Days 35-39: Budgeting, Studies, Korean Food, & London Visits Cardiff :)

Days 35&36 (Monday, October 25, 2010 & Tuesday, October 26, 2010):


This Monday was a typical Monday - two lectures and hall group meeting! I can't remember what we did at hall groups.  I started budgeting this week after realizing how ridiculous my blind spending had become.  I was literally draining away all the money I had saved over the summer and during the school year from working nonstop. I started writing down everything I spent and keeping track of where the money was going - it really helped me to be conscience of my spending.

 On Tuesday, I attempted to actually get some work done (surprise!) by going to Starbucks with Alisha.  I had such difficulty focusing that I think I read only about 2 pages of my article.  It really didn't help that I had brought my laptop with me either.  On a side note, I really love that the Starbucks here as a more of a 'cafe' feel to it since it has real cups!  I don't understand why the Starbucks's in America don't have that system - after all, Starbucks is American.  Also, the McDonald's here is so much nicer.  It looks so fancy inside, and the workers wear these super formal skirts and everything.  There's a more elegant feel to it, which is strange.  A McDonald's I went to in London even had digitally streaming news headlines on the side; another one I went to in Paris even served fancy macaroons.  I don't understand why our McDonalds' are so broken down and often really uninviting...

I also bought a travel mug from Starbucks so I could make coffee from home to bring along to my classes (yes, I'm one of those people who live on coffee).

Anyway, I have written on my notebook that Alisha and I came back from Starbucks to cook spicy Korean noodles that I bought from the Cardiff Japanese and Korean Market!  It was her first time having Korean food, and she absolutely loves it now :) Yay for introducing new people to the cuisine!

Days 37 & 38 (Wednesday, October 27, 2010 & Thursday, October 28, 2010):


On Wednesday, I had my debriefing for my previously mentioned seminar group presentation; we got a '65' on the score (which means a D in the American system but is actually equivalent to like a B+ here...), which wasn't bad (but of course I would have liked an A).  Honestly, I don't understand why they work on such low percentages, but I guess it means there is always room for improvement.  I knew that the system was different here, but my heart still sank when I saw the '65' - at home, my heart would sink at like an '80'!

Afterwards, I went to the CU International Cafe, which is always a nice place to grab lunch and meet people from all around the world (mainly Malaysia...).  I headed to the Korean market again this time around to grab some more stuff; I bought some instant rice packets, gochujang (spicy sauce), sesame oil and some dried seaweed.  Mixed together with rice, this sauce is heavenly - I discovered this quick fix during my freshman year at Penn, and it has saved me once again at Cardiff!  So simple, yet so heavenly.  I also bought stuff for my Korean cook-out that happened on Thursday (more on that very shortly)!

I ended up leaving my newly bought traveling mug at the Chaplaincy after International Cafe (typical)...

I came back to my room and attempted (very hard) to do some work, which...failed. I went to CU that night, which was (probably) a sermon and hang-out (can't remember)...

I ended up marinating the meat (Bulgogi) for the day after at like 2 in the morning, but that went all fine. :)

On Thursday, I had one seminar and then invited some CCCC people over for Korean food before our meeting later that night!

The dinner had three components: 1) Kimchi-Jun (Kimchi Pancakes), which are really easy to make, 2) Spicy Sticky Noodles (Jjol-Myun) and 3) Marinated Beef (Bulgogi)!  As a bonus, we had crepes for dessert (which has nothing to do with Korean food, but it was still fun).  Alisha and I were super busy running back and forth - thank God I had her to help me :)

Elmira dropped by with a suitcase filled with a spare blanket - I needed it for friends who were coming over for the weekend from London!

In the midst of our cooking and eating, we had a fire alarm - that really sucked since we had guests over. I felt really bad :\ , but it wasn't anything anyone could foresee.  We were running late to the CCCC fellowship meeting, so Alisha had to do the leftover dishes. :( I felt really bad but thankful at the same time!

I was able to retrieve the mug that I had left at the Chaplaincy on Wednesday at this time - it was really convenient since CCCC is also in the Chaplaincy. :)

Day 39 (Friday, October 29, 2010):

My Friday started out extremely early with morning prayer at the Chaplaincy with the CU.  I went with Jordan, who lives in the house next to me.  It was such a blessing.  Morning prayer definitely has a different power to it - it's amazing how God moves your heart when you get up in the morning to just praise him.  We prayed for people around us to come to know God, for ourselves, and for other issues at hand.  It was just awesome; I came out of it feeling completely renewed and refreshed.  I love, love morning prayer, but I really don't do it enough.

