Enrollment is a Funny Word

Today was Miss Eunmi's birthday fest. I only got to know her a couple of days ago when some of us were having drinks and dinner after the end of one of the exhibition days. She wasn't actually involved in the fair, but she came anyway and joined us for an afterwork pint of Guinnes in a pub close to Earl's Court. It was a fun evening and she invited us to her anniversary night out next week, and that happened to be today. We met at Covent Garden Station in the evening and I was informed of the details via text message.

When the envelop sign appeared on my phone I was in school, just finishing enrollment. It was a bit tedious, because the process involves not only an online registration, but also showing up in person. And that's everybody. So today the school resembled a mall at the last day before Christmas Eve and the goal was to end up with a nicely wrapped student card. And to get there you had to survive numerous stages of administrative chaos of which the last one was to be photographed in front of a cheap fake wall.

After I was done I definitely needed a break, but it felt pretty good to officially be a student again. My freshly printed id-card in my pocket I walked back home and took a ten minute powernap before I sat down at my desk and got to work. I opened the document that was waiting to be translated and started typing. Fortunately I finished my daily pensum quite fast, so that I suddenly ended up with two hours to spare. I looked out the window and saw a blue sky, then I looked at my board and the decision was made.

In the evening I arrived on time to meet Eunmi and Wontaek. We walked along the Themse to a boat bar where we had delicious burgers and beers. After a while Jinyoung arrived and soon we were joined by another six or seven members whose names I've forgotten. Later we moved the party to a piano bar close to Leicester Square. Frankly, it was a bit awkward at first, but after some beer, some shots and many bottles of wine we ended up having a great time, and the only thing awkward were the requested Stevie Wonder cover songs.