Thanks to my beta reader for making sense of my no sense , Brianna
Chapter: 3 All I Know
The taxi ride to the hotel after Luc's call was quiet cause I didn't really feel like talking.
The reality of everything really hit me at that moment. I was going to go to one of the
best technology schools in the world and I was over the moon. The city lights flashed by
like a blur as the taxi drove its way through the night life.
15 mins later, the taxi came to a stop in front of the hotel, my door was opened for me by
one of the employees. I made my way out to grab my bags in the trunk, but that was being
taken care of by the driver.
"Dowa jusyeoseo gamsahamnida.''(Thank you for your help.) I said to the taxi driver as I
handed him the fare money.
"Heonmaneyo''(You are welcome.) replied the taxi driver.
I walked into the hotel, it wasn't a five star hotel or anything like that, but it was cozy.
The receptionist was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. Her hair was
pulled back into a bun at the back of her head.
"Good evening miss how can I help?'' her English was pretty good, I guess she thinks I can't
speak Korean. I looked at her with a smile on my face.
"Hello, I booked a room under the name Lisa Sitenta.'' I said calmly.
"Alright miss, just a moment." She said while starting to type away on her computer as I
looked around the lobby,it was pretty empty.
"Alright miss, may I please see your identification.'' she asked politely.
I handed her my passport, she looked at me then back at the passport then at the
computer screen.
"Alright Miss Sitenta, your in room 94, here's your key card. Enjoy your stay.'' she said with
a smile.
'Well that went well' I thought, while I walked to where my bags were. I walked into the
room and went straight to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror.
"You're really here, from now on your life is about to change." I said those words to myself
without knowing how true they really were.
Morning came later then I was used to or I just woke up late. Even though the time
difference was only 9 hours, I was still feeling a bit jet legged. I looked over at the clock
and it was already past 12 in the afternoon. Guess I have to get up. Today I was going to
go on campus and register so that I can be free for the rest of the three weeks before
classes maybe I can start looking for a place to stay. I didn't know if I should
stay in the dorms or if I should find my own place, even though staying in dorms is much
cheaper. I guess I will have to stay in the dorms and see how it goes. I can always move
out if I end up with a nutcase for a roommate.
The weather looked pleasant enough but I still didn't know how to dress here, so I decided
to go with the safe choice. A pair of black skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt with a
black leather jacket. White Nike shoes and a black backpack with all the documents the
school sent me and I was out of the room.
The streets of Seoul where packed everywhere I looked . Now, how to get to school? I
knew it was around here somewhere. I chose this hotel cause it was near the school. I took
out my phone and settled on using Google Maps. It showed my position and the school was
a thirty minute walk from me .
I took out my headset and played music on my phone. After I met Taemin at the airport, I
asked Luc later that night to send me some of Taemin's songs and I have to say, he is one
talented guy. 'Door' blasted through my headset as I listened to Taemin's Japanese track. It
had 4 songs on it and 'Door' was my favourite, not counting the title track 'Flame of Love'.
Song after song came on and in no time I found myself looking at the school. It looked
Better than it did on the school's website and the map they sent to me. I was speechless,
'This is going to be one of the best years of my life' I thought as I walked up to the campus.
I pulled out the map the school had sent me and followed the green line. The school had a
Colour coded navigation system, which was pretty neat. You just follow a certain colour that
is related to where you want to go.
I looked around the surrounding area while walking, a few students were on the lawn with
their laptops and iPads out.
The green lines ended at the administrative block offices. I guess they figured you
couldn't get lost here as there were names on doors and arrows on the wall showing where
other offices were located. The office I was looking for was two doors from the entrance, I
made my way there and lightly knocked on the door.
('COME IN' IN KOREAN )
I pushed open the door and went inside.
"Good afternoon." I said politely to the lady behind the desk. She stood up and greeted me
back
"Good afternoon, have a seat. How can I help you?" she said.
I took a seat at one of the chairs she was pointing to.
"I saw on my acceptance letter that am I required to check in before classes start.'' I
stated.
"Ohh yes, may I please see your student ID?'' she asked.
"I don't have one." I replied.
"Ohh that's right, no problem just give me any other ID.'' she asked.
I handed over my passport and she typed away at her computer and looked at me again
after she was finished.
"Alright here we go. This is your student profile with the school, it will show your classes,
test results and pretty much everything you need to know, even the professors who will be
teaching you. Now about accommodations, you read in your acceptance letter that you
have the options of either providing for yourself or having a shared dorm with another
student. I would like to believe that you have made up your mind on what you have
chosen." she said.
"Mmh yes, I would like to be in a dorm please.'' I said. I decided that it was easier and
cheaper to just stay in the dorms, plus it was a quick way to make friends.
"Okay then, your room number and the name of the dorm you will be staying at will be
updated on your student account shortly after." she said with a smile.
I listened as she explained everything and he handed me a note, sending me to the media
rooms.
"Alright, now you can go get your ID made and check your profile when your classes start.
The dates might change so I would advise you to check on a regular basis.'' she said.
I stood up and walked out of the office to head to the media room.
The name 'media room' didn't do the actual room any justice, the place looked like a
production room. With cameras and monitors everywhere I looked. I walked up to one of
the guys who was moving stuff around.
