So Long, 2016!

Merry Christmas!

What a year it was! For the world at large, maybe not one of its finest, but for me personally, I would say it has been a pretty great year. I was thinking about writing a few highlights from 2016, but I think everything I've expressed in my blog posts throughout the year accurately fit that description. So I'll let my blog do the talking on that part and just stick to a short list of some things I would like to accomplish during 2017:

1. Write at least two blog posts per month

2. Read 30 books

3. Travel to a country I've never been to before

4. Complete a half marathon in 1:45:00 or less

5. Remember my friends' birthdays in advance

Merry Christmas!

I have written other things down throughout my personal diary, but I thought those would be some of the more tangible goals to share with you all.

For Christmas, I spent the holiday with two friends here in Seoul. We decided to head to Lotte World, Seoul's second amusement park. The interesting thing about this park is that it is mostly constructed indoors, so a lot of the attractions are inside walls (perfect for cold weather)! Unfortunately, my friends and I could not navigate our way to the roller coaster we wanted to ride, and thus we stumbled into two minuscule rides meant for children after waiting in line for nearly an hour for each of them. LOL. We look back and laugh at the situation with fond memories.

I rang in the new year with another Fulbright friend, a first year named Arya. A couple months ago, we booked tickets to see some of the most trendy, popular, and stylin' Korean hip-hop artists over the course of a two-day concert to ring in the New Year.

"The Final Countdown"

Jay Park!

My personal favorite, Jay Park, would also be performing. Having the chance to see him perform live has been on my bucket list since the beginning of my three years in Korea, so I was quite excited to finally cross that off the list.

The concert was held at an awesome venue in Gangnam, and surprisingly, it wasn't too crowded over the two days. We danced, sang, and rang in the new year full of laughter and joy. Unfortunately, at that time, I was in the process of getting over a nasty cold, so my voice was shot and I was held back a little bit in that regard... but it was totally worth it!

Happy 2017, everyone!

We felt like Iron Woman

Read More

How I Feel About November

Celebrating Halloween with my after school class

Overworked!! Holy moly it's been a crazy month. A drastic change between November 2015 and November 2016, I tell ya. I was sitting on my ass with my foot propped up and watching crappy K-dramas in the hospital all of last November, and this time around I could barely find anything trashy to watch due to all of the election coverage and newly revealed scandal with S. Korea's president, Park Geun Hye.

Hanging out at Everland with Morgan!

Although this month has passed so quickly, I look back on it fondly. I made a lot of fantastic memories with friends, co-workers, and students, despite the political turmoil everyone around the world seems to be facing. I'll talk about some of my highlights, and what's been keeping me so busy.

At the race with my best buddy, Go Eun

Since my last post, we've celebrated two large holidays for Americans: Halloween and Thanksgiving! For Halloween, my friend from Gwangyang (Morgan) came up to visit, and we traveled to one of Korea's amusement parks, Everland, together to check out their detailed decorations. It was awesome! A lot of people were dressed in costume, and the decorations were fun to see along with all the fall foliage. It was so beautiful! I felt so happy just to get out of the city and see trees and mountains and a sight of home with all the costumes and decorations. After Everland, Morgan and I met up with two of my Korean friends and we went to the foreigner district of Seoul to celebrate Halloween! We danced throughout the night and had a great time together.

My friend Ryang Sun and I like to visit museums together!

At school, I celebrated Halloween with the students through Halloween bingo, "trick-or-treating" with their English vocabulary, and having a Monster Mash with my club class, which included mask-making and decorating, pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, and a murder mystery game. It was so fun and the students seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Hiking Seoraksan with Fulbright friends

After Halloween, I was due to prepare my school's English Speaking Competition, where 7 students from each grade are selected to write a 4-5 minute speech on a topic of their choosing, and present them in front of the entire school. Each student earns a prize just for participating, but of course they all want to earn the top spot in their class. I had the task of helping the students write, edit, and help them practice their speeches. We worked on fluency, speed, volume, pronunciation, and most importantly, body language and tone fluctuation! We spent almost three weeks preparing for the big day. The students worked so hard, and I was very proud of them. They had an array of topics such as the E-Sports Industry, Earthquake Concerns on the Korean Peninsula, How to Live a Productive Life, Being a Good Leader, and more! I was taken aback by the depth of the students' vocabulary and knowledge of colloquial phrases. They all did a great job, and we celebrated with a huge food party at the end of it. 

