"I open at the close."

So this it, the day before I leave to return Atlanta. I have come to my journey's end of being in this wonderful country and it's time for me to go back to my familiar stomping grounds.

The emotions flowing thru me now are not sad nor relief, I am simply content.

I reflect on my first post in this blog and remember how terrified I was to be in a foreign country, to be away from my family, to be alone, but I was also excited to see if I could make it on my own and to take in this country's culture and experiences.

Over the course of my semester here in Seoul I have been challenged academically and mentally to think in a higher standard than I known before, I got to learn more about myself and my thirst for adventure has only grown with every new experience I have had since my arrival here.

I felt so guilty for coming to Korea, I felt like I was leaving my family and being selfish in my actions, but I see now that it's within God's intention for us to experience the world that mother nature created.

And at first, I felt so sad that i'll be leaving this beautiful country, I've seen so much of it but there's still so much I would like to experience, but I see now that I shouldn't be sad. There's always the hope for tomorrow, and I should be happy in the fact that I made it this far in life.

So i'm not sad to leave and i'm not relieved to be leaving this country after so long away, I am simply content. Because, in the course of a semester I can say I feel taller...not in height but in other regards. I only hope to be able to maintain this zest for life.

The Final Push

5 days until I head back to Atlanta, 5 days until I can hold my nephew, 5 days until I hug my dogs, 5 days until I gorge myself on all of my Abuela's cooking.

In ways this timing couldn't be any worse, I can say for certain, I have finally made myself comfortable here in Seoul. The way of living from taking the metro everywhere to the friends I have made thus far in this adventure, but I knew all along this journey could not last forever and the end is near for me to return my Family, friends, and life back in Atlanta.

I am currently in my "hell week" or Finals week for the end of the semester and I am currently 3 out of 4 finals done, but the last final is the worst one to be expected, Financial Management. I don't know why math and I never got along, but I still check 2+2 in the calculator to make sure it's still 4. I wish I could absorb math formulas and calculations like I absorb reading materials and poetry...

As much as I would like to go out and about and enjoy my last weekend here in Korea, the responsible adult in me knows I need to study, curse my ambitions.

The Young and The Restless (Korea University Edition)

This post is being written in the midst of my energy drink/early morning daze with the greatest feel of happiness and madness. Finals season is finally upon us, well to be more exact it's next week for me, but aside from finals we also have a great number of final reports and projects to submit as well.

As I have said before, here in KU Business School, we are not students, we are employees expected to present our deliverables and final projects at the end of our short time here per semester. I have had the great honour of being chosen by two of my three groups to present our final projects to the class. I just got done with the first presentation, Organizational Behavior.

Organizational Behavior is hands down my favourite class I have ever had the pleasure to take. I am not sure what is the overlying reasoning for this, maybe it's the witty and wise professor, maybe my amazing group, or maybe that the class is largely discussion based which I really enjoy. The only bad thing about the class is only one student per semester gets A+, so the competition is pretty stiff, but as long as I get an A, I will be happy.

Anyways, back to this presentation, the professor seems to have high expectations for me, he usually calls on me in class for discussion and opinion so I knew I had to perform above standards, not to mention he was very upset with the midterm groups presentations for being dull so not only did my presentation partner and I have to be well-versed in our presentation but also be entertaining as well. I knew this was going to require every ounce of past marketing experience I could muster, and typically I don't practice for my presentations but this was a special case since the standards are so high and our group was depending on us for their grades sake.

Before the presentation, my heart was throbbing in my heart, and I had to take a second to steel myself to recall all the practising I had done, but in that instant I had to let my gut feeling take over and trust in my own abilities. Fast forward 20 minutes and the presentation was a major success, every question asked was answered with expert precision and there was a mumbling of people saying "really good presentation", "well done" the next group to present admitted that we put them on their toes hahaha.

I now have one more presentation to do, this Thursday, followed by three finals next week and one final the week after. Also, I am an official KU student, because after the presentation for Org Behavior was over and I sat down, I got a nose bleed and apparently you are not officially a KU student until you study so hard your nose bleeds?!

18 days until my return to Atlanta, every day now seems like a decade. This place feels more and more like home everyday, I am going to be sad to leave this wonderful place, but I look forward to seeing my family again, because my true home is where ever they are.

It is Upon the Horizon

30 days, 1month left until my return to my home...

This is said with mixed emotions, for the sake of this blog I won't go too much into detail about the circumstances of what goes thru my mind. I will say this, though, because of present political circumstances the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions. I fear the once peaceful home of Atlanta will no longer be as it once was, and I fear the oncoming actions that are in our future. But most importantly, I fear for my family, their safety is above all.

