My Piece for the day

23/12/2017             One from sometime in South Korea On Saturday as I woke up I knew it was probably my last morning in South Korea. There was excitement to be back home and meeting everyone but the sadness to leave Korea was still overpowering. Before I could think about it for too long, in a rush to be all done by 9:00, those emotions were forced to take a back seat as we shuffled through the diffent tasks at hand. That morning, among all the texts that popped up there were two in particular that caught my attention. Both came from friends I hadn't talked to for around a month. Subee is a friend from Seoul and I became friends with Sugandhi in Solan. One made me feel sad for leaving Korea while the other made me feel excited about returning back to my country. Around nine, Sujin came and I felt so glad to see here. All of us clicked  selfies with her. Then the taxi arrived and we left for the airport and said bye to our mentor with a hope to see each other aga

There was heavy snowfall in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province region yesterday. It is a pleasure to see everything around covered in a white blanket as you peep out of the window and are greeted with a beautiful view in the morning. Snow flakes were still falling silently as I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Later, I also clicked some pics on my way to the Main Building where I had to meet Laylo and Sitora. We had planned to hang out and have lunch together. I was waiting for both of them when I also saw Sardor and other guys. We were just chatting when Azizbek began playing with snow and started throwing snowballs at us. Sardor, Osaid, and Sonnie also joined him. After a while, Sitora and Laylo also came there and we thought we would invite the guys too. We asked Jakhongir and he was trying to ask the other boys while they were busy and enjoying their snowball fighting. They were throwing snowballs at us too in between but we could easily dodge away without getting involv

Technically, tomorrow I have my last class for Financial Management and that's also the last class for  this semester.  Finally I am gonna be done with the Business classes. I can't say I am sad to say bye to these classes. I am relieved but I am also glad that I took these subjects here which I would have never learnt otherwise. This Monday, we completed the syllabus for the Finance Management and honestly it was one of the best classes. I think the last few chapters were the hardest but that was also when things began to make sense. It was like a play where it is simply confusing throughout the story. But, just you get into the last scene and move towards the end, all of a sudden it is making sense. It becomes clear just as they begin to draw curtains and finally you like it. Its still difficult, don't really like it but just don't hate it anymore either. From Friday, we will be beginning with the final exams. I have three on 15th and just one on 20th, so I

For too many days in a row, I had been sleeping too much and doing nothing. Then I realised there are only 25 days left for us to go back. I really don't want to think of anything else right now and won't waste even a single day anymore. It already feels like our exchange journey is almost over. I don't want to go so soon.  Our last month is all about project, presentations and exams. But I am trying to spend as much time as I can with the few friends I have made. Sometimes when I am with my friends, I suddenly feel bad that probably I will never get to see them again. From Today, I want to spend every single day left of my stay well or atleast utilising it for studies because this semester I am not prepared for my exams. I really hope I can gather a few more memories before I leave.

On Wednesday, we attended the Senior Recital in the College of Arts, in our University. We enjoyed various Piano Compositions by the graduating students. Sardor and his friends were invited by one of the students who also had a performance that evening. I was a bit confused when he asked me if I wanted to join.  I don't listen to instrumental compositions and haven't attended any such recitals before. I wasn't sure if I will enjoy it. But I wanted to see and give it a try so decided to join them. It was a little long for me towards the end as I don't really listen to such music but I still had a nice time and really enjoyed a few compositions.

Today, after a long wait we finally got to enjoy our first snowfall of this winter in South Korea. I was delighted to see those tiny flakes falling from the sky and feel those cold winds on the face. But I forgot my cap in the room as I left in a hurry for the class in the morning. So I had to rush to my dormitory because my already numb ears had began to hurt a bit. But glad with the thought snowfall has finally began.

Today I spent most of my day studying Finance. I was hppy and thrilled that I had read and completed atleast one chapte from the book. In the evening, I went to meet Subee. I really wannted to meet her once before leaving. So, we decided yesterday to see each other in the evening today. Subee is a University Student, I first met during my Cultural Exchange Program with an NGO group called Youth Goodwill Guide (YGG). Later during the Chuseok holiday, she toured me around Seoul as a guide. That was one of my best days in South Korea. I had an amazing time with her and thats when we actually became friends. After that we stayed in touch and decided to meet again today. As usual, she had to meet me near a subway station ( Jongno - 3 - ga station). When we saw each other, there was a bright smile on both of our faces and we just hugged each other. We went to the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Luckily, today was the last day of the Seoul Lantern Festival that I could not attend because of my K

Today in the morning we met Sunaina and Priya. Sunaina and Priya are two of our Korean friends who can speak Hindi. I had heard a lot about Sunaina from Sheetal Di so I was excited to meet her. But when we actually met her, I was really impressed. All of us were like they look so cute when they speak Hindi. They actually were speaking pure Hindi and try not to mix even a single word of English when they speak Hindi. We were very glad to meet them and we promised to meet them again atleast before leaving.

