This is week 2 of my sophomore fall quarter and it's been going great. I'm taking 6.5 credits (which is a LOT more than what the average music major takes, which is only 4 credits) and on top of that, my work study job has never been more successful. Compared to last year, I have now four voice major professors that want me as their pianist for their students, and a lot of my old students want to work with me again this year. Not only thaaattt, but during Wildcat Welcome Week for the incoming freshmen, I was a Peer Adviser for a group of music major freshmen. After couple days of rigorous training and one hectic and exhausting week, I really learned a lot about myself and grew more confident in the leadership skills that I thought were nonexistent.

On the first day of school last week, as I was passing by the piano bulletin board across from Mr. Chow's studio, I noticed a very intriguing flyer. The person wanted to monitor their two kids, 9 and 12 year olds, when they practice piano. The person is a piano teacher herself, but because she is too busy teaching her own students, she doesn't have time to watch her daughters. It's $20/hr four times a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I didn't care where they were located (I could find any location by using public transportation.. I was sure of it) because I knew I would always figure it out. I instantly called the person, and I seem to be the first one to contact her! On that same day, she wanted to meet me and go over the procedures and how it's done.

She picked me up from Northwestern and drove me to her home, which is located on the border between Skokie and Evanston. I met their two daughters, Joy and Melody. I learned more about the lady. She had graduated with a master's degree in Piano Performance at NU many years ago, so she's very familiar with Northwestern. Her husband also got his degree in computer science at NU as well.

So far, this is my 3rd time monitoring the girls' practice times. They are both very mature kids for their age, and pretty proficient in playing piano.

So what does my title of this blog have to do anything with this?

Although my schedule has been going fairly smoothly, I am already exhausted. I'm beginning to doubt whether or not I can handle this crazy schedule. The kids' mom wants me to actually teach four students on Saturday for $30/hr. I agreed to do this because my Saturday schedule is completely free. Although I love taking on this job, it's been on the very back of my mind whether or not it was a good idea to take on this job, especially when I still have to juggle school and piano (and I'm competing in MTNA in November... crap).

I think I got my answer just earlier tonight.

After I had finished with their practices, as I was about to leave, Melody, the 9 year old, asked me a question. "What's your religion?"

I smiled at her and confidently told her that I am a Christian. She looked at me, not knowing if it was a good thing that I was a Christian or not. I figured that she wasn't a Christian, but probably some other religion. So I asked her what her religion was, and she told me that her family is Catholic.

Again, I smiled at her genuinely. "That's cool. That means we both believe in God!"

She didn't say anything, probably still unsure of where she was trying to get at. Then she finally asked me, "Does that mean you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?"

"Yes, of course!" I exclaimed.

She was very satisfied with my answer and she beamed in joy. She pulls out a little something that she was holding behind her back. It was a hand-made cross, made out of two small wooden sticks and decorated play-doh type of material around the cross. "I'm glad that you are a Christian because I can give you this cross!"

I was definitely not expecting this gift at all. I hardly know these girls! And of all gifts to receive, I get a cross....

I mean.. it can't be just a coincidence. I believe it was God himself who gave me that gift... a sign telling me that I am really called to do this job.

I just love it when He gives me subtle answers like this. <3

So... I was supposed to have made this blog a LONG time ago... like last month. I've been busy, and when I'm not busy... I forget to blog.

Last month, my family and I went to Korea for a family vacation. It was the first time that any of us had gone back to Korea since 13 years ago. Of course we were all stoked.

And it really was an amazing vacation. I didn't touch a piano for those three weeks I stayed there (except for the times I had to play for my relatives' churches during church service) and I pigged out on Korean food like crazy (and a few more pounds... eheheh). Of course, since the world isn't perfect and we as humans are not perfect.... our vacation wasn't 100% perfect either. But through those imperfections I found something even greater - God's love.

1. On the second day in Korea, we got a tour of the famous KBS Station from Hee-won's dad. Hee-won's family and her cousin's family are really close with our from church back home. After our private tour, Heewon's dad suggested to go  bike riding in a park close by, and we all agreed to do it. We all rented bikes and had a fun time riding around the park. It was so awesome seeing my parents on bikes... they told me it had been decades since they have ridden a bike. It's amazing to know that once you've learned to ride a bike, it's a skill that can never be forgotten.

Then Heewon's dad wanted to take us closer to the river at the end of the park, through this tunnel. There was about 9 or 10 of us, all in a single file line, and I was up at the very front. I stopped my bike off to the side, because I wanted to wait for my parents were the last two in our line. I just wanted to be next to them, and enjoy the moment. I also wanted to take pictures of everyone passing by. Everyone passed me and went straight through the tunnel, and I waited for my parents who were trodding along a little bit slower than the rest of our group. It was dark in the tunnel, except for the dim orange lights that attempted to brighten up the tunnel and a slight decline towards the entrance of the tunnel. My dad passed me and as I saw my mom about to pass me, I decided it was a good time to start riding my bike with the rest of the group again. I had only turned forward for 5 seconds when....

