I ended up going to Ark Lounge to meet up with everyone that very last night I had in Seoul with everyone after I wrote that entry, despite the fact that my exam was at 9:00am the next morning. I had begun to write a good-bye letter to Kayla, but right as I wrote "Dear Kayla," the tears just wouldn't stop. I knew I had to go out and see everyone or else I would regret it.
Luckily, Daniel hadn't met up with everyone yet, so I had a buddy to accompany me. Daniel and I headed into Sinchon, and I tried to justify this trip out as a food run because I was quite hungry at the time as well. We grabbed 치킨 from 마미즈 and sat on the steps of Ark Lounge, watched everyone on the screen, and ate 치킨. I turned to Daniel and said, "I am glad to be spending my last night sitting here, creepin' on our friends, and eating chicken. I regret nothing."
Everyone soon realized that I was just sitting outside, so they came out to see me and tried to convince me to go inside and see everyone. I didn't want to pay 10,000 won to go in and not drink though, since I was just gonna say bye and go in 15 minutes. However, the owner noticed I was there (out of familiarity- yeah 단골) and let me in for free. Love Ark Lounge forever.
I cried saying good bye to Brian and Andrew and everyone else. I didn't know what to say at all for parting words. There was a lot of "Well, I guess this is it. It's been fun," but I guess it was better than nothing, and then I went home.
The next day I amazingly woke up in time for the B. Law exam and walked there with Patrick. We took the exam, felt really good about passing it, and headed towards Sinchon to grab lunch. Right when we stepped outside, it started snowing. Walking through campus as petals of snow fell on our heads was such a nice way to leave Yonsei.
I went back to SK and checked out. I then helped Cameron pack because we're married. Our last lunch in Seoul was Burger 'n Shake. Around 3pm or so, we decided to leave for Incheon.
It was kind of perfect how Andrew, Sookhee, Brian, Mable, and Jihye were the ones to see us off, the original group. They helped us/me bring our suitcases down to the taxi, and then we said our goodbyes. Even though this was the absolute last time, we actually didn't shed any tears (err, minus Sookhee). It might have partially been because all the tears were already shed the night before, but we had grown so accustomed to the fact that we would never be able to hang out the same way ever again that I think we had finally accepted a mature farewell. It was perfect.
INCHEON: December 21-22, 2011
Oh god that hotel. Incheon Airport Yeong Jung Bridge Hotel is a no-no. We were in the middle of fucking nowhere, everything was under construction, there were barely any acceptable restaurants, there was no public transportation, there was no complimentary toothbrush or toothpaste, AND THERE WAS NO INTERNET. We couldn't even pay for Internet because the hotel just didn't fucking having it.
So we napped til midnight.
Well, I woke up at around 8:00pm or so and worked on my cover letter for Gersh and then played Mahjong Titans... for a few hours and then decided to wake up Cameron at midnight so that we could grab "dinner" aka make a 7-Eleven run. We each bought ramen and that microwaveable pasta that I always saw in GS and brought it back to my room to eat.
It turns out there were also no microwaves, so we couldn't eat the pasta f our lives.
So we sadly ate our ramen only and watched Sex and the City, Friends, and Taken on TV because they were the only things in English. It was a really low key night, but of all people, I'm glad I got to suffer through the desolateness with Cameron or else it would've been unbearable.
The next morning we caught the 9:00am shuttle to the airport together, even though Cameron's flight was at 8:00pm that sweet thang. After checking in, we grabbed lunch together at Burger King and then it was time for me to get to my gate.
My gate ended up being in a different part of the airport, a part that I would have to take a shuttle train to, a part that you couldn't access if your gate wasn't there, a part that Cameron's gate wasn't in. We couldn't do anything about it, so oh well. We could accept it. We had to accept it.
I tried so hard, so hard to not care, to brush it off, to be completely cool about leaving, but right when I was about to say a simple "good-bye" to Cameron, the tears started rushing out and I wrapped my arms around Cameron and would not let go. I stayed there crying, telling him that I wouldn't ever see him again because I'm so terrible at keeping in contact with people, that I don't ever want to leave him, that I'm going to miss him so much. We stood there with our arms around each other and I kind of wanted to stay like that forever.
But I had to go home. Life had to go on. And so I left him.
As I turned to enter the threshold of the special gate people, I tripped over my suitcase.
And thus ended my semester in Korea.
So we napped til midnight.
Well, I woke up at around 8:00pm or so and worked on my cover letter for Gersh and then played Mahjong Titans... for a few hours and then decided to wake up Cameron at midnight so that we could grab "dinner" aka make a 7-Eleven run. We each bought ramen and that microwaveable pasta that I always saw in GS and brought it back to my room to eat.
It turns out there were also no microwaves, so we couldn't eat the pasta f our lives.
So we sadly ate our ramen only and watched Sex and the City, Friends, and Taken on TV because they were the only things in English. It was a really low key night, but of all people, I'm glad I got to suffer through the desolateness with Cameron or else it would've been unbearable.
The next morning we caught the 9:00am shuttle to the airport together, even though Cameron's flight was at 8:00pm that sweet thang. After checking in, we grabbed lunch together at Burger King and then it was time for me to get to my gate.
My gate ended up being in a different part of the airport, a part that I would have to take a shuttle train to, a part that you couldn't access if your gate wasn't there, a part that Cameron's gate wasn't in. We couldn't do anything about it, so oh well. We could accept it. We had to accept it.
I tried so hard, so hard to not care, to brush it off, to be completely cool about leaving, but right when I was about to say a simple "good-bye" to Cameron, the tears started rushing out and I wrapped my arms around Cameron and would not let go. I stayed there crying, telling him that I wouldn't ever see him again because I'm so terrible at keeping in contact with people, that I don't ever want to leave him, that I'm going to miss him so much. We stood there with our arms around each other and I kind of wanted to stay like that forever.
But I had to go home. Life had to go on. And so I left him.
As I turned to enter the threshold of the special gate people, I tripped over my suitcase.
And thus ended my semester in Korea.
No comments:
Post a Comment