Rachel: The next step..sure is a big one

I still am a little nervous about traveling across the globe, however I am confident in my advisers and I know this trip will come together wonderfully.

After class today Dr. Foster's ending remarks about how this trip is about us and that we will only get out of the experience what we put into it. I really got to thinking that maybe I am not putting myself all the way out there maybe I can get more out of this experience..and that got me thinking how can I get more out of this trip? How can I make this experience worth even more to me?  Yes I know I should be writing more in my journal, and I should spend more time on the language aspect, and I should tweet more.

But there is something more I need to be digging into. I need to dig down deep inside me and face my fear of being away from home in a foreign place with some people I kind of know but don't really know...I have decided in order to get the most out of this experience I need to build up my relationships with those I am traveling with.

I also need to build up a relationship with myself and to boost my confidence so I can be the best educator I can be. In that case I plan on setting goals for myself like writing more, tweeting more, and learning more about the culture I am about to spend a month in. I really want to make the most out of this experience and I know I have the tools to do so.

My first step was to learn more about the culture, I made a friend, she is a freshman here at Penn State and is from Korea. It was really great getting to know Namhyo and she is defiantly helping me learn more about Korea. My primary focus was on how families are in Korea, I wanted to know if it was typical of other Asian cultures or if it was completely different. It was surprising to see how much her family life was the same as mine. I look forward to learning more from Namhyo, we get to meet fairly regularly and I find myself enjoying talking to her and learning! She is also really excited that she will be able to meet us once we land in Korea. In fact, she plans on meeting us in the airport! Since Namhyo gets to show me a little about her life in Korea I would really enjoy showing her what life is like on an American farm.

I have also done some quick research about what I want to do to make the most out of my experience in Korea. And that is a new blog post all in its own.










During my free time in Korea I would really enjoy the chance to hike one of their beautiful mountains. The pictures are breathtaking and I feel that if I missed out on this opportunity I would defiantly regret it! One National Park I would enjoy visiting is Songnisan National Park.

I mean check out that view! WOW.

That is all for now, I honestly can not wait for this experience I know it will be life changing in a good way.