... my mom crashed into the side of the wall. My dad and I, closest to her turned around immediately and was shocked to see my mom had fallen off her bike. My dad caught up to her, and since he got to her first, I stood there.... shocked. I only had positive thinking in my head... maybe too positive. Oh, she's going to be alright. Maybe a minor scratch but it shouldn't be that bad.

"엄마! ....엄마!!"

I was stuck between the middle, my parents on one side and the rest of the group already almost out of the tunnel. I watched my mom in horror as I ran up to her frantically. "엄마.... 괜찮아?!" My mom had her hand over her forehead, and I thought that maybe she's just having a headache and shock from falling off her bike, but when she turned to face me.... I saw streams of blood running down her face and hand.

I wanted to scream.

I turned to the others, and at the top of my lungs, I shouted out, "WAITTTTTTTTT!!!!!" My voice was loud enough that they heard me, and started heading back.

At the same time between all of this commotion, a park patrol officer car was casually driving down the tunnel at about 5-10 MPH. They rolled down their windows and asked if my mom needed any help. Of course they saw that the accident was serious so they got out of the car and tried to figure out what the situation was. One opened the car door while my dad helped my mom in. I saw my dad let go of my mom briefly, thinking that my mom would be fine on her own for a second, but when she almost fainted in front of my eyes, I couldn't think straight. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything for her. I was so scared. My dad and a police officer immediately grabbed a hold of her before she fell to the ground and my mom regained consciousness quickly, and entered the police car. By then, the rest of our group got back and they were confused as ever.

Everything was so chaotic at this point. Heewon's dad jumped into the police car with my parents. I was scared being alone away from any adults, but I forget that I have Heewon (although she is my brother's age, she is very good with both English and Korean), and I have an actual legal adult, my cousin Eunhye, even though she barely knows any English. And of course I had my siblings with me.

The police car zoomed off to the nearest hospital, and at that time a police officer who stayed behind told us that everything would be okay. We all helped gather all of the bikes and parked them in front of the police station, which was conveniently located RIGHT next to the entrance of the tunnel. Afterwards, we all got inside the police station and waited anxiously. It was scaringly quiet  between all of us. None of us could speak.

I finally had to break the silence. There was no way we could just sit here and wait. I felt so helpless, we all did! So I suggested that we take the next cab or something to that hospital my mom went to. Right when we all agreed to go, Heewon's dad called and told us he was almost back at the park. So we waited for him, and once he got back, we put all the bikes at the rental shop.

However, we all discussed what the problem was. There are several reasons why my mom fell off her bike, and some of these reasons I found out after my mom recovered from the hospital. My mom's eyesight isn't the greatest, so when she saw me stopped in the middle of the tunnel, she wanted to move over to the right to go around me. She blames me for blocking the road, although I really wasn't... but no point in arguing. Also, my mom's bike had brakes that weren't working properly. So when she tried to stop her bikes using her brakes, it didn't fully stop, and when she tried to stop the bike on her own, her handlebars jerked to the right and she crashed into the wall of the tunnel.

So Heewon's dad, who's a news reporter and interviewer for KBS recorded a video about how the brakes weren't functioning properly which resulted in this accident, and the workers argued back that they have never had this happen before. I was pretty pissed off.

Anyhow, we all took a taxi to the hospital, and we waited in the emergency room. It was a depressing wait. Each bed was closed off by curtains, so I heard everything. And.. it wasn't pretty. There was a 1 or 2 year old little girl that apparently had one of her fingers ripped off (?) and the doctors were stitching it back together. Her screams and cries were so painful to hear.... I felt so bad for her. And it made me feel even worse -- maybe my own mom was feeling the same pain.

As I sat there, waiting for my mom, I felt so incredibly guilty. It was all my fault. If I had stopped to take pictures, none of this would have happened. And what made things worse was that I remembered that this wasn't the first time my mom got into a serious accident that was caused by myself. Remember December 2009, when the garage door slammed down on my mom's hand? That was also my fault..... (you can read that post, I wrote about it on xanga too). And to think, this was only day two in Korea.... the one thing I hoped was that my mom wouldn't be discouraged for the rest of the trip because of this accident. We have spent so much money just to even get to Korea and I didn't want it to go to waste at all.

In the midst of thinking and reflecting on what had just happened, my mom pops out from no where. I expected sadness and anger written all over her face.... but that's not what I saw. She had such a cute smile. She smiled as if nothing had ever happened, a smile that let me know that I was forgiven. It was a smile that brought so much weight off my shoulders, a smile proving me for the nth time that my mom really is the strongest woman in the world.

