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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 10: 7/30-8/5
My last full week in Korea! Today is Sunday and itā€™s just ending now (and Iā€™m also realizing that this is the last weekend, which is very sad). At this point in my experience, my everyday life is pretty ingrained and normal. Taking subways to different parts of the city to meet people, eating bingsu, exploring the streets, and dealing with the humidity of Seoul heat all feel... strangely normal! And I think thatā€™s a good thing! Going off of that, I think my immersion has been at least partially successful. Iā€™ve become accustomed to Korea as a place around me, with the food, culture, sights, weather, and atmosphere that call it home. Coming from somewhere so different, Iā€™m really proud of myself for being able to immerse this way -- itā€™s something special to find your surroundings normal even though, compared with those of the rest of your life, they might not be.Ā 
From a more critical point of view, however, I realize thereā€™s a lot more I could have done to properly immerse ā€” more precisely, from a language point of view. I think I truly tried my best to use my language as much as possible, but I think there were times that, despite my best efforts to use my language, people didnā€™t understand, and quickly reverted to English to give me answers to my questions. I can see improvement ā€” my teachers can understand my stories when I talk about my experiences in Korean, and Iā€™m able to construct somewhat complex sentences that my Buddy could understand over our meals. Still, I wish I were a bit more fearless with how I use my newfound language skills. Even if I failed 99 times out of 100, having even one major successes with people understanding would have been very validating. And since I shied away from trying to engage people with my Korean most times, I donā€™t really have that shining success to walk away with. This is definitely something I wish I could have done better here, and is a shortcoming of my Korean abilities.
I saw my Buddy for the last time this week, and actually felt kind of emotional after our last meeting because she added so much to my experience here! Our conversations and experiences made me feel safer and happier in Korea -- it was so nice to know there was someone in the country who was interested in learning about my life in so much detail, and Iā€™m glad to be friends with her. Thank the universe for KakaoTalk and Facebook and the like, so we can keep in touch going forward! (Sucks that we didnā€™t end up getting to go to the Red Velvet concert together due to some logistical problems, but that takes nothing away from the amazingness of the Buddy program!).
Overall, this experience has been such a great way to begin my 20s. While here, Iā€™ve been able to reflect on who Iā€™ve become over the years so far, and put that up against new surroundings. Itā€™s been an amazing way to expose myself to challenges while simultaneously relaxing with such a beautiful and immersive backdrop. Korea is an amazing place to not only experience culture and travel, but also grow and develop as a person. For my last blog post next week, Iā€™ll likely be writing from home, and Iā€™ll be giving advice for future Light Fellows coming to Korea!
Thank you so much to everyoneā€”the Light Fellowship staff, the Light Foundation trustees, and Yale itself for making this possible, my parents and friends for supporting me on this trip, my dear friend Yoojin Han particularly for helping me immensely with my setup here in Seoul, Seoul National University for dealing with my many requests, my teachers for giving me such a valuable and once-in-a-lifetime education in the Korean language, my SNU buddy for sharing her life experiences and time with me, and the amazing people of Korea for welcoming me into their country. I am so thankful and privileged to have this opportunity and I will cherish the memories Iā€™ve made here for the rest of my life!Ā 
P.S. The last set of pictures here arenā€™t too exciting, but the bingsu was amazing and I always want to remember that, so here you go.
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 9: 7/23-7/29
This week was a lot of traveling around certain parts of Seoul, putting into overdrive some of the long overdue exploration Iā€™ve been needing to do. On Monday, I went on an adventure of sorts around Seoul, looking for the buildings of more Korean record labels (re: my experience the day before explained in last weekā€™s post). Seeing the DSP Media, SM Entertainment, FNC Entertainment, and other buildings in person was definitely exciting. Itā€™s hard to pinpoint why seeing a building with a logo was so meaningful to meā€”I think itā€™s because iā€™ve spent so many years across the world admiring music of all types. Iā€™ve never had the chance to really explore a city like NYC or LA for in-person evidence of the music industryā€™s existence, which made seeing these buildings (and sometimes the occasional cars with tinted windows going in and out) all the more exciting. Seeing the music industry outside of my computer screen and happening in front of me is something that never fails to excite me, so I deem that trip (which involved walking in Seoulā€™s blistering 90+ degree F heat for 3 hours), absolutely worth it!Ā 
Throughout the week, I had a lot of exciting meetups with new and old friends! On Wednesday, I met up with the roommate of a co-intern from my summer last year in Belgium. While my co-intern was Polish, her roommate is Korean and currently in Seoul, so we met up for dumplings. Hearing her perspective on life and education in Korea was really enjoyable, and we had a great conversation that lasted for hours. It was so cool to see last summer connect to this one. Crazy how people and their amazing insights and personalities can connect all over the world!
