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K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 12 - FINAL WEEK
[After calming down a bit I have decided to start writing this blog post]
It was week 12, the last week of K-Pop Academy and needless to say I have had such a good time there and do not want it to end. I don't think any of us really want it to end at all since we have become so close we're almost like family now. Each with our individual characteristics which complement each other in different ways... I truly loved seeing each and every one of you each week for the past 3 months. I know it was only yesterday that I was there but somehow it seems like it was too long ago already, I want to go back, back to the fun times, food and noraebang.
I can't highlight the best part of these 12 weeks because we have all had such amazing times from the first week where I didn't want to leave early (even though I had a train to catch and the lesson didn't end on time) to the cooking class where I loved the taste but will forever find it difficult to cook myself. The hangul class being so interesting finding out how the writing system was even created to the dance workshop with LoKo, which btw I would totally go to if I lived in London, thank you for teaching us and being patient with us! ^^;
The art, moonjar making, sijo, samulnori, korean war history and ofc noraebang are all stored in my memory and will be there forever.
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| KPOP ACADEMY awwww <3 |
So I started the day feeling very nervous, I almost didn't want to go because I didn't want it to end, but I wanted to see everyone so I went to see their beautiful faces. Lots of them bought guests with them but sadly I had no one to bring, however we all talked and got along just fine anyway, I actually made a few friends of other peoples guests hahaha xD We all signed a card for the amazing staff at the KCC because they are all so wonderful and I love them just as much as the students, thank you all again <3 you are a lovely bunch of people!
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| Felt like we were back at the beginning again |
So then we went into the room where we did our first presentations back in week one and went in alphabetical order by our first names so I'm going to be in the middle somewhere ;D
Everyone's presentations were so full of love, you could feel it pouring out of them, everything they enjoyed and what they will carry forward to the future. we had a small break and watched some videos of weeks 2 and 5 of the academy, very interesting to see us all to say the least xD one thing I noticed from the videos and presentations was that my hair colour changed in all of them! ^^; You could also see the excitement and how into the task everyone was when we were doing missions and cooking.
After our short break it was the second round of presentations where the rest of us presented. I was nervous still, I won't lie. However I was no where near as nervous as I was 12 weeks ago when I stood in front of these fresh bunch of people I had never met in my life. I meant every word I said in that presentation, that I had gained a whole new bunch of friendships and knowledge that I had never had before and confidence above all else.
Poems and thankyous were all so d'aww and my heart literally curled when you were all saying them. After this we watched some more videos and they said we were all getting a box and a certificate, after this they would announce individual prizes for different categories.
The box was wrapped so neatly xD It had a hoodie in it with my favourite colour... Orange! saying K-Pop academy and a number 4 on the back made up of all our names. Here it is:
I am going to stick my certificate on my wall so I will always remember my times at the academy in months to come<3 Now the seriousness begins with the announcements of the prizes.
Best rapper- we all looked at the same guy, we knew who it'd be, yes yes it was him, and well done to him he can rap so well and genuinely think he should take it further! [Go for it dude, I think you'll get pretty far!]
Best singer - We again all looked a the same person, she was bound to win it, after appearing on 'hidden singer' ? of course. you deserve it also, your voice is amazing so well done :D
Best dancer - I totally thought oh! Maybe I'll win something! I dance... yeah.. ! but no I didn't! I have to say at this point my heart sank but it went to an amazing dancer who you can tell puts all her efforts into the dances she does. When we learned growl dayumm she was so good! and her covers were so amazing as well she definitely deserved this, more than I did.
