The plane ride from Atlanta to Incheon was magical. Right when I thought I had gotten used to the middle school life, I moved to Korea and had an amazing opportunity to attend a private international school in Korea. Because I attended schools in America for the past eight years of my life, attending an international school was an exciting experience. The week before school started, I spent the days worrying—would I fit in with the kids? Will I have any friends? If I do have friends, will they be the right group to hang out with? What if I get lost? You could not imagine how anxious I was when my mom pulled the car in front of the entrance of the school building on the first day of school. The campus had four large buildings and each of the buildings had around six floors—which were all connected with bridges and hallways.
As I stepped into the school, I felt as if I were in a Korean drama—you know, the ones where the main character enters a really large school and makes four boys fall in love with her? Yeah, that was the scenario, except for the romance part, haha.
Thankfully, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to make friends. It was comforting to know that I was surrounded by fellow Koreans. 97% of the students at the school were Korean, and the remaining 3% were a few caucasians and an Indian. Compared to American public schools, this school had a small amount of students, so it was great to be able to know all of my peers.
The school was filled with talented musicians, speakers, and athletes. If you were in band, you knew more than half of the people inside and outside your grade. The competitions and festivals that the school participated in were always a chance for us to showcase our school's talent in basically everything.
The school's location was very convenient, since the school was close to a lot of restaurants and a mall—I remember riding the bus with my friends to the subway station to eat dinner together. Just one call to the fried chicken restaurants, and a fresh, crispy chicken would be delivered to the school. (Korean fried chickens are not your ordinary fried chicken—they're legendary, and it's a dish that everyone has to try)
Being a really large private international school, the tuition fee for the school was not merciful at all. From time to time, I would see a few Valentinos and a few Coco Chanel here and there, but thankfully I wasn't really into those branded materials.
Once or twice a year, our grade level went on experimental trips—trips where we could "improve" our teamwork and relieve stress. We slept in pensions that were in the mountains, we visited Everland, or the Disney World of Korea, and so much more. Although the purpose of the trip was unclear, I believe most of us liked skipping a day of school for going on a trip.
Brace yourselves, this might sound a bit unreal. The location for our 8th grade graduation trip was Guam. Imagine a group of puny middle schoolers walking around the resort with bikinis and sunglasses on. Yeah, it's just a tad bit hilarious. But a lot of good memories were made, so I'd like to say it wasn't entirely a waste of our parent's money.
Overall, the school opened the doors to a lot of great experiences and gave me the opportunity to make great memories with friends and teachers. A lot of the experiences helped me realize my values in school and helped me face tough situations.
As always, let's go PHOENIX!
- Emma (Your fellow KISian)
