I start my graduate school application essays,
"I wake up everyday thankful for the day ahead." And
it really is true. In the past year, I have researched in rural
China and lived in South Korea. Whether witnessing Jae-sa, the
ancient Korean tradition of paying respect to ancestors, or
walking along a migrant fishermen community in a bay outside
of Ningbo, China, my life has been full of incredible experiences
throughout East Asia.
Upon my entrance into Valpo, I never would have guessed that
I would be typing this essay from the apartment I share with
a Korean family near Gwangju, South Korea. Even throughout the
first half of my studies, I was a Spanish major and studied
abroad in Granada, Spain. My interest in the region did not
spark until my last three semesters, when I took a class on
East Asian politics with Professor Lin as part of my International
Relations degree. However, Professor Lin's erudite teaching
and enthusiasm for the subject awoke my curiosity as well.
Then, in my last semester, I conducted research with Professor
Lin and twelve other students in rural China. While there, I
not only studied the role of rural entrepreneurs on urbanization
and internationalization in Zhejiang province, but forged lasting
contacts with university students and professors. I picked strawberries
alongside rural farmers during the day, and dined with Chinese
Communist Party officials at night. After this experience, I
realized that my future research and career could not help but
be focused on East Asia.
Fortunately, soon after my research in China, I received a Fulbright
Teaching Assistantship to South Korea. Everyday, I witness and
embrace the Korean people, language, and culture. Living near
Gwangju, a hotbed for political activism, I will participate
in the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, Korea's
definitive pro-democracy movement that ended with the loss of
hundreds of students' lives. I have a new Korean family; complete
with a little sister who emulates everything I do, and a host
father that watches CNN compulsively, in hopes to improve his
English. I have fifty-five Korean coworkers to say "Annyeonghasaeyo?"
(hello) to everyday at school. And I have eight hundred students
that now scream "Aloha!" after our class on different
ways to say hello. I am in the midst of the most wonderful time
of my life, and each day gets better and better.
I could not have obtained these amazing experiences without
Valparaiso's commitment to East Asian teaching and research.
At twenty-two years old, I have talked with officials of the
Chinese Communist Party, seen firsthand the effects of Chinese
capitalism, walked along the thirty-eighth parallel, and spoken
to survivors of the Gwangju uprising. I now plan a career in
East Asian research, hopefully with a government agency. With
Valpo and the Department of Chinese and Japanese Studies' aid,
I can look forward to an exciting career, backed by remarkable
collegiate experience in East Asia.
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