Bags packed, tickets booked, buses arranged. It’s finally time to go on the trip that I have been raving about all semester. It feels so surreal. In 48 hours I will be in Seoul, South Korea. I can’t say this time tomorrow yet because it’s a 15 hour journey so I would in fact still be in the plane on the way there. It has been a long day, starting at five in the morning when my parents dropped me off at an airport in DC. Due to layovers and delays, I found my way to Pittsburgh eventually and checked in around 2 PM. This gave me enough time to decompress before the pre departure meeting. We had a guest speaker and several volunteers to lead breakout groups. We discussed professionalism, networking and the importance of maximizing this trip. It isn’t just a 2 week vacation, it is an academic experience that has the potential to transform our careers.
I have spent several months preparing for this trip. We had several preparatory meetings where we had the opportunity to get to know each other and learn about Korea. We made presentations on Korean politics and Korean cultural history, cultivating our interest in this journey. We got the chance to try some Korean snacks, learn basic words and have now received our itineraries. We have several immersive experiences planned that would connect us to the culture and to the future. We have pre-researched companies that we plan to visit and identified the effect they have had one our lives. In this pre departure meeting we also prepared by discussing professionalism and the importance of networking. I will now be sure to connect to as many people as possible via LinkedIn to get the best possible experience.
I am very excited to get to meet many influential people and see all these rich historical sites.
-Therese