My mom had to get nine stitches right above one of her eyes, by her eyebrow. The only reason why she had such a deep cut is because the wall of the tunnel had bamboo sticks lined up, and my mom hit the side of her forehead on the corner of one of them.

The hospital fees were a pain because we had to pay double the amount for being foreigners... even if we were Korean. And Heewon's dad felt so bad since it was his idea to go bike riding. My parents were really nice about it and they felt bad for making him feel bad. XD

For about a whole week, my mom's eye was pretty swollen and always had a bandage covered. During the last half of our vacation, my mom's eye was back to normal, and the only visible thing was her stitches.

Even though my mom went through horrible amount of pain (actually, she said the pain was so deep that she didn't feel anything, her body and the pain was numb until the next day), God provided for us yet again. First of all, the police car that was strolling by passed by us at the most perfect timing. If they were not even there, who knows how endangered my mom's injury would've been for her. I mean seriously, how was the police there literally when the accident happened? It can't be just coincidence. God helped us..

God especially provided for my mom. This whole accident could have gone for the worse, if my mom wasn't as strong. Worst case scenario, our vacation could have been canceled if my mom's injury had gotten serious. And also, the fact that my mom's injury didn't injure her eye, but right above it.... is a miracle.

God has worked in so many ways throughout the rest of our trip. When our flight to Jeju Island got canceled because of a typhoon that had hit Busan that very day, God provided an even better experience of Korea than just Jeju Island. We all know that this is not our last time in Korea, so it was okay to sacrifice that part of our trip this time around. But because we had skipped out on Jeju Island, we were able to visit many different cities and towns as we drove back up to Seoul. We visited the old temples and palaces of the old Korean dynasties, ate lots of good seafood along the harbors, and ride cable cars at 설악산. Not only did I learn much more about the Korean culture, but we had such beautiful weather throughout the few days we traveled to Seoul. While everyone in the south was suffering from the typhoon, we only had heavy rain pour during the night as we slept, and bright and sunny days when we were out and about. I have even heard about people who planned to get back to mainland from Jeju but couldn't because the airport was closed until the typhoon had died down. I knew if we had gone to Jeju the day before, we would've been stuck just like those people.

Even when I was selfish and greedy, God still provided. Towards the last few days of the trip, I started to get annoyed with my parents because everywhere we went, we kids would do absolutely nothing while our parents talked to their siblings and cousins. My siblings and I didn't have any opportunities to do kid stuff, like go to theme parks or watch movies, or to be at places where we could go off on our own. My parents were highly protective of us, and even I, a college student who is of age to drink in Korea, did not experience the nightlife at all. If anything, we were home by 8 or 9 PM, and did not go out at night at all.

But of course, there is  reason for everything. I'm sure God wanted to protect me from any danger just as my parents were being protective of me. And now thinking back, I really do appreciate that.

But still being selfish, I was very persistent with what I wanted from being in Korea. I wanted to see my friends that lived in Korea and go to some of the theme parks. After persuading them day after day, I realized that my goals were too far-fetched. At the end, I just wanted to visit Jay Cho, who is my high school friend. All of my other friends were either at NU or YouTube fans, and neither of those were top priority to me. Jay Cho, on the other hand, doesn't live in Vegas anymore and so this would be my only chance to see him for a very long time. I also wanted to go to Lotte World, just one theme park at least to commemorate my trip in Korea. Things weren't looking so good though -- the weather that week had been horrible, since it was raining nonstop, and my parents' patience was at their very limit.

Just couple days before heading back to the States, my parents finally allowed my siblings and I to go to Lotte World with my cousin, Unmi. Excited with the news, I called Jay to see if he can join us in Lotte World.. and to my surprise, he was able to! Because I had a friend coming with me, Unmi felt as though it was safe for her not to go, so I can focus on hanging out with my friend, and she doesn't even like rollercoasters anyway. So it was a win-win situation for us. The only thing I was worried about was the weather, but I knew that since Lotte World has an indoor park as well as an outdoor, we'll get to ride rides no matter what.

On the day of our trip to Lotte World, it had been beautiful, bright and sunny. No chance of rain at all. It was even hot! I had an awesome time catching up with Jay and hanging out with my siblings. I couldn't even ask for a better day. I was just so shocked that God answered my prayers, even if they were for selfish reasons. And although I didn't get everything I wanted, the fact that God even let me have the one thing I truly wanted made me feel so blessed that I even have a savior like Him.

Dear Lord, thank you for being in my life no matter where I am or what I am doing in this world. I realize that I am so helpless without you. You bring so much joy into my life that for all the times I thank you for everything it still doesn't seem quite enough. Not only have I learned more about my culture and my family, but I have also grown closer to You. Thank you for providing me with this wonderful opportunity, and in overall, one amazing summer.

Much love from your daughter,

Sherry Kim.

 

Hahaha.

It's been one year since I ran that 10-mile nonstop run. Almost exactly. I still remember I took off around 8:30 PM that night.

