Feeling Under the Weather

Autumn has completely taken over. The temperature has dropped and trees are starting to change colors. But with that shift in season, my body is feeling a bit confused. I guess my nose, throat, and lungs are not yet ready for this new season. Yesterday I got dry cough and scratchy throat. Speaking and swallowing were painful but I still managed to talk to my friend like nothing's wrong. I bought 유자차 (honey citrus tea) and had myself gargle hot water with salt to ease my sore throat. By night time, I decided to go to bed early but I haven't really gotten a good night's sleep due to the excruciating pain in my throat. I woke up several times the whole night because my throat felt dry and burning with pain. It's hard to swallow my saliva so I just spit it out. Also, breathing normally with my nose was quite difficult, and with that I just tried inhaling and exhaling through my mouth. It's probably one of my worst nights ever! Last year, I also had that same experience. Actually, it was even worse. The sore throat lasted for about two or three days. I couldn't eat rice and meat, thus I resorted to noodles, but still, swallowing even a single strand of noodle was very hard. It never fails, whenever I'm going to get a cold, the first symptom is a very, very painful sore throat.

This morning, I woke up feeling really sick. I felt like I had a fever so I decided to just wash my body but not my head. I still went to the lab because staying in my room will probably make me feeling more sick. The only downside was that, I was lightheaded the whole time. Good thing I didn't have any major experiment scheduled for today. I was thinking to myself, "This is not a common cold. I maybe down with a flu." So to make sure, I went to the clinic and had a check up. You see, it's still better to go to the doctor if you're not feeling well instead of self-medicating.

Finally got my much needed meds!

Well, it seems like I'm not the only one having cough and cold. Another student in the clinic also has. Blame it on the change in season.

P.S. I am now feeling a lot better. Thank you Doc! 

God's timing is, indeed and will 
always be, perfect.♥

Discover and Experience Korea

Since I've been sitting here in the lab for the past few days (literally! sitting the whole day and reading, err, staring at journal articles), my mind tends to drift somewhere else. I suddenly miss exploring different parts of Korea. I couldn't help but look back at my previous travels.

Herb Hillz, Daegu
(August 14, 2011)

Palgongsan, Daegu
(August 28, 2011)

Shilla Millenium Park, Gyeongju
(September 30, 2011)

Apsan Park, Daegu
(October 30, 2011)

Duryu Park, Daegu
(April 15, 2012)

Haeundae Beach & Gwangalli Beach, Busan
(May 20, 2012)

Expo 2012, Yeosu
(May 26, 2012)

Yeouido Park & Seoul National University, Seoul
(June 3, 2012)

Korea is such a beautiful country. There are lots of wonderful places to see- from parks, to traditional villages, to mountains, to beaches... So if you're planning to visit, I say, Go on, come, see, discover, and experience Korea!

Time to be Glee

I thought my Friday would be nothing but a boring, same old day full of rants. But a surprise awaits me come evening. Yes, finally, I got to watch the first episode of GLEE's Season 4 entitled as The New Rachel. I don't want to spoil the story but, honestly, for all the Glee lovers like me, the first episode is worth the wait! Here's a clip from Rachel Berry and Marley Rose's performance.

Friday night = Glee night! 

Season 4. New York. NYADA. McKinley High.

P.S. I also want to experience taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River line and be in a New York state of mind.

Rants

Warning: This is a rant-heavy post.


So please bear with me.


As much as I wanted to think that I'm living a serene and peaceful life, everything seems out of place right now. I hate to admit it and put all my rants and problems here but I guess there's just no other way. A lot of things are going on/spinning in my mind, which include the following:

1. thesis manuscript

been there, done all of that

I only have two weeks before I hand the first draft to the professor and I still haven't figured out where I should start. In other words, I'm having a writer's block. Here's the universal truth in writing, the most difficult is the beginning, specifically the very beginning. Based on experience (from my undergraduate thesis writing to the present), 55% of my time and energy is spent summoning all the courage and motivation needed and 45% is spent on the writing process itself.  At this point in time, I'm still in the "summoning all the courage and motivation" stage. *gulp*

2. physical look

In my defense I must say I'm not vain but, like any other girl or any other person, I want to feel good about myself. Actually, who doesn't? They say confidence is the key. And how can you have confidence? Obviously one should have something to be confident about. And since we're talking about physical aspect here, this would include: a healthy body, smooth & glowing skin, etc. Do I have a healthy body? Uhm, maybe. But I really need to do some exercise, especially now that I stopped attending my swimming classes. Smooth and glowing skin? Sad to say, I don't have that.  I'm acne-prone and with all the stress, acne is starting to take over my face. I don't even bother looking at my face in the mirror anymore because pimples are just flaring up here and there. Gosh, what to do? *me in panic mode*

3. finances

Math was never my favorite subject. But now that I'm in a financial rut, I want to tell this to myself: You should have taken or attended a personal finance, management, accounting, and/or economic class and maybe learn a thing or two in budgeting and saving money. Myself would answer me: Seriously? And I would answer back: Yes, seriously. Seriously!!!

