I was still waiting when I saw a car drop off two young preteen girls who were off I'm assuming to shop or something around this area. It reminded me of when my mom would drop off me and a girlfriend at the mall or something, and how free and exciting it was for us to be on our own. It made me think my mom must have worried buy rationalized that as long as we had each other we'd be okay :) Those girls looked so young to me sitting here on my bench with all my luggage alone in a foreign country. Not going to lie, it made me nostalgic. Most of the time I like being on my own here, exploring the way I want to, but sometimes there are moments when it IS scary and it IS hard to be all by myself. When I'm lost or doing something simple like riding a taxi for the first time in my life, I wish I had someone with me to guide me through it or at least someone to be scared with.
I figure thats why I'm so uncomfortable sometimes. I'm totally winging it out here. I'm a girl who likes to always have a plan and know what and where and when I am doing it, but I am totally going by the seat of my pants here. I've never done all this before and I have no idea how its going to turn out. Isn't that strange?? I like it most of the time, its exhilarating. But it's still scary having no means of communication once I leave the wifi of my hotel, and no way to communicate with anyone for any real help (I can ask in Korean, but can't understand their responses -.-). I've never experienced that before, having never left the US and always having my 3G Internet whenever I needed it. That's one of the hardest things for me to adjust to; I never realized how much my spoiled self relied on my 3G connection to get me to places, look up information, and contact people en route.
Around 10:00 I was in tears and having a minor breakdown at this point, so I mentally whacked myself on the head and pulled myself together. I tried calling Dajeong's cell which miraculously dialed but she didn't pick up. So I tried calling Yeji, and she did pick up! I'm pretty sure I was somewhat incoherent at this point, my panic was so great, but somehow she understood me and took down the tour bus company number I gave her and called it. She can't call me back so I just called her back in 10 minutes, which is when she told me the bus had left for today already. There is only one resort bus a day because the distance is so great. On a side note, it was somewhat funny cursing loudly after she told me the bus had already left and getting ZERO reaction from the people around me lol. Since its not a curse in their language. That was about the only humor I found in this awful morning though. So I was swamped with panic all over again, but Yeji calmly told me she would book me a reservation spot for tomorrow's bus (so they wouldn't leave without me). When I told her I couldn't do that because I had nowhere to stay for tonight, she said I could stay with her tonight. YEJI 언니 YOU ARE MY SAVIOR. She was so kind and patient with me, empathizing with my situation (like I mentioned before, she had studied at UCSB same time as me so she was a stranger over there too). I am so so grateful to you Yeji, if you are reading this. You have no idea @.@ I managed to drag all my luggage to the curb and hailed a taxi, keeping Yeji on the phone so she could talk to the driver and tell him how to get to her apartment. That in itself was a trial, because she lives in the student quarters by Yonsei University, her school, and it's like a maze in there. If you think Isla Vista is cramped, this is like 4867312879462984673 times more densely populated lol. It's crazy! Like my friends keep telling me; unlike America, in Korea you cannot build outwards...so you build up or down haha.