--Side note: for those who don't know, the school year at CAU is a full calendar year with the spring semester being the first semester of the school year.--
Whether it was our only semester or first of two semesters or even last of two semesters, we were all invited to come and close the semester with the OIA. It was a sad day and almost everyone cried. We made a lot of close friends and amazing, irreplaceable memories. It truly is the chance of a lifetime and something that should be experienced by any means. Though the ceremony was an emotional day, it was a great way to end the semester and to begin the painful process of saying goodbye to friends. Unfortunately for me, the best friends I made this semester were only here for one semester while I have one more. However, that also means I have one more semester of new experiences, new friends and more adventures in Seoul!
Studying abroad is really fun but make sure you can fit everything you buy in your suitcase. Or that at the very least you can afford to add a third or even fourth suitcase to your luggage when you buy your return ticket home. Seeing my friends try fit three times as many things into the same suitcase was hilarious to watch but scary too. Since a lot of things did not fit in suitcases, my friends had to pay really high extra fees at airports or even post a lot of stuff home. One friend spent about $300 USD to post stuff back to his home country. Another friend bought a suitcase, filled it with her things and tried to post it back to her home country and she soon found out the post office could not send suitcases to other countries.
Here is the photo we took at the end of the Farewell Ceremony. It was a nice ceremony and they played a video of somewhat decent quality reviewing the semester at CAU along with a hilarious speech by the valedictorian and a speech from Jeff, the head of the OIA and our guardian here at CAU.
Here is an example of what not to do. My friend bought way too many things and here is a picture of him trying repeatedly and tirelessly to fit it all in this suitcase. this picture was taken about two hours into the process of reorganizing his stuff because he believed it could all fit. Unfortunately it did not fit and he had to post 6 boxes home. Because it was skin care , immigration in his home country held it all until he could pay the very high taxes on it ><
You can't really see it well but my friend is wearing three heavy jackets because he couldn't fit them in his luggage. Luckily it was winter because there's no way he could have survived if it was summer. However, if you really have no option, just remember you can always wear what won't fit n your luggage and take it home that way! haha
On the 23rd, I threw a goodbye/Christmas/Secret Santa party for my friends and here we are all taking a break from eating to play darts. We all got together and enjoyed one last meal together before going our separate ways. For those of you preparing to study abroad, get ready for all the goodbye parties you will be invited to. Almost everyone had one and they were all back to back to back. It was fun though.
Here I took one last picture with my best friend here at CAU. He went back home to his country soon after. We thought it was fitting to take a photo on the CAU sign in front of the school. (which you will not get in trouble for).
Here are a group of us helping each other get to the airport. I was going on a trip to tokyo for the week while the guy with the blue backpack was returning home. It was a pretty emotional night but we were all happy to have met each other. We all helped each other get to the airport at 10pm in 2 degree celcius weather.
Now it is winter break and the new semester at CAU begins on March 2nd, 2017. The Farewell Ceremony was a sad day but the days that followed with friends who were leaving were some of the most fun!
