My First Month in Korea
How time flies! My first month in Korea is coming up (Feb 25!). I feel like so many things have happened in the past month and I think it's the brighter side of being in a foreign land -- every day I can have lots of new stories to tell.
After the period of settling and adjusting, my life here has been finding its pace.
Since the weather is still very chilly and in single digits, I still cannot find my guts to run. But when I have the time to spare in the morning, I chill in front of the field, sit on the bleachers and watch the students play soccer. And take a selfie, of course.
I have started to learn the equipment for our lab experiments. Pictures below are the extruder and the injection mold. Each has separate rooms which the school decided to scrimp on so it has no available heater. I am freezing every time I run an experiment!
This injection mold is the pain in my ass. I used compression mold at my previous job so I know how it works. Also, I know that setting up this mold is very difficult for a girl. See that silver square thing? I literally cannot carry it to its place. I can not even move it! That's how heavy it is. This machine is hot, heavy and dangerous. Physically challenging.
School hours in Korea is different than in the Philippines. Students can stay in school until whenever they want and nobody will care. Some grad students even bring their folding bed to sleep on for overnight experiments. Hope it doesn't have to happen to me. Heh.
Required lab hours is from 10am to 6pm. On busy days I stay in the lab until 9pm or until my professor goes home (cannot go home before him). I don't like doing my coursework in the lab so I go straight to the library until 12 midnight.
I sleep in on Saturdays, do my laundry, cook (wow!) and then I continue my school work after lunch.
I spend my Sundays with my Filipino friends. We go to Yawoori -- Cheonan's Metropolitan area -- to eat, do our groceries, and just relax.
This has been my pretty hectic life so far in the Land of the Morning Calm.
More months to come! More stories to blog! Anyeong~ ^^
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