Today, I began yet another journey in my life when I boarded the plane leaving Charlotte outbound to Seoul by way of Chicago. I knew this moment was coming, but was totally unprepared to deal with it when the time actually came, and I had to say goodbye to my family in Charlotte. I felt such a harsh and sudden realization that I won’t see them again until the earliest January, let alone trying to communicate with them on somewhat of a regular basis so that we can both keep up with each others’ lives. I’m not sure exactly how I managed to do this while studying in Bangkok, or maybe that’s the point and I didn’t keep up with peoples’ lives, but I knowing that I can’t simply call down to mom or call Alli on her cell was and is heartbreaking. I kind of always thought that spending so much time with my family would make me want to leave them more (just because we can at times get under each others’ skin, Graham), but that was totally not the case at all. I think I’ve come to realize that my family is much more important to me than I thought for various reasons, and I miss you all incredibly already, and it’s only been a day L

With all this sentiment aside (sorry, but I had to get it out of the way and out of my system), let’s look at my journey so far! After a delicious last dinner at Cantina with Mom, Dad, Graham and Leah and Erich, we drove to the airport for the inevitable. Luckily, when I checked in at the US Airways counter, they did not charge me for overweight luggage! A smile really does go a long way ;) So after tearful last goodbyes and hugs, I went through security and said goodbye to everything I’ve lived and loved for the past however many years. My flight to Chicago was on time and not full, which left me hopeful that my next flight to Seoul would not be full either. However, once I landed in Chicago and made it almost all the way through security, some airport worker told me that I had to have an Asiana ticket, not a ticket that US Airways had printed for me back in Charlotte. Frustrated, I went back to the counter, was informed that I have a middle seat, and that the flight is overbooked. Sweet. I get a middle seat for a 14+ hour plane ride. I was not a happy camper.

So I board, and I see an older Asian woman sitting in the window seat, I don’t know if she speaks English or not so I politely do a little bow and mutter “hi.” Turns out she is Filipino and speaks perfect English, haha. I sandwiched between her and a young Korean guy who was nice and polite when I had to get up and walk around and stretch. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep on the flight at all because the Filipino likes to talk, A LOT. We talked about death, about being happy and content, about her coming to the States for nursing school and working in the ER, about cultural differences and unique experiences we’ve both had living abroad. But the constant need to bring up the fact that death is inevitable and that she would be happy if she were to die right now was not needed! She had some really good insight and advice to give, but she was definitely a little in left field with a bunch of her ideologies. But it was very interesting, and sometimes exhausting, to talk with her. While she was asleep, I was probably watching “17 Again” for the third or fourth time (I can only take so much of Zach Effron playing basketball in yet another movie…), or dozing off for periods of about 20 minutes. All in all, I probably got about 2 hours of sleep the entire trip over, which is not what I wanted!

We land in Seoul around 4:30 am, step off the plane, and have our temperatures taken by security. They are scared shitless about the swine flu over here, it’s a bit ridiculous. Anyways, I then make it to the baggage claim area, where I see people similar to me, and I think to myself, they must be with EPIK too, and sure enough, they were! So we do the weird introducing ourselves, and we all realize we’re all in similar situations, so we can all relate to each other on some level. We all grab our baggage, go exchange our money, go through customs, and then go find our gate where the EPIK bus would take us to Jeonju (where the orientation is). Unfortunately, no one from EPIK showed up for about 2 or so hours after we go to that gate, so there was a bunch of sitting around, socializing, and wanting to be back home with my family.

I somehow make it onto the first bus to go to Jeonju, and I make friends with some people on the bus, thank god. One girl in particular is really cool (I automatically knew we’d get along because she has a few tattoos, and you know…). Her name is Jessica and is from the Midwest and I think went to Purdue. She’s actually half-Korean, so she can speak a little Korean which is cool. And she’s very sarcastic, which is perfect for me. And then there’s another girl Jessica who’s doing this for a second year, a girl named Liz who went to University of Chicago and was a finalist for the Fulbright, and a guy named Ian from the Midwest too. No southerners L . I’m determined to teach my students “ya’ll” though, haha.

We finally make it to Jeonju University after like 4 hours in the bus, we check-in some luggage, do a quick little registration, eat lunch, and see our dorm room. Our room is extremely nice and brand new and I love it. I’m rooming with a Canadian named Arem (spelling?!?!) who is Korean. He’s an interesting guy—who flat out asked me certain questions that I wasn’t really prepared or expected to answer, hah. He also pronounced “epitome” in the strangest way possible, and I had to hold back from laughing at him in his face. It was bad.

So anyways, no real culture shock yet at all…the food at lunch was extremely spicy and eating with metal chopsticks is infinitely more difficult than wood ones. We’re not sure what we had at lunch, but we did have some kimchi and I can tell you it wasn’t half bad! I took a picture of it for you guys back home!

Tomorrow we have a campus tour, and then a big welcoming ceremony and dinner. Until then, I’m skipping dinner and just staying in the room because I’m starting to get very tired and I’m sure I’m about to pass out soon, at 6:00 pm. Not cool. So that’s that. I love you all, and I hope you’re all doing great. ‘til next time…