A Glimpse of Life in Spain

This was the beach a short distance from my apartment, where I would go to watch the sunset and swim. The Mediterranean Sea was beautiful and warm, even at night. You could also find people hanging out on the beach with family and friends at all hours of the night.

This is the view from a rooftop restaurant where I would eat with my friends. The Gothic Quarter in Barcelona was my favorite part of the city because of the narrow cobblestone streets and cathedrals on every corner. Samsung’s choice of advertisement placement was also very interesting.

My friend and I enjoy the view from a popular hill in the city. This was the perfect spot for picnics and sunsets where you could see the whole city of Barcelona.

This is a “Castell,” or human tower, in a town near Barcelona. This is a Catalan tradition in which different teams compete or simply perform their different towers. People of all ages participate in this tradition, even young children who are the ones who climb to the very top.

My Experience

Ever since I was young, I knew that I wanted to study abroad while in college. I always thought it would be an amazing opportunity to live in a foreign country and experience a new culture. I made the decision to apply for a Spanish language program in Barcelona, Spain, for the summer of 2022, despite having no way to pay for the trip. I was too excited about living out my dream of studying abroad, and I did not think much about the price. When I got accepted into the program, I was ecstatic. However, the realization of not being able to afford the trip cast a shadow on my enthusiasm. Determined to go on this trip, I began applying for any study abroad scholarship I could find. During this time, I stumbled upon an email promoting the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, and I hesitantly sent in my application. It was clear that the Gilman Scholarship was competitive, and I did not have much expectation of receiving it. After weeks of rejection letters from different scholarship committees, I began to lose hope, and my dream of studying abroad seemed to be slipping away. One afternoon, I felt exceptionally hopeless about the whole situation when I saw an email pop up from the Gilman organization. I held my breath as I logged into my account to see the status. An instant wave of relief and joy ran through me. I immediately called my mother and excitedly told her I had been awarded the Gilman scholarship, which covered nearly all of my study abroad trip! I will never forget the feeling of that day. I am forever grateful to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and its dedication to students who want to study abroad but do not have the financial resources. This award has inspired me to share with every student that traveling and learning are possible for everyone, no matter what your bank account looks like. Thanks to the support of the Gilman organization and their faith in me, I was able to have the best experience of my life in Spain!

Of course, I was nervous as I packed for my five weeks abroad, even more so as I boarded the plane. Doubts and fears rushed through me. Will I hate it there? Will I be alone? Will I even meet anyone? I was not very confident in my Spanish, and I was extremely afraid of living in a foreign country without my friends or family. I had heard of other people studying abroad, but you often only hear the good parts. I had no idea if other students felt the same way as me. However, the second I met the other people in my program, my nerves began to subside. Having a group of only ten other students there, we all instantly became best friends. Despite our extreme differences and being from all over the United States, we all loved being together because we knew that everyone was out of their comfort zone. My friends and I explored the city together, tried new foods, traveled to different towns, and stumbled through our Spanish together. I had never felt so close to a group of people so quickly, but we bonded so much because everything we did, we did together.

There were ups and downs of attending a school where none of my professors spoke English or the culture shock of an urban city in Europe. Yet, I fell in love with Barcelona. I loved their transportation system, how safe the city was, the cobblestone alleys, and endless tapas bars. I tried the best food of my life and swam in the warm Mediterranean Sea almost every day. I even became friends with my professors and classmates, which added to the difficulty of saying goodbye to Barcelona. Even though I came to Spain reassuring myself that it was only five weeks, I left Barcelona devastated that I couldn’t stay for the rest of the year. I made amazing relationships and memories in such a short amount of time, and I am so grateful for this opportunity. I want to encourage anyone and everyone to step outside of their comfort zone, even if it is scary sometimes. For me, this whole experience was possible because of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Therefore, I want to share with others about this resource and show students that this incredible trip can become a reality for them too. 

About the Author

Kristan Krull is a senior at SDSU majoring in Psychology with a minor in Spanish. She is from San Luis Obispo, California, and loves to hike, swim, and travel. Kristan plans to graduate in December 2022 and begin graduate school in Fall 2023 to pursue a career as a Therapist. 

Not Quite Back Home

My program has ended, but my adventure in South Korea has not. My summer program ended July 22nd, but I plan to stay in Korea until September. Thankfully I have a friend with whom I’ll be staying now that my program has ended and so I still have more time to explore and do what I’ve wanted to do here. My program has ended, though, and I have learned so much since then about South Korea and about myself.