Afterwards, I went to my 9 o'clock lecture and my seminar immediately following it; I was excited because I had some friends from Penn visiting over the weekend!

It was kind of ridiculous because all three of them arrived at three different times even though they were all leaving from the same place!! We're all absolutely nuts. :)  I picked Jen up first immediately after class; we had about an hour to kill before Alphonse arrived, so we headed to the Welsh National Museum.  This was the first time that I went to the National Museum, and it was pretty cool.  Alphonse came soon after; we all headed to my room from the SU to drop off their stuff.

I was housing three people over the weekend in my tiny room:

Yeah.  That's pretty much all the space I have!  It's small and cozy for one person, but to house three people it was kind of crammed.  Jen ended up sleeping on the floor while the two guys slept on my bed - they (at least one of them) were quite resistant to the idea at first but relented when they saw the situation.

We headed to the Woodville Pub to grab lunch - they were mesmerized by the cheap meal deal it has (£4.99 for a burger+'chips' +beer) since London is so expensive!

We did manage to take some really nice pictures once the rain cleared up:

Photo Credits to Jen

So pretty. Photo Credits to Jen

We hung around Town for a while and did a little bit of shopping.  Earlier in the day, the zippers in my boots had broken, so I ended up buying new boots - which was devastating to my budget since I had started keeping track.  Boots are such a necessity in this weather though, and I am really glad I got them.

We then came back onto campus to the Taf, which is a pub at the SU.  We got a couple of drinks (I think I got dessert) and just hung around since we were waiting for Christian to come.  Christian was arriving really late (at around 2am), so we had lots of time to kill!  We decided to go to Tesco's to grab some stuff - on the way there, we ran into a couple of people from my hall group who were playing hide-and-seek (haha).  We came back extremely exhausted but still had to wait for Christian to come.

At around 1:30am, we trekked across the city to pick-up Christian from City Centre; afterwards, we all came and pretty much crashed.  I didn't know until the next morning, but I ended up destroying my camera in the rainy walk to pick-up Christian... :(

More on their visit on another entry!

Oh and an update on my Bucket List:

I decided that I want to visit all the 50 states!  Lots of people have been asking me about the States since I've been here, and I always feel kind of sad when I tell them that I really don't know much about the other states since I haven't been to most of them!  Thus, I shall make it a point to visit every single state in the US...

Elisa's Bucket List (so far) - in no particular order
Last Updated 11/30/2010

1.   Fall in love & never, ever let go.

2.   Go to an H.O.T. concert

3.   Go on a short-term mission

4.   Go skydiving

5.   Hike the Half-Dome

6.   Fish a shark

7.   Learn to swim

8.   Go swimming with dolphins

9.   Watch a solar eclipse with someone special

10.                 Go on a road trip

11.                 Donate to a university in the form of a scholarship

12.                 Open a bakery

13.                 Travel around Europe

14.                 Visit a pyramid

15.                 Go to the Great Wall of China

16.                 Have children

17.                 Cook a Thanksgiving meal (from start to finish by myself)

18.                 Finish the BBC 100 book list

19.                 Be in a musical

20.                 Play the piano at a church

21.                 Study abroad

22.                 Pet a baby tiger

23.                 Have a library in home

24.                 Visit the 50 States (layovers don't count): 

AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI,
MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN,
TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY

Days 8-10: Enrolment, Pubs, CU, Cultural Differences

October 4, 2010

Oops. How did I get this behind in updates? Must hurry up and try to catch up...

Day 8 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010):


It's seriously getting to a point where I can't remember what I did unless I look through my schedule book...and even then I'm not exactly sure! Well this day, I was supposed to have gone on a day trip with Alisha (we were thinking Bristol since it's close by), but due to scheduling (or "timetable" as they call it here) and class (or "modules") issues, we had to scrap that plan for another day. I ended up not going to the JOMEC enrolment session as advised not to by the assistant in the office...only to receive an email later saying that I "urgently" need to schedule an appointment with my "personal tutor" (an advisor as we'd call it in the States) as I had "failed to attend" the session on Tuesday. Oops? I had to take care of some "timetable conflict" (scheduling conflict) in the morning...and then Alisha, Alana and I checked out the Local Companies' Fair where we were bombarded with ads and flyers. I honestly can't remember what we did the rest of the day...this is kind of sad, I just checked my text messages and I remember now!

Alisha, Alana and I went to the Uni Hall Pub...where we were joined by Elmira, another American study abroad student that I had spoken to prior to coming here. We each had our first fish and chips (YAY) which was absolutely delicious!

