Arriving to my apartment I was nervous. I had signed my lease without seeing it; I did, however, see a video walkthrough of a second-floor apartment. On the drive down, my sister planted seeds of doubt, asking, “how do you know it is not a… Read More »Arriving to My Apartment
There’s no other way to describe my trip back to Blacksburg other than a nightmare. It was as if I was a character in a Lemony Snicket novel. Somewhere, some god was looking down upon me, laughing at enacting his/her karmic revenge. After this experience,… Read More »A Nightmare Trip: Courtesy of American Airlines
Blacksburg Bound. It’s the first time in eight years that leaving doesn’t mean going to live/return in/to another country. This time, I’m moving within the United States, to a small town in Virginia called Blacksburg to study a master’s degree in architecture. I’ve moved many… Read More »Moving Time: Blacksburg Bound
I’m not sure when it happens, but at a certain age/point in your life you reflect on the choices you’ve made, where you’ve ended up and how you’ve gotten there. I imagine I can’t be alone where there is a single choice, a yes or… Read More »A Defining Moment
More than a year ago I had shoulder surgery to repair my left rotator cuff. Six weeks ago, I had the same operation on my right. The first question people always ask is, “why, what did you do to it?” or “what, happened?” I didn’t… Read More »Shoulder Surgery, Again
The deadline to accept graduate school admission was April 15th. Two weeks before that, I decided I was going to go to Virginia Tech to study for a master’s in architecture. However, I also decided to set that as a personal deadline to find an… Read More »Finding a Graduate School Apartment
After almost a year long application process of researching schools, creating my portfolio, studying for the GRE, writing essays, applying and waiting to hear from the Universities, it’s finally over. I’ve decided that I’m going to attend Virginia Tech in the Fall. In the end,… Read More »Deciding on a Graduate School
It’s been over a year since I’ve had alcohol. The last drink I had was when I was in the Philippines at the end of February in 2020. I didn’t set out to go a year without alcohol, I had a bottle of whiskey and… Read More »A Year Without Alcohol
When I decided to come home, I knew I would have to take Calculus and Physics at the local community college. Almost every grad program listed the two classes as prerequisites, and it’s possible that if you didn’t have them completed by the time of… Read More »Back to School, Kinda…
When I first arrived to Korea I wrote a blog post about “culture shock,” and everything that was different than what I was used to. The process of returning back is referred to as “reverse culture shock” or, the feeling (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.)… Read More »Reverse Culture Shock: Coming back to the U.S.