Playing Apples to Apples with my after school class -
We ate apple pie along with it!

While the students were busy training for their speech competition, I was training for one of my own: my first race back since my foot injury! I decided to sign up for a race back in Suncheon (near my old placement city) with two of my Korean friends, and we completed a 10K together. I was a little nervous about how I would do since it was my first time back in competition since my injury. All went well, and I am eager to continue racing and get back into healthy competition. My friends and I have already made plans to sign up for more races this spring and summer! Woohoo.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Fulbright

Another big feat for me this month was (re)conquering Seoraksan National Park. Most of you may not know or remember that this was the exact park where my near-fatal blister was formed on the back of my heel. I am not gonna lie, even though I had already been back to hiking and strenuous exercise before going back to Seoraksan, I was a little nervous to climb this mountain range again. An irrational fear of another blister magically appearing in the exact same spot... but all went well and I walked away unscathed! Muahahaha. It was a bit of a last-minute decision to go - a Fulbright friend from my first year (shout out to Zoe W.!!!) was back visiting Korea from San Fran, and so we decided to head there and hike for a few days. A couple of the other Seoul Fulbrighters tagged along too, and we had a great time together! It felt great to be outdoors and enjoying each others' company.

Made some chicken pot pie for Thanksgiving

And of course, to top it all off, we just concluded Thanksgiving celebrations! I always get a little homesick around this time because I miss my family, home-cooked meals, and being lazy and watching football with Cooper and dad. But luckily, the Seoul ETAs hosted a potluck dinner on Thanksgiving evening, and the Fulbright Program also hosted a formal Thanksgiving dinner for us this past weekend! So, celebrating twice was not too shabby... hehehe! 

Amazing views!

I'm now in the process of booking my travel plans for winter vacation! Although I'm not planning to go back Stateside for the holidays this year, I will definitely be traveling abroad because I missed those opportunities last year due to my injury. So far, I am looking at traveling to Taiwan, Japan, and Bali. I am especially excited for Japan because I am planning to meet up with one of my Japanese friends who was an international student at ISU during the same time I was there! So, we have been in contact and are hoping to get together during a leg of my trip there. I am so excited to see her and reconnect after about four years!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post an update! I have been meaning to write throughout the month, and then in the free time that I DID have, I decided to be lazy instead... it won't happen again! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves this month. Talk soon!

I've got my miniature Christmas tree set up!

Seoraksan is pretty even when the foliage is gone

Read More

"You Will B Fine"

Chuseok in Gwangyang

Two of my students in after-school class

"You Will B Fine" and "Slow Down and Enjoy the Simple Life" have quickly become the mantras of my third year in S. Korea, thanks to a $15 sweater I bought one chilly, rainy, October evening (the few we've had so far) while out wandering Seoul with friends. September was yet another month of transitioning and settling into a daily routine. The joys of the month were plentiful, and I'll briefly highlight some of them.

Happy Chuseok!

One of Korea's most important holidays, Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), took place in the middle of September. Although this is typically a time to relax with friends and family, a part of me felt apprehensive due to the fact that at this time last year was when I acquired my near-fatal blister-turned-MRSA... so I decided that I would NOT be doing any hiking this time around. I followed the traditional Korean way of heading back to one's hometown, so I headed to Gwangyang of course. While there, I visited my home stay family, plenty of friends, and ran into a few co-workers. It was really exciting to be back, seemingly picking up right where I left off with familiar venues, streets, and faces.

Soccer Game with Fulbrighters

I have been keeping busy in Seoul, of course. My typical work day is from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. I wake up around 4:00 a.m. and hit the gym, shower, get ready, eat some breakfast, and am on the subway towards school by 6:50 a.m. I have about a 30-minute commute from my apartment to school, which isn't horrible for Seoul. It's about 15 minutes on the subway and then a 10-15 minute walk from there. After school, I am busy taking Korean lessons and I also teach an after school class two days a week. I teach 4 course hours every day (out of 7), totaling 20 course hours plus 2 additional hours for the after school class. My work load is a bit more hefty in Seoul than it was in Gwangyang, but I am enjoying it, and the students and co-workers make it worthwhile. By the end of the day, I'm usually wiped out, so I spend my time cooking a light dinner, throwing on my pajamas, and reading in bed until I pass out (anywhere between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.).