On Thursday, I met up with Farah, Nia, and Elizabeth for Sulbing, and after, we did some light shopping and watched the buskers in Hongdae. I think a regret of mine is not watching more busking! Thereā€™s so much talent among the people who busk in Hongdae, and I wish I could have seen more during my time here. A huge impediment was obviously the distance between SNU and Hongdae, but even more of a hindrance is Seoulā€™s crazy heat. I think when people told me that Seoul would get really hot in the summer, I didnā€™t quite believe them. But now that Iā€™ve been here in the continuously sweltering, sunny, humid weather native to Korea, I realize how long I was. Exploring is a bit harder in these temperaturesā€”at least for me, maybe Iā€™m weak.Ā 
Itā€™s still pretty crazy that these kinds of activitiesā€”visiting Hallyu landmarks in Gangnam, dumplings a few subway stops down from SNU, Sulbing and shopping in Hongdae, and moreā€”have been part of my daily life this summer. With only 2 weeks left, itā€™s really ending super soon. I am excited for the end, though, to take my Korean final exam and see how much my Korean has improved, and bring it back to the U.S. and continue at Yale.Ā 
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 8: 7/16-7/22
As opposed to previous weeks, Iā€™ve been out and about a lot more. Since a surprisingly large number of high school, college, and other friends are in Seoul right now, I was able to meet up with a lot of them and had such a great time! We usually went to the Gangnam area ā€” while Iā€™ve been there a bunch of times, it was nice to get to know the area even better with some great company. Iā€™ve noticed that, after exploring different parts of Seoul, I definitely appreciate the sleekness and industrial tech-esque look of the area right around Samseong station. Seoul as a city is so visually vibrant and diverse, which makes for scenic walking experiences and fantastic Instagram posts! The heat, however, is throwing a bit of a wrench in that at timesā€”itā€™s been 90+ degrees Fahrenheit and sunny every single day for about a week now, and this weather is supposed to stay like this for at least another week. Temperatures were actually really comfortable and nice until early/mid July, so itā€™s still nice to experience the real heat of the Seoul summer that everyone has talked about.
On the weekend, I did a bit of venturing around on my own and found the Cube Entertainment building ā€” the headquarters of a very well-known record label in the K-Pop industry. The company runs a cafe right next to the actual headquarters, so I spent a few hours working there. Iā€™ve found that, on weekend cafe excursions, I am exceptionally productive. The challenge in this setting is to find the right cafe and right setting to get work done. And since coffee (which is your ticket to wifi and staying to work in a cafe) can be expensive, the cost of settling in the wrong cafe can sometimes be pretty large. I was never into cafe culture much at all in the U.S., but Korea has shown me a whole new side to it. When I get back to the U.S., Iā€™m definitely going to engage more with local cafes around Yale and my hometown.
Going back to my excursion at Cubeā€™s cafe (called 20Space), I noted a van parked outside of the Cube Entertainment building as I left to head back to my dorm at SNU. I figured someone must have just arrived at the building, and after walking further towards the subway station, I looked up from my phone to see Jeon Soyeon (a fairly popular member of a new girl group) walk past me and into the building. I didnā€™t wave to her or take pictures or anything because I didnā€™t want to bother her (it was a Sunday evening, after all, and I only saw her pass me for a few seconds), but I was so excited to have seen someone I definitely look up to as a performer in person. The fact that Iā€™ve stumbled into so many memorable experiences speaks to the richness and density of Seoulā€™s cultureā€”from architecture of major city streets to tiny roadside cafes.
That being said, thereā€™s only about 2.5 weeks left for me here. While I do feel somewhat ready to return home and reacquaint myself with familiarity, Iā€™m a bit sad that I wonā€™t get to explore the Korean cultural density in more depth than the next 17-ish days will allow me. This city is so vast and full of meaningful experiences at every corner, and it truly canā€™t be explored in one summer. Still, Iā€™m grateful for what I have been able to see, and canā€™t wait for future opportunities to access more over this last stretch of the fellowship.
