July 7th, 2009...Today was my roommate's birthday! Last night I blew up a bunch of balloons and hid them in my closet, and when she fell asleep I scattered them on her bed and the floor beside it. In the morning she woke up with a shriek, and then I sang "Happy Birthday" to her (in English and Finnish of course) and gave her a basket of candy to start the day right. It wasn't much, but I know it made her feel special! What a fantastic beginning to the day!
That evening we were invited to attend a banquet for all exchange students that are preparing to leave Seoul to study abroad. The entire presentation was in Korean so we couldn't really understand what was going on, and the huge buffet right beside us was a bit distracting. After all, what college student doesn't get excited about free food? I'll tell you who....this girl right here. I haven't had the best of luck with the food here in Korea so I felt a bit indifferent about the enormous buffet, until my eyes caught a glimpse of something truly wonderful that I haven't seen in a long time....amidst all the fish, pork, and spicy whatnot that most other people were drooling over, was a tray of juicy watermelon! My eyes opened wider and I began to see more....oranges, pineapple...it seemed too good to be true! I know I probably got a bit too excited about this, but I really miss eating fruit! The travel rule when it comes to fruit is that if you can't peel it, don't eat it...so I have avoided it altogether. Not tonight! My tummy was happy!
As wonderful of a day as it had already been...it still wasn't over! A group of us went to Heongeong, another province of Seoul, to take my roommate out on the town to celebrate. We went to a restaurant and tried the traditional Korean pizza and egg soup, which is apparently quite popular to eat with beer. It certainly is a long way away from being the greasy, cheesy pizza we all know and love. It was pretty much a round plate covered in sprouts, onions, and some other green vegetables, which you eat with chopsticks and dip in soy sauce. Now I may not be making that on Chiefs football Sundays when I get back home, but all in all it wasn't too shabby. Afterwards we headed to Club Cocoon, a popular dance club that basically plays rap and hip-hop set to a techno beat. I've never been to a club, so I find it funny that the first one I go to is in South Korea and it played rap and hip-hop. I've never been a fan of either rap nor techno, but I believe in going with the flow and having a great time anyways...and that's just what our large group did. And since the Subway closes down at midnight and doesn't open up until 5:30am, we just stayed out all night and just observed the culture, which was still very much awake and alive to my surprise! We took the Subway back to Hanyang at 7:00am and finally ended our 24-hour day... 
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