Oh, what a horrible, horrible night. But what an amazing and crazy run....

Of course, I'd remember this date. Of course. Lol.

And now that's it's been one whole year, all I can do is simply... laugh. Laugh it off. The past can be so funny sometimes.

Where I stand in my life, I can honestly say that I am in a much better position than I was exactly a year ago. And I'm so blessed to be living in this new life. :]

I had probably the craziest adventure of my life trying to get back home. It was very frustrating and I was pissed off beyond levels, but this is something I'll be laughing about in the future for sure.

Let's start from the very beginning.

My flight originally was supposed to leave Sunday, July 17, at 11:40 AM. I didn't even think about how I was going to get to the airport, and how that would be a huge problem for me.

I finally realized that there was no way for me to take a train from Saarburg to the Frankfurt Airport in the morning. It was a 3-4 hour train ride and the earliest train leaving Saarburg was at 7 in the morning, and I would need about 3 hours at the airport for international flights. Taxi was far too dangerous, and buses don't travel long distance. My only option was to leave the night before and stay overnight at the airport.

But that would mean that I would have to miss out on the very last concert and miss out the after party that they were going to have. That would also mean that I would be stuck at the airport for about 12 hours, all by myself. It was definitely not a good idea considering safety measures.

I heard from Professor Heidi Lucas that she and her french horn students all had flights at Frankfurt Airport, about 3 hours before mine and they were planning to visit Munich all throughout Saturday and then travel to Frankfurt Airport together. After thinking long and hard, I figured this was the best option for me, although I ended up spending $180 for the train. I figured it was better to spend $180 (especially since I re-sold my EDC ticket for about the same price) and not potentially get kidnapped or something worse. And plus, I would be able to sight-see at a big city in Germany, which would be exciting.

So Saturday, July 16, at 4 AM, we took a train to Munich. I had pulled an all-nighter the night before because I didn't want to end up sleeping only 3 hours and feel super groggy. I figured I'd be able to sleep on the train, which was six hours long. I did get to sleep, however it wasn't a full sleep since I was sitting up uncomfortably.

We visited Munich and ended up walking around ten miles throughout the ten hours we spent there. It was extremely tiring, especially running on almost no sleep.

We left Munich at 9 PM and arrived at the Frankfurt Airport by 12:30 AM. Again, I tempted to sleep on the train but failed to sleep comfortably. At the airport, no one was working that late at night, which meant that we would have to wait until morning to check in and go through security. We found a random area where we dropped off our luggages and sat there doing nothing. Eventually by 3 AM, we all got tired. Half of the group slept against the walls by our luggages. I slept on a nearby bench. I woke up two hours later due to back pain. Everyone else also woke up because it was time to start checking in. By the time I woke up, there were definitely more people at the airport. Couple hours before that, the airport seemed very empty.

By 6 AM, the group that I traveled with finally left me. I heard that US Airways wouldn't open until 8 AM, so I literally sat there doing nothing for two hours. At one time, I started to feel really sleepy again, so I used my purse as my pillow and fell asleep on a random bench.

Finally, by 8 AM, I lined up. When I got up to the counter to check in, they told me that my flight has been canceled and that I would need to wait at another line to reschedule my flight.

I was stunned. This has never happened to me before, and I only prayed that I would be able to leave and arrive Vegas around the same time.

I waited in another line for about 20 minutes, which was very long considering there weren't that many people in front of me. I finally got up to the front and it took them about five minutes to find an ideal flight for me.

They switched my flight to United Airlines, and they told me that my layover flight was changed from Charlotte, NC to Chicago, IL. I would also arrive Vegas an hour earlier than what I had originally planned on. I was so excited! First off, I'd be getting to Vegas earlier than expected, AND I would be stopping my most favorite city in the world, my second home, Chicago. The lady told me that I would need to check in at United Airlines, so I happily walked over there.

There was maybe one or two people in front of me so I didn't mind the line. I was already too happy about my rescheduled flight. Then it was my turn to check in, the lady chuckled at me. I was confused. The lady said, "I don't know why US Airways booked you for this flight when it's clearly fully booked." I was even more confused. I asked the lady if there were any other flights that would be leaving that day. So for another five minutes, she searched for another flight only to tell me that every single flight to America has been fully booked for the day.

Again, I was shocked. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. The lady told me that my only option was to stay overnight at a hotel and that she would schedule me for the next flight the next day. My whole world turned upside down. Especially since this has never happened to me, I didn't know what to do. I figured that since I didn't have any other option, I agreed to do what she told me to do. She gave me a hotel voucher and a meal voucher, and told me to exit the airport and take a shuttle to the Steigenberger Hotel a few minute drive away.

