Hey everyone! My apologies that it has been over a month since I have updated my blog, although I must admit that I don't feel too bad about it because I was enjoying four weeks of vacation back home in central Illinois. I am writing now from Jungwon University, where my adventures in Korea began more than one year ago. I will be starting my second year with the Fulbright Program. It is the sixth and final week of the new ETAs' orientation, and the 52 renewees have joined for the last three days. It feels a bit surreal being here in the shoes of a second year, as I can easily recall the abundance of emotions I was feeling at this point last year as a first year. As a renewee, I feel much more confident and relaxed about transitioning into my placement, my school, and my new apartment (no home stay this time around). I am very excited to have all 120 ETAs together, talking about our placements and our goals for the upcoming year. Although there are no first-year ETAs placed in Gwangyang with me, there are quite a few who are in the same province, so a short commute away will be no problem. I am looking forward to getting to know the ETAs around me, as well as those with whom I will be active with in extracurricular activities and beyond. It is going to be a great year!
As the title of my blog states, however, I want to focus on my vacation back home in the good ol' United States of America. It had been more than one year since I stepped foot on American soil, and it sure was great to be back. Between my mom's amazing southern-style homemade cooking, catching up with all of my friends, driving my car, and hanging out with my dog, the past four weeks went by too fast. I forgot how much I missed cookie dough flavored things, people having manners and saying "Please, thank you, excuse me", driving my car, various types of alcohol, kayaking/canoeing with friends, watching trashy television, shopping for clothes that actually fit my body, upon more.
It was wonderful being able to catch up with friends, family, and colleagues in the Mahomet/Champaign area, as well as being able to spend a few days in Chicago. Although I wasn't able to make it down to Alabama to visit extended family, I will certainly make a trip when I return again next summer! There were also quite a few people that I wasn't able to meet up with, which I hope to make plans with upon my return next year. One of my favorite things about visiting home (besides hanging out with my dog) was sharing gifts from Korea with my friends and family. I had some of my Korean students write letters (in English) for my friends introducing Korean culture to them. It was a cute way to share some of my experiences in Korea with my friends and family, and also made for an awesome lesson. A couple of my friends even wrote letters back to my students, which I am excited to share with them when I return to classes next week. Some other gifts included scarves with Korean writing on it (Hangul), hand-made wooden boxes, hand-made broaches/jewelry from Gwangyang, bookmarks that highlighted different aspects of Korean culture, Korean food/candy, and more! I will be bringing plenty more gifts home when I return to the States next year, so if any of you readers have gift suggestions, please let me know!
I want to thank all of my friends and family for welcoming me back to the United States with open arms. I was worried about how relationships and such might have changed over a years' time, but as soon as I stepped off the plane, things felt just the way they had before, and I am grateful for that. I am blessed to have supporting, loving, and encouraging friends and family, and I wouldn't be confident about going back for another year if it wasn't for all of you!