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 7: 7/9-7/15
This past week was definitely one of my least eventful, but it has me thinking a lot about what it means to study abroad and how best to take advantage of the experience. This week, I got to relax a lot, hang out with some friends, reflect on my experiences, enjoy some coffee shops, and get some work done. Often, I tend to evaluate weeks like this one in Korea and think, ā€œCouldnā€™t I have done that anywhere? Doesnā€™t that make it a bit of a waste to be doing those things while Iā€™m here in Korea?ā€ I feel like, often, the general perception surrounding study abroad and abroad programs in general is that you should spend every open moment going somewhere or exploring something new thatā€™s unique to the place youā€™re in, when I think thatā€™s really far from the truth in reality.
Being abroad for an extended period of time obviously should entail major in-country or in-city travel, and allow you to explore a lot of amazing things you wouldnā€™t have seen had you not come to the city/country/place youā€™re in. Thatā€™s trueā€”experiencing the food, culture, and sights is part of learning about another society/country. But something thatā€™s just as important and is largely underrated is having time to reflect! Whether itā€™s sitting in your goshiwon/apartment/dorm room, at a coffee shop, or literally on the subway back home from school, giving yourself time to sit, think, and relax how you otherwise would is a very immersive experience, because it allows you to insert the rituals and practices that constitute your normalcy into a foreign place. Studying Korean or writing emails in a coffee shop have actually been some of the best experiences Iā€™ve had here in Korea, and they make the occasional (but still fairly frequent) outings that much more enjoyable. Being abroad isnā€™t just about traveling and seeing. Itā€™s truly also about just ā€œbeingā€ā€”that is, existing in a foreign place regardless of what youā€™re doing. That existence in itself is a victory in immersion, and Iā€™m thankful to Korea for teaching me this lesson throughout the past 7 weeks.
We are now in the last month! As of this post, I only have 26 days left in the country. Iā€™m a little scared to leaveā€”despite my above discussion of not always seeing things being completely okay and valid, I still worry if Iā€™ve seen enough, or done enough, in my time here. I have lots of worries and jitters and excitement, and going into this last stretch, Iā€™m eager to reflect, but also experience as well!Ā 
Pictured below is my Donkatsu before and after eating!Ā 
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 6: 7/2-7/8
This past week was amazing! Iā€™m doing this blog post a bit late (itā€™s Tuesday of the next week now) and Iā€™m realizing that I actually donā€™t remember the entirety of last week, which is interesting. How fast will my abroad experience fade from my memory? If itā€™s anywhere near as fast as this program is actually moving, then Iā€™m likely to forget pretty fast.
That being said, there are some things I remember. We had exams at the end of the week, and I did better on the parts that I thought I would do badly on. Iā€™m really proud of myself for that! I studied really hard, and I hope to get even better going forward.
This past weekend was especially exciting. On Friday, my buddy Juhee and I went to Hongdae, and while I had gone there many times the last time I came to Korea, it was my first time making the trek over to Hongdae from SNU while studying this year. We ate an amazing meal and then went shopping around, which was really enjoyable and I found two really nice caps that Iā€™m excited to wear when Iā€™m back at school! I then went to Pangyo, which is essentially the Silicon Valley of Seoul, to meet up with Gabbie, and we got food and hung out for a long time! It was so nice catching up with her and getting to see such a nice area.
On Saturday, I got to see all the Light Fellows and our Korean Professor from Yale, ģµœ ģ„ ģƒė‹˜. We all ate an amazing meal and went to Gyeongbokkung together, and took lots of pictures. After that, Stella and I went to the most amazing market (which seemed to be at least one hundred years old) near Gwanghwamun and shopped for some really nice clothes and souvenirs. Bargaining in Korean was a bit difficult for me (communicating with the shopkeepers in general was a little hard), but Stella was able to help me navigate some of it. That experience made me realize I still have to practice speaking a bit more, but Iā€™m working on figuring it out and Iā€™ve been studying harder these past few days since the exam to try to improve more. This week, Iā€™m going to try to meet up with a lot of people, and get a lot of working out/working in general done!
6 weeks done! The halfway point has been crossed! Wow it happened so fast. As of the date I am publishing this, I have about a month left in the country, which is crazy because there really are a lot of things I havenā€™t seen! Hereā€™s to trying to fit in all in the next 30 days!
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 5: 6/25-7/1
This week was not only exciting (and full of K-Pop), but it also passed by quicker than others have. For the final World Cup game, I went to COEX on Wednesday and saw Cosmic Girls perform live. Because I had my presentation and other work to do, I made the stupid mistake of leaving after the performance, which was monumentally stupid since South Korea ended up WINNING the game! Their only win of this World Cup, but the first time that Germany lost to an Asian country and the first time that Germany did not advance. Thatā€™s crazy! I wish I had gotten to see that live with everyone around me. But still, seeing Cosmic Girls and engaging with the sports culture has been incredibly memorable ā€” it will be one of the most profound experiences I take from my time here.