So I did what I was told. I walked quite a way to the shuttle, waited for the shuttle, and when it arrived I took the shuttle. Once I got to the hotel, I went up to the check-in counter. I gave my hotel voucher to the lady up front and she looked at it, very confused. She told me to wait, which I did for about ten minutes. Finally, she also chuckled at me and said, "I don't know why United brought you here, because all of our rooms are fully booked. You will have to go back to United and ask for another hotel."

At this point, I was so pissed off. I hated how I was going back and forth between places like some dog. Couldn't United have called the hotel about available rooms rather than having poor me run all over the place? I waited for the next shuttle back to the airport.

During my ride, I overheard two adults complain about the same situation I was in. Apparently I wasn't the only one going through problem. So I butted in on their conversation rather than staying put. I was heated. We all decided that we would stick together until we got to our hotel. I figured this was a good plan, since several heads are better than one.

We finally walked back to United, and I was shocked to see that the almost nonexistant line at the check-in was now about 3-4 hours long. Many people had their flights canceled that day, and I was one of them. I told the adults that I am NOT waiting in that line just to get my hotel changed. They all agreed with me.

Finally, one of the ladies working wasn't busy with a customer so we explained our problem. She gave us crap at first which pissed me off. We demanded that we stay at the Sheraton Hotel, which is a really nice hotel, about 400 euros a night. She finally gave that to us, but snatched away our meal vouchers. Fine, whatever.

Then the two adults and I walked over to the Sheraton Hotel, which is connected to the airport. We got to the hotel, and waited in the line to check-in for about another 20-30 minutes. I finally got my room at the hotel, but unfortunately, my room was the furthest one away from the elevator, which was about a two minute walk. That's ridiculous... but at the very least, I have a place to stay for the night so I stopped complaining. The two other adults got their rooms and decided we'd all meet at dinner.

Staying at my room  was the first time I was happy since my trip to Munich. After getting lunch at the airport, I drifted off to an amazing 4-5 hour nap on a really nice bed. It was the first time I legit slept in the past 50 hours.

When I woke up, I needed to charge my phone, which was at 3% battery life. But then another problem arose. I accidentally left my adapter on the train when I was last charging my phone. Without that, I can't charge any of my electronics in Europe. And I needed my phone to last through the next night because that was my only form of an alarm to wake me up. I finally bought another one at a small store at the airport, which solved that problem.

Then I went to the free dinner downstairs, where I met up with the two adults again. I sat in a table with few more adults, some around the same age as my parents. I was the only kid there, which was awkward and not awkward at the same time, haha. Everyone at the dinner was staying at our hotel because of their canceled flight. It was pretty sad.

After dinner, I needed to go on the internet. I ended up paying 8 euros for my internet for one hour, which is really dumb. I heard that there was free 30 minute wifi at the lobby, so when my one hour was up, I went down to the lobby to continue using the internet. As I sat down on a nice and comfy chair, I noticed a person that seemed really familiar. I couldn't help but staring at her a few times, trying to figure out if I actually know her or not. I was afraid to approach her and embarrass myself if she didn't end up being the girl I thought of. So I left that alone.

But 15 minutes into my wifi usage, the internet broke down, so I explained the problem to a lady at the front desk. She apologized for what happened, resetted the internet and gave me another 30 minute wifi to use! Coincidentally, the girl that I thought looked vaguely familiar also had the same problem, so she also came up to the front desk. I turned around to see her, and then I gasped. It really was her! It was Dori, an amazing soprano that I met Saarburg Festival. Although we barely talked in the festival, we suddenly became close to each other when we found out that we were on the same flight that had been canceled.

As we were using the internet, we talked about how we ended up at that hotel. I told her my story, and then she told me hers. She had it worse than I did! Although I had been waiting in many, many lines, Dori had to wait in the line at United for a whopping four hours. I felt so bad for her. That's when I realized that if you think you've had it bad, there is always someone out there that has had it worse than you.

Then she told me that she was going to check-in the following morning at 5:30 in the morning, because that's when the check-in would officially open in the morning. I asked if she was sure, because I had heard 6:30. She was pretty sure it was 5:30, so I listened to her and decided we would meet up at the front of the hotel to check-in together.

Just as we were about to go, the front desk gave us each a complimentary one hour wifi usage for free, because she felt bad that our internet connection stopped working earlier. Being able to meet up with Dori and getting one more hour of wifi for free definitely made my night a whole lot better.

After taking a really nice bubble bath suggested by Dori, I drifted off to sleep. I only had four hours of sleep that night.

The next morning, Dori and I headed back to the airport to wait in line. We waited about half an hour before the check-in actually opened. There were only two or three people in front of us so we were pretty happy. Half an hour later, I looked back at the line, and the line already grew about 1-2 hours long. At that point, I was really glad I met up with Dori and listened to her about coming in at 5:30 in the morning.

