Busan

Korea offers a free shuttle bus to Busan for foreigners, which is good because a two-way trip by bus or the slow train could cost you W50,000, and the fast train W100,000.

So why not just hop on and go?
Busan is really, just another town, specially now that seafood is kinda out of season. Despite being beside the beach, seafood was still hella expensive. And then there's Haeundae beach, so popular that on the peak of summer vacation that place gets crammed hardcore with people. Yeah... that place is waaaaaaaaaaay overrated. Busan City is so large it has its own subway system, and it extends all the way to the end of the beach, so Haeundae is basically a cut-off from the city where they left the sand and an access to the ocean. It's only about 500m long and 30m wide. Plus some people have a beach umbrella/mat service set up so you have to pay unless you want to sit in front of the umbrellas, where the water hits, or behind where they block your view. I was soooo disappointed. Beaches for me have always been a view for miles, practically the whole edge of the country. For Koreans, its a block of sand where you can access the sea. I bet these people don't write "I like long walks on the beach" on their dating site applications.

But there are other things to see, like Busan Tower.

15 shots from Busan Tower. A whopping 12,000pixel wide photo but for upload purposes this one is only 2000. Due to capacity limitations I couldn't make fine lighting adjustments because I had to use jpg files to make this. If I used RAW files my computer's brain would probably explode.

2 things that are really nice about Busan:
1. The people are very kind. They won't just point you toward the subway station, they'll walk you there. They'll smile when talking to you, and some may even smile simply when seeing you.
2. It's wow clean. Though like Seoul it's frikin impossible to find a trash can, even in back alleys there is almost no trash on the floor. How'd they do it???

Anyway, here's my gallery:

All kinds of dried seafood.

*snap* *snap* "Has she seen you?" "Nope...." *snap* "Ok she saw me, RUN!"

Another old person for my collection. Not as sharp as I would've liked though ):

Oh yeah, I walked into this miscellaneous artsy store and found Julio:

Ahhhhh! Tell me if that doesn't remind you of him.

Anywhooooooooooo sorry it's been long since I've written here. Second semester concluded and I ended with an average of 93.7, slightly under last semester but I feel like I learned way more on this one. I can now hold conversations that go beyond names, hobbies, family etc, but I still have to come up with way creative ways to explain things. Next semester starts intermediate level though, that's where things are supposed to get "challenging."
Anyway, lately I've just been unwinding. The Seoul International Student Forum ended, and I'm on vacation so I'm really savoring for once not having to worry about anything urgent. Ever since I started applying for the scholarship I've had my mind hyped on something to do so now I am just so relaxed... I guess. Yes I know I have college applications but still a couple months to go before I even  begin.

What about home?
I talked to Bea today, told me Ben is working at IGA, and is flat broke. Hehehe. I suppose now that school has started nothing much is going on there.

I have another blog coming soon, it's a special edition, kinda, so stay tuned.