Best smile - Aww you! Yes! The biggest smile in the academy definitely you! Well done ^^ [ I did kinda think she could have been in the run for 'best rapper ' too though, and 'best dancer'] Such talent xD
Best homework - Now, I tried very hard on all my homework and got it all in on time so I hoped maybe I'll get this one but nah, went to someone who did and amazing cover of TaeYangs Ringa Linga dance! I haven't learnt this dancer yet and to me it looks hard but she learnt it in such a small amount of time and it looked really good so she did really well. Well done my little Turkish friend. you better be dancing like that with Baekhyun one day ;D
Best organisation - This was definitely deserved, you made such a sweet video and it really actually bought me to tears, I don't cry at things easily but it really did. And getting a card for the staff was so thoughtful of you ^^
Best art- I like art, but I am in no way that good at it so I expected nothing from this and it went to my adorable friend who wrote a poem to us all! Well done him, he totally had to put up with our little crazy group I feel some of us morphed him into one of us... yay crazies xD
Now it was the big prize, a return trip to Seoul, South Korea. Everyone, EVERYONE was on the edge. there was absolute silence and oh my ... gosh.. he called out my name. At first I though I misheard it but WHOA. I was overwhelmed seriously. When they asked me to say some words I was barely thinking. There were mixed words I was thinking between I'm speechless, Thank you and you're pronouncing my name wrong... but I went with thank you and I don't know what to say since I really didn't. I am so grateful for this, I don't think there was one person who went to the academy who wouldn't have deserved it. All I can say is that I am really happy and I am currently planning what I am going to do and learning as much as I can of the language so I can get around okay and you know... live. ^^ As I promised, when I go I will take lots of pictures for you guys and do lots of things so that I can have fun filled days every day that I am there!
After the announcement and a big photo of all of us ( I love that photo! ) We ate food and did noraebang, and watched one of our fellow students videos which they had made for our time at the KPA. It was so sweet. and so sad to see it all, everything we'd been through these past 3 months. it was really well made though and i think it got everyone's feelings across as we wanted them to. thank you for making this video, I think I may have to re-watch it over and over again.
After a bit of noraebang me and a few others went to the winter wonderland where they wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Where they said they were terrified I didn't even know why they wanted to go on... however we went on and the screaming began. Oh dear. We got such strange looks from people in the carts next to ours. Road safety girl was spinning the cart and clinging to the centre of it and little Jean-loving-Armin was and a curled up ball of emotions and whimpering right from the off. They both started screaming SO LOUDLY as we were going up and calmed back down as we came back down... and louder as we went up again on my it was a very deafening experience xD Fun nonetheless since I will miss these guys so much, the peopel I got closest to in the academy and I really hope i meet them again, as well as the rest of the academy people because because I will miss them so much. I feel like I have made some seriously -for life- friends here...
To all the other friends I made at the Academy... Ricecake, you fell over in the shop and were very embarrassing but I will always remember you for that xD Bart, everything happens on the floor of the sarangbang you know. ;D Your dancing to SNSD and number 9 with Ummy was great to see all the time eben if she was talkign abot her cookie eyed oppa and screaming "mianhae oppa" at random guys :'D Jordan you're adorable, stay adorable! Road safety girl, never cross the road when the man isn't green okay? .. jk xD Keep loving Ryeowook so we can spaz about him in the future, I've decided my bias now xD Armin-Loving-Jean... PLAY GAMES WITH ME. >;( I WILL STALK YOU OTHERWISE. Amanda, someone who shared my travelling problems to london and back every saturday and went to the suju concert too! DARIANNE, YOU DANCING MACHINE. DANCE WITH MEH. I'll miss your faces and jokes and and YOU! ^^
you're really fun to be around and we have to meet up in the future too! ALL OF US DO! ^^
honestly you're all so fun to be around, even if we were just messing about wherever, it was exciting being with you all. =]
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| What I could see from the wheel whilst other two were screaming xD |
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| Before we got on, looks very high up! |
I am really going to miss you guys, but we will meet again, so next time we do lets make another load of memories and have some awesome fun times <3!!!
Once again, thank you to everyone and all the staff who have made this possible, without you none of this would ever have happened. From the bottom of my heart, 감사합니다
*Gets cracking on learning Korean. *
Labels: baekhyun, bap, bigbang, christmas, dancing, Exo, ferris wheel, food, kccuk, kpop, london, love, moonjar, noraebang, rapping, samulnori, sijo, singing, south korea, super junior
K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 11
Alright so Noraebang, or for anyone who doesn't know, karaoke :D In Korean though so infinitely more difficult than.. than.. no wait singing is just hard either way. We could invite friends to this event but naturally mine are too far away and too busy to come to London ;_; I miss you guys! However not many people bought friends and the ones they did bring were really nice anyway :)
Let's note that the words for this were all written in Hangul so there was no way I could read it! xD I can read some, but I am in no way proficient enough in reading it so that I could read it all that quickly! However the session started with a BOOM... SHAKALAKA! It's punny right? We were all eager to start and were quite surprised how up to date the songs were. Okay there was nothing from this year but can you expect that? I honestly thought they would be all old songs I hadn't heard of! But it dated til up to last year at some point!
