Gloria Choi

today marks the last day for me as an ambassador. it is indeed a tragic day. i have been with this job for the last 3 years. i feel an immense hole in my heart. i literally grew up with this program. i remember still, the day i sat down opposite Paula and Luke for this job. i was scared out of my mind and still jet-lagged. but God is good. he opened my life to truly amazing amazing amazing people. real people.

so, today, we celebrated a great year! a year full of God’s wonders and blessings.

thank you thank you. you guys made my college life incredible. i will miss working with every single one of you.

see. Biola has great people. come over and check it out! keke.

formal picture~ hur

candid one! keke

친구들아~ 사랑해~

chin gu dul ah, sarang hae

(dear friends, i love u)

oh by the way, this blog though is still going to be alive for another week. heeee. can’t let go yet.

so, yee tta bwah

so the other day, i had a chance to “taste” what The Office was all about. hur. it was this psych experiment which i’m taking for extra credit. we watched a clip and had to fill out some survey. the clip was a top 10 collection of the funniest pranks on The Office between Jim and Dwight.. then suddenly, it struck me…

this guy’s HILARIOUS!! kehahaha.

i kinda was proud of the fact that i didn’t succumb to American TV for the past 3 years living in here, but now i kinda understand why people freak out when i tell them i’ve never watched The Office and act like i’ve committed treason or something. hur. okay..

but i guess i should give it a try because the clip was really funny. like awkward funny.. hur.

so yeah, during summer break, i’m gonna try to watch it and see if i really like it and hopefully by next semester i’ll be able to understand all the “Office” jokes. keke.

yee tta bwah~

currently, my friend sarah and i go to the same church and we both serve as Sunday school teachers as well. every friday, we would go to our youth pastor’s place for a home made meal and Bible study with the pastor’s wife. at first i was a little meh- about it because i already don’t have much of a weekend because of school workload and church… you wanna occupy my friday evenings too…? well, that was a very selfish thought of mine which got quickly shot down by my dad… hur..

however, i am really really glad that my selfish thought got shot down because the Bible study has been extremely helpful. plus, both the pastor and the pastor’s wife keep feeding sarah and i non-stop with goooood food. keke. so, i’m not complaining. she also makes the best cup of coffee. i’m not a big coffee drinker, but at her place, i’m hooked to her coffee… wonder if she puts something extra. keke.

anyway, the book we are studying revolves around the story of Abraham and how his faith grew, stumbled, grew again, and stumbled again in the midst of living in the gap between promise and reality.

this book has been a tremendous help to me to gain a perspective of life as a college student and as a Christian. every single chapter is so easy to read, yet so powerful. every time i read it, i find new truths about my life and the relationship between God and i. this is some powerful stuff, you have to check it out!

so, this gap it talks about. it’s the gap between the promises of God and our reality. have you ever felt like the life you live right now is so far off from what God promises, from what He intended for you? do you doubt that God has a great plan, of abundance, of greatness…for you when you see your current state? time to time, i feel so insignificant and disheartened by my shortcomings and grow impatient to see the work God is doing in me because right now, i’m just a tiny little college kid, because right now, i can’t even support myself fully, how am i suppose to dream about impacting the world? right now, i’m so flawed, how will i ever be ready? BAH… when will i fully realize the plan you have intended me, Lord?

believe me, it drives me crazy sometimes not knowing when all His promises will be fulfilled.

but then, this book talks about how we are living in this gap. gap between my current reality and the promises of God. and now, faith fills this gap. if you look at Abraham, God promised to give him a son way back.. and only after like 25 years did Isaac arrive. guys, 25 years. now, THAT is some gap between reality and God’s promises. i’m only 22 years old, which felt like forever… Abraham had to wait more than the life i’ve lived so far to see God’s promise fulfilled..

what’s funny is that i remember learning this in my freshman Old Testament History class, but it didn’t strike me as hard as it did when i re-learned this again.

if we think about it, it really was Abraham’s faith in God’s promises that held him through the 25 years. well, Abraham did make some really foolish detours along the 25 years with the Egytian king.. Hagar.. hey, Abraham was a human. but what stood out in the end was still his faith in God. his faith filled the gap between his reality and the promises.

