결론 | In Conclusion

This last Wednesday, I got up very early in the morning and got a ride from my first host family to Incheon, a city nearby Seoul. In this city, the major feature is Incheon International Airport, which was where I got on the plane and finished my year abroad. Upon my return, I realize that there is still quite a lot of things to still experience as a result of the exchange, but I have already learned and experienced so much from the year.

From my year, I learned quite a few skills that I will be taking with me. The first and most obvious of these being some knowledge of the Korean language. I am certainly not fluent (I would probably need another whole year in Korea at least to be fluent), but I definitely made quite a bit of progress. I will be certain to continue my studies of Korean, because it is such a unique and interesting language. I also brought back some skills from the culture classes that I took. The first of these was learning Korean calligraphy, to paint out the letters in the traditional style. I really enjoy doing painting, and the skills that I picked up from this art will certainly be useful. I also was able to bring back the materials so that I can continue with the calligraphy that I learned. The other thing that I learned was through my Samulnori class, where I learned how to play the 장구 (chang-gu). Although I wasn’t able to bring back one of these instruments, I am hoping that I will be able to find a way to continue learning how to play this instrument here.

I also was able to see many new things in Korea and experience many parts of the different culture. One visit that really stands out in my mind was my visit to the DMZ (De-militarized Zone) between North and South Korea, which really brought the conflict between the two countries into perspective for me. In my mention of cultural experiences, the main experience that helped me in learning about Korean culture was getting to live with my three wonderful host families. Getting to experience cultural things firsthand as part of the family.

With my experiences in Korea in mind, this summer, I will be working as a lifeguard at 숲속의 호수 (Sup Sogui Hosu), a Korean camp in Bemidji, Minnesota that is part of the Concordia Language Villages program. I had gone to this camp for a short time before my year abroad, so it will be interesting to go back and see just how much I truly improved in my understanding of the language and culture. Then, in the fall, I will be going to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I am still undecided on my major though, but I am certain that the skills I gained from learning Korean and living in a foreign culture will be vital tools for any field that I choose.

I am very thankful for Houghton Rotary for providing me with the opportunity to spend this year abroad and for the people in Korea who made it a fantastic experience. It was a difficult year, but I have definitely learned very much from it, some of which I my never fully realize.

도착해요 | Arrival

Embarking on the first leg of my journey, I left Houghton at 6:00 AM on August 22 headed for Chicago. For the flight, I sat next to Mr. Shoup, Madelyn’s father (She was an exchange student to Austria). I was happy to have someone familiar next to me, because it made the process of leaving much less difficult. I watched the landscape through the plane window the entire flight, even though I was not on the side that I would have been able to catch one last glance of Houghton from.

The first flight was over quickly and when I arrived in Chicago, I was charged with the task of finding two exchange students who arrived on another flight. I was lucky to find them in the hallway of the airport fairly quickly thanks to the rotary blazer uniform. These two students, Dustin and Rebecca, will both be in my area of the country, which I was very happy about, because the three other students from the Central States RYE program will all be in Busan. Once we met, we went to the gate to meet Nasiba, who was arriving later.

When she arrived, we decided to go to the gate for Seoul before getting some food, so we went to the international terminal. Unfortunately, we would have to go through security again at this terminal to get to our gate, but we couldn’t yet because we needed to have our tickets for that and the place to get the tickets wasn’t open yet. So, we waited there until it opened about an hour later and were at the front of the line. We got our tickets arranged so that the four of us could sit next to each other. Just after this, we met up with Aidan, who got dropped off at the airport, and another exchange student who would be going to Taiwan. They were much further back in line when they arrived though, so they didn’t get seats close to us, but we planned to ask people to trade with them. We went through security only to discover that the food was actually on the side of security that we had started on and had to go back through if we wanted it. Some of us went back through, while some bought sandwiches from an express shop that was on the side of security that we were on. After this, we waited until our flight arrived.

When we got onboard we found out that we would be unable to get the two other students in the seats next to us (The seating was 3-aisle-3-aisle-3 and we were in two groups of two in adjacent rows), because one person didn’t want to move, because they had a window seat, and the other didn’t speak English. After doing what we could but being unable to get the others nearby, we started off on our 14 hour flight on Korean Air from Chicago to Incheon.

On the flight there wasn’t much to do. We had the televisions that are on the backs of the seats, but mine wasn’t working for most of the time. For the food that is served, passengers on the flight had the choice of Korean or Western meals. Our group all chose to have the Korean meals, my favorite one of these was the bibimbap that was served in the first meal. They also came around with drinks frequently, so I did my best to stay hydrated.

We arrived in Korea at 4PM, which would be 3AM back in Houghton, and said our farewells to Aidan, Nasiba, and the student going to Taiwan, as they had to take another flight before arriving at their destination. We then went through the easiest customs I have ever experienced (they only said one word, “passport”, to me) and got our bags. We went out into the main part of the Airport and met the people that would take us to our respective towns. Sadly, we didn’t get the chance to say good bye to each other, but I hope to meet up with the other exchange students sometime during my stay in Korea.

The teacher that picked me up and I

One of my teachers met me at the airport. He told me that he taught Korean at my school and that we would have to wait for a bus that would take us to Seocheon. While we waited, I used a pay phone at the airport to call my family and tell them that I had arrived in Korea. After this, I got to see a bit of what the airport had to offer. I really liked the whole airport, but my favorite thing was definitely the Stargarden, which is a footbridge in the airport that is lush with plants.

One of the two tunnels that make up the Stargarden

The bus that we got on was very nice with very comfortable chairs and a lot of leg room. I was taking a lot of pictures out of the windows during the ride. When I saw that we were approaching a huge city, I assumed it was Seoul, but my teacher told me that it was actually Incheon. It was interesting to see some of the towns along the way, with just how quickly it would go from buildings to nature and mountains. I was very tired and the seats could recline very far, so I fell asleep after only a short time.

I didn’t really wake up again until we had arrived in Gunsan. By now it was dark outside and had started to rain. My teacher gave me a ride to my host family’s house, which is a different family than the one I had gotten information on. I am saying with In-Cheol’s family. He was an exchange student to the United States last year, so he is very helpful to me for getting started in Korea. I talked with my host family for a while before unpacking my things in my bedroom. It is very different here because I am sleeping on the floor. My room is also the library, so there are a lot of books in it along with a desk and a piano.

My Room

It’s nice to finally be in Korea after all the waiting I have done. I’ll try to keep you all updated on my adventures and I hope to have another entry up soon. Thank you for reading!