It’s been a while.

I am alive and well and very much in Korea right now.

The first few months were hectic. Seeing old and new friends, finding a place to live and going to school again.

However that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you guys! I also really missed writing proper post so starting from next week I will be back with proper post about my life in korea!

Love, Wietske

Photo Friday: Turkey

Not so long ago I spend a lovely week in Alanya in the medeteranian part of Turkey – which only ment one thing – Sun, beach and long days of doing absolutely nothing.

The beach was only one block away so every morning we would make would drag our lazy asses out of bed down the stairs (the elevator made strange noises) and onto the beach.

At night we would spend our time on the balcony and have an amazing night view and long conversations about everything and nothing.

One day it was too hot to spend the day at the beach so instead we went to something called dim cai (I think) high up in the mountains. We had adana kebab on cute little floating -floats(?)- on the river!

And for the much needed bit of culture during this holiday we visited a mosque, and what do you think of the hijab I am wearing?

Love, Wietske

Money, Money, Money

Hey guys! I am sorry that it took me 2 weeks to make a new post. It’s hard to keep on track sometimes especially with the current weather which is perfect if you want to read a book outside but not that good if you want to have a regular posting schedule.

Also the internet connection didn’t really work with me and it cost me 2 days to upload this video but here it is. I talk about money and how much I hate it! So if you want to hear me rant, go ahead and click play!

But now I’ve something a bit more imporant to talk to you about, and it is also about money. But no, don’t worry not about your money. Well maybe, just a little.

Money was the one and only thing that could have prevented me from going to Korea. My family approves, my friends understand and I am willing to drop my shit any moment of the day just to back to Korea.  But the money!

Tuition fee at Hanyang or any other Korean university is at least double if not triple the amount of tuition I would pay for going to a Dutch university and this scared my parents a lot. They don’t want me to go in debt and they don’t want me to live in poverty either so I made a deal. If I could show them the exact costs for studying in Korea for 4 years and I would be able to make ends meet using all available resources they would let me go.

I did and to be honest it scared me to see the number in the red getting bigger and bigger with each expense I added and it’s scary to know that if I don’t find a job when I am in Korea (or a really nice scholarship) I will have a 50.000 euro debt.

However, I am not here to complain about that but to tell you a few valuable lessons I learned while I made this budgeting plan.

1. Take everything into account, even unknown expenses. My lists consist of rent, food, clothes, fun, phone, unknown and school.
2. Don’t just make a monthly overview but also yearly and in my case I even made an overview for 4 years.
3. Try to make it as accurate as possible. Internet is your best friend if you are looking up prices.
4. Use every available source to get money, student loans, parents, grandparents keep on trying you will be surprised.
5. You don’t have to make your budget as tight as possible, leave a little space to breath. Live comfortably but not luxurious.
6. Save! Even though you might have a little bit of room at the end of the month, this doesn’t mean you should spend all that money because it is ‘left over’. Put it in your savings account and don’t touch it. That way you always have a little something left in months where your budget isn’t sufficient.

 

NoShortCutsToKorean: Liebster Award

I got nominated for my first liebster award by No Shorts Cuts to Korean. Thank you so much!

Rules: 1) List 11 facts about yourself 2) Answer the questions left by the blogger who nominated you 3) Nominate five (or more) bloggers who have less than 200 follower. Make sure to notify them. 4) Make up questions for those you have nominated 5) Display the Liebster Award badge on your blog

11 Facts About Me

1. I have been a Koreastudies major for 2 years.
2. I hardly ever watch TV.
3. I am super messy.
4. I love art.
5. I wish I had a boyfriend
6. My Friends inspire me
7. It is my dream to live in a cute apartment in seoul
8. I want to make the world a better place
9. My favorite subject in Highschool was biology but I sucked at it.
10. I took 7 years of French in High School but when I try to speak French all that comes out is Korean.
11. I am 22 years old.

 

Questions from No Short Cuts To Korean.

1. Would you like to live in Korea ?If so,which celebrity you wanna meet?What will you say? I would love to live in Korea however I wouldn’t really go to meet celebrities. I want them to live your own life. If I saw one I probably wouldn’t even recognize him (I ran into Kim Jae Wook and I didn’t recognize him! – he wore a face mask and his military clothes though but still). But If I could say something I would just say that I love their music/dramas/movies and to keep up the good work.

2.  Do you have a  mannerism?What is it? Whenever I say I am pretty I do a really distinct hairflip that annoys my friends and didn’t even noticed I was doing until my friends pointed it out so trying to be a good girl and stopped doing it.

3. What is an ideal day for you? Just hanging around in a park with good friends, talking, having fun. Maybe enjoy a glass of wine or some 치맥 and just enjoy eachothers company.

4. If you could meet a person in the past who will it be? Marilyn Monroe. She is absolutely gorgeous and very charming I would want to know her secret.

5. What is your favorite subject in school and why? I don’t go to school at the moment, but in High School I loved biology and dissecting things. I especially enjoyed dissecting a starfish. I am just a curious human being that wants to know what stuff looks like, inside and out!

6. What is the most exhilarating thing you’ve done when you were young? Does 17 count as young? I traveled to Mongolia on my own when I was 17, defiantly a exhilarating experience.

7. What is something you can’t live without? make-up

8. What is the recent Korean word/phrase which seems to be running through your mind? 너무 힘들어 이해해주세요

 

Missing in action

Once again I’ve been away for almost a week. If I can’t come up with a good post instead of just not post anything that day I beat myself up over it and am gone for yet another week.

I shouldn’t be so harsh, perhaps get rid of some of the workload by not wanting to post something new every single day but I can’t.

Like I’ve said before I want this to be a success, but by wanting so much I am afraid I will turn it into a failure.

I won’t. I just need some time to rethink a few things. Am I taking this too serious, or not serious enough?

I already have some good and interesting content written down in my journal; I am going to discuss hosting my own website with my dad tomorrow. It’s something I really want but something that also scares me a little. I don’t know anything about coding and although I have built my own website before I don’t want a flimsy old one like I had back in the day.

But I do want to do it myself, no designers no nothing. Just me, you and the Internet.

I’ll be back.

Love, Wietske

Throwback Thursday: Lee Hyori – Anystar

Although these music video’s are actually adds for a anycall phone I am and was totally in love with this one, as well as Anymotion and Anycall. The story is great but Hyori is really the reason why I love them so much.

She seems so down to earth, funny and normal unlike a lot of younger idols in Korea. She is tan, she dates an “ugly” guy and she isn’t embarresed to show her face without make-up. I love her and I want to be her!

I heard she is coming back with a new album soon! Are you as excited as me? And tell me, what is your favorite song from Hyori?

Throwback Thursday: Rain – It’s Raining

Rain, the King of Kpop, was my first love when it came to Korean man. Even in his ridiculous outfits and his way to sexually frustrated hip thrusting moves.

I loved him and It’s raining was my favorite song which I watched over and over again. I danced to it, dreamed that I would meet him in a similar manner as in Full House (and live happily ever after of course) .

Unfortunately this did not happen, I still like to dream though, especially while watching Ninja Assassin. Maybe you know, maybe…..

I’m sorry.

I am very sorry for those who all wanted to see my Kimchijigae recipe, but it seems that the internet gods are not with me. Yesterday night it said it would take about 390 minutes until it is finished and now it’s still taking about 220 minutes! I’ve learned my lesson and now know if I want to have a video up on a particular day I need to upload it a week before because I cannot do anything about the Internet connection unfortunately.

I hope you guys don’t mind waiting for another week while I prepare something special for todays post!