The two awesome singer / rap combination first took up the mic before passing it around the room to keep on singing the song. Whilst we were all singing anyway - the atmosphere was pretty amazing and the session had only just begun!
I had a look at and took some pictures of the sheets which had the recommendation/ most popular noraebang songs on (even though we looked through the book anyway) and here it is:
THEY HAVE F(X)!! Honestly even though no one sang it.. I was happy enough to know it was there xD As a massive bias group of mine it's good to know their songs are listened to by others :D
A number of songs by a number of artists played during the day including 2NE1, Super Junior, SHINee, TVXQ, 4 minute, Trouble maker, Girls Generation and B.A.P. I'm sure there was more but I cannot recall them at this point :( As I didn't sing
I would like, at this point, to shout out to my classmates. You guys are really talented you know that? Seriously... you know who you guys are but your voices are incredible.Singing, dancing and rapping, we've got to dance together sometime, put on a show and teach me a few moves! On a rapping note, the guy who did Zelos's rap in warrior was outstanding, it really sounded so good along with everyones singing of the rest of the songs. I also HAVE to mention right at the end, our last song which wasn't even a PART of the noraebang but one amazing singer took the mic and sang Symptoms by SHINee on her own along with a beatbox in the background to back her up. I wish I got a video of this because it was a moment I think deserves a lot of credit and love, well done guys!
I highly recommend going to a karaoke with your friends, it's a really fun experience and is a great time for bonding with each other :) I felt I got to know a whole new side to these guys this week, even though we've been together the 10 weeks before we all got to let loose and relax whilst messing around together. Thank you so much guys you've made my time really incredible.
I would also like to thank the KCC staff for putting up with our screaming and overall loudness throughout the day xD I also want to thank them properly for giving us the opportunity to do things like this. I barely get to go to London myself, maybe once or twice a year at most but getting to go there so much has made me really like going there, experiencing new foods and places to meet people who share your similar interests. I'm very happy I've been able to meet you all, you all have your own quirky characters which I have come to adore and love seeing every week. it's going to be hard to not see you all every week and go back to the not so wonderful world of work on Saturdays :(
Anyway I'll be glad to see you all for one last time together on Saturday :) We have homework to do and I'll get to that soon ^-^ Again, thank you everyone at the K-Pop Academy for everything you've done for us, I really appreciate it d(^-^d)
Labels: 2ne1, 4minute, b2st, bap, bigbang, f(x), fantastic baby, girlsgeneration, infinite, karaoke, kccuk, kpop, kpop academy, music, noraebang, shinee, snsd, super junior, Warrior
K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 10: HOMEWORK PART 2
Okay so first off, welcome to the world of K-Pop! I can guarantee that you will enjoy yourself here as you will experience amazing new styles of music, dance and culture as well as enjoy the taste of many different kinds of foods and make friends with a lovely bunch of people.
K-Pop seems to be one of those subjects where if you find someone who likes it as well, you intantly become really good friends with them!
Now, living in London you have access to the best sorts of K-Pop related things in England. Hopefully, with it becoming increasingly popular, more places around the UK will provide K-popular culture.
One of the first places I suggest you hit up is the Korean Cultural Centre, located in The Strand, right by Trafalgar Square, and see what kinds of activities they're doing there.
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| Front of the centre |
Other places in London include China Town.
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| Part of Chinatown |
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| HMV - Oxford Circus stock |
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| Corean Chilli |
If you aren't in ChinaTown then I suggest you head on up to Tottenham Court Road where you will find Seoul Bakery and other Korean restaurants. Seoul Bakery is pretty famous for having messages from any of the Korean Pop idols who come to visit London. Also, on a Sunday afternoon from 4PM to 6PM you will find HoHo's K-Pop Shop. Where they sell a variety of merchandise from CDs and posters to DVDs. Here is a link to their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/HoHosKpopShop
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| Next to Seoul Bakery |
Po Cha is near Seoul bakery, if you're there, you can't miss it! There are also some others nearby you just have to look out for the hangul! And hey, why not see what they have to offer, you can try a different one or a different dish each time to see what it's like.