Dori was able to check-in fine, but the lady stopped me when I told her the time of my flight. She asked her supervisor if I was even on United, and the supervisor confirmed that I was NOT. I was REALLY confused. The lady said, "I checked with my supervisor, and she told me that you are not flying with us, but you are flying with Lufthansa. Please go over to the next terminal to check in there."

I was really, really pissed. I was completely sure I was on United! When I got my flight reschedule the day before, it was with United. But because I had to listen to my authorities, I gave up, and walked over to Lufthansa.

I had to wait in line for half an hour before it was my turn. And by the time I got to the counter, the lady looked at me like I was stupid for coming here. Before she could assume anything, I barked back at her. "Hey, it was UNITED that told me I was on Lufthansa, even though I'm pretty sure I'm still on United." The lady double checked my flight and she told me I was right, that I was still flying with United and that I need to go back.

I was really pissed off. I thought all of the going back and forth around the airport was just yesterday. So I marched back to United. I wanted to speak with the lady that had sent me to Lufthansa, but another lady stopped me from doing so. "Ma'am, you need to go to the back of the line."

So I yelled at her as well. "You see that lady over there?" I pointed at the lady who sent me to Lufthansa. "SHE's the one who sent me over to another airline even though I'm clearly on United. Why are people making me go back and forth between places when I clearly know that I'm flying with United???" The lady apologized for the situation, and she brought me over to the other lady who was at fault. She got seriously yelled at, but that lady was acting like a kid and pointing fingers at someone else rather than taking the blame like a mature adult. "But it wasn't ME! It was my supervisor that told me she was on Lufthansa!" I rolled my eyes at her. You've got to be kidding me.

She finally apologized for the mistake and sent me to the front of the line. At that point, the line to check in was several hours long. The people in front of the line looked at me like WTF are you doing here? I wanted to glare at them and say STFU but I decided not to.

It was FINALLY time to check in my luggage, but that took forever because something was wrong with printing out my baggage tag. So the lady had to handwrite the tag and finally shipped off my luggage.

I finally headed back to the hotel to eat breakfast. I met up with Dori there and explained to her what had happened.

Then an hour later, we all went through security together, and got to our gate. The flight left an hour later than its original time, but at that point, I was just glad that I was finally leaving Frankfurt Airport.

My flight was long, but I finally arrived at Chicago O'Hare Airport. I reclaimed my baggage, went through custom check, and had to go through security again.

Just being there was the highlight of my day. It brought back so many memories of being at Northwestern. To think the last time I was at the O'hare airport, I was saying goodbye to my boyfriend....

My stay at Chicago was very short lived, and it was time to me to head to Vegas.

When I arrived in Vegas, I was so happy to finally be home. My 72 hour adventure was finally over. I walked over to the baggage claim to receive my luggage. I waited for my luggage for a long time. Finally everyone on my flight had claimed their luggage and had left. I was the only one there.

I closed my eyes and prayed that I would get my luggage. After all that I've been through, I could at the very least get my luggage and go home safe and sound.

But no.

They left my luggage back in Chicago. I was beyond pissed. Problems with this whole trip back to Vegas just kept on stacking on top of each other. My phone had died at the baggage claim, so I had to assume that my dad was going to pick me up at passenger pick-up, which I'm very glad he did.

I didn't receive my luggage until they dropped it off at my home the next morning.

What a crazy adventure, right? Even now, I am laughing to myself because this had happened to me. What an experience.

I'm finally back home from Germany.
What an experience.

Here's a little summary of my thoughts on this festival:

Location
 I absolutely loved Saarburg. I loved that we were in a small town, although it had several drawbacks. I would have to walk to a nearby hotel just to get free wifi (3 minutes away from my hotel). I had to walk to school and back, sometimes twice or three times everyday which took 10-15 minutes one way. There are no air conditioners any where, and restaurants don't use insecticides to spray all the bugs away. There is always that language barrier, which is even stronger in this small town because the townspeople have no need to really learn English anyway, unlike the bigger cities in Germany. But besides all of that... Saarburg was gorgeous. I loved the architecture of each building, and I love the energy of the Germans around the town. The waterfall, the most important symbol of the town is also a sight to see, as well as the Saar river that runs along the town.

We also got to travel out of Saarburg for many other concert venues. We would often take a bus to these destinations, and along the drive, we got to see many gorgeous views. The roads from town to town were one lane that stretched on for miles, and everywhere surrounding you are forests of trees and grass, animals, windmills, and more. I can't think of a place in America where the landscape looks remotely close to that of Germany's countryside.

People
 I made lots of new friends. The first people I met were Kevin Mills, Whitney Diamond, Allie Outcalt, and Melissa Then. My first friend was a chinese transfer student named Qiaoni, but starting from the second day, Eunice became my first true close friend at camp. I actually met her mother first, and I became really close to her as well. She became my mom in Germany. I felt as though we were all just one family.. it was really nice. We helped each other out no matter what. And although Eunice was three years younger than me, I got along with her really nicely. I feel as though she has become closer to me than anyone else this past year, except for Jihye and Sofia. Heh..

