A letter to the girl frantically packing her suitcase last August:  I know that at any moment the realization that you are moving across the world tomorrow is going to hit you like a ton of bricks. This is not the first time that you will be living abroad, but this will be the first…

South Korea is a bustling country with a rising importance in the global sphere. It is also a place where there is always something going on: art exhibits, concerts, pop-up shops, exclusive events, new cafes, and new restaurants. It is an incredibly interesting (and fun!) place to live while studying abroad.  But what would it…

My roommate and I laugh that our third roommate is the Korean bank where I opened my bank account through my exchange university because I talk about my struggles with my bank account so often. If my roommate comes back from the day and finds me in an especially sour mood she always opens with…

I’m hesitant to begin this blog post with a cliche, but nevertheless I think it is fitting for how my first few weeks in Seoul have passed: the days are long but the weeks are short. In reflecting on my experiences it’s hard for me to believe that it has been almost two months that…

Here in Korea I live in the dorms for international and exchange students at Korea University. Our dorms quite literally are on the top of a mountain and even in the few weeks I have been here my calves have gotten so strong. As a Sutherland Hall veteran, I have to say this hill puts…

I think that I didn’t realize the magnitude of moving abroad for a semester until my plane landed at Incheon in August. I arrived in Korea knowing not a single person and with bright-eyed determination to soak up every experience possible and learn lots of Korean. I unfortunately fell for the trap of watching too…

My “why Korean” story has never been the most straightforward narrative nor were my goals very specific when I first watched a YouTube video teaching me the basics Hangeul. I grew up listening to K-pop with my brother and would secretly watch Korean dramas in the back of my seventh grade classes when I was…

Hello! Hola! Привет! 안녕하세요! My name is Hannah Faulkner and I am a rising fourth-year student (where has the time gone?!) here at the University of Pittsburgh. Coming from a small town in North Texas, I credit foreign language classes and cross-cultural education as the impetus for the expansion of my worldview and the kindling…