The New Year Party I shouldn't have gone to!

THIS! THIS was the New Year Party I shouldn't have gone to!

Right after this, as of now, my body has succumbed to the cold  and I am starting to feel the after-party effects!

So much for a happy new year. :(

Nevertheless, I am still gonna post pictures of how my NY went.

Our class has significantly grew much closer as a group since the 1st term and the many field trips - so since it was New Year and the time to celebrate, we decided to do it as a class.

And this was also because everyone else was here in Seoul on their own - shouldn't we all group together and hang out?

Ever since Huiwen left for Taiwan, a few weeks back and the start of term 2, I realised I have been really serious about studying - so much so that every week I have 2 extra "classes". One being a 1-1 tuition with a Korean friend I got to know through Language Exchange website (he teaches me Korean and I teach him mandarin). The other extra class is a night class conducted at one of the pro-Korean culture centre in Seoul Station and it's free!

I am really glad to be spending more time to re-cap all that I have learnt (since my term 1 was really mediocre).

I digressed!

Ok, so we decided that we will have a party at a nice KTV place - bring food, cut a New Year cake and have a good time!

Nothing out of the extraordinary happened, we just sang, played, ate and had a good time hanging out together.

The drama came when everyone decided that the night was still young and they wanted to club - obviously, there was 1 key choice and it was HONGDAE - close to my place. Because I have not recovered completely from my previous flu and still have some remnants of the cold, I just really wanted to go home. And they so-happily offered to give me a "ride"" home in the train and whilst doing, psycho me to just hang out a bit longer, afterall my place is walking distance from all the action district. 

 

And there they were psycho-ing me - and I was left alone to battle whether to rest or to go.

Ultimately, I was influenced and I agreed to hang out for "just a bit". Feelings are unreliable! Seriously.

Because we only went home at 4am - big regret!

Nevertheless, I absolutely loved the streets of Hongdae. It's so vibrant and cheerful, despite being late in the night.

The weather was so cold that we kept stopping at those random street stalls 포장 마차 to sip piping hot soup & ate so much fish-cake and toekpokki. It was crazy.

And at 4am whilst walking home, random crowds were gathering and huddling around random 2-men bands, singing and rapping on a New Year's morning!

It was so spontaneous and suddenly, everyone started singing/humming to the popular tune in the deep of the night together with the performer. I dunno if "heart-warming" is the right word to use but it was definitely one of those moments I will remember for a long time.

These people weren't friends - they are random stangers who stopped to listen to the music and they started singing so loudly as a group - I felt this wave of warmth standing in the midst of them.

I better get going - for my much-needed rest!

Till the next time -cheers! HAPPY NEW YEAR!