By jlee4946
This weekend, I took a short trip to Sokcho, a coastal city in the northeastern region of Korea with one of my close friends from GW and one of my new friends from Seoul National University. We went to Seoraksan, one of Korea's most beautiful mountains and National Parks. It was really incredible since we managed to catch the end of the leaves falling and changing colors.
Seeing the leaves change colors reminded me of my favorite season - fall. But that also made me realize that my time here is already more than halfway over which really made me reflect on how so much has changed since I first got here. When I first arrived, the school organization that matches exchange students and students from SNU into buddy groups sent out the first group calendar filled with events to get to know each other for the month of September.
Then we had another one for October filled with events designated for midterm study breaks and ending with Halloween. But for November, the calendar ends with our farewell party since everyone is busy in December with finals. It's crazy to think that that much time has passed but felt so fast. There are people I met my first couple weeks that I hardly talk to anymore, but there are people that I met in the first few days that I have only gotten closer with.
I've come to realize that studying abroad is an experience that nothing else can even begin to emulate. Things such as being in such close proximity with local students and going to class here while also experiencing the freedom and excitement of being an exchange student, meeting so many different people all eager to try new things, learning the nuances (i.e. slang, expressions, way of speaking) of the millennial culture here, these are things that I would never be able to truly experience in the same fashion. And inevitably, I believe things like these have the greatest effect on us. They provoke change. I have 3 of my close friends from GW in Korea (one at SNU with me, one at Yonsei and another at Ewha) and we frequently talk about how strange it's going to be going back to GW. We've all grown and gained uniquely broader perspectives in our short time here, and I'm sure they have come to learn a lot about themselves as I most definitely have. Here's to our last month and a half of being exchange students!
