Lessons I have already learned

It's true I'm not the most organized person, but I think I'd still believe the application process is complicated and difficult to compile even still. I have messed up in the completion of my documents so many times now it is ridiculous.

• I thought that I could get the normal 2 passport photos and then photocopy the rest required. Not so. You actually need to order extra passport photos as they will not accept the color photocopies.
• Criminal Background Check: this must be done at the state level, not the city level. I had never had to do one before so I assumed that the city would just extend out to the state. Not so. Now I have to take yet another trip down to Salem to re-do the papers.
• Apostillized documents: not only do you have to get your criminal background check apostilled but you also have to get your diploma notarized with an apostille stamp. You should probably remember to do this all in one trip. I did not. Lesson learned on that one.
• Your letters of recommendation have to be pretty specific and include things like your dates of employment. Most people do not include this on a general letter of recommendation so you really have to ask that they include that in there. As such, you often can not use an old letter of recommendation but rather get a new one from that person.
• I read online that you can't use your passport if it will expire during the time that you are going to be abroad. For example, my passport would have expired in May 2010. So I went and got a new one. After I sent in my passport I found out that I could have traveled anyway and the process to update it would be much easier had I done it when I was already in Korea rather than now. I'm on the fence about that one. It would have been nice to speed up the process of receiving a new passport, but I'm glad it's one less thing I have to worry about. I feel better knowing that my passport can now last me another 10 years.
• Using Dave's ESL site is never a waste of time. Reading other people's blogs are also never a waste of time. But you do always have to take it with a grain of salt. You have to understand that everyone comes from very different places in their lives with very different expectations of what they want out of their experience. To just make a blanket statement like "you should only live in Seoul" is just not fair. Not everyone wants that.

My blog is from my perspective, nothing more, nothing less. If I were to give a very short summary about who I am, I would tell you that I am 26 years old, white, female, upper-middle class, well-traveled, and well-educated. I have been to over 20 countries though most of them for only a short period of time. I have been to South Korea, for example, for the length of 3 days in the city of Busan. My longest travels have been to Costa Rica (where I lived and worked for 1 month at age 16) and Australia (3 weeks at the age of 7).

I seek adventure and I'm an adrenaline junkie though I admit to not partaking in my addiction nearly as much as I would want. While in Korea I hope to snowboard, scuba/snorkel, and hike. Cities and temples are a given.

I'm going to try to be an adventurous eater. I'm a vegetarian but I have been attempting to expand my eating habits so that I can fully appreciate the Korean food culture. I don't see myself eating chicken on a stick anytime soon, but who knows.

Really, who knows...