it just sucks that having faith is SOOO difficult sometimes. you see, i’m a control freak, i pretty much plan out my day in half an hour increments. i like to know where my next half hour will be spent at and where. hence, an intangible entity such as faith is exceptionally hard for me to grasp.

but there is really nothing i can do because the gap will pretty much be a significant part of my life. instead of wallowing in misery.. i’m going to apply my first lesson.

let faith fill the gap.

unless you live in a box or on an isolated island, people are an inevitable part of our lives. there is noway to run away from people. they’re everywhere!

now, of course college is no different, in fact, college is probably one of the most concentrated area oogling with people from a variety of backgrounds and personalities. so, really, expect to meet all kinds of people, and i mean ALL kinds of people.

the more i think about it, i really believe that the people you surround yourself with is a huge part of an incredible college life. really, friends either make or break it.

i’ve indeed met quite a few interesting characters during the past 3 years. some were pleasant-quirky people and some were just… well, let’s just say that deeper bonding never happened. it was a great lesson though because it made me realize and widen my perspective on our world; that there are many types of people, that there are people who are so different, that there are people who you might not understand at all.

so, prepare yourself to meet people who meet your expectations and also people who do not at all meet you expectations.

one of the tendencies we have as humans is to flock to the people with the same colors or patterns. well, i say scratch that out for an extraordinary experience. i mean, i still like to get comfortable with people that are similar to me, but i’ve also realized that i learn so much more from people who are different from me. it seems to remind me that i live in a global age and a time of diversity where same is lame.

so, don’t limit yourself to your comfort zone. come on, you’re in college! although i can tell you honestly, that this is pretty hard… and i am definitely still working on it, but i can also tell you that it is also totally worth the effort.

let people surprise you! keke.

yee tta bwah~

some of the ambassadors decided to go to the beach yesterday! keke. it’s been really awhile since i last went which was for the bike ride. we went to huntington beach to hang out and spend time with the sun, sand and water…

everything was amazing. sun - check, sand - check, water - kinda cold. i actually had a buttload of work to do, but you see once in a while, putting work aside and taking a breather actually increases efficiency. just don’t do this too often. kehaha. like i said, once in a while.

it was really great also because i got to know more about these amazing people i went with. we played volleyball which i am HORRIBLE at, i think i only hit the ball right once. hur. and i cut my foot. merrrrh… but it wasn’t deadly. we also had a bon fire and we really had a neat time just sharing and appreciating each other. keke.

picture time!

met up at Metzger lawn with our Biola snake Charlotte~

brandon. james.

alyssa.

kristen.

me. kristen.

trying to be creeeeeepy~

me. elizabeth.

eh.. trying to be gangsta. kehaha.

ben. brandon. abe

katie. liz

lauren. she brought her guitar and sang for us~ she’s SO good.

katie.

let the fire begin!

us.

love you guys. ❤

and also the others who weren’t able to make it.. (yeah.. i still love you guys.. hee.)

this is a new MV by one of the most popular boy band in Korea. yes, we still like boy bands..

what’d you think? pretty dramatic huh?

guys. it’s… it’s.. it’s MAY!

GUYS! it’s MAY! do you understand the humungus meaning of this?

school is ending in like 3 weeks. weeeeeeee~♬

but.. it also means good bye to you…

good bye to 3 years with this blog.

im actually tearing up a little..  *sob*

okay, im gonna go to my corner and wallow in my sadness…

this is one of the biggest and most exciting event in spring semester! i was not planning to do it because well.. i’m a senior and seniors don’t do time consuming things - meh. but other fellow ambassadors psycho-ed me into doing it and i am so glad that they did! keke. we also invited our friends to join us for this fun event. so i psycho-ed in my dearest friends/roomies to do it with me! so pretty much for the past 3 weeks, we’ve been sleeping like 3 to 4 hours a day trying to jumble practice, class, papers, exams and sanity. but i’m so so so glad we did this together! i think it was double the fun for me because my two most favorite persons are here with me.

