Hello Seoul ~

We're in Korea! Landed earlier today, around 9am and took a bus to Hongdae. Our guesthouse is really close to the station, so it's super easy to go to places. We both love Hongdae, so it wasn't hard to decide where to book a room from for these few weeks. We left our bags at the guesthouse and went to walk around Hongdae for a bit, ate some delicious food, walked some more and then felt so tired we came back home, checked in in our room and took a small 4 hour nap, hahah! It's still so hard to believe I'm here again. It really feels like I never left this city. It feels like..home. 

Now it's 8:30pm, we're not tired at all, and the Hongdae I love more than anything is just starting to wake up, so we're leaving out again. Tomorrow we have our first apartment hunting trip with zip housing. Exciting~

xx, 

Julia

Last day at home

I have so exciting news to you all: My camera usb cable never ever arrived so I am, officially, leaving to Korea without being able to take pictures and document my journey with my camera! In the middle of all this stress and fuss taking pictures is like the last thing on my mind, but I really would've liked to take (good) pictures on my way to Korea. So I'll have to settle on using my galaxy note 3 for a while or just steal Sara's camera every now and then to take some pictures before I get my usb cable to Korea. 

Today I've spent the day shopping, packing, unpacking, packing again, unpacking some more and packing again! It is really hard to fit your life in two 23kg suitcases... So there's been a lot of rearranging in order to make them both 23 kg and still fit everything in. But somehow we made it ! 

You'll probably laugh if I told you all the weird things I'm dragging to Korea with me... including a cheese slicer, my own pillow, a wettex roll (it's a roll of sponge cloths), a bottle of super good detergent, a flat iron, freezer bags... Plus a whole bunch of other very important things ! It's not like they won't have any of this in Korea, but we'll save a lot of money and time by bringing these from Finland. I think...

Tomorrow I'll go see some of my friends in the morning and then just grab my bags from home and leave to Helsinki to Sara's place~ And the rest of the day will probably be just. A tad bit chaotic. And so is Monday. So the next time I'm writing here I'm going to be in Korea ~ I'll continue updating my twitter, instagram & tumblr through these last days though so if you wanna know what's going on with me you'll find me from there~ 

xx,
Julia

1 week until Seoul, Korea

I lied. Actually there's only 5 days until my flight leaves. Oh boy. My new usb cable is still not here, and I'm pretty sure with my luck it will arrive like on Tuesday so that it has to be sent to Korea afterwards. I'm not sure at all if I'll be capable of any relevant blog posts later this week so I'll just try to make this one..make sense. 

My week has been... hectic yet still kinda calm. I'm in this weird emotional roller coaster that reminds me of my last days before I went to Japan for a year in 2011. Still somehow it's all very different this time. I'm not worried if I'll fit in or if my host family is nice and welcoming or if I'm going to make any friends. Instead I'm worried if we find a good apartment or if I run out of money completely (shouldn't happen if I stick to my budget-) or if I'm ever, EVER gonna pass my courses when I start studying in Hanyang university. One thing that does feel amazing is that this time I'm gonna be on my own, not having to learn to live with another family, being able to call home whenever I want and, oh, the freedom. Craving street food at 4 am? go for it. Don't feel like doing anything on your day off? Sure! Stay home, eat ice cream and watch netflix. Going clubbing at an hour notice? Sounds like a plan ! 

 I've had quite a many meltdowns lately in the middle of the night - and day - because of this. I'll admit it: I'm a crybaby. I cry a lot. I'm way too emotional. As much as I want this it's not as easy as I thought it would be. It's actually 10 times harder. I am slowly starting to get over the crying phase though, and getting excited instead. I mean, this is my dream after all. What's there to cry about? 

So... Tomorrow's my last day at work, and before that I'll go buy some necessities I'm still missing. On Thursday I have two coffee dates with my dear friends for the last time. Even though we rarely see each other because of so different schedules our regular coffee dates have become a habit and I'll miss them a lot. Last Wednesday I visited Helsinki just briefly to hand in our visa applications with Sara. So this Friday I'm going there again for a day to pick up our (hopefully) ready visas, meet with Sara and to also have a dinner with my dad for the last time before I go. On Saturday I need to pack. A lot. On Sunday I'm meeting up with some other friends for brunch, finishing up packing and leaving to Helsinki to Sara's. And on Monday? Well. Lots of coffee, panicking and the day I've been waiting for the past 2 years now. 

