The Start of My Journey

I didn't have to leave the United States to start experiencing cultural differences. While waiting to board my first-ever international flight, I found myself in the minority. There, in the international terminal of the San Francisco airport, Asians surrounded me. Different languages, different hair styles, and different clothing were everywhere. Suddenly, the reality of foreign culture surrounded me. Now I was the one who looked and spoke differently, instead of it being the other way around.

While observing the people around me, what struck me most were the international families. Many young children conversed with their Asian mother in her native tongue, then easily transitioned to English when talking to their white father. These children were not even old enough to attend junior high school, but they were already gaining as many sky miles as myself and had probably taken many more international flights than I! Several of them looked as if they'd endured 10.5 hour flights numerous times prior.

For a moment I couldn't help but be jealous. At such a young age they were bilingual and already acquainted with a culture I was just beginning to experience. But on the other hand, I don't regret not having thrown into international experiences earlier in life. Today, as a rising 3L, even though I'm traveling internationally fairly late in life, I'm entering Korean culture with an outlook I don't think I would have possessed as a child, or even in college. I feel I'm getting more bang for my buck, so to speak, by traveling later in life because I'm here with a definite desire to compare and contrast cultures. Since I've never traveled overseas, my lack of experience has fueled a watchful eye that is ready to observe the most minute differences between my home and Korea. I probably won't ever learn basic Korean conversational skills and I may never have the opportunity to travel as much as some of the children in the San Francisco airport, but in terms of international experience, I feel I'm ready to try and make up for lost ground.