On Friday, Daisha, Keaton and I went to Shinsegae Mall all the way in the North of Seoul to go to a SHINee fanmeet, which we didnā€™t get into, but still being able to see them in person from the perimeter of the fan meet was amazing. SHINee was the first Korean music group I was ever introduced to, and being able to see them in person interacting with fans was incredibly meaningful to me. K-Pop is truly not the only reason I am interested in Korea, but being able to engage with it in so many ways has made this experience more fulfilling, because it is not only cultural immersion, but also a fulfillment of connection that many fans of Korean music have sought to access but often canā€™t. Coming here has made that possible, which is incredibly exciting to me.
One thing I worry that I am missing out on in some ways is the food experience. Of course, Iā€™ve eaten all different types of noodles, Kimbap, meat, etc. that call Korea home. But I havenā€™t gone out to eat THAT much, because Iā€™ve been very focused on eating healthy and exercising regularly this summer. The SNU dining hall closest to me is really cheap, filling, tasty, and healthy Korean food, so I sometimes stay within the area to eat. As a result, Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™m learning as much about eating out and Korean dining culture as I should be Ā Iā€™m wondering how I should navigate that conflict, because taking care of my health has also been a rewarding and exciting experience. I imagine I should only allow myself to go out on some days, but definitely make sure I get at least one out meal a week into my schedule.
I say this every week, but time is passing very quickly. Itā€™s now been 5 weeks in Korea, which means there are 6 weeks left. This coming Wednesday will mark the halfway point of my time here (how did it approach so quickly!). I know that time will probably pass even more quickly now, so I have to really make the most of my remaining time.
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 4: 6/18-6/24
This past week was incredibly exciting! With the World Cup in motion and South Korea in 3 games over these two weeks (last week and this coming week), Iā€™ve enjoyed the amazing experience of watching both games on huge screens with hundreds of Seoul natives and foreigners.Ā 
The first game was last Monday, against Sweden. The plan was to meet up with Lauren (who is studying at Sogang University) at 8:20 pm in Exit 6 of Gwanghwamun Station, and then go over to Gwanghwamun Square to watch the game, which was scheduled to start at 9pm KST. I arrived at the station a bit early and decided to buy some merchandise from a subway station convenience store. In the spirit of South Koreaā€™sĀ ā€œRedsā€ team, I bought a plastic headband with red light-up horns (and wore them for the duration of the entire game!!). As I got closer to Exit 6, I heard some K-Pop music playing from nearby speakers. It wasĀ ā€œThe Bootsā€ by girl group Gugudan. Initially, I assumed it was just the subway station itself playing random K-Pop music, but as I started walking closer to Exit 6, I heard a voice in the song falter a bitā€”a key sign of the music being live, not from a speaker. I quickly realized that Gugudan was performing!Ā in Gwanghwamun Square, and ran out to watch the remainder of their performance.Ā 
While I have seen a bit of K-Pop live before, this was the first K-Pop performance I was watching during my stay in Seoul this summer (and the first time I had casually stumbled into a performance). They were performing in red shirts to get the audience hyped for the first World Cup game with South Korea playing. I am not a huge Gugudan diehard, but I am definitely a fan of three of the membersā€”Kang Mina, Kim Nayoung, and the super-popular Kim Sejeong. Back in the States as a high school senior, I watched the three of them rise up into their current careers through my routine remote following of Korean media, so seeing all three of them alongside their groupmates live was absolutely amazing! Especially Sejeong, whose vocals were as amazing live as they were through my computer speakers back home.Ā 
On Saturday night/early Sunday morning, Keaton and I went to the COEX mall to watch the next game, and this time, we knew that we were likely to see K-Pop. While the game itself started at midnight, we got there at 9:30, just in time to see MAMAOOā€”a girl group of which both of us are huge fans. MAMAMOO is another group that I followed from the release of their first single in 2014, and they are also incredibly popular both in Korea and abroad. Seeing them live (and for free, with a ton of other people who knew who they were) was a dream come true. They are known for being all-around power vocals, and their reputation certainly lives up to what I heard and saw.Ā 
While I was more or less expecting to see MAMAMOO, I didnā€™t expect Jay Park, Simon Dominic, GRAY, and Loco to walk out next. These are some of Koreaā€™s biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, literally world-level stars (Jay Park is literally signed to Jay-Zā€™s American record label and likely preparing an American debut as we speak). I didnā€™t know their music very well going into that performance, but by the end of it, I feel a lot more enthusiastic about K Hip-Hop and K-R&B in generalā€”as my Korean improves, Iā€™m definitely going to listen to the genres more.Ā 
