#oreintation

http://youtu.be/CnOJgDW0gPI

Today we had the infamous medical check-up! The reason why everyone makes such a big deal about it is the fact that we are told not to take any sort of medication that could result in some sort of false positive for drugs. If that happens, you will be sent home. So we are told not to take pain or allergy medications up to four days before the exam. 

The exam consists of weight and height measurement, an eye sight and colorblind test, blood pressure, blood test, urine test, and a chest x-ray. The worst part for me was the blood test. I absolutely HATE needles and having blood drawn. This stems from a bad experience giving blood and almost passing out. But I managed to survive this time. I got two giant blueberry muffins and a thing of grape juice after. I regret not taking a picture of my snack now but I was starving by that time. We had to fast the night before the test. No food after 10 the night before, and no water after midnight. I was dying of thirst when I woke up. I always have to have a glass of water next to me in the morning because I get super thirsty in the middle of the night. Waking up this morning was not fun. But at least the exam wasn't completely terrible. I took me an hour to get through everything and all the waiting, but it could have been worse I suppose.

After the exam we had lunch. Which I can't even remember right now. I remember not being very impressed though. After lunch we had our first lectures. My class had one about after school classes and vacation English camps. It was pretty straightforward. The lecturer explained our hours and vacation days and what is required of us when it comes to these extra classes outside of the regular school day. I'll have to explain these further later though, as I'm really tired. Please forgive me for being short on details. I will most likely make a post about this in the future once I start dealing with them for real.

After the lecture we had a taekwondo lesson, which kicked my ass. But I felt really good after it. I really needed that work out to get me pumped and wake me up. I was having a hard time staying awake in lecture. It wasn't boring. I've just been super tired all day. But the physical activity woke me up, and now I am even more interested in taking lessons after work hours. Once the lesson was over, I ran back to my dorm to shower and freshen up before dinner.

Dinner, again, was unimpressive. There were some good elements to it, but I'm still thinking about the fried chicken and tofu from yesterday's lunch. That was the best food we've had so far from the cafeteria. We need to just venture down the street and get something at one of the restaurants there at some point to get some actual delicious Korean food. We also need to venture down to the Lotte Mart too. I am really looking forward to that.

The last thing we did today was out Survival Korean Lessons. I am in Level 3 (intermediate) thanks to the 4 quarters of Korean at UCR. To be quiet honest, I am still not at all confident in my Korean abilities. I can read it, but when it comes to speaking and listening skills, I am completely hopeless. We'll see how that works out though. Today we only went over certain cultural vocabulary. Tomorrow I think they will have an actual lesson planned out for us.

I said twerking and everybody kept laughing and was like "no, what's really your favorite one?"

I suggest you all come here.

ohhhhkay future freshmen....you need to calm. down.

observations from this first set of orientation-goers (a.k.a. don't re-make these mistakes if you're going to a later orientation)

1. GUYS! you are all freaking adorable, well dressed, polite to your parents, friendly, and all-around nice people. well done. keep it up.

2. GIRLS! you are all either entirely overdressed, or your ass is hanging out the back of your shorts. you are at orientation. with your parents. and other people's parents. and staff members. dress decently please.

3. TALK TO PEOPLE! it was like 50% people making friends....and then 50% people standing around awkwardly texting or trying to meet up with a friend from home. dude. like seriously? you're going to school with these people. get some numbers, hangout. be normal.