As much as I loved the program, by the end I started missing home and the familiarity of the U.S. where I can communicate outside of my small English bubble. Since coming back, I have gone on a family trip to Boston, gone skydiving, and am currently in rural northern Wisconsin at a friend’s lakefront cabin. The program has profoundly impacted my life as I reference experiences from this summer on every occasion. I questioned history museums in Boston and what information they do and don’t share, what drives my desire to try new things, and what implications being racially homogeneous has in the U.S. This program has given me new insight into other perspectives, and also given me the power to know more about myself and how I see the world.
And of course, the program also gave me 9 new amazing friends and 2 great mentors. Our cohort stays in touch almost daily on Kakaotalk. We share bits and pieces of Korea we see in our daily lives even though we are thousands of miles apart. The group truly made the trip what it was and I don’t think I would have gained half as much without them. Anytime someone asks me about my summer, I mention that I truly believe that I laughed every day during my trip to South Korea.
Having 2 months to be able to experience a different culture without economic constraints was very meaningful and I found that there were many aspects of the program that I would not have been able to experience if I had just been traveling or touring Seoul. I also loved getting to know the students and connecting with them and being a part of their lives even if it was for a brief moment in time.
Although I felt some guilt for spending so much time in a country where I couldn’t speak their native tongue, it is because of this that I now feel a strong desire to pursue Korean back at Duke. Reflecting upon our community engagement, I think it would be very naive to say that the community benefited as much as I had from the experience. However, the fact that we were able to go to Korea and gain a more versatile worldview and share memories with people who live opposite lives from us helped push me into the future. This summer taught me that language is the gateway to learning and experiencing things outside of your comfort zone and putting yourself in the perspective of others; but also, that language is only one mode of communication, and you don’t always need words to make new friends.
