December 2008, I graduated from Iowa State University after 4 1/2 years busting my ass trying to get A's and B's (unfortunately, this didn't really happen), volunteering, being very active in extracurricular activities and of course working to pay those college expenses. Why do all of this? To get into grad school, duh! Although I loved college and the activities I immersed myself into, in the end what it truly boiled down to were your grades (damnit). You would think programs want to make sure they are accepting students with a great work ethic and potential to excel not only in the classroom, but outside as well - this is not necessarily true. Essentially, schools want someone who will not waste their money. I get it, they're financially investing in people - blah blah blah. It's just a little annoying when you know you will truly be great at something and solely because of a number, you're not given the opportunity.
There you have it, that's my rant and now I'm done.
Needless to say, I did not get into any of the five (yes 5) programs I applied to. So what did I do? I went back to school! The first time around, I had a Psychology minor and decided to make this minor into a major. Since one degree is obviously not enough, I started working towards that second B.S. degree. Mmmm, I just really needed to buy time, but since I had already taken most of the classes I was done by December 2009. During these unfortunate months and no direction of where my life was going I explored every possible opportunity. I again looked into grad school, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Teach for America, and even real life grown up jobs. In the end, I decided AmeriCorps/Teach for America was the direction I wanted my life to go in. Life changing moment alert: One evening I was having dinner with a great friend, Vanessa, who was looking into teaching English in Korea. I thought, "That sounds like a great opportunity." She tried pretty hard to convince me to go with her, but I had already decided on the second path of my life - helping others. After filling out application after application and waiting to hear back from programs, I finally received great news - not really. I was not accepted into Teach for America and I did not get any jobs from AmeriCorps I wanted or that prevented me from receiving government assistance. On top of this, I found out I did not get into the one COTA program I applied to. There I was, back at square fuckin one.
March/April 2009, Vanessa was still trying to convince me to go and I actually had two other friends on their way to S. Korea to teach. So, then I made the decision, "I'M GOING TO KOREA!" I immediately started the application process, sold everything in my apartment and the rest is history. Now eight months later, I'm moving to KwangJu, S. Korea!!
Why am I going to Korea? After two years of rejection, I am finally moving forward in life and am not just in limbo. No, it may not have been my very first choice, but this doesn't lesson the desire to take part in a once in a life time opportunity. How many people can say they've lived abroad? Not many. Some may not agree with me, but I truly believe things happen for a reason. No, I don't mean things such as certain situations in history or even unfortunate events that have occurred. I mean within my personal life, I feel things have happened for a reason. Lets be real, if I was accepted into grad school or became a Peace Corps member, things would have turned out a little different; not necessarily better, but different.
All in all, I couldn't be more happy and ecstatic about my future. And no people...I don't believe I'm going to die in a North vs. South Korean war. Of course anything is possible and something bad could potentially happen, but if we don't take risk, whats the point of life? There's a risk with everything we do in life; usually the benefits tend to outweigh the "possibility" of something bad happening. Besides, I personally believe N. Korea is just pissed they are not currently receiving aid (blog for another day).
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