Co-workers from Gwangyang!

In the free time that I DO have, I am spending it with friends! We have gotten to explore various areas of Seoul, such as walking along the River Han, going to some museums and book stores, cheering for Seoul's soccer club, and of course pleasing our taste buds with all kinds of delicious food.

Joe arrived!

This past week I had the pleasure of hosting TWO American friends and showing them around Seoul and doing all kinds of fun things together! Hana, whom I met at Jane's wedding just this past summer, was traveling to Korea for the first time, so I wanted to meet up with her and have some fun together. She and I decided to go hiking one morning at Bukhansan mountain, planning to do a fairly easy/intermediate course. Some way or another, we ended up following two ajussis (older Korean men) and trekked an advanced/expert course to the peak of the mountain. It was one of the most difficult courses I've hiked, second to the course I hiked in Jirisan during my first year here. Although it was strenuous, the views are always worth it, and we celebrated with snacks, beer, and plum wine. It was delicious! We headed back down, showered and rested, before meeting up for a friend's birthday party and then picking up my other American friend at the airport.

Field trip with the club class

Joseph arrived later that night!!! It was super late by the time we got home, so we crashed and slept in late the next morning. The next day was Sunday, so we joined Hana and her friends for church and then enjoyed a delicious lunch. After lunch, we were ready to get our SPA on and hit up the public bath house to soak in the water, get some body scrubs, and sweat it out in the saunas. It was so relaxing and it was a perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon. The next day I didn't have to go to school because of a different Korean holiday, so we decided to grab dinner and hit up karaoke! We stayed out pretty late enjoying ourselves, and then everyone crashed in my (tiny) apartment. It was a snug fit, but we made it work, as seen by the picture:

Sleeping Beauties

The view from outside my classroom

At school, the students are busy preparing for midterm exams, so the energy levels have been falling. I'm continuing to implement games and fun activities to keep their spirits high and help them to relieve at least a little bit of stress. I will be heading to the Fulbright Fall Conference in Gyeongju for the third year in just over a week. There have been earthquakes over that way (eastern part of Korea), so some teachers are concerned for the safety of everyone, but I think all will be okay.

That's about it for now... stay tuned!

The view from on top of Bukhan Mountain

Read More

Summer Break

I've been back Stateside for summer break! Home for a month, doing absolutely nothing and loving every minute of it. It's gone by too fast. Summer break highlights:

• Shopping spree!!! Finding clothes that are actually my size and fit my body type
• Hanging with the family - sitting in the living room together, watching TV, and vegetating
• Waking up early and then taking long naps in the afternoon... and not feeling guilty about it
• Spending time with my best buddy and companion, Cooper, our golden retriever - can't believe he's almost ten years old already!
• Being a part of one of my very best friends' wedding! Bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding fun... congrats Jane and Josh!!!!
• Eating mom's homemade cooking
• Eating out at my favorite restaurants
• Getting a fresh hairdo to beat the summer heat
• Taking way too many pictures of my dog 
• Road trip to Alabama with my mom and visiting her side of the family, which I haven't seen in 12 years
• Hanging out with my favorite high school teacher and sharing professional development
• Celebrating grandma's 75th birthday
• Four-wheeling and learning how to shoot multiple types of guns on my uncle's 20-acre property
• Enjoying Alabama's beauty
• Enjoying Illinois' beauty
• Seeing my best friend from Mahomet (in Nashville) after 4 years!!
• Visiting 16th Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham and learning more about the civil rights movements during the 60s
• Watching movies and playing Pokemon Go with my brother
• Catching as many Pokemon as possible while I'm home because Pokemon Go is blocked in Korea
• Chilling out and catching up with my friends
• Visiting my physician and actually feeling comfortable about healthcare (lol sad but true)
• Eating at my favorite pizza joint with my aunt and uncle in BloNo
• Dancing at C Street with my brother and friends
• Sleeping in my queen sized bed
• Catching up on my reading
• Watching the Olympics
• Driving my car
• Everything else that I forgot to write about...