First fish & chips...served with "spirals" (curly fries) and peas - photo credits to Alisha - I didn't take my camera

Afterwards, we proceeded to play Jenga - we quickly discovered that Tipsy-Jenga is the best thing ever!

Day 9 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010):


I had to take care of some module stuff again so I went to the JOMEC building to sort out some issues and sign-up for seminars (the equivalent of "discussions" or "recitations" in the States). I had a few hours to kill before my next event, and I ended up going to a cafe that has already become my favorite and writing a blog entry there. Around noon, I headed onto a CU event - the CU here in Cardiff hosts an International Cafe every Wednesday afternoon - a great place to meet new people and get to know other Internationals! I got to meet new people and chat up some people I had met last week, which was very nice. Afterwards, I got directions to a Korean/Japanese market near/on campus (we don't really have a campus) and I finally found it! I had been looking for it all week after passing near it by chance. Honestly, I stepped in and almost cried. I thought I wouldn't miss Korean food so much, but I really do crave it! AHH! I bought some non-smelly food for the sake of my flatmates (so pretty much just ramen) but I think I'm going to go back to buy some seaweed and gochujang to make bibimbab. I would love to have some spicy food!! I chatted with the nice Korean owners in Korean for a little bit - it was awesome just to be able to chat with adults in Korean again (I know, I know, despite the whole "I don't like Korean people" thing, it was still a taste of home just by encountering some Korean adults).

I got back to my dorm just to leave again to Tesco's with Kristin (seriously, I go there so often). She ended up buying some very needed groceries and I bought some food as well - on the way back, we ended up stealing a "trolley" (shopping cart) ;) Well, we had to insert a pound to get the trolley out in the first place, so it wasn't really stealing! I'm not exactly sure what Kristin did with the trolley afterwards, but it was funny to see everyone watch us as we rolled the trolley right into our dorm premises.

After Tesco's I headed over to meet up Izzy, one of the British friends I was able to make through CU. We were trying to figure out where to grab dinner and ended up settling at this Falafel place...where we encountered this super creepy guy who was hitting on Izzy so we ended up heading out. Then we tried sitting on the steps of the business school when a cat came upon us and both of us flipped out! That was quite a memorable meal!! Afterwards, we headed to the CU main meeting for a time of worship and meeting new people! After the CU meeting they had "open house", where CU members opened their houses up for tea...that was more mingling and very lovely :) I met really cool new people, and it's always very nice to be surrounded by native British people as opposed to other study abroad students (although I <3 my study abroad group)!

Day 10 (Thursday, September 30, 2010):


I realize that these entries are getting extremely long because I keep updating them in masses, but I still think it's important for me to update on a day-to-day recap method because this is really for me to capture my experiences abroad. I am so forgetful that it's ridiculous how much I don't remember - this way, I'll have it in writing!

On Thursday, I had my main JOMEC (my department here in Cardiff) meet-and-greet session that I had to attend. In the morning, Alisha and I headed out to grab a quick bite at the coffee store and then headed on to the Societies' Fayre. "Societies" pretty much are equivalent to "clubs" back in the US, but the main difference is that many societies require you to pay a fee to join. It's slightly more formal as there is an entire process to join a society whereas back at Penn, joining a club is as easy as attending meetings and getting on the listserv. I ended up signing up for the CU and the Korean Society (I am craving Korean bad SO badly) - everything else didn't seem to catch my eye. I then headed to a very quick 2nd year JOMEC session...

After the JOMEC session, I rejoined Alisha and Alana who were eating at an Italian restaurant in City Centre. I am becoming OBSESSED with Irish Coffee:

Such deliciousness. I am definitely going to miss being able to have Irish Coffee down the street!

We wandered around City Centre for a bit where I ended up doing some major shopping (sigh...). I bought a new pair of boots (I know, I know) but they ended up being a worthwhile investment as they're waterproof and comfortable! Those two characteristics are NECESSARY in the UK where we do so much walking and it's constantly raining.

After City Centre, we headed to Uni Hall, where Alana, Elmira and Dee Dee are staying (all Internationals) - we ended up at the Pub again where we played games!


Whew. I'll end tonight's updates for now here - up next is my weekend in London & some more traveling!

