Some people hate Mondays, but for me, I feel like Friday is the saddest day of the week. Because Friday is the last day of school, and I am so very much enjoying my classes. Weekends are great too, but it can get boring not having something to do in the mornings. Besides, Friday also represents that another week has gone by. My course lasts for ten weeks and it has already been 2 weeks of classes, which mean that there are only 8 left. Time passes so quickly.
I haven't been good at updating during the week. The first two days because there wasn't much to talk about and yesterday because I only went to sleep at 2am. It was a friday night but I wasn't out drinking. I had an awesome experience at the cinema.
Well, let's rewind a few days.
I have been attending class well. For lunch I've visited the cafeteria more than anything (my roommate and our dormitory friends like it there and it is nice and decently priced food). I finally managed to arrive in time for Jjajangbap (black bean rice, as shown on the picture with yellow pickled radish and soup) and Chicken Katsu (deep fried chicken cutlet).
In the evenings meals have mostly consisted of varieties of noodles cooked in a microwave. Our kitchen only has a microwave and toaster so that invites.... creative cooking, like toasting pan fried dumplings (they turned out perfect)
In afternoons I have gone out to explore much, mainly it has been homework (essay writing, memorising words, and completing basic assignments), and then I've gone food shopping a few times, both at a big supermarket and smaller one.
I keep forgetting to take photos of the bigger supermarkets when I'm there, but they're pretty cool for two reasons: 1. they have a lot of food stands where you can taste the food, and this is something I remember and loved from when I was younger, besides it means that you don't have to shop on an empty stomach. 2. They often and usually span over several floors, and you get to the next floor with your cart by and escalator that locks your cart in place as soon as you roll onto it so that you don't have to worry about the weight of it or it rolling away with all of your stuff. It's pretty cool magical stuff.
When I was last here a few of the big supermarkets also grew lettuce inside the supermarket, but I haven't seen any of that this time around, however I also haven't been to a big supermarket of the same brand that used to have it (for big supermarkets I usually go to somewhere called E-Mart, and back in the day it was Lotte that grew lettuce inside the store).
In this way time has gone quickly as daily life has progressed.
But last night was Friday, and Friday night is special, so I had plans. Several.
My roommate had been craving pizza, and we had discovered a pizzaria that did European style pizza (Korean style is very different, like a whole new dish, but more on that at a later point when I decide to try it out), So for a few days we had decided to go for pizza on Friday night, and so we did. We ordered a nice Mrs. Pepperoni (one of many inside jokes we now have), and enjoyed a little taste of Europe.
I hadn't known that I had missed Europe until I tasted that pizza that just tasted of memories and Europe.
The place was popular, and two minutes after we arrived the small shop was full and people kept coming in to order take away, so we timed it well.
After dinner, I had made plans with a classmate of mine. In class she had leant over and asked: 'do you like this?' and pointed to her phone where she had pulled up a photo of the poster for the new Star Wars movie.
My eyes widened and I went: "yes, yes! Let's go watch it!" I was so excited over the prospect of going to watch it that the people sitting across from me in the class were having to work really hard to not laugh and disturb class.
We had some trouble reserving seats so after class we went, and still struggled, but finally managed to get some for a late night showing (so after my pizza experience with my roommate). The tickets were pretty expensive, not so much so for European standards, but certainly for korean ones. They came out 19000 won each (15 euro, 17 dollars) and we were pondering why. We had chosen it in 3D, but still, that was a lot...
Well as with all things: there was a reason.
We went up to the ninth floor to enter the the right showing room, and when we entered we already knew that something was different.
The chairs were big and they looked super comfortable, and they really were comfortable. So we sat down with our 3D glasses and were talking and excited about the film over the commercials, and then... the strangest thing happens, during one of the last commercials, something about cart racing, the chairs lift, and there is wind blowing in our faces and it feels like were driving those carts, and that's when we realised: we hadn't booked a film in 3D, we had booked a 4D Star Wars experience.
The chair were rumbling and moving and lifting and tilting this way and that, and wind was blowing, small splashed of water, kicks when the characters got hurt, smoke, flashing light. It didn't feel like I was watching the Millennium Falcon, it felt like I was on it!
The entire way through the film I was sitting and gaping and saying: wow, wow, wow. I had returned to being a kid going to the cinema for the first time, and I was awestruck by everything. My classmate was just as amazed and we came out of the cinema with our eyes twinkling like two little boys who have just discovered that they can become astronauts when they grow up.
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