For me, Gainesville is the most boring city I have ever lived in. I am used to the busy streets and skyscrapers of Seoul which is one of the ten largest cities in the world. When I came here about a year and a half ago, I was very excited about the new life that I am going to have. In those days, I was tired of all the pressure that existed in Korea: education, college, peer pressure, and disregard for teenagers. These pressures exist everywhere; however, I think it is especially excessive in Korea since it is a so small country and there are small amount of jobs but 50 million people competing to live. When you are born in Korea, especially in Seoul, you are born to study and to compete. We learn to go to good college, things that we learn are really unrealistic; we memorize every single word in the text book if you miss one, you might miss something on the test. When we become 12^th grade, at the end of the year, we take a big exam that will include all things that we learn through middle school to high school. It is like SAT in USA, but in the exam a lot more stuff is included; English, Korean, math, social science or science, and second language. Unlike SAT we only can take it only once a year, after being 12^th grade. We can take it several times more; however, we have to wait another year. Because of those circumstances, high school students’ schedule is extreme. They go to school at 7 a.m. The school finishes at 4 o’clock, but there is a after school self-study until about 10 p.m. Then they go to academies, where we learn more, until about 1 a.m. Finally, they do their homework from the school and academies.

It seems really awful to live in Korea as a student because I talked about only bad things about life in Korea. Middle school students do not live like that; they get more free time and usually sleep before 12. Also high school students have some free times during weekends. Seoul is a big city. It is larger than any other city in USA and safer than any other city in USA despite its size.

My Dog Yo-Koo

The picture on the left is a picture of my dog; her name is Yo-Koo. As you can see from the picture, Yo-Koo is yorkshire terrier which is a small dog breed of Terrier type, developed in the 1800s in the historical area of Yorkshire in England. She is amazingly cute but not kind as she looks. Yo-Koo is quite feisty to others who she did not meet when she was young. She is also feisty to most other dogs which is the reason for her not having any dog friends.

About 4 years ago, my family bought a puppy. My sister and I certainly wanted a puppy; however, my parents were not so sure about it. Now she has become a part of my family to me or to my parents. Last year, we decided to visit USA for one year, and of course, we also decided to bring her, too. It was a really hard journey with a dog. We had to prepare twice more than we had to do: every documents about her that was necessary, more money, and most importantly more time to prepare the trip. Even though lots of my family member and Korean friends did not understand why we did it because of cultural things, I think that it was worthy. They will not understand until they actually get theirs.

My family went back to Korea with Yo-Koo. I am the only one who remain in USA. I really miss her as much as I miss Korea and my family. Sometimes, I can see her through web-cam when I chat with my family. Few days ago, when I chatted with them, they told me that Yo-Koo is having a imaginary pregnancy. It was not the first time that she had it. I think she does it every year. However, it is kind of strange but also funny that Yo-Koo does it. When Yo-Koo has an imaginary pregnancy, she collects every dog-like dolls that are in our apartment and consider them as her puppies. Once she collects her puppies, Yo-Koo gets so anxious that she does not allow anyone to get close but my mother. Yo-Koo cannot eat well nor sleep well. She moans every second that really annoys me. After all, Yo-Koo's imaginary pregnancy end in about one or two weeks. My father came with a very funny but sad interpretation with it; he says that Yo-Koo realized her puppies are all dead because they never move nor make a sound. How poor she is!

I am going to see Yo-Koo in about one and a half month since I am visiting Korea this winter! I am so excited for everything. I cannot wait!