Upper sixth, I have arrived! So college has finally started again. Strangely, I was looking forward to it. Although I did do a lot during the summer holidays, I just was a bit bored throughout most of it. There’s only so many times I can go out with friends. I went into London a lot. I’m not even sure why. I’m due to go there on Wednesday haha. I’ll talk about that trip…soon? Anyway, my classes are good. I just have a lot of work to do, especially in Travel. I would talk about it more, but it makes me feel all “oh crap” every time I think about it in detail.
Newquay was strangely quite fun. I love beaches on a rainy day. It looks so peaceful when there aren’t masses of people around. We went to Newquay Zoo, which was nice. It’s smaller than some of the other zoos I’ve been to, but it has a nice selection of animals. I never knew otters could be so cute. We explored a few caves that I didn’t find very creepy at all. My friends kept screaming their heads off, though.
Currently listening to: Glory of the 80’s by Tori Amos, from the album To Venus and Back.
I’m going to Newquay tomorrow for a weekend tomorrow. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing, but I hope it doesn’t consist of sitting around on a beach all day. If I wanted to do that, I’d have paid £12.50 to go to Brighton for the day instead. I looked at the forecast, and it said that it would rain on Sunday and Monday. I’d like to go to the Eden Project, but it’s fairly far away. I’ll probably walk there from Par station. It’s about an hour from Newquay on the train, and the walk is 3 miles. I’ll have to bring my comfortable shoes.
On Wednesday, I met up with Joe again. Shaun couldn’t come. I also met Joe’s friend Freddy who came from Norway. It was an awesome day. All we really did was walk around, but I showed them a few sights, and we walked most of the South Bank. I took them to Yo! Sushi (the novelty that is conveyer belt sushi). Joe wanted to try it out. Freddy had never tried sushi before, so he wanted to try it as well. He didn’t like it. D: I would have ordered more, but I didn’t really have a lot of money.
The KCC are holding Korean language sessions again, so I’m going to try sign up for them while I’m in Newquay. The whole process confuses me, but wish me luck~~ If I take them, I’ll be doing 4 language courses haha.
Currently listening to: 放開你的心 by 王力宏, from the album 心中的日月.
I attended a Korean language lecture at the Korean Cultural Centre today. It was about Korean honorifics and their usage in Korea. It was really interesting to see how the Korean society structure is so complex, and also how complicated it all is. The lecturer even said many Koreans don’t know how, or get wrong, honorifics which makes me feel a lot better, if and when I learn the language. It’s amusing how Koreans try so hard not to call each other by their names, but will strive to call them using a honorific instead. In English, we only really have one word for “you” which is…”you”. XD We did have both thou and you, thou being used for someone you’re close to, but that has fallen out of context. In Korean, there are many ways on saying “you”, depending on your age, gender or your position in society. Likewise in Vietamese, there are 7 ways to say “you”. In Chinese, we have 2 ways. Well, 3, if you count 爾, which I have never been seen used, apart from in words such as 威爾斯 and 北愛爾蘭, which actually are the names for Wales and Northern Ireland in Chinese. Even then, I don’t really think you can class them as true honorifics.
I started filling in my UCAS application and writing my personal statement. I never knew that it would so hard to write. So many things to consider and add, yet I only have a small space to write. I’m definitely going to put in that I attended the Korean lecture though. I think attending a lecture at 6:30pm on a Tuesday evening is a good way to convey that I really want to study Korean.
Currently listening to: 미워도 사랑하니까 by DAViCHi, from the album Vivid Summer Edition [AMARANTH (Repackage)].
I got good results in my AS Levels. Well, I got the results I wanted.
Currently listening to: Irony by Wonder Girls, from the album The Wonder Begins.
I’ve been reading a lot of books lately. Currently, I’m reading Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey. The book was written after his and his son’s trip to Japan sometime in 2002, I believe. I’m finding it an enjoyable read, but the book is mainly based around manga and anime, which I don’t really have that much of an interest. Still, it’s interesting reading a gaijin (外人) view on Japan. I read another travel book, called Meeting Mr Kim: or How I Went to Korea and Learned To Love Kimchi by Jennifer Barclay. I really enjoyed the book. It’s about a woman who accompanies her boyfriend to Korea for 3 months and travels around Korea in search for the soul of Seoul. Her stories about meeting a wide range of friendly Korean people makes me want to visit. Hopefully I can, if I read Korean Studies at university.
Currently listening to: So Hot by Wonder Girls, from the album So Hot.