Ahjeossi

We were all walking home from our mandatory British culture lecture class when all of a sudden Joan blurted that I have an ahjeossi (아저씨) -- old man in Korean -- vibe about me. I laughed it off, thinking she was joking until Ali came out of nowhere and chimed in "Yeah, you are like an ahjeossi!!!" To make matters worse, Joan adds more fuel to the fire by letting me know "Karen thinks you act like an ahjeossi too," despite the fact that Karen is older than me and is also one of my BAP mentors. According to Joan, 'everyone' thinks I am like this (although I highly doubt 'everyone' talks to Joan).

So what gives? Is it my face? The way I walk? Is it the glasses? Perhaps it's how I talk to people. I don't nag a lot, do I? (If I do, I get that from my mom and my dad.) Is there an aura of maturity that emanates from my body? Maybe what it all comes down to is my hair -- should I make it look 'younger' and 'hipper'?

I don't know whether or not to take this statement in stride or if I should be sincerely concerned for my inner child. On one hand, this means I carry myself maturely, seem more worldly, and have a sort of je ne sais quois debonair attitude about me. On the other hand, this also means people feel I'm an ahjeossi when I'm only nineteen.

This is all very confusing. I must be facing one of those mid-life crises 30 years prematurely.

-Emoinacloset

Stonehenge/Bath

Real or photoshopped?

Stonehenge was nice. However, even though there is this history and mystery surrounding this monument, in the end it is just a bunch of rocks. It’s cool that you’re there, but after awhile it gets boring staring at this pile. The sheep in the pasture surrounding Stonehenge were more interesting, so after taking the customary tourist pictures, we spent the rest of the time bothering the sheep, becoming farm animal paparazzi.


Picking up Stonehenge with my bare hands


Sheep!!!



These Japanese tourists spent five minutes carefully positioning their cameras on the bench on the right, and then auto-timed the shot to get a jumping photo in front of Stonehenge. If you can imagine three Japanese fobby guys running back and forth, painstakingly adjusting their cameras to get a perfect shot, it was a ridiculous sight. Isn't usually girls that try to do this kind of stuff? Anyways, I had to be really stealthy to take this picture so make it as candid as possible.

Admiring their handiwork

After Stonehenge, we went to the city of Bath, the first Roman city erected in Britain. It houses Britain’s only natural hot spring, so the Romans were delighted to know they could take their warm baths here despite the cold and damp weather. It really was a beautiful city. Not only was this the spa-land for the Romans, in the Victorian era of the 1700s, this was the place to be at. It was the center of fashion, theater, culture, and all the celebrities and rich people lived here. After that time, only old people lived here, but because of the creation of a new university in the city, more young people came here making the city vibrant again.


Landscape of Bath

Once we got there, we began our tour of Bath, led by our tour guide Caroline. She was one of those grandmotherly types who was full of energy, and most importantly had lots of stories to tell.


Caroline

Royal Crescent

Ballroom chandeliers

After the tour, my friends and I began to look for a place to eat. By this time we were all starving because we got on the bus to Stonehenge and Bath at 8:00AM and the tour ended at 2:00PM.



I absolutely loved the name of this restaurant. Who in the world would name their restaurant "Same-Same But Different", but I suppose it was good because it definately caught my eye. We didn't eat here, but it's too bad. Doesn't the lunch special sound mouthwatering?



Eventually we ended up at "Sally Lunn's", which claims it is the oldest house in Bath, c. 1482 and "Home of the world famous Sally Lunn Bun". They also had a kitchen museum inside the restaurant which had a replica of where the first Sally Lunn buns were made. I don't know if these buns are supposed to be this big deal. Despite the title "world famous", I've never heard of these particular buns before. However, the buns, as well as the lunch we got, was delicious. My first course was a vegetable soup appetizer, and then my main dish was pork with stuffing inside drenched in a red wine gravy on top of one of their famous buns.

