Eyes to the Future

So I've decided I want to live and work here for at least part of my life after graduation, i.e. when I become something resembling a real person. Seoul is what I think a city should be - tons of people, colorful shops crammed in together, cheap food, karaoke bars on every corner, excellent public transportation, and beautiful scenery a glance away. Downsides include extremely high humidity in the summer (it's like breathing soup), random gross smells when you're walking down the street, and some of the world's most expensive housing. Still, if I can get my language skills up to par, I think this would be a great place to find whatever it is I want to do with my life. Okay, I do actually have an idea of what that might be - I think I want to be part of the Korean cultural content export industry and spread Hallyu all over the world! It's really less jingoistic than it sounds; America will always be my home, but Western cultural hegemony is fading fast. I really think/hope Korea will soon be the Emerald City/Hollywood/Las Vegas of the East. And cultural meccas always need people to jet all over the place and spread the good word in as many languages as possible.

Brief review of what's been going on: a bunch of us made traditional rice cakes (ddeuk) last Friday, and then on Saturday I took some friends to see the amazing breakdance comedy "Break Out" courtesy of my mom's cousin, who happens to be married to the production company CEO. Saturday night I also had my first Korean movie theater experience seeing the new Angelina Jolie action movie "Wanted." It's like "The Matrix" and "Fight Club" combined, and so it was awesome. The seats were extremely comfortable, too - plush, red, and set in front of a gorgeous LCD screen (Samsung, I assume).

This was my group's ddeuk. It was delicious!

Today I had my Intro to Economics midterm and it wasn't all that bad. At first I thought the class would be terrible, but actually even though the professor's sort of dry, I'm finding the subject really interesting. Also I feel a little jolt of Harvard pride whenever I look at my textbook and see Mankiw's name on it. Hey Alex, I can draw supply and demand graphs too!

More thoughts on my life here, new friends, and Korean views of sex and violence to come!~