We have booked a room from "Kimchee Hongdae guesthouse" for about 3 weeks. During that time we'll be looking for our own apartment with a biiiig help from zip housing guys Moon & Roy. I couldn't be happier that we found them, honestly, because otherwise we would have to do this all alone and I don't think I could make it alive through the whole process, haha ! After finding an apartment we of course have to sign the papers, pay the key money, clean the whole place and start moving in little by little. Get ourselves beds and small stuff like that. It's gonna be an.. adventure, for sure. But I can't wait ! Other important stuff we need to get done after arriving to Korea is opening a bank account and getting a Korean cell phone plan, delivering some more papers to Hanyang university, and getting that..alien registration card ( I still have no idea how does one obtain that lil thing-? ). 

I started packing already 3 days ago, because I am a really lazy and forgetful person, so the best thing for me is to just do it little by little to minimize the amount of stuff forgotten, haha! I got some new clothes, washed all my old clothes and packed all my summer clothes. My closet is empty. So is my bathroom. My room however is a mess because of this project. Besides clothes and you know, regular stuff, I've packed my yoga mat & my favorite blanket, a flat iron, Sex & the city DVD box, cheese slicer, a fluffy towel, this berry juice my grandmother makes herself, cleaning supplies they don't (probably) sell in Korea.. et cetera. At least I'm prepared. 

I think that's all for now. The days are just disappearing somewhere and I'm trying to desperately keep up. Gonna write again later this week! Bye for now~ 

ps. Tried a bit bigger font for this post, trying to figure out if the one I'm usually using is too small? 

xx,
Julia

2 weeks until Seoul, Korea

2 weeks to go before we take off to Korea. I have 5 days of work left. The certificate of admission from Hanyang University arrived in mail today, so tomorrow or on Friday I'm going to Helsinki to make a visa.

I have a small camera situation going on right now (I lost the usb cable so I can't charge it, lol) and I can't take any pictures, so all I have is boring let's ramble about stuff! - blog posts to do. Apologies.  

Here's a quick to do - list for the next 2 weeks (mostly for myself to get my thoughts organized):
1. Get another suitcase & pay the extra bag - fee thing for Finnair.
2. Get your visa done.
3. Make coffee date plans with friends. 
4. Sit down and make a proper what to pack - list. And be realistic while writing it.
5. Pack.
Wow. That's. Pretty much it. Well I only have 12 days left in Finland so thank god the list is short. In addition we still gotta contact the guys of ZIP Housing (link to their page here) once more to let them know we're coming to Korea soon. We already mailed them our request form & chatted a bit but that was about a month ago.
I'm super excited about going to Korea finally and especially about getting our own apartment and getting to decorate it! Of course we're gonna be broke and stuff but that - for sure - won't stop me from visiting the recently opened IKEA store. I love IKEA. It's a pretty big thing over here in Finland and their products are very affordable but also stylish and simple which is exactly what I love. Wow I really am rambling, aren't I. 

Today has been a somewhat lazy day. I printed out some visa application papers and filled them out, watched some netflix and ate too much chocolate. Still kinda on that christmas-let's-eat-all-the-time- mood. I also ordered two pairs of pretty pretty boots! So yay for me this day has been really damn eventful.....

Anyway. This post is getting way out of hand and I don't even know what to write anymore. I'll be back later with something, hopefully, more interesting to write about !
xx,
Julia

3 weeks until Seoul, Korea.

Well hello ! It's been a while, huh? My Autumn has been pretty busy. I got a job at McDonald's, and I've been mostly just working and going to the gym and being lazy at home! Also I've done  a looot of paper work for the university application etc. and taking care of other stuff for Korea. I've been waiting for this for 2 years now, and no matter how I've felt prepared, and excited, and ready, it's still happening so suddenly. In 3 weeks I'll be in Korea. In Seoul. Living there. That's just so crazy. 

Back in August I did a "To do - list for Korea" - post. Now that I looked at that list again, the only things left to do are getting mentally prepared and studying Korean. Well, I guess I still have 3 weeks left to try to realize this is happening and a 9 hours long flight coming up to study Korean- Otherwise everything starts to be pretty much done ! Except for the visa. I still need to get the acceptance certificate from Hanyang and take it to the embassy to get a visa. 

I am planning to write a post about the whole process of applying to the university a bit later,  so not gonna tell you about it just yet. But it was a very complicated process, that's for sure. All worth it, though ! And even got into their scholarship program & -50% off of the tuition.

I have work tomorrow and then I'm gonna celebrate Christmas with my family & relatives. Really super excited for that. I'm definitely a Christmas person. Aaanyway! Now that it's only 3 weeks until the big day and I don't have that much work to do I'm gonna concentrate more on my blog. Not any pictures for now though. Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm alive, this Korea thing is indeed happening, and I'm back in the business ! 

xx,
Julia