21: All That Matters

They say as you grow older, birthdays will become less and less important. It's not something you celebrate anymore--rather, it's more like a wake-up call that reminds you you have more responsibilities to bear and one less year to live. Long before I left home, I had realized that I would be spending the so-called special 21st birthday in Korea--the country I barely knew and was not really familiar with. I couldn't lie that I felt a bit sad though, knowing that my friends and families wouldn't be there with me and therefore I couldn't have expected less. But who would've guessed, the day that I wasn't really looking to that much  anymore became one of the best and most special birthdays I would always treasure forever.

To begin with, going exchange is not as easy or fun as it may seem. You don't just come here and approach people and make friends with them, especially when you don't drink. I think it takes destiny to meet the right people that just click with you to share everything with. Luckily, somehow everything has gone so perfect to me that I've been able to find these kind of people already within the first week of my stay here. Claristy, the girl I come with from UI, knew Sabina through facebook, and the three of us accidentally met Stephanie who got lost all alone on our way to the orientation place. Sabina also accidentally met Vanessa and went out with her once, and then suddenly there were five of us  and we call ourselves SNUpalz :D We all get along really well and I'm really excited to spend the rest of my exchange semester with them. Another highlight is that I've been blessed with the sweetest kindest Korean room mate I coud possibly imagine. I knew the fact that every exchange student was to be paired with a local Korean in the dorm, but based on the experience of former exchangers I read on the internet, it could become one of the best things ever OR a nightmare because most of them don't speak English really well and they never talked to each other and it became awkward. If you're a friend that I happen to often talk to, you would've known that it was always one of the biggest insecurities I had had before departing. But then of hundreds of people, my room is shared with this super sweet, friendly, funny, English-speaking local Korean freshman named Yebin. It's barely even a week since I knew her, but she already kept saying 'don't go, please don't go' with a shocked and persuading face when she just found out two days ago that I would be staying here only until June. 

Long story short! (I was supposed to talk about my birthday, right). That Thursday was exceptionally cold (I woke up looking at a screen showing it was -7 degrees outside) that puddles on the street even froze.  I had quite a tough day since I had to go to the health centre in the morning to get a health certificate for alien registration card, and then class until 15.30, and then the Korean course from 18.30 to 21.30. Wasn't exactly the kind of schedule I would like to have on a birthday. However, you have no idea how the people around you can manage to make so much difference. When I was waiting for Sabina at the cafetaria to go to the health center together, she suddenly came up and gave me a lovely pink scarf as a present while greeting me a happy birthday. I was quite surprised to be perfectly honest, because, what do you expect from a friend you just met four days ago? It was very sweet of her and we had a long and interesting conversation during our way to and back from the health centre.

I spent the rest of the afternoon alone at the dorm replying greetings and messages while waiting for my Korean class at 18.30. The thing about friends and families is, no matter how far you are apart, they can somehow always 'be there' and make your day. All the sincere messages and wishes and videos and chats and voice notes made me feel truly blessed and, surprisingly far from lonely. But it was not until I start to read and see them one by one that I suddenly realized that I'd missed them. At times like these, you get to find out the ones who truly care about you and the ones you truly care about. And thanks to (most of) their sweet touching words, I couldn't keep myself from being all teary-eyed. Oh what am I without the love from these people. 

While I was at the Korean course with a dizzy head full of Hangeul characters, Yebin suddenly Katalked me and asked me where I was. I asked her what happened and she said it was nothing. I came back to the dorm at around 21.45 and she was already there in front of her desk and laptop, smiling kindly as usual as soon as she saw me. I had a little chat with her before preparing to take a bath. As I was about to go out and open the door, she suddenly asked me 'Putri, could you please turn the light off?' I did turn one of them off but then she asked me to turn both of the lights off and it got totally dark. And suddenly, before I could even think or suspect anything, she played a Happy Birthday song from Youtube while walking towards me with a chocolate cake. I was truly left speechless because I did not see it coming at all! I blew the candles out and we ate the cake together. That one; was one of the most surprising surprises I have ever had in my life and I could not believe how lucky I am to have her during my exchange semester. 

Yebin and I with the unexpected cake ♥

The next day, SNUpalz arranged a birthday dinner for me in the evening. They picked the restaurant and every time I asked them where it's gonna be, they always said, "No, it's a secret. Let us surprise you." All of us were supposed to meet at the cafeteria downhill at 6 p.m., but then Sabina was the only one who came up. She just told me that Steph, Claristy, and Vanessa had just finished their classes so it would be closer for them to go directly to the restaurant. Sabina and I got off the bus at SNU station to meet Steph and we all walked to a nice chicken restaurant where Vanessa and Claristy were already inside. As usual, I had some long nice funny conversations with the girls while enjoying the big two plates of chicken that we ordered. 

Famished faces before eating~ 

But then after we were finished with our food, Steph who happened to sit next to Claristy (who sat next to me) suddenly held a cake on her hand with three candles on it and everybody started singing a Happy Birthday. All I could say was "Oh my God" repetitively because that's just how surprised I was! A moment later Steph and Vanessa handed me a big cute white-pink bag and Claristy also gave me another small paper bag from Etude House. Those presents were apparently a package of facial care & cosmetics from Etude--the products I had always wanted to buy ever since my skin started to get dry here in Korea. How could they possible know exactly what I need?? We ended the night singing out loud at a nearby karaoke place and that was 2 hours of loads of fun! (and we figured out that Vanessa was apparently a talented rapper LOL). 

Presentsss ♥

Norebang of the day

So... yeah, that's how a supposedly special 21st birthday went from being sad and quiet to being actually special. After all, it's not about where you are, but it's always about the people you spend the moment with that matters the most. I might be far away from my close friends and family, but thank God, the biggest present of all is the fact that here I can once again find my home.