A few things I’ve learned:

First, Naver Map is my savior. Navigating through South Korea would not have been as simple as it was with it. Navigating through the complex Seoul subway was made so much easier than it would have been trying to do so alone. It provides the times the subway will arrive, the station you need to go to, the exit you will need to leave from to arrive at your destination, and so much more. Basically, if you are coming to South Korea, I HIGHLY recommend you download Naver Map to get around. 

Second, you will spend a lot more money on simply getting places than you think. The easiest and cheapest way to get around is by using public transportation. However, it will cost you more than you may think. An absolute must is the T-Money card, which will allow you to use public transportation in Korea. You will use it to scan and pay for every trip you take, whether that be on the bus or the subway. You can also use it to pay for taxis and even in convenience stores. You can put larger amounts into it with cash at the different re-charging kiosks at the stations or smaller amounts. I recommend you put in at least 10,000 won at a time because it is quite easy to run through 5,000 won simply by going between two places as the base fare for the subway is about 1,250 won with additional charges depending if you go further. This base fare also varies between cities which is something you should take into consideration when budgeting.

Third, having a list of things that you may want to do is more helpful than not having anything planned at all. Even though coming with minimal concrete plans is fun because it allows you to simply explore and do things at your own pace, having a list of things you may want to do that you can reference is really helpful. There were many times when my friend and I wanted to go out somewhere but didn’t particularly have any destinations or places to go. That made it difficult to decide what we wanted to do and so we ended up just wandering a lot of the time, then realizing there were some cool places we’d seen online that we could have visited and made better use of our limited time here.

Fourth, DO NOT TAKE THE FULL COURSE LOAD! I took three classes, the maximum you can take, during my program at Hanyang even though they warned us not to. After the first few days, I regretted not having dropped one. Each class was three hours long, and we had a one-hour lunch break, but I did not take into account how tiring it would be to actually attend all nine hours of classes plus the commute from my accommodations to the university. All in all, I spent about 12 hours going to class and commuting. This meant that I was usually so tired when I returned from class that I only really had the energy to get dinner and rest. The only saving grace was that we only had class from Monday to Thursday, so there were no classes on Friday. I could still get plenty of exploration in on the weekends, but I do wish I had only taken 2 classes at the most to fully enjoy my time in Seoul.

Aside from things I learned while in Korea, I also have grown more comfortable with myself, with who I am, and my likes and dislikes. I think coming here helped me understand my limits and how to move past those. I was able to spend time outside of my comfort zone without the people I know and love back home, which forced me to be myself around so many different people. I found out things I hadn’t realized about myself before, for example, I am a great Korean BBQ cook, according to my friends, and I’m also pretty good at navigating through places even if I’ve only been there once before. I even became the guide for a group of friends in Hongdae even though I myself had only been there once before. It was quite a confidence boost to know that I could easily lead a group of people around and decide where we could go while ensuring everyone’s safety and making sure they were enjoying themselves. I hadn’t really had the chance to lead a group of people like that back home, but now I know I can.

All in all, this has been a fantastic experience with the program and being a student in South Korea, and I would gladly do it again. I would encourage anyone who’s considering studying abroad even slightly to do it. Even if you think you can’t, look into it a bit more, and there may just be an unexpected way in which you can study abroad! I myself was only able to study abroad because I received two scholarships, so exploring your options and talking to someone about studying abroad can bring into perspective how it can be possible. 

Now my adventure in South Korea continues, and I hope everyone can begin their journey! 

Thank you so much for following my journey!

Leaving it all behind

When am I going to be free? What is freedom anyway? When am I, Jared Rowlen, going to be free from everything that holds me down, holds me back, holds me from doing the things I should be doing? I’m twenty now. Old enough to call myself a man, old enough for others to look and see the flesh and bones of a young adult. But when I look inside, what do I see but a young, ignorant fool hoping to achieve the impossible. I want to be free from this ignorance. I want to feel like I am the man I hope to be. The confines of my self-doubt and the intense external pressure of family, friends, and life often seem too great to surmount. But deep down, I know, somehow, I can and will be free.

           In five days, I will depart for the country of South Africa for a year. A place that I know nothing about. However, I know that it is a place where the comforts of western society crumble. In 5 days, all this will be gone. All of this will be gone. My entire life will fade into the backdrop as my plane takes off from the ground. Family, friends, and the daily comforts of the west will slide away as I take on a new challenging adventure thousands of miles away. Sadness and a bittersweet taste have lingered on my tongue for some time now, as every time I see a face or location that has meant anything to me, it ends in goodbye. But today, that is not how I feel. Today something else has taken the melancholy place in my heart.