Anyhow, this blog is meant to showcase my adventures my abroad, but my emotions from said circumstance put me in a sort of depression that resulted in my shunning away from many of my friends and acquaintances for enough time to raise worry and inquire my well-being. However, I have some friends to thank for pulling me out of my "funk" and help to put a smile on my face.

One of which being, I recently took my last big "vacation", which was going on a two day hiking adventure near the mountain range of Sokcho. I was very excited about this trip for a multitude of reasons one of which being, this is the place I caught my Farfecth'd when I last ventured to Sokcho with my German Friend during the Chuseok Holiday!

The group I was with consisted of 3 guys, 3 chicks, One American, two Germans, 1 Chilean, 1 Peruvian, and 1 Moroccan, so pretty diverse to say the least! Not to mention the big group we went with consisted of people from almost everywhere from England to Canada to Spain even India! I had a chance to talk to a good number of these people and almost all of them were teachers instructing English. Their stories from living in Korea for 3+ years proved to be hysterical! Plus, they gave alot of useful hints and tips, one guy from California who is Mexican/Japanese referred me to a very delicious milkshake that is sold at almost every convenience store for nearly $1.20! It has become my new addiction, I just wish I would have known about it earlier since the weather is so cool now!

Our first day hiking consisted of a somewhat easy trail and taking lots of pictures and lots of outloud singing, that night we checked into a hotel located within the Mountain Range Park. This Hotel also had a spring, the girls and guys were separated of course, but it was kind of funny. The girls were squabbling about the thought of getting naked in front of other women, meanwhile the guys, including myself, were just like "you what to hit the jacuzzi or the mineral bathe first?" Being naked in a bathhouse no longer seems like such a huge thing to me now, I reflect on the first time I went to a bathhouse during my first month of living in Seoul and thinking to myself "how can anyone get used to this?!"

After dinner and about 2 hours in the Hot Springs, we all retired to our room. We shared a HUGE room consisting of 6 floor matts and equal number of pillows and blankets, we were spaced out enough they we had appropriate "wiggle room" but I could feel abit of tension when we were choosing placings to sleep. Ultimately, i was the one to break the ice "so does anyone have any weird sleeping habits they would like to share with the group before we sleep?!" which iniiated a sequence of embarassing sleeping stories and "I don't think I sore but I have been told I do's." By than we were comfortable enough to just pick a spot to fall into without any particular order.

The next day we awoke early to set off on another hike, which was filled with equally beautiful sights and scenes. I was thankful for coming on this venture, since I had heard so much good things about the Korean countryside during the fall season and I was pleased to see the rumors lived up to their name. The vibrant reds, shocking hues of yellow and orange, all seemed to dance in perfect harmony with the rough mountain texture and the sound of the lovely stream as it slinked its way to the ocean.

I don't believe I will be going off any more big adventures during the remainder of my time here in Korea. I seem to be having alot of upcoming projects and Finals fast approaching upon the horizon and as much as I would love to venture to Kyoto Japan or Tokyo Japan. I will just have to save that for another day so I can focus my efforts on school.

2/3 of the Way thru

Geez, it's been awhile since I have updated this thing, how terrible of me. A lot has happened since my last post.

We are officially two-thirds of the way thru this exciting adventure in Korea! I'll be honest, this place is really starting to feel like home. I've become a regular at a local restaurant, their kimchi stew has gotten me thru some pretty bad hangovers and it works as an excellent medicine for Colds.

Speaking of colds, this place is frigid, but I hear it gets colder! Temperatures range from high 20's to low 50's although, in hindsight, this is a nice change of pace from the bipolar weather of Georgia where it's 30's in the morning and 80's in the afternoon.

I successfully made it thru Korea University Midterms, Organizational behavior was essay based so thank the heavens for that! Marketing was a mix of multiple choice and essay, that was nice. And Finance was short answer, which sucks.

Some noteworthy mentions, I went to the Philippines! It was an amazing trip...well I wouldn't say amazing but it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The country reminds me very much of Mexico in its structure of the country and the environment, the only differences being they have palm trees and we have cacti. However, the way the people conducted themselves and the way of life was eerily similar to my past Mexican experiences, which makes sense because they were colonized by Spain, as well.

I road-tripped across the mainland with my friend from Germany, Dominik, who if you recall I went to Sokcho with. It's a good thing we had that previous road-trip experience because of this time, there was no break from each other, we were either in the car, on the beach, or in the hotel room together for 5 days, straight. Had it been anyone else, we would have killed each other. The locals thought I was a local whom he had hired to show around the island which is stereotypical beyond all measures but I guess it makes sense.

