I can sleep again!!

Deciding to move somewhere that I didn’t already know I loved and where I really only knew one person truly was a CRAZY idea. Getting here was like having the first-day-at-a-new-job jitters…but it was actually my first day at a new job, apartment, alphabet, language, transportation system, way of eating, way of thinking….everything! So my jitters were like regular jitters times a thousand, which is why I was too wound up to sleep for the first couple of nights. It is fun though and I’m really glad I decided to do this! (Plus, I slept 11 hours last night!)

I didn’t want to study the language before coming because I wanted to see what it would be like to be completely immersed in a culture I didn’t understand. The answer? I can’t even choose a word to describe it. Confusing for sure. Bizarre? Definitely somewhat nerve-wracking. Awesome because I know I’ll learn a lot every day that I’m here. I feel like I’m playing some kind of game, though, because real life as I know it isn’t anything like this.

I can’t read anything around here so it’s hard to do much without help. If Megan hadn't shown me, I wouldn’t have a clue about how anything in my apartment worked or how to get ANYwhere. As of yesterday, I can get myself to the grocery store, the subway station, the dollar store and my bank. However, I can’t read anything so I can’t really buy anything at the store or go anywhere on the subway. Plus there are zero dollars—excuse me—zero won in my bank account because I haven’t started working yet, so there’s not much point in knowing how to get there.

It’s also hard to get around because all of the buildings look the same to me. They all have signs outside of them that I assume say different things, making it easy for natives to get around. I, on the other hand, have to make mental notes like “okay, to get home later I will: turn left onto the busy street, then turn right by the chicken place, then take a left after the brick building with a white car next to it.” No joke…that’s actually how I get home from the grocery store.

Looks like I need to go start studying my Korean!! :D