I met so many more friends. Eric Lam, for example, was a strange coincidence for me. I actually knew his younger sister ever since I was 7 in a piano competition... yet I had no idea she had an older brother until I met him at the festival! Kevin Mills actually knows a lot of the UNLV cellists like David Warner and James Kwon. The infamous cello quartet at the festival were truly some of the coolest people I've ever met.

There are a bunch of clicks that formed immediately at the festival. There were the mob of Chinese musicians, ranging from age 12 to adult, and one a piano professor at the festival. They were always the one who would steal all the practice time slots and not even practice at all. -_-; It made all of the other pianists really frustrated, including myself.

Then there are the eight Korean flutists who are all in their 20's and older. Both the Koreans and the Chinese had a hard time speaking and understanding English.

Another click were all the singers. Somehow they always click together, even at Northwestern, all of the singers are friends with each other and they stick like glue.

There are few loners out there, that I kind of wish they would go out of their own comfort zone to talk to us. They eventually did though, in the end, which I was happy for.

For me, my "click" the first week was Eunice, Eunice's mom, Melissa, and Dr. Park. We were always together, and it was fun! Towards the second week, I hung out more with Mikko and Emmanuel, my two favorite cellists. Mikko was the friendly one, always making people happy and smile. Emmanuel was the weird one, but once you talk to him a bit more, he actually does have a warm side in him.

Now for the faculty. I loved studying under Gabriel Chodos, the professor at NEC. I had originally wanted to study under him if I had gotten into NEC, but that didn't happen lol. But he really is an amazing teacher. I also got to see him perform a set of Brahms' Intermezzos and they were chillingly beautiful.

However, the directors of the festival, Semiyon Rozin and Andrew Campbell, definitely needed to step it up. Rozin, especially, had been very mean and unfair to some of the students here. Andrew Campbell could have been more dedicated to the festival. I don't want to draw out any more whines though, so I'll stop here.

Music 
Of course the music was awesome. Of courseeee, playing in chamber music with fellow peers was awesome. WOrking on the Weber Flute Trio was an interesting experience because Emmanuel didn't even know his own part have the time. But during the performance, he played it - solid. And I , on the other hand, kept slipping up. ^^; Working on the Poulenc Sextet was truly amazing. Our bassoonist was a guest faculty so he knew what he was doing. He was basically our coach during rehearsals, although he also had an official coach for actual coachings. I never really liked the piece when I first sightread it, but putting it together was just beast. Although I played in the worst venue possible, we definitely pulled off the performance strong. And I'm really proud of it.

I'm not particularly satisfied about the practice rooms though. There were 18 pianist at the festival, and only 5 practice rooms, one of which was used frequently for piano chamber music. And there weren't that many piano ensemble groups to begin with, so pianists had a very loose schedule, whereas other instruments (especially cellist) had about 6 or 7 groups going. I only had two.

My private lessons were amazing. We focused on learning all of Bach's French Suite no. 5 in G major, and since I'm far from being a Baroque expert, I learned a lot from Gabriel Chodos. He also let me play my Beethoven Op. 78 (first mvt) during studio class, which was probably more intimidating than other chamber music performance hahaha.

I also kind of wished they had played more popular chamber music tunes, rather than picking out the most obscure piece that no one has ever heard before. But I guess since we are all growing musicians, we really need to expand our repertoire by listening, right?

Thank you, Lord, for all the opportunities I get to better myself as a musician. I have done my best and learned as much as I could while I was there.

I'll be back, Germany. And Europe in general. This definitely will not be my last time.
<3

I really wanted to go. The line up this year is simply amazing, and there are so many DJ's that I really wanted to hear. But I decided not to go.

Last night was the first night of the three day weekend of Electric Daisy Carnival. It was also the first night the show has ever been in Las Vegas.

I was going to go -- I was so set on it, too. However, I sold my ticket to Aleta, who bought it off me for $160 (I bought it for $200). Mmm. I'm sure she'll spend it a lot better than I would.

Anyhow, there were many reason why I decided not to go. And I have to thank God for being... well, God!

He knew from the very beginning that He didn't want me to go. He knew that it wasn't one of the smartest choices I made. Yet, I was stubborn. I really wanted to go -- purely for the music, of course, since I'm not interested in drugs or alcohol or any other immoral things that happen in EDC. And so I bought the ticket the first day they started to sell tickets. No one's going to stop me, I thought. Not my friends, or parents, and surely not God.

However, the most important people in my life and my morals led me to the conclusion that I shouldn't go to Electric Daisy Carnival.

I knew, first of all, that if I went, my boyfriend would be very worried about me. Not only that, but it could even potentially hurt our a relationship a bit if I was out three nights in a row all by myself, surrounded by what he would call "shady" people. Although his opinions do not dictate my life, they ARE very important to me. So of course I do consider his opinions and thoughts.