As you all know, I will be living and teaching in Seoul for my third year with the Fulbright Program. I am looking forward to another exciting year, hopefully without the "excitement" of extreme medical issues, though. Haha! Catch you all on the other side of the world :)

Read More

Goodbye Gwangyang~

ToastMasters Club Suncheon

It was my second-to-last day living and teaching in Gwangyang. All my boxes and suitcases for moving to Seoul have officially been sent off, and I was left with a bare bed, a TV, and a suitcase full of stuff to get rid of once I arrived back in Illinois for the summer vacation. For two nights I was sleeping with no sheets and a measly travel pillow, but it doesn't really matter because it's hot at night nowadays anyway and I slept just fine. Besides, I kept thinking, 'I'll be back in my own bed in less than 48 hours...'

Polaroids w/ Friends <3

It's been a hell of a month so far - having to tell literally everyone I know in Gwangyang that I'm leaving - coworkers, friends, home stay family, and the once unfamiliar faces I pass every morning while jogging along the river. I even broke down and started bawling in front of every faculty member in the middle of my goodbye speech at my farewell dinner... but that was a one-time deal. Since then, my emotions have been stable and I've been too busy to feel anything else. And I know that I'll be back in Korea in just a short month, albeit four hours north in the country's capital city, Seoul.

One of my classes <3

Aside from all the nostalgia, I was busy preparing for the next Fulbright teacher to take over my place. I had the students write letters and create questions to ask the new teacher, and I wrote a handy "guide" to navigating Gwangyang. When I told the boys I was leaving, their reactions were half, "TEACHER NOOOOOOO WE LOVE YOU" and the other half, "Is the next teacher going to be a pretty girl!?" Hah.

English Teachers at GHS

We also had our Fulbright Final Dinner event in Seoul, and as promised, HillaVanillaThrilla made a comeback with another parody about life in Korea. I'm working on getting the video uploaded to YouTube for public viewing. It was a fun ending to the grant year, and was my last time seeing many of the close friends I've made in the program.

GY buddies <3

The last two weeks were spent packing up my apartment, pushing through the end of the school year, and reminiscing on the two years that flew by in Gwangyang. On paper (and majority of my blog posts...), this past year was disappointing. I was plagued by a severe bacterial infection that took 6 months to fully treat, hindering my capability to fulfill some of my work and personal goals. But, being the optimist that I am, I somehow found the light at the end of the tunnel and turned things around and decided that my time in Korea isn't over.

GeunBu and I making a heart

Reflecting on my second grant year, I feel relieved that it is over. I need my month at home to relax, regain strength, and go into my third and final year feeling refreshed and ready for change. Seoul is going to be an awesome experience -- my first time living in a metropolitan city. I've made Gwangyang my comfortable home for the past two years - quite easily at that. My coworkers and students always brightened my day and made me excited to go to work in the mornings. The friends I made introduced me to all that Gwangyang and its surroundings have to offer, and we took advantage of every opportunity we had. I learned so much about Korea, its culture, the people, by living in this small city that I now call my Korean hometown. I'm looking forward to returning there during my third year in Korea, even if it is across the country from Seoul.

Thank you, Gwangyang, for taking me in and embracing me over the past two years. You'll always have a special place in my heart <3

Our office cleaners! <3

Gwangyang Friends <3

My friend GoUn <3

Krystale and SaeMin <3

The principal and I! <3

Read More

Spring Awakening

Sand castles that locals sculpt everyday

Hello everyone! My apologies for the delayed blog post, but to be honest, I haven't been up to too much except relaxing and enjoying the remainder of my vacation before school started back up just today. This post is titled "Spring Awakening" with good reason - I've been out of school for four months, and I was in for a shaky first week to start the spring semester.

En route to Boracay

Before we get into that, however, I want to share with you all some pictures and stories from my vacation in the Philippines! Five Fulbright friends and I decided to take the last ten days of our winter break to head somewhere warm. We were ready to enjoy the hot weather, get sun-tanned, relax on the beach, and enjoy the nightlife. We packed our bags and said a brief goodbye to the freezing Seoul temperature and were on our way to paradise February 20th. Unfortunately, we were in for a long haul. Our first flight from Seoul to Manila went smoothly (a four hour flight), although a bit crammed. No more luxury Korean Air seating, as we booked budget airlines to save money. Once we arrived in Manila, it was like heaven on earth. Warm weather, friendly English-speaking people, but most of all, we spotted a WENDY'S RESTAURANT!!!!! None of us hesitated and immediately agreed to enjoy an early dinner during our layover from Manila and Kalibo. It was so delicious. I miss Wendy's square burgers so much.

