LET US ENJOY KOREA AND THE MONEY GIVEN TO US THUS FAR

I am not being pessimist; I’m being logical.  I can foresee I will FAIL all my classes this semester, or I will pass them with very low scores.

First of all, this semester I have one of the most disrespectful and stuck-up professors I have ever met in my entire life within the 4 different countries I’ve studied so far, including this one.  We clashed so I doubt she will grade me accordingly.

 Second, this time around no English questions in the exams and no take home exams, which mean I will not have the time or resources to translate.  By the time I finish translating and understanding the questions… TIME IS UP.  I’ll be screwed. 

It seems to me that because I got the highest score in a mandatory comprehensive exam for graduation, now professors think I can read and understand Korean perfectly well, which cannot be further from the truth.  What they DON’T KNOW is that since the professor said the questions were going to be taken from the midterm and final exams, I PRETTY MUCH MEMORIZED THOSE QUESTIONS, which means, I ACTUALLY DIDN’T READ THE QUESTIONS, as soon as I RECOGNIZED A FEW PHRASES AND WORDS, I ASSUMED IT WAS THE SAME QUESTION AS QUESTION NUMBER SO AND SO FROM THE PREVIOUS EXAMS, and I answered according to them.  It wasn’t because I understood what I was reading at all.

But it’s alright.  I already cried enough, and I already started packing for my return to Panama.  Not because I am giving up, but because from now on my grades will be so low that I am going to lose my scholarship… eventually.  So I am just getting ready for it.

I’ve only regretted a few things in my whole life; staying in the Journalism Department of Kyung Hee University is one of them.  I was so stupid and naïve to have let this Department convince me they were going to give me support with my studies.  THEY KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT I WAS ONLY TOPIK LEVEL 3 and my Korean skills were not enough; still they convinced me to stay.  My greatest mistake so far, here in Korea, was to TURN AROUND AND STAY in this Department when I was already ON MY WAY TO THE NIIED TO CHANGE MY MAJOR TO AN ALL-ENGLISH TRACK. 

Well, nothing I can do about it anymore.  I am just happy and grateful I was able to show that I am not stupid, and that I am not here wasting my time.  Until now, I have been an A student in this University; so I think I have proven more than enough that Hispanic students, no matter which age, are more than capable students. 

So all being said and done, I will continue studying for a test I am not going to understand at all and will most likely FAIL… just for the heck of it XDDDD; just because I really like the subject and I want to learn more about it, because my grandmother taught me to do my BEST and try until the end in everything I do, and because I have to justify the money I have received so far from Korea… I am getting paid to study, so study I will XDDD.  IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

However, I WILL NO LONGER KILL MYSELF studying.  I will study and do my assignments LEISURELY and PLEASURABLY.  I will not strive for perfection anymore because, at the end of the day, it will not matter since my KOREAN PERFORMANCE seems to be the most important thing lately, and in that respect, ladies and gentlemen… I SUCK BIG TIME XDDD.  Therefore, if I am going to fail, ANYWAY, I might as well enjoy the rest of my stay in Korea.

Since it will take some time for my scholarship to be taken away and for me to be sent back to Panama,  I will cut down some study and project-working hours, and I will spend more time touring, eating delicious food, chasing celebrities, attending cultural events, spending time with friends, and simply put, JUST ENJOYING MYSELF here in Korea.  I will no longer make a BIG FUSS about not understanding or not being able to do something because it is IN KOREAN. If my classmates want to help me, GOOD; if not, also GOOD.  If the professor does not want to listen to my presentations because they are not in Korean, GOOD; I will sit down.  If I cannot answer the questions form a test because they are in Korean, GOOD; I will just write my name down and leave earlier. 

In all honesty, I am too old already to be concerned about GOOD GRADES, and not even when I was younger I was concerned about grades.  Not when I was 5 years old, nor when I was 15 years old and my mother could SPANK the life out of me for having bad grades was I concerned or worried about having good grades.  So forget it!!!  I am not going to start FRETTING about it now. I have demonstrated more than enough that I am not stupid; and honestly, I don’t need to prove that to anybody; it is more than enough I KNOW IT, period.

So… let’s go back to LEISURELY study for a little bit more; and then get ready to enjoy the money that Koreans have given me while taking a nice stroll along the Han riverbank; and finally, let’s end the day by going to bed early (NO MORE LOSING PRECIOUS HOURS OF SLEEP) since there is NO POINT for killing myself studying when the Korean Language Barrier will not let me show how much I did.

LET US ENJOY KOREA, AND THE MONEY GIVEN TO US THUS FAR… until they take it away from us XDDDD.  At least, the nice memories and the good times will always remain.