What I havenā€™t talked about at all yet is the actual sports. I expected to have no interest in the games themselves since Iā€™m not a huge sports person (and never really understood why it got people so riled up back in the States), but something about the crowdā€™s energy, their excitement for their countryā€™s team, and the collectivism of it all felt absolutely electric. Even though South Korea didnā€™t win the game, clapping along and boo-ing with everyone else became a riveting experience in cultural immersion and national and international togetherness. After so many years of never watching sports or taking any interest in it, I finally understood why it excites so many people, especially in the collectiveness of rooting for a team with others.Ā 
Through these experiences, I realized that study abroad and cultural immersion can not only provide me with opportunities to enjoy what I already knew I loved, but also illuminate new aspects of things I never thought I would enjoy but actually do. So far, coming to Korea has obviously allowed me to learn a lot more about Korean culture. But unexpectedly, it has also helped me understand myself, my culture, and my interests even better.
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 3: 6/11-6/17
My sleep schedule has fallen a bit out of whack this week (Is it possible that I havenā€™t gotten over jet lag completely? Can my body still revert back to EST if I accidentally stay up too late?), which means I was definitely not very well-rested for 9am classes every day. Still, classes have been enjoyable, and Iā€™m getting to know my classmates and teachers better. Iā€™ve noticed that all of these teachers are very responsive to confusion and questions ā€” they are ready to not only correct students over very tiny grammatical errors, but also explain solutions and grammatical nuances in detail when asked to do so. And the fact that the teachers rarely use English and speak mostly Korean throughout the class assists in my ability to understand Korean really well. Still, I find myself struggling to speak and translate my thoughts from English to Korean, but itā€™s definitely a work in progress.
Otherwise, I havenā€™t done too much this week. I havenā€™t gone on any crazy Korea exploits or really traveled much outside of Gwanak (the part of Seoul where Seoul National University is located). Iā€™ve been spending a lot of time working on some personal projects, and enjoying the area right around where Iā€™m living. The dining halls here serve amazing Korean food for cheap prices, convenience stores are stocked with healthy and unhealthy snacks, and the gym I joined this week has proven to be really nice. Iā€™ve noticed that, this week, a lot of my interactions with Korea-related things (whether that be language, talking to people, etc.) have been through context clues. Learning a language and living somewhere new is all about interpreting the clues around you, piecing together what you can based on knowledge you have to build an image of what you are looking at, whether that is a sign for a store, a price for an item, or some other facet of everyday life that isnā€™t entirely clear to you upon arrival. Over time, you figure out more and more, and you piece together the puzzle that is literally your everyday life in a new country.
Itā€™s pretty crazy that itā€™s already been three weeks since Iā€™ve gotten here, and that I have exactly eight left before I get on my flight. Making the most of this time will have to be a balance between interacting with Korea and its physical spaces, learning the language, and balancing my own personal needs/desires!
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 2: 6/4-6/10
Classes started this past week! Itā€™s pretty crazy to be studying Korean for 4 hours a day ā€” itā€™s definitely a few notches up in intensity from 50 minutes/day back at Yale. I think my professors are, so far, a bit wary of my Korean ability, but Iā€™m confident that I can develop as a speaker, listener, reader, and writer. Weā€™re getting tons of practice in all of those fronts, especially listening. At Yale, Korean is taught in both English and Korean, but here, it is almost completely taught in Korean. Thereā€™s very little usage of English, to the point that you very rarely hear English sentences spoken at all during class. That aspect of the learning experience is really challenging, but also interesting and enjoyable. On a personal note, I am dealing with some hearing issues in my ears (a normal/frequent medical issue for me, but will hopefully subside soon), so listening in class has been a bit difficult at times. I hope I can resolve that soon!
Iā€™ve noticed that so much of our instruction includes material that we have already learned in L1 and L2 at Yale, but as they teach/review that material, they also mix in so much new material at the same time. As a result, you can spend four hours learning the same grammar structures that you were taught at Yale, but still find that your conceptual and practical understanding of the language advances considerably.