On a side note, I can't stand that there are people screaming out my window every single night. I really hate being woken up every night at 3am/4am by giggling girls. They literally party every single night here and while I am totally a proponent of partying MODERATELY, I seriously wonder if people here know how to have fun without drinking. But then again, we are living in a primarily freshmen-dominated dorm and freshmen are always annoying no matter where they are...it just takes a year or two for them to realize that they don't need to be partying every night - you can "live it up" in other ways. I'd much rather have a slow night in with a close group of friends than be out in a packed club with strangers. But I guess freshmen will be freshmen. Don't they get tired??? I guess I must be old now...hehe.

Tesco my life

September 27, 2010


This is a complete overload of information / entries, but I'm starting to forget things already so must update!!

Day 4 (Friday, September 24, 2010):

The American flatmate (Alisha) and I ended up waking up early yet again and heading off to the Student Union (the walk takes FOREVER) to check out the International Students Fair. We just ended up getting a bunch of pamphlets, including information on the HOST programme, which both of us are determined to be a part of. The HOST programme pairs up each student up with a family host for a weekend all across the UK. I LOVE the idea of it and can't wait to sign-up!

We dropped by the Student Union store, where both of us got hoodies...I debated for a long time whether I wanted the Cardiff Uni hoodie in English or Welsh - I ended up getting it in Welsh!

At noon, we headed to a cafe to meet up with Lauren, who is this super sweet girl that I spoke to online prior to coming to Cardiff. Lauren's a pianist (YES, this is super awesome since I played the piano at Hami) and studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (can someone say AWESOME)?? Lauren took us girls on a trip to the Cardiff Bay which was absolutely gorgeous.

On the way there, we got a glimpse of the Royal Welsh College and it made me SUPER nostalgic for Hamilton. :( I miss being around talented and passionate musicians all the time.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Bay:

Starbucks actually serves like a cafe here, with real cups and everything:

It was so nice to just sit down and cuddle for a chat!

The Bay had these super cute shops and I ended up spending on the cutest scarf there!

After the Bay, we headed toward town centre where I bought some boots (yay for spending)! 

We had just enough time to head back home, drop our stuff, and then head back out to the Student Union, where they were having an International Students' Welcome Party. They taught us Twmpath dances, which are traditional Welsh dances.

Here is a picture of it:

I'm not much of a dancer, but it was all in good fun! We had to dance with a bunch of different partners, which is always fun. The "afterparty" following Twmpath was okay - nothing too special or anything. The SU bar has limited alchy!

Day 5 (Saturday, September 25, 2010):

I got to sleep in a bit, since the first thing on my agenda was at noon. Alisha and I grabbed brunch at a coffee shop and then headed over to the International Information Session, where they bombarded us with information - after, we went to Tesco's (yes again), where we literally shopped for 2.5 hours! That place was CHAOTIC. So many people!!

I ended up drinking with the other flatmates and was going to go out with them, but I had not bought a "fresher's wristband" (since I didn't think I wanted to party with the freshers very much) and the tickets for the night was sold out, so I couldn't go out with them. Instead, Alisha and I hit up a pub - it was nice bonding time as we had a great chat. OH, and at the pub they played S CLUB 7's S Club Party - I used to be in LOVE with this band in elementary school so it was pretty awesome to hear it! The entire pub sang along to it, I loved it.

Day 6 (Sunday, September 26, 2010):

Almost all caught up in the entries! Whew! I woke up at around 8am and headed to the SU again - the CU (Christian Union) was holding like a "try a church" event where church representatives were there to talk about their church. I was interested in three churches primarily (out of the 10-some that were introduced), but for some strange reason I ended up going to a Chinese Church (no, I'm not Chinese). The people were really sweet and it really showed that they had a small but close-knit community - although I had to tell everyone a hundred times that I wasn't Chinese and that I didn't speak Chinese. :) Afterwards we went over to grab lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and the people were quite friendly.

The sermon was gospel-centered, and something that was challenging - a part of me was concerned that the preaching here would be different from what I'm used to, but it was all good. The church was tiny though compared to what I'm used to in RCF and such, but it's so wonderful to know that God is moving in Cardiff :)

I was supposed to go with Alisha on a double-decker tour of Cardiff since there was a discount for us, but I ended up not coming back from church until like literally 4pm, so that went out the window.

I ended up meeting Kristin for dinner (she is also from Penn and had studied abroad the year before me - she loved it so much and is now here for her Master's!) and another American graduate student. It was really nice - we went to City Centre and grabbed some Italian food. The food was great, and I had an Irish Coffee for the first time which was pretty yummy as well.

I ended up getting TERRIBLE cramps by the end of the night and we had to cab it home, but after napping I felt a lot better :)

Alisha and I were looking into planning a daytrip to Bristol and I think we'll be set on going there on Tuesday :) Whew, all caught up!!