It’s Snowing in St. Louis

Yay! First Blog post!!

With only a few hours remaining until I bring in the New Year and head to the airport the current weather conditions are beginning to concern me. It hasn’t stopped snowing since this morning and the last thing I want is to have to deal with delayed flights and what not. Might I also add that the snow might ruin my NYE hairdo. On the bright side however…Korea in a few hours! …hopefully 🙂

Yes I know. I am leaving right after New Years, which is something I have mixed feelings about. I guess it’s a good thing considering that I will probably be extremely tired and sleep on the plane..but I usually never sleep in any moving vehicle. My NYE plans are literally to leave whatever party/ wholesome event I’m at and head straight to the airport.  I packed yesterday to make sure these plans play out smoothly.

For the most part preparing for this trip has been a pretty smooth process. There were a few obstacles with getting my birth certificate but expedited services alleviated those problems.

Anyways, for the first time since enrolling in ECN 295 going on this trip has felt real. I just got the email from SK roaming (my phone provider while I’m abroad) that my telephone number has been confirmed. It just so happens that Sexy and I know it would be playing when I read the email so I had nice victory dance and NYE prep music. I am so cheating on my 773 digits…I vowed that I would never get a new number. Sorry 773 it’s only temporary.

I think that I am so excited about NYE and Korea that I am just not excited at all.

Well as I am sure you might imagine I must prepare for tonight’s festivities. Please visit again tomorrow…will be reporting from Seoul! (aaaagg(silent scream of excitement)ggghhhhhhh 

안녕하세요

HI Bloggers!

My name is Maria and I am a third year Sociology/Economics Double Major at Grinnell College. I am excited to be the one bringing you all the juicy news on this amazing trip to South Korea. 

Myself and I did a Q & A that you might find useful! Check it out! I hope you continue to follow my blog and our experience! 🙂

How did I get involved?

Last semester Professor Graham announced that there would be a course during the following semester studying Koreas Economic Development which would include a winter break trip to South Korea. (Hold the phone!…I was born there!) I instantly knew that I would be in that class and going on that trip. A few days maybe even hours later I introduced myself to Professor Mutti (the faculty member over the trip). Before you know it i was enrolled in the class.

Was the course difficult?

Not at all. Despite the heavy reading load the course was very insightful. Korea’s story is rich and has so much to offer the world. I think that studying the strategies, policies, and additional steps that Korea took to prosper economically developed my economic tools and will be useful in my career. If you want to learn more about Korea’s Economic Miracle please click here.

The class was a 2-credit course just one day a week so it was an additive in my schedule. In addition to ECN 295 it was required that we had already taken Economic Development (ECN 230) and Korean I or would be concurrently enrolled. Since I plan to major in Economics I didn’t mind piling up on the econ courses. For this semester I also took Macroeconomics and a Sociology Seminar and I handled the workload pretty well. 

How does this course fit in with your career interests?

To be perfectly honest I don’t have my career goals perfectly laid out. I like to call myself an opportunist so I consider this course and trip an opportunity to gain more knowledge and skills. I will figure out someway to incorporate the tools I gained over the past semester to my career. But if you must know as of right now I would like to pursue a career in International Development whether that be working with NGO’s, United Nations, U.S. Government, etc. So this course fits in perfectly.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

I like to keep an open mind. I think that if I have too many expectations I won’t be able to fully soak in all of what I will experience in Korea. What I gain might be totally different from any expectation and I want to leave room for that. In general, I just want to learn a lot and have a great time!

For any more questions please leave a comment. 🙂