One month following graduation from MSU, I took my first flight ever to South Korea--an 18-hour flight--to engage in the Fulbright Foreign Fellowship. During the fellowship, I was bestowed with the title of English Teaching Assistant (ETA).† There were over 50 other recipients of this prestigious annual award during the 2002-03 program year.
 
The experience entailed a 13-month long English Teaching Assistantship in a select city in South Korea.† It was comprised of a six-week orientation, where the ETAs were introduced to aspects of the Korean culture, lifestyle, and government. We learned pertinent information that allowed an easier acclimation to the new environment.† Additionally, this orientation period was an ideal time for travel and exploration of the Korean peninsula.† We saw everything from the most modern to the most ancient features of the Korean society.† After orientation, we were placed within pre-screened homestays with Korean families.† The homestays were located in the same host cities where we would be teaching in area middle and high schools for the remainder of our term in Korea.† I was fortunate to have had two Korean homestays during my fellowship.† Both families were profoundly accommodating--I am forever grateful for their generous hospitality.
 
Outside of the homestay life, there is the teaching side of the program.† I taught at Seongseo High School, which was a local public co-ed institution.† At this school, I was 1 of 11 English teachers. As the only native English-speaking teacher, I was given higher regard than the others.† The Korean school system is quite different from ours in the US.† For example, their school year starts in March and lasts throughout the year with seasonal breaks included.† There are two semesters in one year; however, their spring semester is our fall semester and vice versa.† I taught over 550 students per semester, i.e., 5 months, with 35-40 students in each class.† The classes are not co-ed.† Teaching was a challenge at first because my knowledge of the Korean language was not yet proficient.† However, I engaged in self-study after teaching hours and listened to the conversations of some of the teachers during breaks in the teachers' room, and I became more comfortable with the language and had acquired a better grasp.† After a few months of teaching, I had incorporated Korean within the classroom lessons to help the students understand the English structures, but later advanced to English-only lessons to encourage more intense studying.† My year of teaching in Korea was, in my view, quite successful and spurred a lot self-development.
 
The insight that I gained from the entire experience is that it is important to travel and gain a perspective of how other nations/societies view your individual nation, culture, and even gender.† And, then, it is up to you, if their views are stereotypical or not so favorable to, respectively, dispel those myths or provide a worthier basis of appreciation by demonstrating your potential amid adversity.