my fulfilling student life

hello everyone.

today, I would like to talk about my fulfilling student life. as much as older people tell you “enjoy your student life” and that they say that they wanna go back to that “free” life, I can’t entirely agree. I think it is much more important to have a fulfilling student life. and that, is not by just enjoying, but by creating all these memories that when you look back you’d tell yourself “so much happened, and they were all great memories or an experience to learn from” rather than “I just smoked, clubbed and repeat.” which I never got to understand anyways. but the fulfilling student life I had was in my opinion, the greatest thing happened.

in Korea, people tend to do a lot of club activities and be in groups rather than work alone. being a foreigner, it was never easy to fit into the locals but if you are just true to others, trust me, great friends will come. people around me would know that I am far from being a “chill” person despite how I may portray myself on social media. I am always very anxious, I’m a perfectionist, and I want everything to go as planned. but I do notice that that was/is also my biggest flaw. and I am trying very hard to overcome that.

but did that make me regret? nope, I definitely don’t regret my student life. why?

because I took every opportunity there is. Continue reading “my fulfilling student life”

The next chapter.

Hello all!

I have been away for a while haven’t I? As much as I have loads of things to talk about, loads of ideas and places stored at the back of my mind, I wasn’t able to find time to post them. But I will try!

For today, it will be a rather texty kind of post because.. I am blogging in the subway with my.. phone.

As some of you might’ve noticed, I have officially moved out of Korea and into Hong Kong! No, I am not from Hong Kong I wonder if many people get that idea because I chose to work here or perhaps because I speak cantonese. But it’s okay, people ask me where I’m from even in Malaysia, so I get it that I look rather confusing.

As outgoing as I seem, I actually love math and  I of also love finance, so here I am, grabbing my opportunity working in the financial capital of Asia. Korea will definitely remain to be (one of) my home that nowhere can replace as it’s the place I felt I really grew up at; a place where I had the most memories made.

Many asked me why did I not choose to work in Korea. Well to be honest, you really shouldn’t even try predict the future for yourself, because I’ve always foresee myself working and even building my own family in Korea even though the educational systems probably not the best for my kids. But the thing is, as a foreigner, I will always be a foreigner. Especially as a business major, many companies will look more at your languages instead of the value you are able to add from pure talent or skills. Because let’s face it, business is not a skilled major like IT or engineering. Further, the job market hadn’t been too good even to the locals what more for foreigners.

I have to say that I have been very, very lucky in job hunting eventhough the start was rather rough. I was offered two positions in Korea and both of them actually involved real skills instead of just purely the use of my language (eg: real estate agent for foreigners, anything catering for foreigners). Although I must say knowing many languages is definitely a plus anywhere. As much as I wanted to stay in Korea and maybe pursue my original path in Social Media/writing/publishing, I was not exactly satisfied because a part of me wanted to pursue my dream in the financial sector. But another part of me was afraid of all the stress and crazy lifestyle that it may demand.

At that point of time, I felt like there wasn’t much of a chance to begin with as the financial sector in Korea had no demand of foreigners and relied heavily on relationships and finding a job in another country might be even more difficult given that I had never lived there hence visa issues. I wasn’t half as wrong because most of my interviews were tossed out of the window after they found out that I am not living in that particular country. (I tried for Japan, HK and Singapore) But I carefully went through every listing and picked out the few that I really want and spent more time on each. No high hopes, but at least I’ve tried I thought. With luck by my side, I landed on my current job!

I guess the moral of my story here is again, as I always say, if you never try, you’ll never know. Even if some things feel impossible.

On to my work life, I have currently worked for almost 2 months. But with 6-7 weeks worth of training, I would say I’m still in the embryo phase of my job. Haha. You get me? Not even an infant yet. ?. Okay cold joke I know. But it has been so far so good. Working in one of the best companies to work for in the world, I would say, is really rewarding despite having to put in a significant amount of effort to it. The balance is good. There’s a lot of intrinsic motivation going on and I think that it’s really great that people do things because they want to improve themselves instead of thinking that it’s just “work.”

Life in Hong Kong though, is just very different. I am not used to the food here despite being Chinese and there’s no good Korean food that I’ve found so far. Technically, no reasonably priced food (non-Chinese food) tastes good. What more is the size of every property being so small (and EXPENSIVE) it’s crazy. Living here for the third week now, I found the people to be much kinder than I thought. I’ve always been here as a tourist and the places were very touristy; hence I met a lot of rude people who’s probably sick of their job serving thousands of foreigners per day. The common life here is much more chill and laid back than expected and Hong Kongers are just full of lame jokes. But yes, HK is very crowded and most of the time I felt so small, but it’s pretty similar to Tokyo, it just takes time getting used to it and everything will seem normal, even the Shinkansen speed escalators. I guess I will start thinking that the whole world’s escalators are slow after living here for a few more weeks!

But whatever it is, I will try my best in adapting to both my job and the environment I’m in! HK seriously has so much to offer. What people say about visiting HK for 3 days is aplenty is really an understatement because I think even a month wouldn’t be enough. Well, I guess that’ll be my mission to show people how much this place have to offer!

