Hello Travel Holic!

안녕하세요~ ^^ Hello~ My name is Kyra and I am a 24 year old Canadian! My passion is traveling! I went to Daegu as an exchange student in 2012 and fell in love with the country. Now I am studying my Master's at Korea University in Seoul. Nice to meet you! 반갑습니다

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Instagram?

Do any of you guys have instagram?? I have been really active on it but not tumblr recently so if u can instagram plz add me ^^ Id: hellotravelholic

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한국문화&한국어 교육을 전공했어요 궁금한게 있으면 가르쳐 드릴게요

감사합니다~ 하지만 어떻게 이야기해요?? 누구세요?? ㅋㅋㅋ anon 못 연락할수있어용

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I became a brunette again ^^♥

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Update

Well it has been a super super long time since I posted anything. I had a bit of a breakdown in the middle of the winterbreak and decided to go home for a month to think. Since then I have been a bit better but still a little bit lost. I dont really know what I want thesedays... and I am not so sure about living in Korea longterm. There are so many reasons so I am not really in the mood to list them all right now... In good news~ my Korean is finally starting to noticably improve again! I have been studying vocab and grammar to help me prep for the TOPIK exam! Also I joined a club at my University which has given me a social life and helped a lot with my anxiety. I will try to post on here more now that I have found a bit of sanity.

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My room at night♥

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Need to Refresh My Mind

These days I have been in a bit depressed and kind of lost. I feel defeated and have lost my passion. Last time I was in Korea I was on a constant high. Think this high was caused by the completely different experience of being an exchange student rather than a degree seeking student. Last time it was really easy to get involved and meet people because the International centre was always planning events for the exchange students and I joined a club. However, this time I have been finding it super hard to meet people since my classmates are much older than me on average and there are no clubs for grad students. I luckily have my boyfriend who has helped me a lot! However, he is also busy with his own life and has his own stress. I know that I can't only depend on him and I don't want to either... The other problem is the language barrier. I have been studying Korean at a hagwon but I feel like my skills are hardly improving and I feel like learning Korean has become a chore rather than something I enjoy. Before I used to study Korean because I wanted to but now I feel like I am studying because I have to. I guess just overall I feel rather lonely and unable to do anything on my own. I have also lost my motivation to do much and feel like I am just doing everything because I must. I want to re-find my passion... the original reason I wanted to come back to Korea... I feel like I can't even remember clearly what it was anymore. I am going home for two weeks at the beginning of February to hopefully cleanse my mind and come back to Korea with a better outlook before my next semester starts.

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So as of about 3 months ago I started having blurry vision when I looked at things in the distance. Its so bad right now that I have to be super close to signs in order to see where I am going. I researched it and apparently it can happen when people move from a rural area to a big city. I used to live in a small city overlooking the ocean with short buildings and now I am living in Seoul lol so I guess this might be why… I have really mixed feelings. When I was younger I always wanted glasses but now I really don’t… I guess they will grow on me. This picture is of me trying on my 남친’s fake glasses to get an idea about how I look. Not so bad but it does make me a bit depressed.

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Hey I have a question, when you applied to universities, did you have anything extra like social work or something like that? Don't know if I'm explaining myself? Or did you only summit what they ask you to?

For Seoul National University I only submitted what they asked for, but for Korea University I submitted an extra letter of recommendation. I had the required recommendation letters from my professors and one extra from my old boss when I used to teach. I thought maybe a letter from a relevant field would be good! I ended up getting into Korea University and not SNU so maybe the extra document helped? I am not sure ^^.

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Hello! Hoping you having a nice day. I was wondering if you have any idea why you got rejected from SNU, I want to apply there too but I feel is almost impossible (sorry if I'm being noisy). Also may I ask I what you are doing your master?

There was a section on the website that said "reason" but it was blank. I have no idea why I was rejected but if I were to guess then maybe it was because I had about a B~B+ average and SNU is very competitive. I don't know the real reason though, so I would apply and give it a shot! I am studying a Master's of Arts and my major is English Education. I decided to do it in Korea because I love teaching here and I wanted continue to learning Korean while studying.