Today we finally completed our Korean language course. In our last class we played Yut nori. Yut Nori is a traditional Korean game that is played with a set of four log shaped blocks. Each log is flat on one side and round on the other side. Along with the blocks there is a board and different coloured pieces for a team. Each player tries to complete the round and get out o win. Our team lost the game so we had to sing a song. We sang a small Korean song that we had learnt in the beginning.But I could not remember it so I was just standing and trying to sing a bit. After that some of us also wore the Hanbok (i.e. the Korean traditional dress) and took a lot of pictures that our teacher had brought for us. I also wore it and clicked a few pics. Although I have already tried the Hanbok before but I never miss a chance to wear it. I think it is very pretty and I love it. Later, as the other teacher had already informed us Park Mam came with our results and score cards. Elzar had secu

Today, we had the speaking test for our Korean class. Yesterday exam was an ok-ok exam for me but thankfully today it was easy and went amazing. Now,we are just waiting to get our final scores on Monday. To celebrate the completion of Korean language course, I just wanted to enjoy the remaining part of my day. Today, I also met our mentor after the exam after a long time and we spent some time with her.  After coming back to the dormitory I had some snacks and then saw the movie 'Dear Zindagi'. I really wanted to see the movie from a few weeks and today I had a lot of time so could enjoy it. After cooking dinner and finishing the movie, I went for an evening walk. I firstly stopped at a cafe to grab a cup of coffee. There wasn't anything urgent today so I had more than three hours at my leisure to roam around. On my way, I also stopped near the campus of Dong Seoul University too. I have seen it before but never entered the campus. Today I just wanted to look ar

I want to write and share a lot of stuff but I think, I am just being lazy to pen down my thoughts. Although I enjoy writing but still I find it hard to keep my self motivated enough everyday to write an article. Sometimes, I might really want to share something and want to write about it but I might just find it hard to put together all those thoughts and ideas and convert them into a writing. The worst part is if I don't write an article and procrastinate an idea, probably I would never write anything about it in the future either. Before I realize, its already replaced with a hundred other ideas. In the last one month there had been so many things I couldn't share and now I don't even remember a lot of it. But I guess someone has said it right one picture is worth a thousand words and that's why I love clicking pictures because I think they are a great way to capture moments and preserve them as memories forever. This one is my favorite for the day.

" 안녕하세요 부터 안녕 히 가세요 까지 이 여행이 너무 예쁘고 재미있었어요" From learning how to say hello in Korean to our last class today it had been a beautiful journey for all of us. I still remember (and I think will always do)  how the first week of Korean class was so scary for me. I used to feel like crying sitting in the class because there wasn't a word of it that I could possibly understand. I thought I would never be able to learn it. But our teacher never gave up on us and we began to learn things gradually. In the first week we began by learning the Korean alphabets, then words and   sentences.  My name is a bit long and sounds a bit weird in Korean. So, during the first couple of weeks, one of my teachers shortened my name to "나비" i.e. Nabi which means Butterfly in Korean. Now actually a few people call me Nabi here. I actually think its sweet (because of its meaning) and I like it. Coincidentally, even some of the things I bought or got here had pictures of butterfly on it.

I cannot be rude To The inviting roads How can I say no To a midnight walk Those nice street lights On interesting roads The strange faces And a peaceful walk What I described above Is my little version of A perfect plan When you have no plans You see That stone Its a nice little seat The river behind Is like cherry on cake I had just began to stare I was thinking to sit and stay The words had just began to flow The poem had began to form But damn it was cold So I decided to keep moving To stay a little warm To Explore the road a little more. Still an hour left before They will close the doors It suggests another turn I can quietly look around So here I leave you With a half done piece But before I leave I wanted to let you know If you are just like me & nd Feeling stressed You can give me a call We can go on a walk But once I am already set For a night alone Your company and presence Is not needed anymore Note: Its my first poem ever since

