Hello There,

It has been far too long since my last update, so let me try to recap. In the last three months I:
*decided I want to move to Austin, Texas after I finish in Korea
*went to Japan with a friend from home and my Korean entourage
*got a really great boyfriend who lives in....Austin <3
*studied for and took (half of) the GRE (the other half to come Oct. 23rd)
*applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to teach and advise university students in Romania
*went to China with nine amazing friends
*decided which grad school I want to go to for Higher Education Administration (U of T Austin)
*finished the final round of my teaching competition to become the BEST teacher in (part of :P) Busan

I feel exhausted just repeating everything that's happened! This has been a really fun summer for me. As opposed to my last post where I was a touch melodramatic, I'm feeling very optimistic about my life plans. Although there are a few different places I could go next year, all roads lead to the same general "five year plan." Good enough for me!

Traveling a ton and not working very much certainly might have something to do with my elevated spirits as well. Japan was amazing. I met up with my sister's husband's family, who are Japanese, and they were absolutely charming! I can't believe he would be willing to move to America with a family like that. We stayed around Tokyo for eight days and had a really good time exploring the city. I went to Fukoka last year but only for a long weekend. Now I can say with absolute certainty that the Japanese are a lot different than the Koreans. They seem a bit quieter and extremely happy. They also have a booming counterculture in Japan. I saw a lot of guys with long hair and grungy threads whereas the Korean guys seem really content to wear their Teenie Weanie brand polo with an over sized teddy bear logo on it.

A month after Japan, the Korean Thanksgiving rolled around and so I went with a huge group of friends on a guided tour of Beijing and the Great Wall! It was amazing. Maybe it was because we were staying at the Holiday Inn on steroids or maybe it was because our hilarious guide took us to every possible tourist attraction, but I really felt like I got my money's worth. China, at least  Beijing, was much more developed than I had heard it was. It is such a fascinating place. I saw a line of street vendors selling snakes, centipedes and insect larva on a stick. A mere block away from this old world market, I saw H&M and a handful of haute couture shops.
 This is a picture I took of my shoe on the Great Wall. Even though it was super crowded with tourists, that was still the highlight of the trip for me. Seeing one of the seven wonders of the world made me realize how many amazing experiences I've had since coming to Asia nineteen months ago. Oh, and Laura and I got to recreate our epic Berlin wall photo. Success all around!