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Hi! I was wondering if you could give me some insight on going to grad school in korea, because i'm seriously considering it and everyone i've talked to says to go for it, haha. i never planned on going to grad school in the first place, but maybe this would be a good idea? Anyway, I was just wondering about the application process overall and if you feel like it was worth it to go. (I want to go for media/comm/broadcasting related studies) Thank you so much!! ^^

Hey! I would definitely recommend it! I also was not planning to go to Graduate School until last year. I think going to graduate school is important because it gives you an extra edge when it comes to finding a job! :)I only prepared applications for Seoul National University, Korea University, and Ewha University. You will have to prepare a few essays for each about your past experiences, education, and why you are motivated to get your graduate degree. Then you have to send your transcript, fill out a form online, send your birth certificate, a copy of your passport... and you will need 1-3 letters of recommendations from your professors depending on what school you are applying for (this was so stressful for me D:). From my memory SNU was the hardest to apply for and Korea University was the easiest, but they all require a lot of time. Also, Ewha wanted a copy of my bank statement right away and I think they needed me to prove I had about $15,000 USD or something (so I couldn't apply in the end). Once they decide, they will post online if they have accepted or rejected you or they will ask for an interview. I was rejected from SNU but accepted to Korea University without an interview. There is also a good chance that you can receive a scholarship if you got good marks from 60%-100% for Korea University. I won't lie~ It is a lot of work, but now that I am here I believe it is totally worth it and I am so happy that I decided to do it! Also, if you have never studied in Korea before you can apply for the Korean Government Scholarship Program which basically pays for EVERYTHING (I am not joking: full tuition, living, spending allowance, & Korean classes). That scholarship program breaks my heart because it didn't know about it and I went on an exchange to Korea before so now I can't use it ;__;. 3

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My life this January~ my hagwon teacher wants me to memorize 500 words a week from the green book… (I have a terrible memory I legit can’t recall what I ate this morning) ㅋㅋ should be fun~

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Christmas in Korea 2014

We went to Sokcho in Gangwando to see snow but the weather was more like summer~ The first day we went to Soraksan and ate squid soondae. Then we went home and ate cake and drank wine and soju~ (too much soju). We were supposed to play a game to decided who was sleeping where because there was only one proper bed. However I missunderstood the instructions (second language problems) and didnt realise couples werent sleeping together (we were 3 couples). So my boyfriend and his guy friend won the bed and then I was drunk and became a baby and complained because I wanted to sleep with my boyfriend so his friend gave the bed to me (Im so sorry ;_;)… but ya i really didnt understand the game… I could only imagine if another girl won the bed with my boyfriend then jealous drunk kyra probably would have had a fit. But anyways… we got to sleep on the comfy bed ♥. The next day we were rather hungover but we went to the beach and had hwae♥(raw fish). Then I went to Incheon to stay with my boyfriend’s family and we made steak and cream shrimp pasta~ as usual I ate too much this holiday but it was a lot of fun ^^~ I need to work on my Korean so that these misunderstandings dont happen again ;_;

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Strawberry cheese cake 빙수♥

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First semester= success!! ^^

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2015 is the year of Topik! 나는 한국어 빨리 배워야해서 tumblr 친구들이 한국어 할수있으면 한국말 해주세요!! 대학원에 졸어하고싶으면 TOPIK 4 잘보야해요. 근대 지금 이책이 보으면 너무 많이 몰라요… 도와주세요!! ㅠㅠ 고마워요

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Mehhh TT_TT

Just waiting for my exam to start~ I hate this feeling! Always nervous... even though I'm prepared... Also, I have another tomorrow and then two final papers due on the 27. Those papers make me crazy nervous too because they have to be so long and they are like half my mark. Haha yay exam anxiety <3

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I learned how to make 해물 파전~ it was good too ^^♥