Quite a lot has occurred even though the year barely started. I completed two winter internships at the Smithsonian, applied to three colleges, interviewed for a number of summer internships, wrote a ton of study abroad essays, got a dog, two of my cousins each had a baby, and received my visas for some upcoming travel. In less than forty-eight hours, I’ll be leaving for Singapore for four days, Australia for a week, and then South Korea for my Spring semester to learn Korean. But it doesn’t stop there; in May and June I’ll be attending two family weddings in the Philippines! This eastern hemisphere world tour is just what I needed since last semester was academically brutal. On top of traveling to DC almost every weekend, presenting at my first conference, TEDxVirginiaTech, my Korean study abroad application, a twenty-hour part-time job, and two graduate level courses, I still managed to receive a glowing 3.7 grade point average.
This upcoming spring semester in South Korea should definitely be an entirely different challenge despite having studied there in the past. I’ll be planted in Gwangju, a city around seven-to-eight hours south of where I studied last summer in Chuncheon. This means that I will have a completely new support network to explore all by myself, unlike the the group of two other Americans I had before. While I am more than excited, this new adventure is only now starting to hit me — all before I had the chance to pack! Moving on to the rightful next step of my life.
cliff, part-time model
#PPIA #JSI
