Before My Experience Abroad

I definitely think that I will get more out of this immersion experience than from my in-classroom learning so far. I will be living in the country that speaks the language for 6 weeks, so even though my class will be taught in English, I will be immersed in every other aspect of living like going out to eat and buying clothes and toiletries. I will be surrounded by people who fluently speak the language and I will be able to pick up on common phrases just by the constant exposure I will be getting from this experience. In-classroom learning in the United States doesn’t offer any of this, which is why this experience will be so valuable.

During my stay in South Korea, I will mostly be in a school/classroom environment with people around the same age as me. Because of this, I will be gaining everyday phrases that are most commonly used by 18-to 20-year-olds. I want to be able to go around Seoul comfortably and be able to confidently take public transportation, order from restaurants and street vendors, ask for directions, and if possible, have a conversation with a native Korean that is around the same age as me.

Other than improving my proficiency in Korean, the main thing I realized I will learn from this experience when planning for my trip is that I will learn how to be completely independent. I will be living in a foreign country alone for six weeks without knowing almost anyone, and all the things that seemed easy to do like getting a taxi and ordering food from a restaurant are actually so much more complex and scarier now that I am all alone in a country I barely know the language of. I will need to go way out of my comfort zone and push myself to adapt to these situations.