There have been many changes to my life over the past few weeks. Some good, some bad. Here they are in chronological order:
I think I've mentioned here before that I have been applying to graduate schools in the US to pursue a Master's degree in Computer Science. I only applied to four schools, and received "we regret to inform you" emails from UC Berkeley and Univ of Washington. Definitely not good ways to start a morning.
I was beginning to think that I had overestimated my chances at getting into a good school, and was contemplating another year teaching at The Princeton Review. Vivi was visiting New York when I heard from those schools, so I decided not to worry her by telling her while she was away.
Two days after Vivi got back, she told me that her friend's husband had received a letter from Yale, which was one of the schools I applied to. That meant that I would probably be getting one soon, too. Lo and behold, my dad received the letter from Yale the next day.
It started, "we are pleased to inform you..."
Woo hoo!! I got into Yale! I was so excited, and even Vivi was yelling on the phone. I could hardly sleep that night. It's been almost two weeks and I still can't believe it. I am still amazed at what a great opportunity this will be.
So what now? I am still waiting to hear from Columbia. Their deadline was March 15, so it may be a while before they make any announcements. Almost everyone has been suggesting that I go to Columbia instead of Yale, but I am kind of leaning towards a year in quiet and boring New Haven instead of yet another year of hectic city life. I think Seoul is draining me quite a bit. But I won't make any decisions on that until I hear from Columbia.
But life goes on....
I only had 48 hours in Guam, and I was busy the entire time, but it was a lot of fun. I flew in with my friends Sean and Jin Sook, and we hung out in their hotel room the first night. The next day, the three of us went to the Micronesia Mall for a taste of Americana. Literally. Sean had Taco Bell for lunch and I opted for Carl's Jr. I ordered a medium root beer and it was HUGE. I guess everything is bigger in America. You can't get root beer in Korea so that was a treat. I spent about an hour (and $170) in Macy's buying American-sized clothing. It was a very rewarding experience.
Afterwards, I met with Rob and the other groomsmen to have lunch. We went to a Mexican restaurant and, once again, the sodas were HUGE. I think I might like living in America some day! Then we picked up the tuxedoes and had time for a quick nap before the rehearsal dinner.
The rehearsal was a bit cramped, as the wedding party consisted of 12 people and yet the chapel clearly was not designed for more than six. When the matron of honor passed out in the middle of the rehearsal, we all realized that it was much too hot and stuffy in there. Fortunately she recovered and everything went smoothly after that.
The rehearsal dinner was very good (mostly barbecue) and the cheesecake for dessert was AMAZING. Then the drinks started. Things start to get blurry at this point, but I do believe that we were drinking at the bar by the beach until 11, and then moved to a bar closer to the hotel at some point. I seem to remember that we tried to buy some beers for some Japanese girls and they said "no". I also remember sitting on a chair by myself (why was I by myself? I don't remember) and waving at some girls who kept walking by. And then somehow I talked Rob into staying in my room that night, fully aware that his snoring would seriously cut into my sleeping time. And it did.
The day of the wedding we were all a bit groggy, and the guys got together for lunch and then we went our separate ways for a bit. I went to KMart to look for PopTarts and vanilla Coke. I was successful in finding the former, but could not find the latter anywhere. Oh well.
Then it was time for the wedding. It was a pretty small ceremony. There were only about 20 guests, I would say, (most of them were family) plus the big wedding party. After the requisite photos, we headed in for the reception. It was a pretty strange reception, I must say. It started out normal: toasts, dinner, cutting the cake, bride-father dance, groom-mother dance, etc. But then when they started the dance music, half of the people disappeared. I guess they all went out for cigarettes. I kept dancing but I would say that at any given point, there were rarely more than six or seven people dancing. Where was everyone? I don't know. Sean and Jin Sook disappeared, and for a long while I couldn't find Rob or his brother. So I have no idea what was going on.
We kept dancing and it was becoming quite clear that Kelly's bridesmaids were really hammered, and Kelly wasn't much better off herself. It was kind of funny, and yet somewhat irritating. They were so drunk and so focused on each other that they pretty much ignored me and the other guys who were there. It was definitely the GIRLS' wedding reception, not "everyone's". But I guess that's the way it usually is.
Things wound down at around 11pm, I think, and since I had to fly back to Korea that night, I was taking it easy on the drinking. Some of the girls were really wrecked and needed to be walked back to their rooms. So we took care of that, and then I got changed and headed to the airport. It was a really hectic weekend and I never got any chance at all to "relax" or do any outdoors stuff, but I am really glad that I went. There are some pictures and hopefully there will be some more soon.
Fortunately my friend (and #1 drinking buddy now that Rob is gone) Caroline was up for having some beers. She even took the 18th off just to be safe! I had to teach until 10, but after that we went to Murphy's Irish Pub, which is where I had my 30th birthday party last summer. The place was packed, but only because the Korean olympic team had a big soccer game, not because of SPD. After the game ended, the place cleared out.
I had a good time, though. I had my first Guinness in a year (since last SPD), and my first Guinness EVER in Korea. I refuse to buy it here because it's typically around $10 a pint and I figure it can't possibly be any good. Certainly not good enough to pay $10 for it. But at Murphy's, it's "only" $8 and not all that bad. Caroline had one but decided that was enough for her; she switched to Hoegaarden. But I had four and really enjoyed it. A bunch of Caroline's friends from work joined us, and we had a lot of laughs. So nothing crazy like when I lived in Boston, but a good way to celebrate nonetheless.