When a spring semester comes to an end many students contemplate what they would
like to do for the summer. It’s easy to limit yourself to local opportunities and mold your summer around familiar
practices. I had originally thought my
summer months would consist of an internship in L.A. for June and July, but things did
not work out as planned. I had even been lucky enough to snag a ticket for Bonnaroo,
but I was forced to sell it for extra money.
While I was wrapped up in the frustration of lost domestic opportunities, I was granted a
foreign one. I was given the chance to visit
an Eastern country with a decorous culture, sassy cuisine and intricate language.
The country I describe is South Korea and I want to share my experience with you.
I spent approximately five weeks from the end of July to late August in this “land of the
morning calm,” residing in a city called Wonju.The city is located in the northern part of the country and is roughly a two-hour bus
ride to either coast. I flew into the west coast of Korea at Incheon International
Airport from the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. I was in transit for a total of 23 hours from Knoxville to Incheon and in that time I thought about many concerns pertaining to the trip.
Thoughts ranged from the turmoil between North and South Korea, my means of transportation, inevitable language barriers and various cultural divides.
These thoughts weren’t familiar to me because I had never been out of the country
before. I have always had a desire to travel outside of the United States, but I didn’t
know the opportunity would present itself so early in my life.

As I contemplated about what was ahead of me, I realized that my mindset could
expand with this opportunity. I would become more aware of the world, instead of a tiny region in my own country. Then, the end result wasn’t clear, but now the experience
is over and I can reflect with a new perspective. Before this experience, I
remember looking occasionally at some foreign news stories and always thinking that they don’t affect me directly.

Now, I feel like I have a better understanding of how important it is to know what is going on in the world around me and
to be more aware of other cultures and continents. I plan on writing a series of
articles this semester about various parts of the South Korean culture and many of my experiences.

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