           This morning as I said goodbye to my brother at the airport, I drove home thinking about the time we spent together. The memories of youth flooded my memory as tears began to swell in my eyes. Like a coward, I ran from these emotions. I grabbed my phone and looked for solace in music, a habit I implore often. However, when I hit shuffle, a song, Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd came on. As the song played, all the sadness inside swelled, but then quickly, to my surprise, faded away. Replacing it was a feeling of love. I remembered listening to this song with my mother, as she told me it was this very song that was played at her high school graduation. Her words stuck with me and gave new meaning to the song. For the longest time, this song resembled a finish line, the anthem of when I would finally break through the clouds and chains that confine me. The moment when I leave the chaos to enter the much greener, grassier plains of self-worth and success. But that changed.

I suppose my mother felt that same feeling I did when she heard the song all those years ago. Finally, she was the free bird and was posed to score high and leave all the problems and inadequacies on the ground below her. But, as life has it, it has a way of grounding you. Divorce, tight money, and the daily stresses of life can clip even the strongest bird’s wings. However, against the odds, she faced down the obstacles that plagued her and charged forward, moving to provide a life for her two sons so they too could have the opportunity to fly. But in doing so, she lifted off the ground again, catching a second wind off the backs of her two creations. She flies again.

Now she sees me off, that in five days, I too will be gone. It brings me back, back to where I began in this piece. I am looking for salvation in Africa but will not find it there forever. Nothing is good forever, but what I do hope to find is something pure, something that transcends my inadequacies in manhood, abilities, and career. I look forward to the opportunity to love. To meet different people but connect solely on the one thing that makes any person unite: love for one another. In love, one can soar forever. They can fly high above the challenges of life. Love for your fellow man or woman is the only true finish line. Love and human connection, when I fail at it, I am at my lowest. However, when I succeed at it, I truly become that free bird. Like my mother, who loved me so dearly, she put her life on hold to see me fly. Now I head to Africa to test my wings, but with my mother’s grace in my heart, I know I will find the connection I desperately desire. Thank you for reading, may love tread in your heart every day.

Oregon countryside, near my father’s farm, where the desire for something different was born

Summer in Seoul

Hello and welcome to my month-long adventure in South Korea!

Oh, what a long ride it’s been to get here. I’ve been trying to study abroad for many years, even before attending university. Getting here was a process, but it all became irrelevant once I arrived. I had made it! 18 hours of travel, and I’d landed in South Korea, my first international travel experience, and I did it alone. That in and of itself has honestly increased the confidence I have in myself by quite a lot, but being here these past three weeks, I think I’ve changed for the better, more than I have in a while. 

One of the first things I thought once I landed, after “Woah. I’m in a completely different country halfway across the world now,” was just “It is. So. Hot.” I was definitely not prepared for the humidity in Korea, and it doesn’t help that I arrived right at the beginning of the monsoon season…yes, right at the start of the weeks-long monsoon season. As you can imagine, the humidity has been very present and inescapable since I arrived. When I first arrived I was wearing not only a windbreaker jacket and a hoodie but also a long sleeve shirt. Mistakes were made. I did not look at the weather before coming, and that definitely made my first hours in Seoul an interesting combination of desperate fanning, sweating, and being lost. Disoriented was very much the word I would use to describe my first few hours in Korea. Starting in the airport, though, I learned that communication really is KEY. From getting to the right booth to picking up my Korean SIM card to finding the subway so I could get to my accommodations, I could not have done it without the help of many amazing airport employees. I discovered many kinks in the rough plan I had made to get to my accommodations, but the many sweet employees helped me get there. 

My second day in Korea went much smoother. I arrived late Saturday, June 25th, and my program began Monday, June 27th, so I only had one day to explore, but I definitely did. My friend who lives in Busan came to Seoul to hang out and help me get things I needed that Sunday. We went around my new neighborhood and ate some of the most delicious pajeon 파전 (Korean green onion pancake) I have ever had. It was my first meal in Korea, and I am very glad it was because it was huge and just the perfect amount of crunchy and savory. If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to eat a Korean pancake (jeon 전), I highly suggest you try it. There are many different types like seafood jeon and potato jeon, so there’s something for everyone. I also explored my neighborhood and took some pictures at a photobooth shop with my friend and roommate. All in all a fun, fulfilling day.