Ilig Iligan Beach

Anyway, our second flight was a short, one hour flight from Manila to Kalibo, but ended up being delayed almost five hours. Our original flight time was 5:45, but was pushed back until 10:30 p.m. This wouldn't have been a problem if Kalibo was our final destination -- but it wasn't. Once we were to arrive at Kalibo, we still had a two-hour van ride and a short ferry ride to the island we were staying at for the trip (named Boracay). During our layover, we decided to exchange our currency, and a few of us bought data packages to keep in contact throughout the trip. We eventually landed at midnight, booked a van to get to the ferry port, and finally made it to our resort around 3:00 a.m. Phew! We passed out, but didn't sleep too long as we wanted to get an early start the next morning.

Sunset over White Beach

On our first official day in Boracay, we settled in, bought some necessities, and met up with another Fulbrighter who was already in Boracay. She showed us around a bit, and we decided to go to a more secluded beach that was supposed to be extremely beautiful. The beach is called Ilig Iligan Beach, and it was some of the most blue water I have laid eyes on! The beach itself was actually a bit dirty compared to the other beaches on the island, but a lot less populated. While there, our group met a middle-aged Italian guy named Paulo who had been staying on the island for three months already. He took us back towards the main beach and we made it just in time for a beautiful sunset over White Beach (it's called White Beach because of the white sand). We ate Filipino food for dinner, which I fell in love with over the course of the trip. SO GOOD. After dinner, we headed back to the resort, showered up, and spent our first night out enjoying drinks and dancing!

Delicious Filipino food

Day two: woke up hungover. A couple of us decided to grab brunch and it was a good decision because it was delicious. After brunch, we headed straight for White Beach to relax all day. Got tan and burnt in a few areas, called it an early night.

Day three: went to a different beach, which was my favorite of the trip! It's called Puka Beach, and I liked it because it didn't have as much algae as White Beach. During the months of December-February, some of the beaches are known to get algae because of the waste being dumped into the water #sadness. Anyway, I got quite burnt this day and felt like a lobster. Luckily my burns only lasted throughout the night and turned into a nice tan by morning. That night we decided we were ready to enjoy the nightlife again, so we explored a couple new clubs and danced the night away. I ended up meeting some other Americans who have extended family living in the Philippines, so I talked with them awhile and we ate McDonald's together. McDonald's Philippines has this awesome thing called "BFF Packs" where you can purchase multiple menu items for 3-4 friends at a super cheap price. Unfortunately I never got to try this, but I feel like it is something that would be a big hit in America.

Sunset over White Beach

Day four: woke up super late, hungover, and walked around the island. The group split up and did our own thing, and we met up at night for dinner. We decided to chill in our resort for the night and played Cards Against Humanity for a long time before passing out.

Day five: Woke up, went souvenir shopping, laid on the beach awhile. For dinner we went to an awesome seafood buffet and we all went HAM on that baby. It was so good. We found an awesome bar that played rap and hip-hop music, so we hung out there for awhile. A couple of our friends decided to go home, so my friend Teri and I wandered around and met some native Filipinos and ended up talking to them for a long time before crashing.

Sunset over White Beach

Day six: AKA the day that brutally destroyed me. Our group booked a tour to an island called Ariel's Point. At this island, we can go cliff diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and -- all you can drink! On our way there, we met a Filipina woman who was around our age and she hung out with us for the day. She actually got super drunk and started vomiting on the boat. Oops. I decided not to drink too much since I wanted to participate in a lot of the activities, so I took it easy. Once at the island, we found out there was a 5 meter (16 feet), 8 meter (26 feet), and 15 meter (50 feet) cliff dive. Our whole group decided we would all at least conquer the 5 meter jump, but the other two were up to guts and facing fears. The five meter jump was like jumping off of a diving board - pretty straight forward, not too scary unless you've never jumped off a diving board before. However, the eight meter and fifteen meter jumps created a pit in my stomach that I wasn't sure I would overcome. The eight meter was pretty easy to do, I just ran straight off of the cliff and landed in the water, even though I felt like I was floating in mid-air for much longer than I should have been. Upon impact with the water, my thighs and butt stung, but I would realize that the sting of the eight meter had no comparison to what would come from the fifteen meter jump. My friends and I stalled on the fifteen meter jump until right before it was time to board the boat and get back to the mainland. Two friends jumped with ease, but I stood frozen at the top. I kept thinking about whether or not I really wanted to do it. And I thought about the stinging of my butt and thighs from the eight meter jump. How could I land straight into the fifteen meter jump, twice as long as the previous jump?

