always seemed exciting to me and I get to try it out which I feel extremely happy about. I am very luck that I got that chance...
Wish me luck and see you in the next post which will be from Korea! ^^

Post by: Zana

Thinking out loud: being single

By: Z.

 -SINGLE BY CHOICE-

Sometimes, living life gets hard to do. Especially when you feel like you're missing out on something.

Well, they say you can't miss what you never had and I agree. I'm 21yo and I have never been in a relationship. I don't know what it's like so I cannot really miss it, can I? 

??? Naturally, I often think about the reasons why I am still single with no prospect of it changing. Am I too picky? Am I not pretty enough? Am I spoiled by the books I've read, movies I've watched or songs I've listened to and am looking for the perfect match? Or am I simply not meeting the right people? It's hard to tell, really. I don't know.

But what I do know is that even though I am open to the possibility of finding a boyfriend I really do not miss it. I don't really mind being single because I got used to it. After 21 years of leading a life without a sign of romance, you could probably say that I adapted. No, not having a boyfriend doesn't bother me. 

The scary part is the PROSPECT. I'm speaking about the prospect of loneliness. Judging by my experience and just life in general- how can I be sure that I will find that special someone who is going to want to be with me? Someone who will ask me out and I will want to say YES? I just simply don't know~ and that's the part that sucks. 

I have never loved a boy before and I don't know if I will ever meet somebody to love. 

“Why haven't I got a husband and children?"

 mused Greta Garbo to the Dutchess of Windsor, 

"I never met a man I could marry.”

So if you ask me if I am getting depressed or sad because I am single then NO, I am not. But there are these dark moments in my life when I keep thinking about the future and I fear that it will never change. And that is quite disturbing...

Post by: Zana

Just a little something

By: Z.

Lessons of the week:

I love my friends <3 
No matter how you feel, always treat the ones around you nicely.
Everyone has issues. I am not the only one.
For every thing you hate, find something you love.
I miss summer and running outside...
Shopping is my new best friend :-D
I wanna live my days so I can look back and smile, not cry or be happy they're over.
I like being creative but am never really doing anything creative.

I wanna go to Canada real bad.

Stressing about things I can't change is useless. Yet, I still do it :-/ Help. 

But despite all of my problems and stressful situations, I try staying positive. And although it didn't use to work, I think I'm getting better at it :-) *thumbs up* to myself. 

Post by: Zana