Then there were my parents. I was already lying to them. They knew about EDC, but I never told them exactly what it was -- therefore... it IS some form of a lie, right? Well, they found out just a moment ago what it was (my dad is a taxi driver who works graveyard shift, so he knows all the little details about what's going on in Vegas), and boy he wasn't happy. I know that if I did end up going to EDC... my parents would be VERY disappointed with me. Not to mention that they're already doing so much by sending me to Germany and later to Korea. And more than anyone else, my parents' opinions SHOULD matter the most.

I also didn't have an official group to go with to EDC. I knew friends that were going, but I do not know them very well. And all the friends that I know are going are most likely going to do drugs and alcohol. I know Jeff Han is, since he told me he was going to pregame before EDC. Although I most likely wouldn't be influenced to do any of those stuff from my friends, I don't think I would enjoy my time being with friends who are high and drunk for most of the time.

So I had all these concurring thoughts in my head ever since I bought the ticket. But I was too stubborn enough to sell my ticket. It wasn't until God became very angry with my stubbornness that he finally set up a catalyst for me. Just last week, as I was running for the first time in Vegas, I sprained my left ankle (the same ankle I sprained four years ago) by slipping off a sidewalk. This is very silly of me for this to happen, considering that I've been a cross country runner in high school for three years and I have continued to run even past that, and nothing bad as this has ever happened until last week, coincidentally the week before EDC. However, it is no coincidence, when I think about it now. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to heal in time for EDC, and that my money would be wasted if I was crippled the whole weekend I spent there.

That was when I finally surrendered to God. He won. He always wins. And I'm so glad that he did this for me. And now, my weekend will be better spent with my family, practicing piano, and with my boyfriend. All is well, because God is good.

I just wish they would come back into my life...

it's too bad life isn't as simple as I would like it to be.

I can only pray that our friendships will be restored again.

Well, that was supposed to be yesterday, woops! But woow... every year I'm always amazed by how I'm still using the site that I started back in the summer after I finished 6th grade. I had just finished my first year in middle school... and now I have just completed my first year in college.

It's absolutely mind-blowing how quickly time passes by. I won't be surprised if I get to my 10th year anniversary for Xanga. Wouldn't it be funny if I still used Xanga even when I have my own family and kids? And what if they come across my Xanga and read all the posts that I've written  as I've grown up? Ahahaha...

Anyhow, it's been one week since my last day of Chicago. I really do miss Chicago... It's nice being home, but it's just... too comfortable here. My summer so far has been the complete opposite of what it had been last summer. See, last summer, I was a workaholic and spent almost no time practicing piano. This year... I have absolutely no work to do and I've just been practicing piano and chilling at home. It's weird. haha.

Well, hopefully, I'll be writing in this throughout the rest of college. It'll be interesting to see what I have to say about the next three years of my life. And in those three years, I'll be a legal adult... it's so crazy to think that when I started my Xanga before I got into the beginning of my teenage years.

Ahhhhhhh. Time is a funny thing.

I think I sprained my left ankle. I guess it's too early to tell, but... I can't help but to feel scared.

It was almost EXACTLY four years ago when I sprained the same ankle. It was during my VERY first tennis practice of the summer with David Ou, and within the first half hour of practice, I sprained it because I was being clumsy and tripped over a tennis ball. -__________________-

And just now, I went out for a run, my very first run in Vegas since I got back home, and not even 15 minutes into my run I slipped on the edge of the sidewalk and landed on my ankle. SIGH.

WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!

I'm so scared it's going to swell up. And worse comes to worse, I won't be able to run until I get back to Germany. Which also means I can't play ITG again until then..... T____T

I guess I'm destined to stay fat. I did get Freshman 7 this past year...... Even my mom and my sister calls me fat now. NOO!!!!

ok.

ok.

I need to calm down.

And practice RICE on my stupid left ankle.

Eh. What's the point.

Agh.... please let this not be a repeat of four years ago. All I wanted to do was run! T_T

FML FML FML FML.

It's so weird to say that I am finally going home

t o m o r r o w .

Tomorrow. It seems like such a foreign word right now to me. It's weird because I clearly remember my last few days of Vegas during winter break. I clearly remember being sad that I would have to leave all of my Vegas friends, and that six months will take forever to come by.

And now it's just tomorrow.

I finished my last final and paper just an hour ago, and it's awesome to know that my freshman year is now officially over. It's really sad... I feel so bittersweet about leaving Chicago. Heh...

Tomorrow I will be going back home. Tomorrow I get to see my family. Tomorrow I get to drive. Tomorrow I get to live my life as I did prior to coming to Northwestern. Tomorrow.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. That word is driving me crazy right now!

I don't know what to feel...