4. inspiration (or the lack thereof)

sing if you must. someday i'll be singing this too.

Inspiration comes from the special people in your life like your family, friends, teachers, mentors, boyfriend/girlfriend...Wait! Boyfriend??? I know, I know...I'm in my mid-twenties and my Romeo hasn't arrived yet. Not that my life depends on that (defensive eh?) but then again any girl or any person needs to love and be loved.

So there, if you arrived at this part, then thank you for bearing with my problems in life.

Bow.


Image sources:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th

Vintage Charm

While checking my daily reads, I came upon the post on one of my favorite blogs, The Clothes Horse, about Orla Kiely. Well, I must say, I second the motion. Indeed, the Orla Kiely AW 2012 campaign perfectly exudes that vintage charm. I am definitely loving every element - the dresses and coat, the styling, hair & make-up, and of course, the photography. Kudos to all the people behind the shoot! Here are some images from the Orla Kiely site.

Orla Kiely AW 2012

Visit Orla Kiely Campaigns to check other lovely looks.

Wonderplace

My weekend just happened like that.  Sometimes it feels like instead of having two days of break, it's just one day all in all. Tomorrow is Monday once again. So before I continue with my mundane life of working in the laboratory, I just want to share what I've been up to this weekend. Yesterday, I was just stuck in my room the whole day. Bummer-mode watching romcoms...until I realized I'm supposed to go to the Daegu International Body Painting Festival in Duryu Park. I left at 5 in the afternoon and decided to drop by first in downtown to have a decent lunch (I've been eating ramen in my room, yeah only ramen). While walking, I was lured to go inside the clothing shops. The displays were beautiful and oh so tempting. First was MIXXO. Yes, my new favorite. Then, ZARA (coz they're just located beside each other). I let my eyes feast in the fashionable dresses, coats, etc. or in other words, I did window shopping. And then I went to the shop opposite of ZARA, the Wonderplace. It's a Korean shop but unlike MIXXO, its clothes come from different manufacturers. It's more of a boutique.

Ooops! Guess what? CLEARANCE SALE!

They've got so many items on sale they needed to do some color coding for the different prices.

Clothes, clothes, clothes! Lots of 'em!

And then, I decided to get something with a green sticker (59,000 won 10,000 won).

I was planning to fit it first but the staff told me that On Sale items cannot be fitted. And since I couldn't decide which color to choose from, I ended up getting two dresses of the same style but with different colors. If you look closely in the picture above I was actually holding two dresses (the other one having blue & brown stripes). And then, when I was in the counter, I handed my debit card but the saleslady told me that On Sale items need to be paid in cash. Why are there so many restrictions when it comes to On Sale items? Why? Grrrr! Okay, so good thing I had some cash. I was kind of perspiring already because I really didn't know exactly how much I had in my wallet. Whew!

Only after that did I have my decent lunch slash dinner.

For the Body Painting Festival? No, I didn't witness it. My whole afternoon and evening, I spent it all in downtown.



P.S. I tried fitting again all my newly bought clothes (the ones from Mixxo and those from Wonderplace) but it seems like they don't fit me well. Is it the size or the structure of the clothes? I really don't know. Or probably my body? Coz a Korean body is sexier compared to mine. Geez! Whatever!

On -Ber Months, Seasons, and Life's Journeys

It's already past midnight but here I am. Yes, I'm back to being a night owl. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be able to go back to my 12 o'clock sleeping time. So now I just want to share a big shout out, "Hello -BER months! Hello Christmas!" Because as we all know, when September comes, it'll only be a few months before Christmas. Yey! Oh and I must include, "Hello Autumn!" The other night, while walking back to my apartment, I realized something was different...the presence of a cold wind blowing through my face.

Summer has ended and autumn is now on it's way. I guess I'm really going to miss the four seasons. My whole life I've been living in a place with only wet and dry seasons and a hot and humid temperature all throughout the year. So being able to experience winter, spring, summer, and fall is such a wonderful thing.  It all started last year and now it's my second autumn experience and probably the last here in Korea since I'll be graduating in a few months time. Gosh, time passes by so fast. Everything happened like it was just yesterday.

When I first started this journey - this chapter of my life here in Korea - I was full of enthusiasm and hope and everything an explorer feels when he is starting to discover the unknown, then as the usual story goes, hardships and challenges came along the way, I was close to giving up, of wanting to go back to my comfort zone in my home country, but I needed to be strong and remind myself that going back unfinished is like giving up without even trying to fight, so I did what I should do. And now, I'm just a few steps away. I can see it already, but there are still some things that need to be overcome. So I whisper to myself, You've come a long way, so go on, run, run and finish this race with all your might.