Day 4: Ewha Trip

This was the first day I didn't actually wake up at random intervals due to jet lag! Go me for adjusting! Around 10 we had breakfast. My host sisters liked to gather around and watch an animal show while they ate, so when I stepped out of my room, I was greeted with the site …

Day 3: Host Family

Today was the day we met our host families! Again, today we had to be down for breakfast at 오전 8 (8 AM). Breakfast was different today: it was white rice, a salad with noodles, some more seafood soup, carrot kimchi (I honestly didn't know what this was, it just looked like carrots and kimchi), …

Day 2: Arrival Orientation

Day 2 was a whirlwind! It was our full first day in Seoul, so this is the day slotted for arrival orientation. Before that though, jet lag hit hard. Out of the ten people in my room, quite a few of us woke up constantly through the night at random intervals. I, personally, woke up …

PDO & Day 1 in Korea

So, because where we have PDO, there’s no wifi anywhere but the common rooms, I’ve decided to merge all of my entries for PDO into one big post. At this point we’re all in Korea (wooo). I’ll be catching up to speed with the Korea updates when I find time. PDO Day 1: Flights, First …

juxtaposition: thoughts on leaving

As I leave for Korea tomorrow, starting a new beginning, I want to reflect on endings for a brief post. I graduated high school May 30th, and when I return from Korea, I will be immediately be packing and moving to Chelsea/Manhatten. I was born and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland, and have never considered …

Host Family

We got host family info today! We leave in a week, so we've all been sooo ready for this. iEarn did something different for the first time with the Seoul kids. So this year 11 pairs were placed with a host family; 22 people, in groups of two, were sharing host families. Apparently they couldn't …

The Road to PDO

Hey y'all! There's only a couple days before I leave for Seattle...time is just flying by. I graduated high school, went to Disney World, and am now preparing for Korea. The Korean Seoul finalists--all fifty of us--have been in a KakaoChat since the beginning of finalist emails. It was a struggle to get all fifty …

Textbook + OPI

So our textbook and handbook came about two(?) weeks ago. This is what they look like, if you're curious! We also had our webinar with all 50 of us as well! It was very informational and we met our RD, Alicia, which was pretty cool. It was a video chat too so we could see …

About Me

So I think this is something I should talk about??? Hi! My name's Ashley and I'm from Baltimore, Maryland. I am a Seoul Summer 2018 Finalist and will be going to Seoul, South Korea the summer of 2018 through the NSLI-Y program. Languages have always been my thing. I grew up with an Iranian father, …

nsli-y applicant application tips

So I've done this rodeo twice, and trust me when I say that each time I applied, I scoured every single blog I could to find application tips. So, as someone who was rejected once and made finalist the second time, I'm here to share everything I did the second time that I think made …