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Rotary District 6110 Youth Exchange

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Rene
Ft Smith to South Korea

  

Travel Blog

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YE Journal at Rotary Youth Website

Students:  To add a message to your travel blog, email the entry to vicki; she will put all entries online.

Why I Chose to Study Overseas for a Year

 

Travel blog

Note: Most Recent Entries Appear At the Top

Date/ Entry Title Entry
   
 
So it been 4  months since i left the USA.
things this month have been full of mixed emotions.
 
I am out of school now. i have a 50 day break before school starts up again in March. I am living in Busan with my host family here.

Christmas was different. I spent Christmas with a friend that i met here in Korea. Shes a Mexican citizen married to a Korean. Her and her family are very nice! i feel soo comfortable with them. Well yeah i spent the 24th and most of the 25th with them. then i got home late. and spent the rest of the Christmas day (night) with my Korean host family. by the way..... Koreans like most Eastern countries dont celebrate Xmas like we Americans do!.. By the way Merry Late XMAS!^^

In other news i can now wonder the huge city by bus. and subway!.....weee i was taught yesterday by my host mom. so that was fun. I can now go to the beach!=](awesome beach!)

Oh and my language skills are still the same...i learn a new word everyday....
 
 
9/25/2007 10:07 PM Hello everyone!,
well its me once again! i have been here in Korea for close to a month now! Am still not quite used to the fact that life is going to be like this for a whole 10 more months!....a couple of days ago i felt horrible! ... i wanted to go home SO bad!... but then i quickly threw that idea out of my head! But yeah it has been a hard month. i have to adjust to new host families all the time! ... which makes it much harder!

the food is still hard to get used to!.. but i think that am wining that Battle!
Yesterday was Susock (a Korean traditional Holiday) (its kinda like Thanksgiving in the US)

 my host family and I visited the whole family and had dinner together than we went home!

and right now am in a vacation until this upcoming Monday!=]

school here is very different .. but in a good way! i like it much more than the US public schools. students here are much more friendlier and get along much better! there is no detentions there are no after school punishments! they only expect the students to behave and well they do! there is also no "cool kids" or "Gothic kids " or "gangstas" here there are no stereotypes! .. and that is just plain out AWESOME!

Friends are great they make me forget the homesickness. and they help me learn Korean!

Daily life is very boring!!..(not much to do)
 
i have only heard from [Rotary] once and that's it!
Fri, September 14, 2007 9:27 pm
hello everyone!...
so i have been in Korea for about 17 days! doesn't sound like a lot of time but it has felt like a couple of months!....everything here is great (with a few exceptions!)...for example my host families are very nice they embrace me as if i was part of the family! they care about me more than i could have imagined! for example the other day i was coughing and sneezing and my host mom ask me if i had a common cold!?....i was taken by surprise and was like "oh no don't worry am fine!'...but then later i was blowing my nose and the asked me if i wanted to go to the hospital (and i said no) i was amassed at how much they care about me!
The one thing that is really not yet my "forte" is the FOOD!...wow i thought that Korean food was gonna be amazing!....little did i know!..the food here is EXTREMELY odd!...i cant get used to the flavors yet!....there is a lot of things that look DISGUSTING but are quite good!..but then there are some things that look soooooooo good but taste..well not good!...
there is some stuff that i like and its mostly contains meat! (here meat is kinda expensive so there is very little meet in most Korean dishes!) but i hope that as the time passes i will get used to the taste of the Korean cuisine!..
~School~
so my school is called Yongjeong Middle School:(private boarding middle school:founded in 2003 i think). in the US i was in the 11th grade but here!  i am in the "3rd" grade!!(the 3rd grade of middle school is the 9th grade of Jr high) so yeah am back in JR HIGH!...wow... everyone at school is every nice the school is very small compared to my high school back in the states!..the total number of  students = 82
total number of teacher = about 20 !!! yeah its quite small!....i am in school from 8:20am to 6:15pm. i have tons of new friends!
~Host families~
i am a rare case!...I HAVE TWO HOST FAMILIES!
one host families in Busan, South Korea("original host parents"). with this host family i stay the weekends and all Vacations.
and one in Boseong South Korea (located 4hours away from Busan) .with this host family i stay the weekdays while am in school!...see i travel back and forth every once and a while from the BIG CITY to the LITTLE TOWN to be in school and to be in the home of my "original host parents"!...i hope this makes some sense!=]
 
well i have to go now i am having an awesome time in Korea and i will make sure to write some more later!
peace out ~
 
Rene
OUTBOUND D-6110!
INBOUND D-3710!
 
 

 

SOME PHOTOS

 
 


Christmas


Christmas


friends


Friends at lunch


Green Tea


Host sister and brother


Korean Food


Second host father


Rene with second host mother


Rene with his Host Mother


Interview Weekend - Dec 2006