#studyabroadblog

I’m gonna try to get my stuff together!

I originally started this blog to as record of my travel through Korea. There are a lot of reasons why I didn’t successfully get it off the ground, but the biggest was honestly that I spent every hour abroad living it to the fullest! So selfish of me... ㅜㅜ  But on a more selfless note, I did cover a blog for elementary age kids that allowed them to follow me on a few adventures! I’ll talk more on that later.

Now that I’ve gotten back, I keep finding myself rambling on about my adventures in Korea to my friends all the time. I realized after telling some of my stories that I had a really unique experience! People study abroad every semester, meet people from all over the world, and then go home. Unfortunately not enough people write about it! My friend convinced me that she would love to read my stories online and she thinks others would too.

Korea was not all Kpop and Kdrama like everyone assumes!

You have to travel with an open mind ladies and gentlemen. Drop the romantics and enjoy yourself in the present time! Korea was a very homogenous country - mean there were often times when my friend and I were the only diversity in the room! That’s ok, but there were times when I faced language barriers or a bit of racial prejudice. That’s still ok! It really wasn’t that deep and I took it as a learning experience and a chance for me to introduce myself and my culture to a new group of people!

In saying all this...

I still had THE TIME OF MY LIFE!  I ate so much good food, I met some lifelong friends, I stepped out of my comfort zones.. I MET AOMG - quite a few times! I was LIVING. *BUT* every experience isn’t the same. Everyone doesn’t do all this.. but I did! ....And I’m gonna tell you about it! ~~

The blog will go a little something like this...

I will aim for weekly updates [maybe more] with pictures and videos. Sometimes I will feature cute cafes and tasty restaurants! Sometimes I tell you cool stories or cover events like concerts or visiting Lotte World. I may also touch on some trends, my thoughts, or maybe some challenges I faced while abroad.

My goal here is to educate and to entertain. I want tell you some cool stories, but I also want people to maybe see how Seoul looked through my eyes. I can also help with everyday tasks like buying concert tickets or sending mail back home! Just let me know and I can add content. Please also keep in mind too that this is my memoir. Its a collection of my personal memories and thoughts while abroad. Ask any questions you like and...

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ASo, what exactly am I doing in Buenos Aires? That’s a long answer, so let’s categorize what I’m trying to do here.

1. Academically

Academically, I’m trying to improve my level of Spanish. I placed into the B2 class for those familiar with CEFR levels or Advanced Mid in ACTFL levels. For those unfamiliar, that’s about 4 semesters of college-level Spanish, so I generally can understand most things, just I make subtle mistakes still, and people can still tell I’m not a native speaker (although there are other reasons for this, too). The program on which I’m on will grant me 6 credits towards my possible minor in Spanish, and this will leave me only 12 more credits in the minor! Exciting, no?

2. Personally

Personally, I want to meet a lot of different people from different Spanish-speaking countries who live in Buenos Aires. For this, I’m really lucky that I’m in Buenos Aires, with a Venezuelan family, and I’m excited to meet people from different walks of life and visit different neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. 

So why did I choose Buenos Aires for these?

Currently, I'm sitting in the airport while waiting for my flight to Newark. I may have flown alone before, but this is my first time going completely alone.  I'm pretty nervous, but my day could be worse. I heard a man talking over the speaker (in Spanish) talking about how he wanted this girl to forgive him, and that she needed to go to the airport's information center. I'm not quite sure that would stop a determined person, yet he did sound very earnest.

It's weird; I feel like I'm finally in the situation every high school Spanish textbook describes: you're a student going to a Spanish-speaking country where you're going to study the language. However, this time it's for real, and I've studied Spanish for years, but I still feel my stomach and body shaking a little. I don't know many people in Buenos Aires, but I am looking forward to speaking Spanish every day, learning a new culture, and hopefully, improving my Spanish.

Now, the flight attendants and pilots are offering a voucher to anyone willing to give up their seat. They haven't found the 2 people they need yet, and all I can think about is what a fool I was to choose United when I knew of David Dao. I'm jokingly wondering what will happen. 

I'm on the plane to Newark; I'm just waiting for it to depart now.  Surrounded by Japanese, Spanish, and French speakers, at least it seems good for some language practice.

Getting off of the flight took a while, but thankfully, the flight to Buenos Aires was delayed, too. Once I got on the plane, I felt much more comfortable. The flight went well although there was some turbulence, and the man I sat next to turned out to be Argentine. He was kind enough to warn me that if I were to go to Uruguay, I should realize that it might take several hours to go from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento. It was really kind of him.