Time to work! Until next time.

Leaving Korea.

it’s been almost 6 years, since the day I moved to Korea. it was a decision I probably made since I was 8 and I was so certain that I wanted to stay in Korea and call it my home for the rest of my life when I first saw Korea on the huge box TV. “where’s that?! that place is beautiful! I want to live there in the future!” was what I told my mom. she was amazed at my undying love for Korea (that was way before Korea became cool) and always suspected me to be Korean in my past life. so when I was 19, I moved to Korea for REAL. and I never regretted it. although I studied probably much more than the local students even, I still had fun; I became independent, I learned a new language, lived a new life, and somehow turned into a 3rd cultured kid. what I think was the biggest take-back from my experience abroad was probably my view of things in life. as foreigner as I am, I am culturally pretty Korean, but not fully. I guess it really takes understanding on both ends to come up with your own views in life. not just Korea, but my (almost) 1 year exchange in Japan had taught me a lot too.

so you may think, what’s the best thing I learned from Korea and Japan then? Continue reading “Leaving Korea.”

be nice.

those who’s a close follower of my blog will know how much I’ve been through especially the past few months. these past few months got me thinking even harder about who I really am, my purpose in life and how I want to live it. and trust me, after you go through some real hardships, life seem to be so much brighter and easier. what I went through made me realize how lucky I am to be able to have freedom, to make my own choices, and therefore I shall not take my freedom for granted.

but most importantly, it also taught me to be nicer to others. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to be nice, really.

I used to be really competitive and I also had a lot of resentment and hate, being jealous and upset at people whom are better than me (especially academically), resenting people who mistreated me, ignoring people whom I think are bad, and I may also have been mean to people whom actions I am not too fond of, but I am trying harder to find out more about why they do the things they do and try to respect that; and be nice. Continue reading “be nice.”

[Seoul: Buam-dong] My 23rd Birthday @ Prep 프렙 부암동

먼저 내 생일 디너 와준 친구들에게 와줘서 고맙고 초대 받고 못 오는 친구들은 담에 나한테 밥 쏜다!!! 일어나서 메세지 미치게 들어오는 것도 고맙고 페복에서 글 남긴 사람들에게도 고마워욤.

프렙은 원래 홍대에 있었던 페페로니입니다. 작은 가게였지만 음식은 제가 한국에서 외국음식 중에서 제일 맛있다고 생각하는 가게이고 여기의 음식은 대부분 와인과 잘 어울리게 만든 음식입니다. 프렙은 이제 부암동에 있습니다. 가격은.. 저같은 학생에겐 그렇게 착하진 않고요 대신 음식질도 보장할 수 있는 거죠. 가격에 따라 품질도 다르는것과 똑같은거죠~. 여기는 넘 맛있어서 돈 모아서 올 수 있는 정도입니다 ㅋㅋㅋ.

so exactly one week ago, I celebrated my 19th 23rd (ㅠㅠ) Birthday with a small group of close friends and I am really really glad everyone made time to come despite living far, busy schedules etc.

Prep used to be called Peperoni, a small and cozy restaurant located at the convenient Hongdae (or Hapjeong) but after it had moved to Buam-dong, it was pretty difficult to access but since I was a big fan of it since its early days, I decided to hold my birthday dinner here! it’s pretty pricey but the price we paid for that night was pretty decent.

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happy birthday to me! =D. Continue reading “[Seoul: Buam-dong] My 23rd Birthday @ Prep 프렙 부암동”

How I learned Korean + Japanese books giveaway!

this is probably one of the most frequently asked questions by not only my readers, but friends, acquaintances and people (foreigners) whom I’ve met in Korea especially.

I’ve studied Korean for 1 year in Yonsei University and I am of level 6. graduated. Continue reading “How I learned Korean + Japanese books giveaway!”

Filial Piety

have you ever questioned yourself, how would your perfect family be?

of course you have.

but from what I see, as people move on to their later stages in life, most tend to forget about their old ones.

as you get busier and busier with your life, your old parents sitting at home calling you would be such a bothersome thing. you just DO NOT have time for them. but heck, you have time for your friends and your kids. first ask yourself why do you not have time for them. well, stop giving excuses because what they talk about is just plain annoying to you. Continue reading “Filial Piety”

I’VE ARRIVED IN KOREA!

just in case you’re not a follower of my blog, I am now in Korea for my language studies.

the plane landed 5minutes earlier but then the immigration was taking such a long time so I missed the last bus to take to my friends place (they usually have bus till late for places like Myeongdong). I sneaked 8kg (oh well laptop doesn’t count as a baggage for AirAsiaX apparently) and my shoulders are aching even until now T____________T. 3 baggage handcarry and 3 checked in. if I were to total everything up it would be more than 50kg. no kidding. but I’m here for my studies! no choice. the other choices would be expensive. I have a friend’s friend whose bag is so heavy she brought her mom with her so that she can have extra weight and it’s cheaper like that haha.

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HII!! from the first day in Seoul. today’s my 2nd. but my friend said it’s 3rd. BUT I LANDED LATE! Continue reading “I’VE ARRIVED IN KOREA!”