Enjoying the sun

Eventually, I mustered up my courage and was the last person to jump off of the fifteen meter jump. I told myself, "Tomorrow is my birthday. This is a birthday present. Face this fear and just do it." So without further ado, I walked right off of the cliff, floated in gravity for what felt like forever, flailing my body and trying to make it pencil-shaped, and went KABOOM into the water. I landed right on my ass, and there are various bruises to prove it (I won't post pictures here, as this is a public space). It is almost one week later, and I'm still having difficulty sitting on chairs, standing up/sitting down normally, etc. But I did it. I survived. And I'll never do it again. Lol!

After our day of cliff diving, snorkeling, and kayaking, we headed back to our resort to get cleaned up. We headed to dinner with some other people that were on the trip with us, and we had a mini celebration of my birthday! I ended up inviting our tour guide to tag along, and at midnight we all took birthday shots. Afterwards, we hit up the dance club and danced the night away.

Another sunset over White Beach

Day seven: my birthday! Unfortunately, we woke up to a typhoon outside our windows. A couple friends and I decided to meet up with our tour guide anyway because we wanted to go island hopping and see some prettier sights for snorkeling. We headed out, bought fresh produce and snacks for a picnic at the island we were going to, and were on our way. The island our guide took us to was beautiful! The weather was clearing up by this point, so we were able to explore and enjoy the seemingly deserted island to ourselves. We barbecued and enjoyed a light picnic, relaxed some more, and then headed back out to the open water. This next part was one of my favorite parts of the trip! We stopped our boat in the middle of the sea, grabbed our snorkeling gear, and dove in. I have never been much of a water sports type of person, but snorkeling may have turned me. There were some of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen! Now I am wondering what else is out there in the remaining 70% of water that inhabits our Earth. We stayed out there for quite some time, and eventually made our way back to the mainland. I showered up, got ready, and did some last minute souvenir shopping because the next day we would be leaving beautiful Boracay :(

Banana Crepe!

For my birthday dinner, my friends and I decided to go to a Spanish Tapas restaurant, which made me reminisce on my time in Spain. The food was amazing, so rich, and gave me a stomach ache, but it was well worth it. After dinner, we headed back to the resort and decided to pack up, as we had to leave early the next morning to get back to Manila.

Our awesome tour guide, Alfred

Day eight: Everything packed. Good to go. On our way to Manila where we would spend the day and leave early the next day to get back to Korea! We said farewell to our awesome tour guide, and promised to meet again one day in the future (I will be back, Boracay!). Once we got to Manila, we decided to go to the Mall of Asia, have dinner, and walk around. To get there, we took a method of transportation called a jeepney. They are elongated jeeps that the public people hop on and off of to get from one place to another. It's interesting because it seems to work on an honors system. People hop on, pass money back and forth amongst one another and eventually get it to the driver. I have no idea how they know how much everything costs, but I guess locals would know better than me. Ayway, the mall was HUGE. We didn't walk around much as we got distracted by food and an insanely large American-esque supermarket, but I felt like I could have spent my entire life savings there if I had the chance. And if I could afford it. LOL. Anyway, we had our final meal in the Philippines, went back to our hostel and called it an early night.

B-day wishes from Debbie (love ya)

Day nine: Woke up at 3:00 a.m. to get to the airport for a 7:00 a.m. flight. Much of this day was spent traveling and not super interesting. I made it back to Gwangyang at 9:30 p.m., and I was thoroughly exhausted. I showered and passed out right away. Overall, it was an awesome trip, and I was so happy to spend it with friends and enjoy warm weather before getting back to the grind at school.

The spring semester started two days ago, and I am happy to be back. My co-workers and students also seem genuinely happy to see me and have been asking about my health, so it feels good to be back with a warm welcome. Although I've come down with a bit of a cold (maybe due to the weather change, exhaustion, what be it...), I am prepared to tackle this semester and have fun along the way!

Our last night in Boracay (and my bday)

Read More