"Jwoesonghandeyo.''( Excuse me. ) I said, deciding to use formal speech in case the guy
turned out to be way older than me. He turned around to see who had spoken and seemed
to be shocked, maybe due to the fact that I was a foreigner. But then again, this school
was known for its international students so I am guessing something else must have
shocked him, but I decided to ignore it.
"Ye?'' (yes)
" "( Where can I get my ID picture taken?) I asked.
" "(oh, just down that hall and its the first door on your right.) he said.
"Dowa jusyeoseo gamsahamnida''( Thank you for your help. ) I said and bowed my head to
show respect.
Getting my ID was very quick,I went into the room and had my picture taken. I gave them
my passport so that they can see my information and my picture was loaded onto my
student account as my profile picture. Within 30 minutes, I had my ID and was done for
the day. I didn't know what to do now since it was still too early to go back to the hotel. I
decided to check out the town a bit .
I decided to head out towards the shops I had passed earlier in the day. A cute shop
caught my eye as I was heading to the school earlier in the day, so I decided to check it
out. The clothes were cute but somehow I felt that I would end up looking like candy if I
wore any of them. Not saying the clothes were ugly, they were just a bit too colorful for
me is all. The pinks, baby blues and all the pastel colours were not my style.
I don't think they would suit me. I walked out of the shop and went to the one across from it. How ironic that this one was the complete opposite of the one I had just come from. I picked three pairs of jeans, two shorts , five t-shirts and surprisingly enough, two dresses. With the clothes in hand, I made my way to the dressing room.
I tried on the jeans first: two of them seemed to fit perfectly but the last one seemed a
bit too small. The shirts where all a size small, which was my size in where I came from,
but for some reason they were too tight around the chest and hands. The dresses were
cute yet sexy. The first one was a tight fitted black dress with no sleeves, but the cool
thing about it was the cut out at the bottom, so it looked like the bottom half was a rap
short skirt.
The second dress was a deep blue dress, with t-shirt sleeves and cut outs on both sides of
my ribs , it flayed out like a skater skirt at the bottom, which reached just a few inches
above my knees. I have to say, I looked pretty good. I decided I was going to buy them
both, I still wanted to buy the shirts so I went back to the rack where I found the shirts to
see if they have them in Medium size. But I couldn't see any. I walked towards one of the
sales girls to see if they have M size in the back .
"Jeogiyo, doe keun ssain jeu isseoyo o syeocheu?''( Excuse me , do you have a bigger size
of these shirts?)
The sales girl looked at the shirts then shook her head. I placed the shirts back and went
up to the cashier and placed the stuff on her counter.
"Hyeon-geumkadeuro gyeoljehalgeyo." ( I would like to pay by debt card ) I said to the
cashier after she was down swiping the clothes. I handed her my card. She swiped my
card.
"Bimilbeonhoreul nureuseyo.''( Please enter your pin.) she said.
I typed in my pin and signed the receipt when it was handed to me. The cashier smiled
and thanked me in English with a big smile on her face, which I couldn't help but return.
While that was disappointing since I really liked the shirts. I looked at my watch and it was
slowing heading towards 5pm, surprising me on how fast time moves when you aren't
paying attention. Had to make one last stop before heading back to the hotel. I pulled out
my phone and looked on Google Maps, seeing if there were any nearby music stores. It
showed one that was near me, just around the corner from where I was. I couldn't get the
guy I bumped into at the airport out of my head, so I decided to do more research. I know
that the best place to do that was the since there was a music store nearby, I
decided to just look for any of his albums there.
The store was enormous, with shelves full of albums. The front had a few albums on
display. I didn't know where to start from, since there was so much music. The amount of
different albums was overwhelming, so I stopped and took a breath.
I started in the rock section, scanning through the hot releases and older stuff but nothing
caught my I should start with the mainstream genre, which was pop. I walked
towards the pop section and I have to say, there was a lot of it. I scanned through the
albums.
'Monsta X – The Clan'. The name sounded interesting but I skipped it and looked at the next
one, which had beautiful girls on the cover. 'Girls Generation – Lion Heart' it said, hey wait
I know these girls, I heard a few of their songs but I had never gone farther into looking at
there albums. I picked it up and turned the album around to read the track list. The songs
had interesting titles, I guess I will listen to them.
A few more albums down the line and I found the one I was looking for, Taemin. There
were a few albums of his, I was debating between 'Press It' and 'Move'. From the dates on
the albums, I could tell that 'Press It' was older and 'Move' was newer, having been released
this year. Maybe I should buy both since its for research. I have this unspoken rule within
myself that I can only buy one album of a certain artist. If I like it, then that's when I can
spoil myself with a second one.
'Okay, now I just have to choose among these two.' I said to myself as I was looking at the
two albums, which were on hot releases and seemed to be on top on music charts all
around the world. I knew both of the groups of course, since Luc was a big fan of one of
them, and I remember listening to both of their music, but I can't seem to remember
which songs belonged to which group. Even though the music style is different, they still
have very similar aspects to each other.
I must have stood there lost in thought, trying to remember which songs belonged to
which group, because out of nowhere I let out an unladylike squeal when someone came
and touched my shoulder.
A/N Oooooooo who could it be ? haaaaaa any guesses?
