Attack of the murse!

Two quick observations before I turn on a movie and go to sleep:

1. I have noticed a somewhat disturbing fashion trend in Seoul--men wearing murses! In some cases, these accessories have the over-the-shoulder-European-man-bag look, which is somewhat tolerable, but in other cases they are full-on purses identical to those worn by the fairer sex. The unifying theme amongst these bags is that they are all high-end (I'd say 50% of the time they are Louis Vuitton). It is as if wearing a really expensive woman's purse is OK for a guy to do here, as long as it is a high-end fashion symbol. For me, that symbol screams "I have no testicles!"

2. It struck me today that, aside from being the only American in one of my classes (and 1 of 2 in the other), I am the only person in the Yonsei MBA program right now that is an exchange student. All the others are full-timers. I didn't consider the implication of that until this evening, which is that I don't have anyone to go through the journey of learning about a new place with me. I find that really annoying because it means I don't have anyone to explore Seoul with on the weekends and try street food with and complain to and all of those other things that happen when you're finding out about a new country (which may be why I think I've been doing some complaining on this blog--it is my best/only outlet). On top of that, I don't really live near any of the friends I'm making at school, so I end up spending a surprising amount of time alone (minimum of 3 hours while commuting every day, but since my roommate has been gone lately, it is much more than that). That's OK with me, but it would be nice to have a partner in crime to grab dinner with each night, etc. Instead, I've noticed a disturbing trend of coming home, cooking Ramen, doing homework, and then getting in bed. I guess part of that is exacerbated by the fact that I have both of my classes four times a week, so there isn't much spare time on the week days. I'll just need to be sure and make up for that on the weekends while I'm here. On the positive side, I'm definitely going to make up for this seeming lack of activity and exploration once classes are over, with a week-long trip to Vietnam (during which I will be with a travel buddy) followed by a month at a kickboxing camp in Thailand--but more on those adventures later.