our theme was diversity. basically for mock rock, you put songs together according to a theme or like a theme and it needs to be under 8 minutes (although it seemed that many of the other groups went well over 8 minutes…). there are prizes for 3rd, 2nd and 1st with cash prize with $300 as the top prize.

well.. we didn’t win anything.. BUT we gained something invaluable - tighter friendship and bonding.

picture time! hopefully more will be up soon~ hehe

our group after mock rock

funny faces~

our openning

kelly. me. deanna.

hula~ ♪

when video clips are out, maybe i can post ours! keke.

yee tta bwah~ ❤

kehaha. thunder thighs. i just think it’s a funny expression and really wanted to use it some time. plus, it kinda ties into this spring break recap! keke.

dee, kelly and i went cycling!! kiaaaaa~ or bike riding if that’s the expression you’re used to. it was so much fun! and it also made me realize how… old i was. MEH. i used to cycle so much when i was younger (hey, i’m not THAT old okay.. just like when i was a kid you know?). we went to Venice Beach and just rode along the beach which had bike lanes. it was just great to feel the sun and the wind… haaaaaaa~ the smell of fun and relaxation! it was incredible. we rode for about 2 hours, hung out at Santa Monica Pier, had terrific ice cream, went home, woke up the next day feeling sore of course! kehaha. oh oh, and we went to grab some really awesome breakfast at one of Kelly’s favorite diner.

man.. isn’t this what break is all about? bikes, beach, ice cream and late breakfasts..? ~ ❤

taking a little break on the pier, sitting on the staircases.

still at the pier (look at my ugly tan on my arm. hur… need to even it out!)

kelly. me. deanna and a little bit of her calves.

kelly. me. deanna

- our breakfast the next day-

kelly and her smiling breakfast

dee and her breakfast

my breakfast! kehaha.

you think we’ll get thunder thighs if we cycle often? keke.

yee tta bwah~

when i tell people that i came all the way from Korea, well, technically i came from Singapore because that was the last place i lived at. but anyway, people assume that i came straight from Korea since i introduce myself as a Korean and as an international student. i the 2 most common response i get is “wow, you speak really good English” and “what made you come all the way here to Biola?”

i’m not even going to comment on the first response. today, let’s talk about the second question. so, WHY did i come all the way here from Asia to go to school?

simple put, Biola offered the best of both worlds. now, don’t get confused. let me unpack that for you.

when i mean the best of both worlds, i mean that Biola offers both academic growth and spiritual growth. in a way, representing the spiritual world and the world we live in today. it’s like getting equipped to tackle both arena.

to tell you the truth, the notion of a Christian school was not at all too appealing at first because i thought all things would be overspiritualized and i assumed that we would only talk about Jesus 24/7.

well. i was wrong.

Biola really amazed me and still amazes me when i see the intensity in academics as well. i am not kidding.. i really am growing both intellectually and spiritually. the professors are excellent in their craft but are even better at integrating biblical values into these hard solid and cold academic fields. you would be blown away how much of God is revealed through so called “secular”, non-Bible classes. my doubts about Biola’s academic credibility vanished as i took classes and learned whatever other students in a non-Christian school is learning as well.

now, here’s what makes Biola special: on top of the training we receive in line with all other schools out there, we get the bonus of the spiritual perspective. this in fact widens our viewpoint and provides us with even greater flexibility when dealing or examining certain topics or issues. not only do the professor put in immense effort to help us see the things we learn through His perspective, but also the 30 units of biblical studies classes have been such a great blessing. i definitely have grown so much more closer to God by literally studying his Word more.

i mean some people complain that these classes make the Bible seem like a textbook and that repulses them from the Bible. what nonsense. it is not the classes that did that, you yourself let that happen.. it does frustrate me when people say these type of excuses when they see that they have become distant from God. blame the Bible.. really?

so i was looking for a school that would be able to prepare me both as a young lady in the 21st century and also as a child of God in His kingdom and Biola captured my attention. you see, if we want to be able to tackle the world’s challenges as Christians, we need to be trained in both arenas. hence, growth intellectually and spiritually is extremely crucial.

guess what? Biola offers that amazing deal!

think about it. keke.

yee tta bwah~♪