However, the part I loved the most about this place were the numerous types of tea and coffee they served and the descriptions that accompanied them in the menu. I thought it was brilliant how each description was so vivid, it transported you halfway around the world to where the tea or coffee was harvested. Each tea and coffee seemed to tell a story. For example, Ceylon Tea:

"Whole leaf tea needs a longer brewing time, then the full body and pungent flavour of this tea can be enjoyed to the full. It has a dry, smooth character and golden liquor. It is believed that this is the tea taken into battle by the Duke of Wellington."

Pratik, the stud

By the way, this is my roommate. If you are interested, I will give you his number. He will definately become President of the United States 30 years from now. I am willing to share.

It was a very long and enjoyable lunch. I wish we could have stayed there for an extra hour just sipping tea and coffee (I had a coffee), but we were on NYU's schedule and had to go to the Roman Bath House next.

Roman Bath House, Entrance

It was a self-guided tour, but definately worth checking out. However, it was pretty touristy. As you can see, they even hired a guy to dress up like a Roman soldier to take pictures with the visitors.


Me with a Roman soldier

After that, I just had to go a little Roman myself and strike an elegant pose in the middle of the bathhouse.


Rockin' the Greco-Roman warrior stance


Crazy Spanish girl

Funny story -- right before we left, there was a young guy playing guitar and singing his heart out in front of the Roman bathhouse, but out of nowhere this Spanish tourist girl (incredibly attractive by the way) goes up to him and asks to borrow his guitar, saying she could play a few chords. Amazingly, he let her borrow the guitar -- which must be his most cherished possession, not to mention his meal ticket -- for a couple of minutes. She wasn't very good, but the whole scene was entertaining. In the end, she even stole a picture with him before she left. I thought it was a crazy thing to do, but I suppose this is the kind of stuff you can pull off with men if you are insanely attractive.

-Emoinacloset

Additional Pictures

All I think about is ...

... going to China next year because to be honest I do not really have anything here worth keeping. It has been fun these last (what will be) two years and I really would not trade it for anything, but I feel that at the end of the day it is all replaceable. Things like my awesome job and growing role in the UIS is great and a lot of fun, but I do not attach much value to them. After all these things are just material, and there is not much point to them since I do not have anyone to share it with.

Of course this is not to say that I do not have any friends here at SD, on the contrary, I seem to have a lot more than most people I know. The problem is just that all these friends do not mean very much to me. The experiences with my friends at SD are definitely something I treasure, but besides that they serve as nothing more than distractions to what would otherwise be a very monotonous college experience. I am not building any lasting friendships. After college, I do not think I will be having anything but a professional relationship with them, if any relationship at all.

Which is why I cannot help but think about leaving for China. Everything I do now seems so insignificant because I will be gone next year, and nobody will miss me. Save maybe a small legacy in a small club and a good work record, nothing will remain after a year. Friends may say they will miss me, but I doubt I am close enough to anyone here in SD for them to really care about me. Once the quarter starts, they will soon forget about me. When I come back from China, my friends in SD now will become nothing more than mere acquaintances.

This might sound depressing on the surface, but it is actually very liberating. Suddenly, I feel as if I can do anything because when I come back everything will reset and start over.

-muffinman

Coffee Addict

I have always heard about those people who cannot start their day without coffee and I never really understood what that meant till now. At this point in time I cannot get to 11am without a cup of coffee. If I have not had my first cup of joe by 10am, I start becoming really tired. My eyes begin to close on their own and I have a hard time concentrating or even having a coherent thought. Then a sleepy fog covers my brain and I have to stumble my way to the coffee machine, hoping that I will reach it before I collapse on the ground and sleep like a log.

My name is muffinman and I have a problem.

This addiction is of course unlikely to change because the office has good free coffee. I do not know if it is my coworker or the machine but I never knew Folgers coffee could taste so good. This stuff is ten times better than the coffee cart next to my office for which I have to pay a ridiculous $1.65 for. Though I wonder how much more amazing the coffee would be if I brought beans from Elva's to the office.

But seriously with temptation like this, how can anyone not become addicted.

-muffinman