Hangul-한글

Hangul is the name of the Korean language. In the previous three terms, I have successfully completed Korean 101, 102, and most recently 201. Although I now know the Korean alphabet (14 consonants and 10 vowels), common phrases, quite a bit of grammar and sentence structure format (verbs comes after nouns, which always confuses me!), I still consider myself a beginner. Its definitely not the same learning a language on paper and acing written exams versus actually speaking and listening in person. It really takes a lot of time and practice to learn a language, and as I have plenty of the former next month, I really hope to have more of the latter during the month of January before I leave.

When I went to Taiwan, one of the biggest challenges was the language barrier. I never learned Mandarin before, so the only way I got by was with the help of others who were fluent and who would teach me useful phrases or act as my translator. I had a lot of fun nonetheless, but I really feel I would have gained more out of the experience if I had fully understood the language. It made me acknowledge the importance of a culture's language and the significance it has when you often feel illiterate and somewhat mute.

Still, I approach this study abroad with more confidence than I did with Taiwan, knowing that I do know more Korean than I did with Mandarin. I know I just have to come out of my shell and not be afraid of speaking the Korean phrases that I do know and ask questions when necessary. What keeps me from this is that I hate pronouncing words wrong or getting my verb-noun-subject order all mess up (which makes me sound stupid), but I will never improve if I don't make mistakes right?

Another thing is, since learning a new language, I have come to appreciate and understand being in the shoes of a foreign student on campus. I use to be displeased with those fobs who constantly just speak their own language with their friends when they came here to study and learn English. I mean, how are you suppose to learn if you stick to what your comfortable with? Now I know why, it's because your first language is and always will be what you know best, what you feel confident speaking, and most of all, you know what you are able to wire your message from your mind to your mouth 9 out of 10 times compared with the new lingo. Having said that, I really hope I put an effort into conversing in Korean when I'm in Korea despite feeling psychological discomfort at times or even sounding like a fool.

Many people have been advising me to watch dramas to help with my listening and speaking skills, so I will definitely take their advice and find a good series to watch leading up to my departure. I will also get a Korean friend to help converse with me when she is available throughout the next month to help improve on my fluency and dialect. Hopefully I can practice as much as I can before I leave next year. I can't believe next year will be tomorrow already!

새 해 벅 많이 받으세요!
(HAPPY NEW YEAR!)
literal translation: "May you receive lots of blessings in the new year"
pronunciation: "sae hae bok man-ee ba-du-seh-yoh"

Departure

Today I got my flight(s) itinerary and details of my plane rides for the duration of my exchange. Below is the general idea:

Feb 6 Edmonton to Vancouver
Vancouver to Hong Kong

Feb 7 Arrive HK

Feb 8-17 see family, get $6000HK from government (I guess that may be the one and only perk of having an HK citizenship), potential 5 day Japan tour in between

Feb 18 HK to Seoul

June 25 Seoul to Vancouver
Vancouver to Edmonton

Though I have traveled independently before, this will be my longest period away from home. Five months on my own in a different city, country and continent. Having an itinerary in my hands really sinks it all in that I'll be leaving in a little over a month. I'm sure that just the fact that I'm going to be out of Edmonton for such a long time will be an amazing, yet unknown feeling, let alone going as an exchange student. In the past few years, I have been blessed to embark to various destinations, and even though everything is coming towards me at full speed, I feel that I am ready to fly out having had a handful of departures under my belt.

There are still some particular items about this itinerary that I'm not quite settled about. For one, I wish I could leave my coming home date open, but for the price I paid, I can't complain (less than $1300 CAD!). As of now, I will anticipate for the sight of February 6 on my calender.

Welcome!

My name is Sarah and this will be my written and visual documentary of my up and coming study abroad. I am currently a third year student at the University of Alberta studying Human Ecology. Next year, I will be attending Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea as an exchange student from February to June.

Since the beginning of my post secondary education, I knew I had wanted to participate on a student exchange. The study abroad program on campus was the perfect fit to satisfy my desire to be one since grade eight; when one of my friends got to go to Beijing for a three week exchange. Fast forward, and I'm initiating a blog to document my future endeavors while I'm half across the world. Going on an exchange is not an on the spot decision, it takes a lot of planning and decision making. My process started in September of 2010 when I started looking into the details of being an exchange student. After juggling dozens of decisions, piles of paperwork, and endless hours of waiting, I am very happy to anticipate all of this to come together and become reality.

Leading up to my departure, I will be sharing my thoughts about this experience as well as what I look forward to and hope to accomplish. So without further ado, here's to the "unboxing" of Pho to Seoul: My Adventures from Pho to Toe.

Thanks for reading!