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| Little Korea is found in Chinatown |
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| Woo Jung is near Po Cha and Seoul Bakery |
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| ASSA is also near Po Cha and Seoul Bakery |
Getting involved with others:
KLUE - Or K-Pop Lovers United Events is a mainly UK based group on Facebook for those who love K-pop. Now and again they have meetups and plan to do things such as dance workshops. It's a fun experience to get to know others and get involved at the same time.
Speaking of dance workshops, Team LoKo have their own dance workshops which they hold monthly and have worked with an SM entertainment choreographer. Here is a link to their facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/LondonKPopDanceWorkshop/info Also, don't be intimidated by people, everyone is very nice and easygoing. Remember - you all share that common interest.
If you're thinking of studying Korean the best thing to do in terms of universities would be to look at your options, since not many universities offer Korean you will be limited in choice but one of them is based in London for you to go and look at with ease during open days. The London School of Oriental and African Studies - SOAS. I would suggest looking into more detail about the course and structure to see whether or not it is something you want to do. Other options would be to start watching Korean dramas and read some books to help you study!
I hope this guide has been helpful to you, giving you new places to explore around London and opportunities to meet new people!
Labels: china town, corean chilli, culture, dance, food, guide for a new kpop fan, kccuk, korean things to do in london, kpop, kpop dance in london, kpop in london, kpop shop, loko, london, po cha, seoul bakery, soas
K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 10 : HOMEWORK
Here they are:
B.A.P - Warrior
EXO - Growl
I know I have a lot to work on but I did my best for the time I had ^^;
I'll put the second part of the homework in a different post :)
Labels: bap, cover, dance, Dance cover, Exo, growl, kpop, music, sunao, sunaowoflie, Warrior, 워리어, 으르렁
K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 10
AH I had a hard day getting to the KCC on Saturday. I've never actually had a single problem with the tube or trains until this day. I first noticed something was odd when the queues from the oyster top up machines were jam packed. They're usually quite busy but this was ridiculous! Anyway, I decided i'd have enough on my card and went on to go towards the Picdilly line. Nope. Have to go to the other end of the line in the station to get on it. right okay that's okay if this entrance is closed it's not a big deal. Went to follow everyone else and it was so packed up i couldn't even move. going down the escalator and the only thing i found was a rather large tunnel FULL of people. It took me no less than 30 minutes to get to the platform which in the end we all got told no more trains would be running from that platform!? Ah now what to I do, I know London okay but not from St. Pancras. I went back up to find the victoria line was open and made my way to oxford circus ( the only one I knew on there!) it was crazy. So many people. I was starving as well. When i got to oxford circus I quickly grabbed something to eat and went back onto the bakerloo line to get where i wanted, by the KCC. I was so relieved I was panicking so much the entire time T_T I had just as much of a problem getting back the way but I'll leave the details out.
This week was fun because we had a lecture from a person who lectures at SOAS about Korean poetry. We learnt there were a few different kinds but she talked to us in more detail about sijo. There seemed to be different ways of structuring the poem and a lot of them remained anonymous as no one knew who they were written by. I found that quite intriguing and mysterious.
After she talked us through everything we got a go at it ourselves. Although my group weren't exactly clear on how it worked we still managed to pull something together. We decided on a theme and essentially each line had 3-3/4-4-3 for example ( I'm not sure if this is right, but each line was different anyway) The number represents the syllables in the word. or phrase (though we thought just the word hahh...) So whilst we're trying to find fitting 4 syllable words everyone else is writing about their chosen theme.
