the blog

The Best Seasons to Travel to South Korea: Part 2: Spring

Last fall I posed the question: what’s the best time of year to travel to South Korea? And I quickly canceled out June/July because it’s the monsoon season and July-September because they’re disgustingly humid and hot, and it’s frigidly freezing in January and February. That pretty much just leaves autumn, from Oct
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The Long Version of Today’s Experience at a Korean Hospital (if this isn’t something you’re interested in, keep scrolling and trust that you’ll have missed nothing important)

Back Story: Remember in this week’s This Week you read about my upcoming eye surgery and the curiosity (to put it mildly) about why I was being admitted to the hospital two days before surgery SLASH I’m messing with the timeline here, don’t be alarmed if you’re confused. It’s confusing. In next
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Life These Days in South Korea: May 22-June 1, 2025

Thursday, May 22 I finally, after what felt like a 97-hour journey, arrived back home to the goshiwon at 3am. Like the trip to Japan, this one also had many moving parts for me to be anxious about. And I was too anxious to try to take my anti-anxiety meds with me, so…
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Four Days in Fukuoka: Serenity, Steak, and a Stubborn Cold

I am officially a Language School Dropout (cue the backup dancers), and I’m fine with it. I gave it my all for 18 months. But I wanted to enjoy the rest of my time in Korea, so I unenrolled from the university. That meant I had to physically leave the country and
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Ferry to Fukuoka: A Slow Boat to China…to Japan

As many of you know, I recently set out to swap my student visa in South Korea for a tourist visa, allowing me to spend my final three months here relaxing without classes, schedules, or obligations. To do that, I had to physically leave the country, surrender my residence card (the one
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LIfe These Days in South Korea: May 5-15, 2025

Monday, May 5 Happy Katie’s Birthday! My baby is 34 today, which is RIDICULOUS. Tuesday, May 6 Ooh, I’m being so productive! I mean, relatively speaking. For ME. It’s so nice to start rushing hrough a project to Just Get It Done…and then I realize. No. You can slow down. You can
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Where Bloggers Live: What’s In My Bag

Welcome to Where Bloggers Live. “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful  group of seven bloggers family of amazing women shares their work-spaces, homes,
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Life this Week in South Korea: April 28-May 3, 2025

Monday, April 28 Today I hardcore practiced my anxiety procrastination. Tuesday, April 29 Today I progressed to anxiety-based sleep procrastination. Wednesday, April 30 Big Day Today. BIG. A) I left the building. Ha ha. I had to go PLACES and DO THINGS. My eye chose today to be REALLY super-you-know-what-ing weird and
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Life This Week in South Korea: April 21-27, 2025

Monday, April 21 I didn’t do much during the day. I’m slowly settling into a my new “no school” routine. Sleep til I don’t want to anymore. Breakfast. Work on blog post, photo editing, social media til lunch…then do 1-2 hours of remote work…lay down and listen to audio book, maybe dozing
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Happy National Bucket List Day!

Yes, it’s a real thing — April 24th is National Bucket List Day, aka the perfect excuse for daring daydreams, irresistable intentions, and maybe even finally doing that one thing you’ve been thinking about for years (you know the one)! Bucket lists aren’t just about hugging a penguin or moving abroad (though,
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Souvenirs vs. Survival: Two Ways to See the World

Those of you who have been following for awhile, know that I left the US in 2023 to move to South Korea on a 2-year student visa. My time here has been a literal roller coaster of ups and downs. Year One was filled with equal parts anxiety (read: terror) and excitement
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The Cherry on Top: A Brief History of Korea’s Cherry Trees

Every spring, South Korea bursts into a frothy pink spectacle of cherry blossoms, and people (myself included) lose their collective minds over it: pictures, picnics, proposals, you name it. But have you ever wondered how these fluffy floral celebrities ended up here in the first place? Cherry trees (beotkkot namu, 벚꽃나무) have
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Life This Week in South Korea: April 7-13, 2025

Monday, April 7 And I’ve been taken off the No Fly list, woohoo! I can look up again…shower…resume normal activities to my comfort level. My medical excuse is good through April 14 so I’ve got a week to decide what I’m doing. By the time I go back next week, we will
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Where Bloggers Live: My Favorite Birthday Memory

Welcome to Where Bloggers Live: 2025! Happy New Year! “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful  group of seven bloggers family of amazing women
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This Week in South Korea: March 31-April 6, 2025

Note: in the interest of not putting everyone to sleep…because I only have like 3 pictures from this week…I’m sharing some pictures from this same week last year. Monday, March 31 The weeks just keep on coming, amiright?? Today’s big outing was to the hospital for surgery follow-up…more eyeball tests, etc. The
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This Week+ in South Korea: March 20-30, 2025

(Note: in this post I’m giving myself some grace and absolving myself of all misspelling guilt cuz I just can’t right now) When we last saw our hero she was enjoying her unclogged toilet (sans plastic utensils) and setting her alarm for early Thursday to go to the opthalmology clinic. Thursday, March
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A Quick Trip to the US: March 8-19, 2025

As I mentioned a few posts back, I was planning a trip back to the US. My sister has been quite ill for some time. The doctor felt the treatments were no longer working, so they took her off the cancer meds. Her condition went downhill quickly in the first week and
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Life this Week in South Korea: March 3-7, 2025

Note: none of the pictures are from this week… Monday, March 3 Took a little trip with a friend to Costco. Whee! It was windy and colder than I anticipated (and dressed for), and waiting on bus benches I got so chilled – like I hadn’t gotten all winter. So by the
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Life The Past Six Weeks in South Korea: Jan 14-March 2, 2025

(in no particular order, cuz trying to do that would put me over the edge) First, winter in Korea (Jan- Feb) is mostly just cold and dark…very cold…very very cold. And until just a few weeks ago, it was almost dark when I got out of class at 5:30…and most definitely when
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