Im leaving on a jetplane

As the airplane is taking off.. Im making some last minute phone calls before my phone is shut down for the year. Awww getting nervous!


The three-stooges getting ready to take Korea...Us getting some mexican during our layover in San Fran


I was leaving for the airport at 4am and of course didn't get home until 3am.. I finished packing, said goodbye to my brother and was off to the airport with my parents. I was so tired from not sleeping that I wasn't even excited on the way to the airport. Plus my mother was driving me crazy like she always does.. I didn't get excited until I saw Katie and her parents standing at the airport! I cant believe this day finally came after all the time I have spent imagining what it was going to be like! I took my bags to check in and of course my bags were about 4lbs over-weight each, so I had to empty some stuff and give it to my dad. Once that was taken care of, Tia, Katie, and I stood around for a bit chatting with our parents. We walked together to security and off we were. It was really cute to watch Tia and Katie say goodbye to their parents. These moments are really special and I love them because I just imagine what it will be like and who we will be the next time we see them. Such an exciting mystery! I slept the entire flight to San Francisco where we had a 4-hour layover! I was dreading the layover cause I thought it would be boring and go by super slow, but it was actually a ton of fun! We found a Mexican restaurant to eat some chips, salsa, and guacamole and some bloody Mary’s- that turned into shots of whisky and tequila LOL. We finally left the restaurant, buzzed, and hunted for a bathroom. We couldn't stop giggling and laughing at ourselves for being idiots and deemed ourselves the three Stooges- “The Three Stooges Take Korea!”... Once it got closer to boarding time, Katie and I called Tanya’s mom to say goodbye and tell her we love her. Hopefully we’ll get to Skype her all of the time!

Once the plane took of and we realize that this was actually happening, we all started to tear up. It was overwhelming to think that we wouldn't see our family and friends for so long!! Going to such a drastically different culture, like Asia, just seems crazy, and for a year!!??!? I was sad to leave, excited to see who I become, and scared of what is ahead… The flight seemed to last forever! It was a twelve-hour flight, which doesn't seem as bad until you actually do it. We slept, talked and played card games to pass the time. The airplane was HUUGE though. The kind that has high ceilings and 5 seats in the center row. I wish I was in First Class though, their seats turned into beds and they had a ton of space! I’m SO glad we decided to pay the extra money to sit together though ;-)

After arriving, we went through immigration, picked up our luggage and met with a Mr. Gan who took us to a van, loaded our suitcases and a man drove us the hour and a half to Dongtan. Definitely the first taste of a big language barrier. The driver didn't speak a lick of English and the most we knew of Korean was how to say “thank you” which took us 30 minutes of practice on the plane to sorta know how to say haha. We made it to our apartment to meet our director Jade and her husband. Both of them are incredibly sweet and speak great English, which is helpful when we’re full of questions. The apartment building looks like a jail, but it is brand new, so our apartments are nice. The hardwood floors are heated and all the appliances are brand new! But there are many downfalls of being in brand new building! Katie doesn't have a bed in her apartment and her heat doesn't work, she doesn't even get hot water :-( She is really upset about it, but I think it can be a good thing that all of that is happening in her apartment…Tia and I have both studied abroad before, so I look at it like Katie can learn/grow from this crappy situation more so than Tia or I might. The bathrooms in our apartments are…different!... There is no “shower”, just a showerhead with a hook above the sink. So the whole bathroom is pretty much the shower. The water sprays into sink, or you can tilt it to spray over the floor. What about all our stuff in the bathroom? And towels?? Scary! Well, I guess we’ll have to see and make some adjustments haha. I’m starting to get a bit freaked out, overwhelmed and lonely. All the crazy excitement I had been feeling is gone now… If it weren’t for Katie and Tia I would want to turn back around and go home to my warm comfortable bed (mine now is like a rock, I don't have a pillow and its freezing in my apartment) and family and friends! I’m just going to sleep on it, wake up with a positive attitude and look at everything as a great adventure…stay tuned ;-)