6/24/19 – 6/29/19: Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) and In-Country Orientation

Posted on by shelby

Hello once again all readers of this blog, future and present! If you haven’t checked out my introduction post on the group blog yet, you can find that over at http://theseoularsystem.home.blog/2019/06/18/doubt-shelby/ ! I’ve been told it’s a good read, especially if you’re nervous about program/being accepted. Now on to what you came to read about.

On June 24th I started on my way to Seattle for my program’s PDO. For those of you who might not know the NSLI-Y lingo, PDO is basically a safety and security review given to you by NSLI-Y, implementing organization, and state department staff. Starting from Orlando, I had a 2-hour layover in Houston followed by a flight from Houston to Seattle. (Future NSLI-Yians, if you have a layover, you will probably have flight buddies, even if you don’t sit near one another! I had 5 buddies in Houston!) These flights can be especially boring if you sit by yourself, so I recommend downloading music or videos beforehand, or bringing summer homework/college apps you’ve yet to finish to keep you busy during the flight to Seattle.

Some more flight tips:

-Keep all of your valuables in your carry-on or personal item. Someone on my flight to Seattle did lose their checked bag, and although they ended up getting it back, it would have been better to not lose it in the first place.

-Try to fit almost all of your clothes into your carry-on. My checked bag was almost empty except for host family gifts (mentioned in another post) and my formal outfit for PDO day 2. If your bag is overweight coming back to the USA, you will be required to pay for it yourself! Mine weighed around 25lb (the limit is 50lb).

-Buy snacks at Walmart or another store beforehand! Airport food can be very expensive.

-Bring good sneakers! As of writing this (a week into Korea) I am suffering from horrible blisters that I have to drain myself with a needle. Please, please, please bring good walking shoes! I am walking an average of 16-18k steps each day in Korea, which is normal on program.

Arriving in Seattle, we checked into our dorm rooms (1 or 2 people to a room, 8 people to a “cluster” of rooms) and received NSLI-Y merch. We also got dining hall access for PDO day 2 at the University of Washington. On day 1 dinner is provided, and on day 3 you will likely eat at the airport. You receive a $20 stipend for this airport breakfast (BTW, there is an amazing noodle chain restaurant by the gate we left from). Day 1 consisted of icebreakers and one meeting, while day 2 was the longest. Make sure you pay attention to the rules laid out by staff! They are not kidding when they threaten you with verbal/written warnings or dismissal. There have been students on NSLI-Y before who received warnings even before arriving in the host country. The program starts as soon as you are accepted and ends only after you arrive back home to your family. Be on your absolute best behavior.

PDO is made much easier (although much louder) if you had been in the group chat for your program beforehand. When I got to UW, everyone automatically recognized me from my Kakaotalk profile picture, and was really friendly! Don’t feel pressured to join the chat if you would rather remain anonymous, though. That can also be a lot of fun.

The flight to Seoul in particular was 12 hours long, with not much of a view (mostly ocean and clouds). When we arrived in Seoul, we took a bus to the youth hostel and stayed there for a few days. You sleep in groups of 6-10 (my room had 10) on either bunk beds or ondol. There will also likely be other Korean students on class trips staying there, so don’t be afraid to say hi! Don’t exchange personal information, for obvious reasons, but I know that students on my program had an especially fun time trying to speak to little Korean kids. During in-country orientation you will have “Survival in Korea” training wherein a a Korean college student will teach you how to use the subway, navigate Seoul, use Korean money, etc. Pay very close attention, because you will need every skill they teach! Also make sure to ask the student lots of questions. My group and I had an amazing experience comparing America and Korea with our leader.

On day 3 of in-country orientation, you’ll be picked up by and move in with your Korean host families! More on this in my next blog post.

6/5/19 – The OPI, Flight Information, and Korean Homework

Posted on by shelby

Hello once again to whoever is reading this blog! It’s been a while since I last updated. Since I have, we Seoul finalists have gotten our flight information! From Orlando (FL) I will be taking a flight to Houston (TX) where I have a 2-hour layover. After that, I leave for Seattle (WA) where our PDO will be taking place. We’re allowed to have one checked bag, one carry-on bag, and one personal item (a purse/backpack/duffel bag/etc). On the way back, I have a layover in Denver (CO) before I get back to Orlando. I literally touch down in Orlando at 5AM on my first day of school, which starts at 7AM. I honestly might not go.

Since I last updated, we’ve also started PPLP (Pre-Program Language Preparation). It’s 5 weeks of once-weekly Korean homework that’s being looked over by our American RD, who’s an alumnus herself. She did the AY program, though. The PPLP we’ve been assigned has a Beginner track and an Intermediate track. I was a little conflicted about which one to do, since I knew a good majority of the Beginner content but very little of the Intermediate- I’ve been doing the Intermediate work as a way to push myself to learn faster, because I thought the Beginner work wouldn’t help me as much. It’s hard if you’re not used to different grammar points, but if you’re comfortable with hangeul, particles, and basic grammar, you should try it! I’ve had to teach myself a lot of grammar, but it has worked out to some extent. I’ve been using the new grammar and sentence structures combined with easy, familiar vocab I knew already. That way I haven’t been straining myself to the point of not learning anything. Plus, the homework isn’t technically “graded” until Week 5! Weeks 1-4 are for learning, in my opinion.

My OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview) was a disaster. I could understand most of what my interviewer was saying, but I’m not comfortable with different sentence structures- that caused me to trip up and panic about what was being asked. I usually ended up responding in single words or phrases instead of sentences because of that. For example: I knew that she was asking about my computer, but what about my computer? At least maybe that will make it seem like I improved a lot before the class placement test at Ewha :/

Speaking of Ewha, we just yesterday got an email regarding registering for the class we’ll be taking at Ewha Womans University! That made this all seem a little more real, to be honest. The website is entirely in Korean, and runs very slowly, but luckily our email contained English instructions. Watching videos of Ewha and the surrounding area has made me super excited about studying there during program. It seems really cool!

3/29/19 – The Acceptance

Posted on by shelby

As of today, March 29th, 2019, I have been accepted into the Korean Summer 2019 program, headed for Seoul! I could not have been more ecstatic after getting my email, and I’m so excited for June.

Here’s how that all went down:

While Songdo and Jeonju notifications went out quite early this year, around 3pm EST or a little bit later, Seoul notifications took longer. This was fine, since there were lots of people still waiting on notifications with me in the group chat. However, while the rest of the Seoul emails went out during 3pm, mine did not come until 4:13! I was sobbing for two hours thinking I had been rejected, or was an alternate. When I got my email, a wave of relief washed over me as I read the words “You have been selected..” and I started bawling even harder! I had to have my sister read it for me since I was so overwhelmed. Clicking on the link in my email, however, I discovered that I did not have either of the Finalist forms.. My AIS portal was open, and titled “Finalist Instructions” (or something of the sort), and I got both an acceptance email and an invitation to an Q&A video chat with the other finalists.. I was so confused. Initially, there were theories that I was an alternate (before the email came out), but everyone was quickly confused; non-finalists could not access the portal at all. As of now, I’ve emailed NSLI-Y about the issue, and I hope it’s just a mistake! It would be awful if I actually didn’t get accepted. The alumni seem to think I am accepted, however, and I could not be more happy. Studying abroad has been a dream of mine for a long time, and it’s finally a reality. Plus, Tessa from my interview got in, too! We’re both going to Seoul! How crazy is that? I will update this post when NSLI-Y responds, but until then..

Update (4/1/19): Got my forms! Yeehaw!

I guess I’m a finalist! :’)

1/19/19 – The Interview

Posted on by shelby

(1/18/19) Hey, y’all! Long time no post! There haven’t really been too many updates. I got some blood tests and vaccines done, but that’s about it…

Except for the fact that my interview is tomorrow! UHHHHHH!!! I’m very, very, very, very, very nervous. I’ve heard the interview is a relatively large portion of your acceptance/rejection, so I really wanna do good.

(1/19/19) I’m writing this right after my interview.. Hoo… I’ve said it on another post, but I’ll say it here, too: my interview was around 10am at a Church over the weekend, in mid-January. The stairs pictured above led to my interview room!

It did not take nearly as long as I expected to get there.. I was caught off guard. My interviewer wasn’t an alumnus either; he was the father of a girl who had done the Arabic program. My interview was supposed to take 30 minutes, but it ended up going about 45 or 50 minutes. He read the questions from a list, and I responded with my answers and elaboration. I tried to include a lot of personal stories, especially ones relating to cultural interaction, like learning about my Hindu friends’ culture or studying Mandarin. He didn’t seem very impressed, but his wife (the woman who organized the meeting) assured me that he’s usually like that. He told me I did alright, which is kind of scary, but I’m trying not to overthink it… I don’t think my interview was good or bad in particular.

In terms of what I wore, I typically dress masculine, so this won’t be much help for ladies! My outfit was a light blue dress shirt and dark blue tie, and a greyish-black suit pants and blazer. All of the girls there wore nice dresses or pantsuits, so I would definitely recommend dressing up despite the fact that I was told to dress business casual. It can never hurt to look TOO professional. If you do Model UN or BPA, my outfit for the interview was similar to what I wear to conferences or competitions (if that’s any help).

Speaking of the other girls, I met Tessa in person! We had started talking in the Semifinalist group chat on Kakaotalk and bonded over being Floridian sophomores. She seemed really nice, and very deserving of the scholarship; she immediately hit it off with the adults who organized our interview session. I really hope we get accepted together! I desperately want a plane buddy.

My overall interview advice would be to be yourself, answer honestly, and not get too worried about how the interviewer responds. That will only distract from your answers. Try to stay on-topic yet tell meaningful anecdotes; treat the interview like a conversation, but just one about the questions presented. If that makes sense.

Until March, all I can do is wait!

12/03/18 – Semifinalist Notification

Posted on by shelby

So, I’m writing this in December 2018 as a semifinalist for the NSLI-Y Korean summer program! Very, very excited. I love languages and studying abroad has always been a goal of mine, so getting to do NSLI-Y would be a dream come true. Later if I get accepted I’ll write application/essay/interview advice, but for right now I don’t feel like I have the authority to talk about that. I’ve just loved reading past NSLI-Y blogs and want to have mine at the ready if I do get accepted as a finalist. Plus, I can log updates during the process. Yay!