Heading to Korea!

Well it has been quite a while. I haven't really had a whole lot to talk about, though I have been taking 3 Korean classes and having many a Korean meal and snack through the last couple of months.
BUT now I have something to talk about. I'm going to Korea! Like, literally, tomorrow I leave from Los Angeles heading for Seoul, South Korea on Korean Air. I will be there for a month as a tourist, doing the typical tourist stuff, then I return again in February to stay for a year as a student (study abroad at Konkuk University). I am very excited, and I plan to document my trip (both vacation and study trips).

So let me give you a quick rundown on what's happened so far:

At the end of November I finished my Korean language class. I retook level 1 (I'd done quite well last semester with level 1, but I wanted to retake it to lock in the information) and took level 2 as well. Additionally, I took level 3, but that was far too advanced for me to fully take in so I mostly just picked up additional vocabulary. I finished level 2 with high scores, so I was quite proud. I am still very nervous using my Korean though. It is almost like it all just flies out of my head the moment I am around any Korean speaking people. It is sad really. I can completely relate to Korean students trying to learn English and why they may be nervous when having to speak English.

I started my TESOL/TEFL certification class. It is a 100 hour certification, with 60 of those hours being in-class/hands-on training. So far I have completed the in-class portion. Now I have about 3 months (little less now) to complete the online component. I learned quite a bit so far, and I plan to take an additional 40 hour component (specifically geared toward teaching small children) once I am done with this initial online portion. When I actually take that additional portion will depend on how busy I am through the Spring with my classes in Korea.

I applied and was accepted into the ISA study abroad program in Seoul (as mentioned above). I still need to get my visa, but the ISA rep seemed confident that I would be able to get it once I was back in the US from my vacation. I will be living in (actually on the outskirts I believe) of Gangnam. My place is really cute (according to the pictures) and decorated with Hello Kitty things. I am a big Hello Kitty fan, so that's why I chose that particular place to spend my year. It's very close to the subway line that goes directly to the school, and it is supposedly only about 15 to 20 minutes to the school by subway. I am close, but not surrounded my school 24/7. I also have my apartment/flat all to myself, so no roommates to be underfoot. If I had been younger, and a little less accustomed to living by myself, I might have lived on campus in the dorm, but I really wanted a kitchen and no roommate, so off-campus it was for me.

There have been a number of other things happening since my last post, but these are the only Korea-related things. Look forward to future postings, as I post about the place I am staying for my vacation and lots of pictures and stuff of stuff I do while I am there. First step is tomorrow, when I leave at 11am on Korean Air (prestige class)!