When I sit back and think about it, it really seems crazy that I’d up and leave the life I had to go teach in a foreign country, but that’s what makes it so beautiful. I had comfort, I had security, I had freedom. But I was restless. I needed more. Not necessarily a challenge, but I knew I needed get away. I needed to spread my wings and fly. As great as my job and benefits and coworkers were, I felt I had stayed still too long. And so here I am, writing to you from South Korea, a far cry from my small college town in rural Northcentral Pennsylvania.

I first got the idea to teach overseas a couple of years ago from some friends. They had done the same and had great, positive experiences. Two are still currently teaching, one in Taiwan and the other here in South Korea. I never thought I’d be joining the ranks of teachers worldwide, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I enjoy studying and learning new languages. Being able to share that passion with students and help them become excited about learning a new language was an exciting prospect. And so began my long journey to South Korea.

I initially applied to the EPIK program in the Fall of 2019 to come teach during the Spring 2020 intake. The recruiter I used didn’t work out and so I switched to a new recruiter, Korvia. They helped me apply for the EPIK Fall 2020 intake, a grueling process. I had already completed my online 120-hour TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), so I only needed to resubmit the application, which included a mock lesson plan and three essay questions, along with two letters of recommendation. I submitted the application in February when it opened and was notified in April that EPIK had accepted my application and I would move to the interview stage. With the 13-hour time difference between Korea and the east coast, my interview took place late at night, around 10:00 pm. It went well and I received my pass result within the week, which meant now I needed to send the additional application materials to my recruiter in Korea. Those materials included the original physical copies of the two letters of recommendation, two sealed copies of my college transcript, an apostilled FBI background check, an apostilled copy of my diploma, and my TEFL certificate.

Now, if you’ll remember, there was a lot going on in 2020. Getting all of those documents wasn’t as easy or quick as it normally is, but thankfully I had everything sent out within two weeks of passing my interview. After my recruiter sent my documents to the EPIK Office, they would send them out to different Offices of Education throughout Korea for placement selection. For Fall intake, applicants usually start hearing if they’ve received a placement in June and then fly out in August to do orientation before starting their contract. However, COVID-19 had another thing to say about that. Instead of receiving placement news, the other applicants and I were informed that placements would be limited and for those that do come to Korea, they would have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, which would cost them anywhere from 1.4-2.1 million Won (roughly $1,200-$1,900) out of their own pocket.

At this point, it would’ve been easy to let the doubts in and the disappointment take over, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any. Should I really be trying to leave, not just my job, but the country right now? Is this a sign that I should stay put? But thankfully, EPIK was willing to defer the applicants that could not come in the Fall to the Spring 2021 intake and since I had not put in my notice at my job, I decided to soldier on in pursuit of a placement while staying at my current job. This time around, all I needed to do was submit the application online and obtain a new background check which made the process less stressful than before. It also helped that this was my third time applying in a row; I was a vet at this point!

The timeline for the Spring intake is the same as for Fall. Applications open in August, placements start going out in December, then arrival in February for orientation (and quarantine). Quarantine would still be an out-of-pocket expense, but this time around it was not a surprise expense, so I had plenty of time to put some money aside for it. However, as stress-free as the application process was this time, I felt like I was stuck at a stop light all Fall while I waited to see if and where I would be placed. There were things I would need to do if I got placed, like sell my car, pack up and clean out my apartment, apply for the US residency tax certification (so I wouldn’t have to pay taxes for both the US and Korea), resign from my job, and apply for my work visa, but I couldn’t move on any of them until I knew for sure I would be leaving.

And so when I finally received my placement in the beginning of December that I would be teaching in Daejeon, South Korea, the light turned green and I hit the gas. Residency certificate: sent. Car: sold. Job: resigned. Plane ticket: bought. Visa: approved. The last and hardest thing I had to do was notify my landlord I was moving out and pack up my apartment. That…. literally took me up until the day I left. I had already taken some stuff to my brother’s storage unit, donated most of my clothes, and thrown out a bunch of trash, but there was still a lot to do and my last couple of weeks were hectic and emotion filled. I was sad about leaving my coworkers, some of whom I had worked with for almost 10 years. I was stressed about taking the COVID test so I could fly out (had to test negative within 72 hours before my flight). I was frustrated and a little overwhelmed with how packing was going. And I was nervous and excited about finally leaving. And so I foolishly put off finishing packing until I absolutely couldn’t anymore; aka the last two days before my flight.

I quickly realized in those two days that I was trying to take too much stuff with me. I was going to have to leave even more stuff behind than I planned. I bought more garbage tags so I could throw more stuff out and packed up more bags to leave with my brother. Thursday, I packed all my clothes and left the rest for Friday. Even then, it was a mess still. I cursed myself for not doing a proper trial pack and lamented the loss of any sleep I would have gotten that night. See, my flight was at noon on Saturday out of JFK, 3.5 hours away. However, I would be leaving at 2:30 am that morning to drive my car 3.5 hours to the house of the buyer to leave it with them and my brother would be meeting me there to drive me to the airport, which would still be another three hours away. I ended up packing and cleaning all the way to 2:30 am and did not get on the road until close to 3 am.

Though sleep deprived, I thankfully made it safely to their house. My brother’s storage until was on the way to the airport, so we dropped of the extra stuff there real quick and continued on, making it to JFK around 10:30 am, 90 minutes before my flight. Check-in and security went smoothly, and I made it to my gate five minutes before boarding began to meet up with my friends that I made from the applicant chats. We had bought our tickets together, so we had a whole row to ourselves. The flight was estimated to be a little over 15 hours, but our pilot shaved off two hours; we were cruising. On the flight, I had my first dish of Bibimbap. It won’t be my last. And then honestly, I slept off and on for the rest of the flight with a little reading mixed in. Since I was running on 30 hours without sleep before the flight took off, the sleep was much appreciated. Overall, it was the fastest 13-hour flight I’ll probably ever take. It seemed like we were landing in Korea before we knew it.

As fast as the flight was, the check-in with immigration upon arrival was the opposite. It took my friends and me a good two hours to finish with each checkpoint and finally make our way to the baggage claim to grab our luggage. At that point, we split. Some of them were staying in Seoul for their quarantine and the rest of us were going to Chungju, a two-hour bus ride away.

The bus ride was smooth and again, it felt like the earlier flight; it was over before we knew it. We had all arrived at our quarantine site, a campus dormitory. We were given our info packets and room numbers and signed in before heading up. My long, 27-hour travel day had finally come to an end. One shower and late night dinner later, I was tucked into bed, ready for my first night of sleep in South Korea. And thus ended my year and a half journey to make it to Korea and began my two-week quarantine.

The lyrics for this post’s title came from Childish Gambino’s III. Life: The Biggest Troll