indonesia... part one

so because i am procrastinating on my homework (typical i know) (BUT... i am halfway done with it) i figured i would go ahead and finally work on my blog updates from indonesia. since you know... i've been home for almost a whole month now! this trip will probably be broken down into two blogs... two weeks of vacation, two blogs. 


*warning you now, there will be a lot of pictures*

sooooo.... dani and i left for indonesia on the night of the 14th. we took a midnight flight out of incheon, flew to kuala lampur, malaysia and then finally flew into denpasar, bali on the afternoon of the 15th of january. after getting out bags, finding a taxi and FINALLY finding out hostel (after the taxi driver got lost a few times), we unpacked a bit, changed out of our jeans into shorts and swimsuits and headed for the beach! 

Sanur Beach

we got into bali a day before our friend jessica, so we walked around on the beach and then boom.... rainstorm. we tried to wait it out in a restaurant and eat. we met an adorable older couple from australia there for a wedding while waiting. after deciding the rain wasn't going to let up, we decided to head back. after the rain stopped, we grabbed dinner with a few people from our hostel. the next day we did a bit more exploring down by the beach, ate some good food and wasted time till jessica go in. once jessica arrived, the next morning bright and early around 6am we headed for the airport. we were flying out from bali and heading to flores. 

view from the plane to flores

beach right outside our hotel

harbor at labuan bajo

sunset outside of our hotel

gorgeous sunset... terrible sunburn

after getting to labuan bajo, finding a driver and a hotel to stay in we ended up booking a two day, one night trip on a boat. the boat was going to take us to komodo island, rinca island and a few other islands to do some snorkeling. so the next day, our driver picked us up and took us to the harbor. we set sail for rinca island first. 

jessica loving the view

 
we made it to rinca island first. this is one of the two islands that is inhabited with komodo dragons. these things are pretty ugly looking, very dangerous and extremely lazy. we took a tour around the island with a guide who told us a lot of information about the komodo dragons and how they live. 

basking in the sun

huddled under the house waiting for food

 from there we got back on the boat and headed towards our first snorkeling site. with my fear of the water, i had a major panic attack when i got in the water and attempted to snorkel the first time. i ended up getting out while the girls continued. afterwards, we headed towards komodo island, the big island with the dragons. we slept on the boat in the middle of the sea between the island. 

sleeping on the boat

the next morning we woke-up and headed towards komodo island. when we arrived, we went through another tour, this time the komodo dragons were spread out through out trek instead of all in one place. 
 

reppin' my blazers jersey!

just hanging out in the middle of the walkway

so lazy. they all just laid there

our boat was the one on the very left

after komodo island, we headed back towards the flores. along the way we did some more snorkeling. determined to actually complete the snorkeling, i took an excedrin migraine to help with my splitting headache, told myself to suck it up and jumped in. 

with water like this, who wouldn't want to jump in

perfect snorkeling water

jessica, dani and me ready to go

second snorkel site. had to dock farther out.

me and dani at last snorkel site.

 did i mention how amazing the food was... because it was! the crew on the boat did all the cooking for all of our meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. it was delicious. except for the avocado/mango smoothie. sadly i couldn't enjoy that, cause you know dying isn't high on my priority list while on vacation. 

one of the amazing meals we had on the boat

 we finally reached land again and docked after our two day trip on the boat. after parting from our boat, our driver picked us up and we headed back into town. we needed food and dani wanted to find a place that was going to book scuba diving trips. my christmas present this year from her was her paying for me to go scuba diving. we found a place, booked, grabbed dinner and then headed back to our hotel. all we wanted to do was go home, shower, unpack a bit and go to bed... that didn't happen. i saw something scurry across the floor into the corner and me being me, panicked and made dani come deal with it. turns out it was a cockroach. for the next 30-45 mins dani, jessica and i squealed and screamed as we tried to get rid of all the cockroaches that kept appearing in our room. we were apparently so loud that a (excuse my language) very bitchy italian woman came and knocked on our door and proceeded to yell at us for being loud and told us to stay home next time. she was so angry that she went and got the manager. thankfully he got rid of the last one that wouldn't leave. after that, we were all terrified of the walls. we sprayed down the room with bug spray, moved my bed away from the corner and called it a night. 

scuba diving the next day. jessica and i went to a different island than dani since she is already certified to dive and we had never done anything before. 

soooo sunburned, but so worth it!

our awesome dive instructor from poland celebrating after finishing the day!

 after our day diving, we had one last day in labuan bajo before heading back to bali and separating from jessica. we slept in, slowly packed up our rooms, checked out and headed into town. we went and found food and then decided to get a creme bath for our hair. after a nice and relaxing hour creme bath we headed to the airport. we arrived back in bali about two hours later and headed to kuta to find jessica's hotel. she was waiting for nick to get in later that night. after finding decent mexican food, dani and i decided we would stay at the place for one night.... what a joke. our air conditioner didn't work and we were miserably hot and sticky all nght. the next morning we checked out to find something better. we ended up staying in a place that was RIGHT down the road, was way cheaper and the air conditioner worked! 

lesson learned over those two days. don't go to kuta. it's the big touristy area where all the surfers from australia come and hang out. lots of tourists, lots of shopping areas, it's disgustingly dirty, the beach by kuta is so gross. we booked it out of there the next day and headed to ubud. which will be the next blog post to go up... after i find food. i'm starving. 

dear FAFSA...

dear FAFSA, 

first i would like to say thank you for providing me with the money i need to pay for my master's degree. BUT, with that being said, i would now like to take the time to tell you how i really feel. 

YOU SUCK! HOW IS ONE SUPPOSED TO FILE THEIR FAFSA IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS YOUR WEBSITE FROM THE COUNTRY THEY ARE LIVING IN!!! 

i realize that the FAFSA is for students in America, but do you realize how many people are abroad doing classes online in foreign countries who are trying to file their FAFSA online as well? IT'S A LOT!! so i would greatly appreciate it if you would stop BEING IDIOTS, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, AND FIX IT!! 

(thankfully i have a wonderful mom, who is sitting on the phone with me filling it out for me. NO THANKS TO YOU IDIOTS!) 

sincerely, me 

okay vent over... i am back in korea, it's freezing, i am desk warming for seriously like the entire month. which means i have plenty of time to work on my grad school homework, figuring out how i am going to move all of my crap from ilsan to hwajeong at the end of the month, tv watching, book reading etc. basically anything i can find to occupy my time. OH OH OH... naps in the heated bed. yep going to do that too. a lot. 

since i have so much time, i will be updating this. probably quite a lot. i have to post about my trip to indonesia. which was AMAZING BY THE WAY! reflecting on this last year abroad and starting a 2nd year. plus some other things. 

so till then... here's a preview of the amazingness that was indonesia...