A week in October

I can't believe it's already October. I can see the signs of the season: going outside wearing a jacket, the leaves falling, and Korean students already talking about midterm tests. The amount of pressure on the students to do well is astounding. One of my suitemates will study for at least four or five hours everyday outside of her classes. I think studying is a good thing, but I worry about the Korean students when I learned that the suicide rate in Korea is increasing because of academic expectations. I had noticed that all of the apartments in Korea did not have balconies. When I asked one of my Korean friends, she explained that because of the high suicide rate, the apartment owners do not build balconies.

This weekend, I went to Cheonan to see a movie with two of my friends. The theater was in a four story shopping center. In this kind of center, there are many individual salespeople all sharing the space. It is like a mall without the individual shops. We had time before the movie to walk around this center. We also went shopping in one of the nearby markets after the movie.

Today, I had two exchanges in the morning. I then had a two hour break before my afternoon class. I had the chance during this time to meet two Korean students. I taught them how to play "Go Fish" and "BS" (aka "Chicken"). After a while a few of the international students joined in, making the game very exciting. We had about six or seven people playing, which was a ton of fun.

This weekend, all of the international students will be going to a nearby town for a festival celebrating the Baekje dynasty, a kingdom that was located in this provence. I am very excited to see all of the cultural festivities and to learn more about this dynasty.