How does one sum up a trip abroad, much less, 3 entire months? In the grand scheme of life, that’s a drop in a ocean of moments…but I know that this season abroad will change the landscape of my life in ways I don’t yet know.
When in college, I thought about studying abroad, the but it never was the right time. My dreams of living overseas began in childhood, but it took over 30 years for me to save up the money (and courage) to do it solo. When I started learning Korean in 2024 by self-teaching (after saying, “Oh, I don’t ever expect to learn Korean!!”) I quickly began dreaming of ways to accelerate my study. Central Iowa has a very small population of Korean speakers, so I decided to see what options were like in Seoul. It’s expensive to get anywhere in Asia from the Midwest, so I knew that maximizing my time was a priority. There are lots of 2-3 week long classes you can sign up for, but they cost at least what a semester (10 weeks) at a University run language program does and you’d get WAY less experience in the language.
Of course, I totally spaced off that although 20 hours a week is part time work, its MORE than a full time course load in college credits. 😅 OOPS.
I lived in an apartment, shared with 2 other language students from Europe, just a 15 minute walk from my classroom in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Classes were every day, 5 days a week, for 4 hours (with a 10 minute break each hour). We would study or do homework most days after class, and weekends were for exploring in or outside of Seoul. I made friends through the school, clubs, an english/korean speaking group I was able to attend twice, online group chats, church, and spontaneity. I grocery shopped in NOBRAND and local marts, I bought toilet paper at Daiso, ate a lot of good soups and kimbap and dakgalbi, and found places that were “mine” in the vastness of Seoul. It was hard, at one point I thought I had bedbugs, and I cried because I felt so behind in studies compared to my classmates (most of whom were asian & had more exposure to Korean over the years). I laughed SO hard with my girlfriends over pizza, saw BTS all over the subway and city randomly, and even pulled out my camera a few times. I visited Busan & communicated in my broken Korean with a kind 삼촌, and ate some incredible seafood on Jeju Island. By the end, I was ready to return home and sleep in my bed… but the 12 weeks went WAY too quickly at the same time. Seoul, thank you for welcoming me so sweetly. Korea, you’re a beauty. I can’t wait to return. 사랑해요. 보고 싶어요.
