This is the first chance I have had to sit and write on my
blog. I’ve been in Korea for just about
two weeks now and haven’t stopped.
There’s so much to share! Let me
rewind to the night before I left.
Remember how calm I was about leaving?
That came to an abrupt stop around midnight as I was still throwing last
minute items into my suitcases wherever they happened to fit. Side note--you all asked me how to pack for a
year? I still don’t know. It’s impossible! I became terrified out of nowhere, though,
and believe I was so close to a panic attack. What in the world was I about to do? The words “I do not want to go anymore” were
on the very tip of my tongue, but I knew if I said that out loud my mom
wouldn’t know what to do with me. I mean
we were leaving for the airport in just over five hours! I managed to keep that thought inside. Instead I sent emergency texts to some
friends for some emergency prayers. I
really felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I knew actually leaving home would be
the hardest part. I managed to calm down
and I only got about 2 ½ hours of sleep that night. We were off to the airport around 5:30
a.m. My dad, mom, brother, sister, and
sister-in-law came to the airport, along with our dog joining us on the ride
there. I would not have been able to
leave my house if Logan had stayed there—I believe many of you know he is
sick. I just didn’t want to leave my
puppy. :(
With Logan the night before I left!
When I checked in with American Airlines, the worker asked
me if everyone was there to say goodbye or to make sure I would actually get on
the plane. “Both!” was my response. Along with my family, one of my very best
friends, Ellie, came to the airport too. Saying goodbye to everyone was awful. I was a crying mess and everyone else had tears
too.
My family!
Best friend!
Ellie brought me the best gift I could have been given at the airport. An envelope full of letters from some family and friends. Made me cry even more, but this was absolutely perfect.
I knew that once I got to my gate I
would meet another EPIKer on my flight.
There were actually three of us on the flight to Chicago. It was so good to just know I wasn’t
alone. Once we got to our gate at the
Chicago airport, there were even more of us there—perfect! I was doing much better at this point, but I
had several moments on the flight to Korea where I was telling myself that it
would be okay and I’d just get on another plane and go back home. I was freaking out. I mean who just moves to another country for
an entire year without having been there before and without anyone you really
know? I guess I do! So many of you at home told me that I am so
brave and have so much courage. It
wasn’t until I was on my way that I realized how brave you need to be to do
this.
My flight to Korea was 14 hours long, but it went by much quicker than I expected. I was able to
sleep quite a bit and I watched two movies.
Once we made it to Korea, we checked in with the EPIK desk and then
watched as Arnold Schwarzenegger was escorted through the airport! Then we finally boarded a bus for a three
hour ride to Jeonju University where we had orientation.
Orientation was very tiring but was also very good in many
ways. We had a hectic schedule without
much down time at all. The first and
last days were a bit different with an opening and closing ceremony and a
farewell dinner, but the other days consisted of two lectures in the morning,
lunch with very little time to stop back in our dorm rooms, two lectures in the
afternoon, dinner and a little break, and then our Survival Korean Lessons
class at 7:20 until 8:30. All the other
lectures were 1 ½ hours long and covered topics from Elementary Education,
Secondary Education, Classroom Management, Co-Teaching, PowerPoint Use, EPIK Life and Etiquette, Taekwondo, Hidden Wonders of Korea, and so on! The majority of the lecturers made it very
interesting and entertaining, so I was thankful for that! The days were long and jet lag was not
helping, so our Survival Korean Lessons class in the evenings did not do much for
me. I was exhausted. I can say Hello, Nice to meet you, My name is
Kelsy, I am an American, and Thank you.
That’s about it, but I guess that’s a good start. I really need to work on reading Hangul. My goal was to learn that before I left home,
but that definitely didn’t happen.
Wearing a Hanbok during the Hidden Wonders of Korea lecture!
Aside from the lectures, we did have one day where we went
to a traditional Korean village in Jeonju, Hanok Village. We walked around and looked at the shops,
walked through the Gyeonggi Shrine, learned some traditional Korean dances,
made a Korean pencil case, and learned the proper way to have tea with company.
It was a good day and very cool to
experience part of Korean culture.
Loved this!
Making our pencil cases.
I am now in Busan and settling into my apartment. Can't wait to really have some down time. Stay tuned for a post about my new
neighborhood, apartment, and school.
Work starts on Monday!
