Coming Back

It’s been a while. I moved to Korea in August of 2018, and it’s now almost February of 2019. A lot has changed, both personally and professionally.

1. I’m officially an English teacher. I may still have the mentality of a college student, but I’m in charge of teaching Korean middle school students English. It’s both the toughest and most fun challenge I’ve taken on so far.
2. I’m dealing with changes in my diet, changes that I’m not proud of but I’m trying to become better at. Let’s just leave it at being vegan in Korea is harder than I thought it would be and if anyone has any tips on getting my groove back please share them.

Most importantly, though, and why I’m starting to make blog posts again, is that I’ve decided I’m going to take the TOPIK II test this November. My goal is to get 5급, That’s the second highest level, and many people might think is too high of a goal for someone who’s only been studying Korean since November 2017. To that, I say that you might be right. You might be wrong. The only way we’ll truly find out is once I take the test and get my results back.

In thinking about my next steps after TEFL, I discovered the world of interpreting and translation and now all I want to do is become a translator or interpreter. This is my first test of whether or not that is the path I should be on. I know I’m still going to be teaching English for at least two more years, but after that maybe grad school?

This is my life now. I’m going to Thailand in a few days so I’ll be sure to include pictures from that on this blog, but this is mostly something to encourage me and others with lofty goals. I’m going to get Level 5 TOPIK this November, and when I do I’ll know that nothing I want to do in life is impossible.

 

See you next time Travellers.

The Day Before I Leave

I’m writing this as I sit on my living room couch in America for the last time, at least for a year. There’s so much uncertainty running through my mind right now, from fears that something will go wrong to nerves that I won’t have all of my documentation ready in time. (I’m looking at you, Walgreens. Apparently, same-day pickup for photos is a lie.)

Despite all of the anxiety I’m feeling, I’m also really excited. I’ve said goodbye to many people, some goodbyes harder than I ever thought they would be. For some reason, it feels as if I’m saying goodbye forever. I’m not, though. The internet means I’m never truly away from those that I love. I can facetime my friends. I can watch all of the movies/tv shows they’re watching. I might be on the other side of the world but we can still all be connected. I think that’s pretty awesome.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

There’s not much to say,  but there’s also not much that I know. All I know is that tomorrow I will be boarding a plane to South Korea, one-way ticket in hand, and I will be starting a new life full of new adventures.

Here’s to it.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

How Mamma Mia 2 Can Inspire Our Generation

Yesterday I saw Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again for the second time. I usually despise seeing movies in the theater, especially when I’m back home in New York City. Nothing can justify paying $17 for a movie ticket.

That being said, I gladly went to see Mamma Mia 2 for a second time. When I first saw the movie, it ignited something inside of me that I had a very hard time explaining. Yes, I loved the original movie, but I wasn’t a huge fanatic. I simply loved the music and the feel-good sensations I had once I finished watching it. I honestly hadn’t seen the movie in years, but then one day something inside me shouted: “You NEED to see Mamma Mia 2”. So I listened, and I’m so glad I did.

A photo from my second time seeing this movie

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was just as fun as the first one, but there was something else to it. I didn’t just leave the theater with various ABBA songs stuck in my head, I also left there wondering about my life. Donna Sheridan is like me, a recent college graduate getting ready to embark on a trip to explore the world. She knows there’s more to the world than being stuck in what everyone expects of you, and so she goes and does what she wants to do.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be a Donna Sheridan. Even though I’m only 9 days away from moving to another country, I’m still leaving to work there and not just travel for fun. Even that, being able to save enough to live and work abroad, is something some people can’t do. I don’t mean to discredit that fact, but I do mean to say that just because we’re not all able to travel and live like Donna doesn’t mean we can’t be inspired by her. This movie inspired me to travel, but it also inspired me to be open to new possibilities and more importantly, to be open to doing what makes me truly feel alive.

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric on Pexels.com

Young Donna Sheridan taught me that there’s a whole world out there, and I’m the only one stopping myself from making memories. Her story of travel and love is something we can all only dream of, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own adventure of living life the way we want to right now. I shouldn’t be tied down by the expectations of my family to get a high-paying job when all I want is to do something I actually enjoy. There might not be any immediate monetary value to picking up that random hobby you’ve always dreamed about, but there’s so much emotional value to doing something that makes you happy. Living like Donna means being honest with yourself, and with others, about what you want and who you want to be. There’s no greater message for my millennial generation than that.

So I challenge anyone reading this blog post to go see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and then to start taking the small steps to make yourself truly happy. I’m unable to travel to as many countries as I would like to, let alone live my own Greecian adventure, but I am able to travel to that new town or try a new food item I never knew existed. I refuse to let debt or fear of failure rob me of living. Donna wouldn’t want you to either.

Being Nervous and Being Okay

A couple of days ago my aunt asked if I was nervous about moving abroad and I said no. That was, of course, a lie.

My whole life I’ve never really been open with others. Some days I blame it on astrology, pouring over my birth chart and shouting that the placement of the planets and stars are why I avoid sharing my true feelings. While I do think that’s partly true, the why isn’t as important as the how. How do I stop being so closed off and open myself up to others?

I’m moving abroad, hopefully to start a new life and meet new people. It’s going to be my first time living on my own in another country, and study abroad doesn’t count as much as people claim it does. I’m going to be in my own apartment, truly alone, and I want to meet people that I can share that new version of my life with. How can I expect to create long-lasting friendships, though, if I rarely let myself get past skin-deep emotions?

So this is me starting over, and trying to allow myself to enter a life full of Donna Sheridan experiences (aside from getting pregnant on an island in Greece). I am nervous, even terrified of moving to Korea. Somedays I think I’m making a mistake, leaving everyone I know behind to go live and work in a country where I barely know the language. I worry about whether or not I’ll be able to continue being vegan. I worry about whether or not I’ll actually hate living abroad. I worry constantly about my decision, but I’m also really excited. All of my worries might come true, but if they do I’d rather have lived and failed as opposed to stayed put and never known what the outcome might be.

I’m going to start sharing these fears with others, and if you’re anything like me, I hope you do too.

In The Beginning

This is my first blog post, so I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m sure that’s normal. In just 24 days I will be boarding a plane to go live and teach English in Sejong, South Korea for at least a year, and that made me think I should start a blog.

I wanted to make this blog for a few reasons:

1. It seems fun.
   • Probably the most basic reason, but I love sharing my thoughts online (which has usually been through twitter). It’s fun for me, and having a blog will be just another way to talk about what I’m going through & feeling. This is every Cancer’s dream (spoiler: very into the Zodiac).
2. Sejong is unexplored territory.
   • Many people create vlogs or blogs while living in South Korea, but none of them (so far) have been about living in Sejong. Sejong is a relatively new city in South Korea, and I want to document all of my experiences living in it on this blog to help any other future Sejong City residents.
3. I want to remember my experiences.
   • This would be easier to do if I have a vlogging channel, but I don’t think “youtuber” will ever be a title I willingly take on. With this blog, I can easily write about great (and not so great) memories I’ve had, while also maybe helping someone out.

I don’t know how long I’ll be in Korea, let alone abroad, but I do know that I want to document my entire journey and I hope you’ll be there with me.