I don't even know where to begin as a final reflection. This trip made me realize just how much I would like to live and work in Korea. I’ve come to this conclusion for a few reasons. Apart from the amazing, healthy food that allowed me to lose like 15 pounds without even trying, or the exciting energy of the bustling city life in Seoul, or the calmer shores of Jeju, this trip provided be with in-depth knowledge about the Korean way of living through their fundamental ideas of how important education is in their society. I find that in America, we don't place enough value on being educated, or at least, being educated in the correct ways. This doesn't only account for school systems, but in the way our families operate and the way we raise our children, too. Granted, Korea has its downfalls as well and they still have things to work on, but as a country, I believe they have excelled far past the American standard simply because they started expecting it from their people.
All of that aside though, I really enjoyed learning about all the different parts of Korean culture through the lectures we had and I made really good friends with the coordinators as well. I was so sad to have had to leave them, but it was a great opportunity to meet such wonderful, inspiring individuals like them! The kindness the entire university and its staff had shown us was overwhelming and just a really awesome thing to be able to experience and I don’t regret a thing about it. It has pushed me even further towards my goal of teaching english there when I graduate from the U, and I hope that in the future I am able to do more fun things like this as well as learning about other countries! Thank you so so much to everyone who allowed me the ability to go on this trip, it was truly the experience of a lifetime! :)