And finally the time came for all of us to reveal our poems to the rest of the class. One theme was common throughout all of our work though - the theme of love. Be it about a person, object, Donghae or Kimchi, we all wrote about it in one way or another! And yes, some groups did write about their 'cookie eyed oppa' -Donghae, and Kimchi which was 'so yummy in their tummy'. It was all a good laugh and we had a fun time making the poems up ourselves :)
Thank you to our lecturer Grace for providing us with all the information and giving us a chance at our own poem :)
I have homework this week! WHOA. HOMEWORK. Okay so I'll post it up soon :)
And next week is noraebang... oh oh no! ><! I will look forward to it and fear it at the same time xD
Labels: donghae, kccuk, kimchi, korean, korean culture centre uk, kpop, kpop academy, love, music, poem, poetry, sijo, super junior, traditional
KPOP-ACADEMY WEEK 9
This week some moon jars were made for us to carve out our own designs on. They were made of soap that smelled like honey. ( I think it was honey... in any case they smell really nice!)
We would etch our own designs into this soap, which was actually quite difficult by the way... and into the grooves we had made put in some paint ink of a red or blue colour. This made the design stand out much more than it did as just a carving. Seeing everyone's individual designs was fantastic, it showed all of our creative streaks and interests from one rather different blank canvas. Also, because it was something we each only had ONE of, we knew we had to make it good on our first time so everyone was taking their time and thinking really carefully about what they were doing.
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| Flying bird dragon thing |
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| It was a messy process |
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| My piece |
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| From another angle |
As you can see there is something written in the top, lets have a look at what it says...
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| K-POP ACADEMY 4 2013 |
Again this was a really fun week, if you get chance to try this and don't mind things getting a bit messy then give it a try! Don't wear black though, dear dear... please DON'T WEAR BLACK! xD
Labels: art, carve, etch, hangul, kcc, kccuk, korean, korean culture centre uk, kpop, kpop academy, moonjar, nice, soap
K-POP ACADEMY WEEK 8
As always this week was full of fun and exciting times along with surprising and interesting events. This week we had a talk from a Korean war veteran who served during the Korean war. Although he had been through all those harsh times, he was still such a happy and chirpy person.
Firstly he introduced himself and spoke to all of us about where we came from since a lot of us aren't complete/ or English at all.
It is hard for me to go into every detail he spoke about the war and I wouldn't want to write anything down wrong in the case that I have remembered something wrong, however he went on to talk about what happened just before the war and why there was a war in the first place. I have always wondered why exactly there is a divide in the country and when did this divide happen?
Well we all know Japan was ruling over Korea before the war started and skipping a head a little the man stated that two [important people] were discussing well now what happens to Korea?
They divided Korea. Into two parts. the top - supported by Russia and the bottom by the US. This was to act as a way to merge so that one day they would become one. As I understand it, there's more detail in there but I cannot remember very well. This did not happen however and wars broke out to claim the rest of the country for their own and with support from the Chinese army, North Korea was easily winning the battle.
He went on to tell us that small children were taking up arms to protect their schools and their homes but since South Korea had no armour and no real weapons, fighting back was of not much use, but they continued to fight as best they could. These are very very brave and proud people, I sincerely respect them because you have to be very brave to stand up to someone you know you have little chance of winning against instead of running away and abandoning everything.
Now I cannot remember exactly how but South Korea managed to regain there ground back up to the divide. The man told us about some of the men he worked with and how he saw them die before him and how upsetting that was at the time, but he had no time to grieve for he had to carry on fighting for his country and South Korea.
It was rather hard not to cry when listening to him talk, he hadn't seen his family or friends from back home in such a long time and the people he was having to be around, having to get to know and practically be his family were on the verge of dying any minute.
In all,it was very interesting to listen to and know why there was a divide in the first place and see why it is still there today. When questioned, he believes that one day [and hopes] that Korea will be one again and that the war was one which was worth fighting. Others disagreed, stating that the two are just far too different in their culture and beliefs.
After the talk was over he gave us all a signed copy of his book which I have already started reading and it quite interesting so far :) After that there were some people being interviewed fro Arirang TV which airs in South Korea. They were videoing us the entire time but took a few aside to ask individual questions to.
Now, after THAT I met up with some of my best friends who I hadn't seen in a few months and we were all of to.... SUPERSHOW 5! I'll write a separate blog post about the show and I am eager to go back to the academy next week when we should be doing poetry according to the schedule! so ..Until next week!
Labels: bravery, fighting, korea, korean war, kpop, kpop academy, soldier, veteran, war