Monday came, and so did the beginning of classes. I’m taking 3 classes; each is 3 hours long, so I’m on campus from 8:30 am to 7 pm. My favorite class is hands down, my evening ceramic arts class. This ceramics class is one of the main things I wanted to do with the program and it has been amazing. The professors and student assistants have been wonderful, so patient, and helpful. Working with my hands has also been amazing; I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It takes my mind off of anything else, and I can just focus on working with the clay to create something. Having to take the time and be patient with the clay and myself in learning has really helped ease some anxiety I had coming here. I’ve also learned to be more patient with myself because of this. I’m learning to do something I’ve never done before, so of course, I’m not amazing at it from the start! However, I have really learned to be more patient with myself and to see myself in a more positive light since coming to Korea.

An activity we went on, which is basically a field trip included with the program, was to a rail park where we peddled our way across the countryside of a mountainous area, ate dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken), played a survival game with bb guns and drove ATVs by the river. The rail park and ATV ride were definitely the highlights of this day because I got to see some of the beautiful scenery Korea has, and simply being out in nature helped me to just exist in the moment and take it all in. Below are some pictures I took of the scenery.

Now I haven’t experienced a lot of culture shock since arriving, but one thing that was a definite shock was how sweet and/or buttery chips are here. I bought some garlic bread flavored chips expecting them to be well, garlicky, but when I ate them, they were very buttery. So buttery and sweet that I couldn’t eat more than a few pieces before needing to stop. The butter was so overpowering I didn’t taste any garlic. Similarly, I bought some nacho cheese-flavored Doritos, hoping they’d be more savory, but when I ate them, those too were sweet. I personally prefer savory and salty foods, especially in chips, so the fact that so many chips are sweet was really shocking. It honestly made me crave chips and snacks from the U.S. a lot more than I ever expected. 

This time in South Korea has not only helped me learn about the country and culture but also about myself. I’ve learned much more about myself these past few weeks in South Korea than I expected. I knew that this experience would help me grow as a person, and it truly has. I’ve discovered once again that the world is really just full of people, people whom I can communicate with regardless of language barriers. One day as I was heading back to my accommodations by myself, I was passing by this little bakery inside the subway station, and it smelt so delicious. Specifically, it smelt like glazed donuts, and I just had to have some. It smelt way too good to pass up, so I didn’t! I went up to the lady and asked her in broken Korean what flavor each bread was, how much they were, and I got a couple of bread pastries! It wasn’t nearly as intimidating as it first seemed. When I first arrived, my roommate and I went together to most places, but now I can easily go around by myself, and navigating using the subway is simple. I’ve learned that I am a lot more capable than I’ve given myself credit for, and it is a lot easier to simply do things now. I don’t have to quadruple-check with myself and others to be sure, I’ve definitely grown to trust myself more these past few weeks, and I’m looking forward to even more growth and experiences!

A Letter to Remember

Dear Ghana,

I cannot thank you enough for making this one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself. You’ve welcomed me with open arms and an open heart. You’ve allowed me to explore who I am and what I want in life.

You’ve taught me that I’m stronger than I think (physically, mentally and emotionally) by putting me to the test hiking Mt. Afajato, challenging me with unexpected blackouts or rainstorms and even bargaining in the markets or with taxi drivers.

You’ve taught me to live in the moment and appreciate every given day, which should be lived to its fullest.

Halloween: France vs. USA

I finally celebrated my first Halloween!

I mean, I celebrated Halloween before, in my home country, but as a kid. Back then, I would only put on a costume around 6 p.m. and would go for a stroll with other disguised pals around my block. We would just ask for sweets and then come back home, individually.

The last “trick and treat” stroll I made was around age 14.

A Closer Look at Ghana

Hey, everyone! In this blog post, a wanted to give you a look at many of the incredible moments I’ve experienced during my time living in Ghana. These photos should not only give you insight into my experience thus far, but hopefully also debunk some of the myths or stereotypes you may have about Ghana.

Israel’s Exotic Beaches and Amazing Sunsets

It has been really tough trying to decide which beach I like best here in Israel. I mean, with the beautiful sunsets, warm clear waters and the soft clean sand, it has been really hard to decide which one I love the most. They are all so exotic!

Studying Abroad: Travel Edition

What are weekends for? When you’re in Europe, the best way to spend a weekend is in another country! This past weekend we took a flight to Italy and visited the city of Florence. It was an absolutely incredible experience and worth every minute. For the next four weekends I will be packing my bags and visiting a different country each weekend. With that in mind I thought I’d share some insights and tips I have gained to help anyone who is planning on studying abroad.

An Open Letter to the SDSU Community

Dear SDSU students and staff,

I was about to title this article “Why the SDSU Campus is not internationalized at all,” but I thought that might be too much, considered presumptuous and make it sound like I’m unhappy with my experience here — and it is really not what I want to express here.