Five Fandom Friday: 5 Favorite Things About Fall

I'm a week late on this week's 5 Fandom Friday, but I am the only person on Earth who is just not here for pumpkin-flavored everything and I ended up being busy last week (JV had a doctor appointment), so I figured I would skip this week's pumpkin for something I like much better: fall! Incidentally, my favorite place to be in the fall is Korea. I can't explain it, but there is something magical about Korea in the fall (though upstate New York does run a very close second). I've been on a Koreastalgia kick lately so here are some old photos.

(Soswaemun gardens, Gwangju, November 2012)

(Gyeongbukgung Palace, Seoul, October 2011)

I have always lived in a place that has a proper fall (except when I spent most of November of 2010 in Costa Rica) and I've always loved it. Of course, I'm generally an upbeat person so I love most seasons, but fall and summer are probably my favorite because they never fail to disappoint. Spring is, well, spring is actually the worst and I could do without it (guess I'm not that upbeat). Winter is awful if there's no snow. But summer is always warm and sunny and green, and fall is always cozy and the leaves always turn.


1. Tea season

Okay, I mean, it's basically always tea season, but there is something much nicer about a cup of tea when it's chilly out than when it's the middle of summer. I'm just not big into iced tea.


2. Scarves

I have a billion different scarves, all of which have wonderful memories: some I bought in Korea (my other adopted home country) and some are ones from Lawyer Mom. I have a brown/black/orange on she made for me before I left for college, which is easily six feet long because I asked her to make it EXTRA long, and it's my favorite thing ever. My other favorite scarf is one I bought in Insadong. It's not OTT long like the one Lawyer Mom made, but it's extra wide. It often doubled as a wrap when I was teaching in hagwons without any central climate control.


3. Foliage

I wish fall lasted longer and also kind of never ended? That ugly period between when leaves are all gone and the first snow of winter happens is the worst, and thanks to climate change it's getting longer and longer. But before then, I like to enjoy the show.


4. Halloween!

Candy! Costumes!


5. National Novel-Writing Month

I cannot sing the praises of NaNoWriMo enough. It's always fun, but the last few years it's been more than just fun for me.

When you're an introvert in a new country, meeting people can be really difficult. Before I moved to Sweden, I was really worried about how I would do when it came to meeting people and making friends. I didn't want to move into a situation where all of my friends were JV's friends. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important that couples have friends, but I think it's also important that each member of a couple maintains their own set of friends. That way when your partner is out of town, or busy, or being kind of a sourpuss, you have other people you can talk to (and if you need to have a moment to piss and moan about your partner, you can be sure it won't get back to them).

Bearing that in mind, even before I stepped on the plane I deliberately focused on finding groups to join and people to meet (thank you, Internet). Luckily for me, I came to Sweden in October, right when NaNoWriMo things were starting to gear up! Two years later (WHAT TWO YEARS?!) and I have plenty (plenty for an introvert) of friends and I'm even organizing events and write-ins myself. Because even though I'm an introvert, I love to organize events and throw parties and get people together. Weird, I know.

And, of course, I get some writing done, too. These days, November is about the only time I really do a lot of creative writing work anymore. Oop.

What do you look forward to in the autumn? Share and/or link in the comments!