Iā€™ve actually found very few moments so far in which spoken Korean has really helped me in daily life. I often use words like ź°ģ‚¬ķ•©ė‹ˆė‹¤ or ģ£¼ģ„øģš”, but I rarely possess the vocabulary on hand to tackle a more complex daily situation outside of buying from cashiers or ordering food. Reading has obviously proved very helpful in transportation settings, but I hope to be a bit more involved with speaking Korean on an everyday/daily life basis as this summer progresses.
Last year, I went abroad to Brussels to intern, and I was definitely very daunted by everyday tasks such as transportation, going out, etc. I was really unprepared to do simple tasks, like cooking for myself, and more demanding things, like keeping track of remote work, all in the context of a completely new country alongside an unfamiliar work experience. Adjusting to so many new stimuli in a foreign country definitely changes the limits of oneā€™s comfort zone. Figuring out what your new boundaries are is a fundamentally important aspect of travel abroad, and can definitely impact how and why you make certain decisions in a foreign country or place. This summer, my goal is to find a balance between staying in my comfort zone and leaving it. If I stay within it too much, I could definitely miss out on exciting experiences, but if I leave it too often, I may become overwhelmed and detriment my own mental and physical health. I also have lots of personal projects that I am excited about pursuing, so I hope to keep on top of that as well!
On a final note, my birthday was this week, and got to celebrate with a Yale friend, Jun, who is currently serving his mandatory army service in Korea. He left at the end of my first year at Yale, which meant that I was seeing him for the first time in over a year when we met up this week. I really enjoyed spending time with him, and am hopeful to hang out with him more since weā€™ll both be in Seoul throughout this summer! Entering a new year in my life so early on in my abroad experience was really nice. Itā€™s a fresh start, and makes me feel excited about all the possibilities for these upcoming months in Seoul. I can be anyone I want and do anything I want here, and I am so grateful to be able to re-conceptualize my priorities in a new place.
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kushalinkorea Ā· 6 years
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Week 1: 5/27-6/3
My journey to Seoul began on May 27th, 2018, when I boarded a flight from Newark at 10:30am. I landed in Toronto about an hour and a half later, used some leftover Canadian cash to buy overly expensive pizza slices at the airport, and was off to Incheon Airport by 1:30pm. It was a direct 13.5 hour flight from there, which was made particularly uncomfortable by the fact that I was sat in the middle. I couldnā€™t sleep at all, unfortunately.
But on the brighter side of things, I had one of my best friends Yoojin, a Yalie who lives in Seoul, come pick me up from the airport! She helped me navigate buying a SIM Card, a T-Money Card (what you use for public transport in Seoul), and traveling from the airport to the Seoul National campus.
I arrived on campus that night, and after setting my stuff down, Yoojin and I got dinner. She took me on the Gwanak 02 bus to get there which, at the time, seemed so foreign. Iā€™m from a suburb of New Jersey, and despite my homeā€™s proximity to New York City, I never really learned to navigate public busing or subway systems in depth.
That is, until nowā€”over the past few days, traveling around Seoul and exploring with other Light Fellows required quite a bit of navigation on my own, most particularly figuring out how to get from campus to the Seoul National University subway station and back. It was a personal victory and sign of growth to have been able to navigate Ā that on my ownā€”not because it is particularly difficult to get from place to place with Seoul public transport (in fact, itā€™s incredibly accessible, convenient, and easy), but because it is amazing to be able to travel entirely across the world and be able to operate with confidence and efficiency. I can already tell that even the minutiae of my daily life in Seoulā€”navigating public transport, ordering food, interacting with cashiers at local convenience storesā€”will imbue me with the confidence one needs to travel and explore as a global citizen.
As I said above, I did a ton of exploring and traveling around Seoul this week! I traveled to Myeongdong with Keaton and Farah, shopping through some of the bigger stores like Art Box and the Lotte Young Plaza, took pictures with the LED flowers at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, saw the rainbow water jets at the Banpo Park along the Han River, visited the JYP Entertainment building in Cheongdam, and sat down to finish some work in a nice cafe in Gangnam (Iā€™m writing this blog post from there right now). Definitely an exciting week, and much more eventful than I expected it to be. While thereā€™s obviously travel anxiety and stress associated with being in a foreign place, Iā€™m a lot more confident in my ability to live in Seoul than I thought I would be this early on, and Iā€™m so proud of myself and thankful to people like Yoojin, Light Fellowship Directors/Staff, and SAC for that!
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