As I spent time in South Korea, balancing devoting enough time to do well in classes while trying to spend as much time outside the classroom as I could, I found it to be somehow familiar. My Korean language skills, worn in over a lifetime of conversation with my parents, loosened and yet strained in new ways every day, from learning new modern slang phrases to new vocabulary that I never learned due to its impracticality. Still, nothing was unexpected. I had family and friends there to lean on and spend time with, and traveling around the city was exciting, finally being of the age to explore Seoul on my own without a parent’s watchful eye.

My days were roughly the same every day. I would wake up to a blaring alarm that let me know I slept in a little too late to be on time for class, hurriedly dressing and walking through the densely forested and mountainous campus to try and not be too late. After my first morning class, which went from nine to noon, I would get lunch, either from the convenience store or the cafeteria if I felt particularly peckish that day. After eating, I would do homework, as I had a two-hour block between classes, and I never ate for longer than forty-five minutes. Hopefully, after finishing my day’s homework, I would go to my afternoon class, which spanned from two to four. Immediately as class let out, I would be first out of the door and speed-walk back to my dorm to swap my school bag for my day bag. Catching the next bus off of campus and into Seoul, I would visit family, hang out with friends, or museum crawl until I would eventually return to my dorm to sleep, exhausted. It was a busy life, but it was very fulfilling.