Day 29-" As We Go On..."

"We remember...all the times we....had together..."

Ok, ok. I'm stopping now. Today was graduation day at Hanyang University for us Summer school students (as noted by the song lyrics...which should be familiar to most 90s kids). Interestingly enough, it was also the same day as our finals. So, the question remains: "Why did we graduate before our final grades were known?"

Anyways, the obvious question non-withstanding, the History exam wasn't that bad. Ten questions long, most of them single concept phrases (ie a person, place, idea) like "Who instituted the Kabo Reforms in Korea?" (Answer: Japan). I guess it also wasn't that bad in the case of if you do not know it immediately, you do not know it. Either way, it made for a short test. I think I got most of the answers, but tried to finagle some points here and there.

Campbell exited the exam before I did (though that was honestly because he didn't know the answers) as did Miranda (she may have, I'm not sure). I got done in about thirty to forty minutes, so as far as final exams go, that's not too bad.

I ended up studying for the next few hours before Language for the exam right outside the room. Miranda was seated across the hallway from me. We were basically the only people around. I chatted with her every once in awhile but I would've liked to had a more extensive dialogue. Though, considering that both of us were cramming for an exam that both we had doubts of us being able to pass, silence was probably the better option. We both kind of hopes that it would be not too bad...

So, the history wasn't that bad. As for the language test however...a bit more daunting. It was broken up into two halves- a written portion and a spoken portion, which make up 60% and 20% of our final grade. Thankfully, the remaining 20% is attendance, which I could honestly say I rocked! So, I needed to get a 50% on the exam overall in order to pass the class. *inhales* Hoboy.

So, the written portion was intimidating to say the least. It was nine pages long, with multiple choice dialogue options (ie Reven says something, which of the following should be Miranda's response?) with the last page being a ten sentence essay. Now, that doesn't sound that bad (the essay). However...yikes. I just wrote loosely strung together sentences about how I liked bulgogi (Korean beef dish) and shopping at COEX. So, with the ninty minutes that we had for that exam, I at least put something down for all of the blanks.


As time was drawing close to an end for the written portion, our teacher asked if we needed extra time. I looked up at her and down at my exam, laughed and said "I'm not sure it's going to make a difference." This was the truth, not an emo backlash. I was laughing at several points during the exam because I realized that it was just that difficult. And then came the time for listening. Rut row...

Gulping, we each picked a number out of a hat for the speaking portion. I got six (out of nine) which was where I wanted to be (preferably four or so, but six was ok) as I did not want to go first nor did I want to be sitting around nervously for the next half hour, waiting.

Though, as it turned out the spoken was not that bad. The teacher guided me through the dialogue and helped me out when I needed it. I think I did well, all things considered.

Since we were such a small class, we kinda bonded well. Here's a picture of those in our class:

So, Front row (L to R)- Kendra, Miranda, Naru, Mizuki, Krizia
Second row (L to R)- Benji, Nadia, Yours Truly
Third row- Brian

So, yeah. A stunning group, aren't we? After the final, most of the people left, save for the teacher, Brian, Miranda and me. So, the four of us played a traditional Korean game called Yut. The idea is that you throw four sticks, (that are flat on one end, curved on the other) and depending on which way the sticks fall (flat is good, curved is bad), you move your token a number of spaces on a board. Now, it's also like the game Sorry (which is the most insincere title of a game EVER, ahem...) where if you land on the same board space as your opponent you can replace your token with theirs. I'm over simplifying but that's the basic gist.

Now, the thing that makes it unique are the existence of penalty spaces on the board. At the start of the game, each player writes a few penalties for the game. These can range from tame to not so tame. For example, common ones were "do the monkey" (the dance) and sing.

I thought I was a bit more clever and put ones like "stand on your chair for the rest of the game" and "cough every time the opposing team rolls three or above." This picture is an example of the former, with Brian standing. This wouldn't be too bad except Brian soon got a "Dance" penalty and had to dance on the precariously leaning chair. Poor Bryan. Miranda later got the same punishment as well. Tee hee.

Anyways, the teacher also bought us ice cream as we played along. I really liked her and she seem really nice. I felt somewhat bad for her that more people did not stay, but less bad when I remember that that got me more ice cream.

After that, we had the graduation ceremony where we wore black caps and gowns (yes, just like US high school graduation style) and "graduated." There was no official reading of the names; we basically just picked up our certificates and took off. My kind of graduation!

They had a few special awards for students and showed the camp promotional video for next year that was a recap of this years events. I was (to my dismay/horror) was featured in a good number of shots. I look spaced out whenever I'm on screen to say the least. Also, in an ironic twist of me not posting the bandanna picture on here and in fact not even wanting it to surface in any way shape or form, I'm wearing the damn bandanna in the promotional video at two different point. I almost laughed out loud, which greatly confused the people sitting next to me. I'm going to try to get a copy of that video, almost solely for that reason.

While I found that little piece of irony delicious, I realized that it could have been much worse. Case in point, Jane, one of the girls from my school, is featured predominantly during the Baseball game portion and it is obvious that she's had a few too many sips of soju, if you know what I mean.

After the graduation, the broadcasting class groups showed their documentaries, which had been driving anyone in the broadcasting class insane for the past week and a half for a ten minute documentary. There were four altogether and they were all excellent- one was on Arirang (Korean folk song and what it means to different generations), one on the underground music scene in Korea, one on foreigners living in Korea and one about pedophiles in Seoul (basically Seoul has a HUGE problem with pedos and the documentary focused on the facts and what people think should be done about it- chemical castration was the most popular answer followed by execution). Again, these were all top notch and worth the time.

I went out that evening with people from my college and Miranda seemed very buddy-buddy, which I was over-the-moon about (have I used enough hyphens yet?). It is odd. Ever since that night with the Jaggerbombs, she's been walking up to me and starting conversations which hadn't happened prior. Let's contrast that with her icy attitude towards me when we came over on the plane. Big differences.

I hung out with that group for awhile and headed back around 1 (found out they got in around 6 or so "and that was the early group!), so I'm alright with that.


It's kind of weird. I do feel more optimistic. I find myself listening to Cheap Trick (any guesses as to the song?) and the song Reflections from Mass Effect 2's soundtrack. Life is good. :)

Today, I'll write one of the six short stories I've thought of since I came here (but lacked the time to actually write it). So...be prepared to review, Kat!

-Reven