So far, I would say that has been one of the best decisions of my life. I have made many new friends, re-started my academic career by beginning to learn a new language, and living in a big city has helped me stay more motivated than I have been in years.

(These are two of my AWESOME roommates!)

After graduating high school in May of 2023, my life became very stagnant. That’s not to say I didn’t accomplish anything but the jobs and tasks I was filling my time with were not helping me achieve any of my goals. I almost completely abandoned the social aspects of my life and instead focused what little energy I had on working all of the time.

At 18 years old I had already been working for 3 years. I worked two part-time jobs while being a full-time student from the age of 15 until I graduated high school. After graduating I began working a full-time office job and was nannying 2-3 days a week on the side.

Working all of the time quickly drained my energy, and even though I was still a teenager, I began to feel extremely burnt-out. Trying to stay motivated to achieve my goals just made me feel more exhausted.

Up until just before I turned 21, all I could think about was how much time I had wasted and was continuing to waste. I needed a way to completely re-route my life and the best option I could come up with was to completely escape my current environment.

Signing up for a year long language study in a foreign country may have been a ‘slightly’ rash decision, but I haven’t regretted it once. Even before moving, having an event to look forward to helped me re-organize various aspects of my life and also pushed me to maintain a more positive outlook on my current situation.

Of course, after living 10,000 miles away from home for more than a month, I miss my family and friends, and also my pets. I’m just praying my adorable kitty doesn’t forget me while I’m gone. Even though I am not the type of person who gets severely homesick, there are parts of my everyday life back in Utah that I have begun to miss quite a lot.

Thankfully, I was able to settle in pretty quickly here in Seoul. I’m living with an amazing host-family and my roommates are equally amazing. I’ve had some insanely cool experiences since arriving in Korea and made memories I’ll never forget. I can’t wait to see how much I’ll grow and learn over the next year!

(Here is a picture of my cat, because she is adorable<3)