Another pleasant experience I have had has been venturing to Seoul Grand Park Zoo, it's an amazingly well laid out park with loads of exotic animals and space. Not all animals are too happy about their spaces, though, which makes sense, but being that I am no citizen I don't really have a say in the matter so under my better judgment I did not release the wolves to be free.

Only 42 days left in my journey abroad. I miss my family dearly, my nephew is growing so fast it seems. The videos my sister sends me are a testament to that, he now holds his own bottles confidently and makes use of his once wobbly legs. I look forward to going home and holding him, my family, and my dog again. But I also look forward to the other adventures Seoul has in store for me, hopefully I can still find time what with final projects and Finals quickly approaching.

Why do I do this to myself

Nearly halfway thru my study abroad venture and classes have really picked up, it is almost mid-term time and you can feel the anxiety in the air from students. I am no exception to this rule.

I have not had any stress from late submissions or conflicts in schedules but being the analytical person I am, I tend to worry myself into a fit.

I will start with a lighter note, however, I recently turned 21! October 3rd which just so happened to be a labour holiday as well! I spent my birthday in good company at a resort/spa which was very relaxing and pleasant to be at, it reminded me of the bathhouse out of the movie Spirited Away. I was half expecting for spirits to excrete from the walls but the only spirit that seemed to be around was that of a Soju bottle.

Speaking of which, there was a national beer festival going on outside the spa/resort. I decided to join this festival and enjoyed craft beer from Galmegi Brewing company (from Busan) and Magpie Brewing Company (From Jeju). It surprised me that South Korea knew what craft beer was but it was a pleasant surprise.

The next day, I had to give a presentation to my marketing management class for a case study, this was a worrisome endeavour for a variety of reasons. When it comes to presentations and public speaking, I am a different person, my usual reserved personality is transformed into an extroverted humorous character. I call my presentation persona German 2.0. However, all the presentations I have ever given were to American audience members, not ivy league Korean Students, so my usual humour and witty tactics were not going to work here. I had to focus more on the material and content of the case study.

By the end of the day, I give my presentation a solid B. It definitely was not my best presentation, my audience was engaged, but not to the ends that I had hoped for.

Now to the prevalent matter at hand, Organizational Behavior and this project. My professor has given us the task of compiling a list known as "The best companies to work for in Korea" The good thing is I am in a group with all Koreans, the bad thing I am not Korean. By that I mean, my standards for what constitutes a good company are not the same as my peers. As my professor put there are two types of peoples Type A (competitive) and Type B (easy going). So how am I to compile a list of the best companies if some companies cater to Type A and not Type B and vice versa?

This kind of thinking is what leads to me to second guess any Forbes, glassdoor, etc., lists for "The best Companies to work for." I suppose the best way to go about this is figure out what characteristics both type of personalities (Type A & Type B) find attractive in a company and see what Korean companies fit those best. *Rolls up sleeves, cracks knuckles, and sips Iced Cafe Americano* Lets do this

Start Your Engines

It's been a little over 2 weeks since my return from the very successful trip of venturing to Sokcho. Since then classes have picked up exponentially, before the Chuseok holiday the professors were very generous in their lectures going over very basic concepts in their lectures. But now?! Suddenly, I have numerous assignments, presentations, deliverables, etc., it is now apparent why is University is considered on an Ivy League level.

However, this course load hasn't stressed me as of yet, I stay focused on my work and break my work into smaller goals to do during the week so that I can them accomplished bit by bit.

Happy to say I made an A+ on my first Finance homework which is a big deal considering we only get 5 homework assignments throughout the semester and it accounts for 20% of our overall grade! Also, I will be giving my first presentation in a foreign country for my Marketing Management class.

I am quite nervous about this due to the fact that although I do have a great number of public speaking experiences under my belt, this is the first time I will be giving a presentation to a group whose first language was not English or Spanish for that matter. The presentation will be delivered in English, but I fear my fast paced way of speech may prove troublesome for the presentation.

Don't fret, though, I haven't just been busy with school, I am still enjoying myself! Since the Chuseok holiday I have enjoyed a night time picnic next to Han River with a very lovely date, a Taekwondo session (I am an advanced beginner!) with a bit of self-defense in the mix, and most importantly experienced Korea University vs. Yonsei University Game Festival and Post games celebration.

A little background, every year Korea University versus our rival Yonsei University in a two-day sports festival filled with lots of cheering and on the last day is a huge celebration! Korea University is located in a town known as Anam, it is very much a college town and for the celebration of the games the Alumni Association of KU buys out almost all of the bars and restaurants of the town so it is free drinks and food all night! But of course there is no such thing as a free meal and in order to be let in you have to cheer as loud as you can to be let into the venues. That night the town became a gigantic party!