ELENA, DONT READ!

Life in Pécs

2009-04-05T15:42:00.017-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! It's been a week since I got here now...Getting here from Seoul took nearly 24 hours! 11:30 hours to Frankfurt by plane, a three-hour wait, another hour-long plane ride to Budapest, then finally a 3 hour drive to my town -- Pecs (pronounced Peish). I finally arrived here last Saturday at 2 am (local time) and it's been CRAJEE since. Shopping for life necessities, food, getting settles, exploring the town, etc....it's been intense. But I'm proud to say that Roh Park is finally settled for his European life.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I'm just going to post some pictures that I took of the town as I walked around and some from my travels!

Welcome to Europe.

It's a beautiful town.

- r.p

Leaving!

2009-03-26T09:48:00.002-04:00

Seoul --> Frankfurt --> Budapest

Another long plane ride coming up...But pretty excited to go! If making the decision to go to Hungary was hard enough, I think this part where I actually go will be a big challenge. Am I scared? Haha, this is going to sound silly, but one thing that I'm really scared for is the FOOD. I've had the comfort of being able to eat what I want in Canada, and especially in Korea, but I'm scared that I won't be able to make my midnight McDonald's runs and have Congee on Friday nights and order pizza whenever I want (though, it IS close to Italy, but it would never replace Cora's Pizza).

Once again, thanks for all your support and checking out this forum! Once I get there, I'll be sure to take tons of pictures and keep you guys updated.

PEACE OUT.

- r.p

A Day Out in Seoul!

2009-03-25T08:24:00.011-04:00

2 days left before I leave for Budapest! I'm pretty nervous, but excited at the same time. I even picked up a couple books by Lonely Planet -- one for the tourism's sake, and one for the language. According to Lonely Planet, "Hungarian is a unique language. It has no significant similarities to any other language in the world. English actually has more in common with Russian and Sinhala (from Sri Lanka) than it does with Hungarian." This definitely sounds like a challenge that I'd like to master within the next few months that I'm there (with absolutely no background knowledge on this language), but it makes me feel like this is how the White Man feels when he's faced with learning any of the East Asian languages! Imagine going from writing curvive from left right, to writing characters. That should be a breeze.

I took a little trip to the heart of the city and decided to take some pictures on my way! The weather wasn't so great though, so some of the pictures didn't turn out so great. But here they are:

MYEONG-DONG

SUBWAY!

The kid in the 2nd picture just...looked funny so I took a creepy shot.

And... ISAAC, read this!

- r.p

More from Korea...

2009-03-14T20:48:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! It's me again...

Not much happening in the last few days. Just spending time with family and getting ready to go to Hungary! Let me know what you guys have been up to! Email me or leave me comments on here...I'd love to know.

1) Korea has some sick golf ranges...really big and has multiple floors...pretty unreal. Here's a video!

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2) And some more from a concert that I got tickets to. Haha, it was full of ah-jum-mah's and it's pretty funny watching these people dance and jump as if they're 15, 16 year-old girls. Here's a video!

Thanks for checking the blog! I'll post again soon.

- r.p

In Seoul

2009-03-11T21:17:00.007-04:00

Landed around 9 hours ago! It's been a long flight, but it finally feels real -- I'm starting a new life. Mixed feelings -- sad, excited, frustrated, optimistic, and such. But you know what's an unreal feeling? Ever since I was a little kid, I've been looking up to my dad and the work that he's been doing. I've always wanted to be him. When I was applying to universities in grade 12, I was torn, because I didn't know which program to go for. Engineering seemed like a sure route to mediocre success and a stable job, criminology seemed like an interesting option, and business also seemed to be a realistic route for me. But it hit me that I was still interested in the same things that I was when I was little and that my dream hadn't changed.

So here I am, pursuing my childhood dream. Not many people have the privilege of doing that, so I feel really blessed. But let me tell you, it's an amazing feeling.

Now, I said that I'm going to keep everyone posted and keep track of my travels so I took a picture like a kid on an airplane for the first time in his life! Here are some of them:

The walk to the gate seemed really far and it was hard to recollect all my thoughts about this trip.

Bibimbap on the plane. The Chinese man next to me asked for help on how to eat this. He failed, miserably.

After a long flight, finally in Seoul. I took a couple videos but I failed misrably too. Btw, have you guys ever checked out "fail" videos? Go on YOUTUBE and look up fail sleepwalking...it's a video of a dog -- amazing.

My first stop in the airport! Haha, I missed these...

Haha, don't judge me.

Anyhow, so I'm here! Once again, thanks for all your support guys. Thanks to all of you who helped me make this choice (TK, LB), thanks for coming to the airport, and for some of you, thanks for those wonderful letters and emails. =)

I'll keep in touch!

Make sure to leave comments.

- r.p

Viszontlátásra!

2009-03-10T15:15:00.002-04:00

The title means "Goodbye" in Hungarian. Pretty complicated in just saying "goodbye", isn't it? That's how I feel right now. My mind is so cloudy and I feel like I have to say so many goodbyes, but I don't know where to start! So here's what I found: Sziasztok! That means goodbye in context to many people. That's simpler now.

Like I said in my last post, I'll be writing frequently and keeping you guys in touch with what's going on, on a daily basis! So please make sure to keep checking this blog and feel free to comment. =) I'd love to hear you guys write to me about my journey and telling me that look gay in my new European jeans or whatever. I'd like that.

It hasn't hit me really hard that I'm leaving yet, but I'm definitely starting to imagine the emptiness I'm going to feel when I'm over there alone. But I know you guys will keep me in your hearts!

We'll talk soon.

- r.p

New Start!

2009-03-05T15:08:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone. Why did I jump on the bandwagon and start to "blog"? In all seriousness and fullness in the entirety of these words: I'm leaving!

I'll be starting a new chapter of my life by moving to Hungary. New school, new people, new food (though I hope I can have the occasional Korean food), new life. It's pretty scary, but exciting at the same time. For all my friends and family, thank you so much for the wonderful support you've given me in making this decision and in the process of preparing for this new life. Without you guys, I wouldn't have been able to come this far.

I'll be using this blog to update you guys on my life! I may be thousands of miles away, but my home will always be here and I don't want you guys to be strangers! I'll be posting stories, news, ideas, thoughts, sometimes venting on this blog, and pictures of funny (looking) people (for those of you who don't know, I love doing this).

Keep in touch!

- r.p