" If exchanges were easy everyone would do it". I read this quote during my initial days here and I like to repeat it in my head when I feel it is getting hard. The days here are often great which are often over before you realise but there are days which are hard as well. There are days at length when each morning I wake up confused. There is always so much to do that a lot of times I am clueless about what to do and what to skip. There are days when I am overwhelmed but I don't know how to let it all out. In the beginning there were days when it used to be almost frustrating for me to handle stuff. Somehow I could manage the days but in the evenings when I used to talk to my friends it would often get it all out on them. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't completely interppret my feelings or express it to them either.  This would make me feel even more frustrated on the inside. But after the initial one month I realised was just troubling them with my i

Reading is a pursuit to be enjoyed, books are something to be loved. They are an ocean of knowledge just not a means to complete assignments and pass examinations. I have tried it several times before but I just cannot read a book simply because it  is prescribed in our syllabus. While attempting to read a book as a reading assignment, finally after a month of wasteful efforts I realized I just cannot do it. If I would have found that across a shelf in the library, I might have got curious and read it. But the problem was I was trying to read a book just because it was a reading assignment but thats just now how it works for me. I like to read books when I want to, the ones that interest me. For me, books are a means of knowing what I cannot always see, feeling what I might not get to experience myself and sometimes learning lessons my life was yet to teach. I have been in love with reading for a couple of years now. I just cannot express what I have learnt from books in a sentence

Yesterday we got our Mid Term scores for 'Development of Goods and Marketing'. The entire class got good scores. Me and all my Uzbek friends got the same score 26/30. Actually I wanted to read the book 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' from a long time and had it in a PDF format but could not find time to read it. But Sardor said I should definitely read it and since he had it in Paperback I asked him if I could borrow. So, he had brought the book for me on Friday. He asked me to tell him later how I liked the book. After our Korean class, we went to Itaewon to buy some Indian food ingredients. Itaewon is a region in South Korea which is mostly occupied by Foreigners. It is just the right place  to go if you are missing your home country and want to enjoy your country food, buy ingredients or go to clubs and party. In Itaewon, in the grocery shop we also met an Indian girl from Punjab. She came to Korea two months ago for her MBA and had recently began working in that store. She w

Today when I woke up in the evening for dinner, I realized Thursday is over and my another week in Korea is almost over and I have probably done nothing this week but just as I was about to write that down, I realized actually it wasn't that bad. I did had a few thing to look back and smile this week. Actually, for almost the entire week especially the first two days, I was sought of in a hangover of my trip to DMZ last weekend. It was really good, so many things but still it felt like in a blink my weekend was over. I don't know but after just those two days of my weekend trip with all those foreign students getting back to dormitory felt a little strange but all my stress, worries if any that was building up was gone after this trip. So here is a brief summary of this week so far -   From the DMZ trip, I had brought a small card for my Korean Language teacher with a stamp of her Zodiac sign. When we went to the Astronomical Observatory (which is actually in the mid

Often the best of my days cannot make it to the blog because they are also the most tiring ones. At the end of those days I really want to write and share but I just don't have any more energy left for a blog post. Rather than typing on the phone I grab my pillow and sleep. I think of writing the next day but then something else happens and it just slips away. But just not to lose it I try to take atleast all the notes in my diary.

Yesterday I met and interacted with  Prof. Don Young Oh. He is a Journalism Professor in Gachon University. He was nice and also very fluent in English so thankfully communication was not a problem for me. He asked me about my plans and told me that I would need to learn Korean first to do masters in Journalism from Gachon. He also gave me some career tips and wished me to enjoy my stay in South Korea. We learned about numbers and how to ask for price and discounts in Korean. We also played Business later in the class and she ended the class around an hour earlier than usual. We enjoyed playing the game and teacher was also enjoying with us, so she just played with our group during most of the time. Avinash Bhaiya's and Sheetal Di's exams finished today. So all of us are dinner together after a week. We prepared 'Aaloo gobhi' with chapati for dinner. After dinner we played cards and then went for evening walk. After an entire week of exams it was great and just remi

Today was my best exam so far here. Actually the only one that was nice. I was just happy that exams are over but guess what back to Korean, tests  are On again. Haha. But was really in a mood to watch a movie after dinner. I could not download Dear Zindagi. I really want to see that movie. But I watched Ishq in Paris it was nice. Thats it just going to sleep. Sorry had nothing interesting to share today. Just enjoying my good moods for now.