and the journey begins

The last week of my life has been CRAZY! I finished up work a week and a half ago, and then decided I needed to visit my sisters before leaving the country. Two days in Salt Lake and two days in Fruita left me three and a half days to finish my preparations for moving abroad. Needless to say, the last three days have been killer.

First off, let me just say that trying to fit your entire life for the next year into 2 fifty-pound checked bags, a carry-on, and a backpack -- not easy. In fact, I failed. (FYI, $39 upgrade to first class for my LAS to LAX flight = free overweight luggage + an item checked off my bucket list. Totally worth it.) Luckily, I have awesome parents who are willing to pay the overweight luggage (upgrade) fee.

Today I spent all morning running around. Last minute shopping, desperate repacking, cleaning, and panicking when the zipper on my carry-on bag broke. It was great. Not to mention, the nerves have started to set in. It was bound to happen. I mean, the girl who gets anxious when she has to call someone on the phone couldn't possibly do something as epic as move to Korea and not have at least a LITTLE anxiety, right? Right.

After deciding that if it wasn't packed I was going to have to life without it, we loaded up the car and headed to Vegas. A delicious meal at the Cheesecake Factory and a journey down the Las Vegas strip later, I found myself at the airport -- where my mom shed a few tears and I casually and coolly (of course) waved my way down the terminal. (Love you, mom!) Las Vegas to Los Angeles was easy. Now I'm sitting in the international terminal at LAX, waiting for my flight to Incheon.

It's been a long day, but I'm excited for this adventure! And despite the stress, I'm doing ok.

I think.

Ask me again next week.

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a family legacy

I recently went on a teacher's trip with my school. (Basically, all the teachers get on a bus after the students leave, and we drive to a town two hours away to eat dinner, sing karaoke, stay the night, and maybe visit a museum. It's mostly an excuse for the teachers to get drunk together, but more about that in another post.) I was especially excited because we were going to a place that has been on my list of places to visit in Korea. Gunsan. Now, some might wonder why I would want to visit such a place. It's not very big or prominent. Chances are, if you don't live in Korea, you've probably never heard of it. But, to me, Gunsan is a special place. It's the place where I like to think the relationship between Korea and my family began. Gunsan is the place my grandpa was stationed during the Korean War. My Grandpa Willis was a cook in the army during the last 6 months of the Korean War. I also have two uncles and an aunt who lived in Korea as missio...

adventuring seoul

This last weekend, some friends and I decided that we needed a trip to Seoul. So, we packed our bags and hopped on a train Friday night to begin our adventure! We stayed at a hostel near Namsan Tower (which we unfortunately only saw from a distance during this trip), and ventured out from there. Saturday we spent at Lotte World, which is a giant indoor amusement park (our second choice of amusement parks, but Seoulland was out of the question when we woke up to rain). Our day was complete with rides, amusement park food, and animal ears. We stopped by the Seoul lantern festival before turning in at the end of our extremely fun, but extremely exhausting, day. Sunday we spent exploring. Gwanghwamun and Gyeongbok Palace were first on our list. And, I must say, I could spend forever exploring historical sites in Korea and never be bored. They are just so beautiful and so different from what we are used to in the States. I love the mix of traditional and modern that you find in Seoul....

a korean adventure

In honor of the great changes that are happening in my life, I have decided it's time to clean up the old blog and start blogging again. I have also changed the look of my blog to reflect the next year (possibly more) of my life. The background picture you are looking at, my friends, is the beautiful city of Daejeon, South Korea. Right there. Can you see me yet? In just over a month I will be making my way to Seoul, and two weeks after that I will officially be an English teacher in Daejeon!! Crazy, right?! Right. I won't get into all of the details of how I got to this point, just know it was quite long and stressful. (In case you were wondering, having your future dependent upon the speed of an office of the U.S. government is NOT fun. Background checks take FOREVER. And it costs A LOT to send documents to Korea when you want them to get there fast.) But, in the end, it's all worth it. I'm going to be having the adventure of a lifetime! I'm excited...

Growing old is required. Growing up is optional.

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