Rooftop Party

Tonight, I went to a party held on the rooftop of the apartment building of a few friends. It was their goodbye party, and they invited a good seventy people out to join them for drinks, food, and some great company.

Britta and me. She's going backpacking for several months and might not return to Korea afterward... Have a great trip!

Although I've lived in Changwon for about a year now, I still rarely venture downtown in the evenings, and I know only a handful of fellow expats. Tonight, with so many gathered together on the rooftop, I was almost overwhelmed; I don't think I've ever seen more foreigners in one place in this city. What's more, most of them were strangers. But I made some new friends and reconnected with people I hadn't seen in a while, so it was all good.

The view from the roof, fifteen stories up.

My social life in this city is a bit awkward. Since I live up in the norther part of the city, where there are much fewer expats compared to downtown, I don't see people often. Also, last year I spent many weekends out of town visiting my Fulbright friends in other cities. So when I tell "Changwoners" about my lack of experience in the city -- for example, that I've never been to the local Irish pub, O'Briens -- it is always met with mild shock: "Wait, so what do you do for fun?" Haha. Anyway, I did take this opportunity to get out of my isolated bubble, and it was a great evening overall. (I was there for six hours...)

Britta and Thomas; when it got darker, some people lit sparklers!

On a tangential note, I finally got a Nubija pass! Nubija is Changwon's awesome bike share program. I saved money on transportation tonight by biking downtown to the party and back. Yes, it took about two hours round trip, but it was also good exercise, and the buses aren't really that much faster... Actually, biking along the 창원대로 at night is quite fun.