Awkward, yet necessary first post. :)

Welcome to my blog! :) My name is Grace, and I'm a seventeen year old high school student from Texas. For the most part, I'm just an average person. But something that sets me apart from the typical American teenager is my experience with living and studying abroad. This blog, in particular, will document my adventures as an exchange student in Seoul, South Korea. Stick around if you're interested! Meanwhile, here's a bit about me, as I think it's important to explain the kind of person I am so that you, as a reader, will know a little about the person whose viewpoints and opinions you'll be reading about in the future.

Basics: Female. 17 years old. From Texas.

My Interests and Hobbies: I enjoy writing, music, martial arts, shopping, penguins, purses big enough to hold all the random stuff I insist on carrying around, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, not Twilight, photography, noritama, Japanese, world geography/history, foreign cultures and languages (Korean will be language #4!), being a theatre techie, procrastinating, fish, Powerade Zero, and the internet.

Background: Grew up in the Dallas area. Half-Vietnamese from my mom's side, but quite frankly, I look white. For some reason, people always look shocked when they see I'm able to use chopsticks. -_- Um. Yes. I've been doing karate/tae kwon do/various martial arts for roughly nine years. I'm also a theatre techie. Before I went to Japan (see below), I had never been out of the country, so I feel it's fair to say that for a long time I lived a fairly isolated life-all that I really knew was in the small, middle class suburb that I grew up in for fourteen years. And then I moved to Houston, Texas and my life gradually began to change.

Japan: Yes, Japan gets it's own section. It's that important to me. :P Haha. Anyway, in the summer of 2011 I traveled to Hiroshima, Japan, where I became a foreign exchange student under the Japan-U.S. Senate Scholarship through Youth For Understanding (YFU). I lived in Hiroshima for six weeks, and they were the most amazing, life-changing six weeks of my entire life. I lived with the most amazing host family (whom I miss to pieces!), attended an all-girls Japanese high school (that I'd give anything to return to and visit), and experienced a city full of culture, history, and vibrance. In Hiroshima I met Marin, who was trying to spend a year in America, also through YFU, but didn't have a host family yet. And so, we worked things out and she's currently spending her exchange year here in Texas with my family.

Japan totally changed my life. I spent six weeks living an entirely new life in a country know to the world as the land of sushi and samurai, and explored the depths of it's culture and lifestyle, away from other Americans and even other English speakers. I grew as a person as my language skills thrived and I experienced the ups and downs-yes, there are both, but the ups far outweigh the downs, and if anything the downs helped me grow-of being immersed in a culture so different from what I was used to. And I loved it. Being on exchange, and being in Japan, just felt so right to me. In Japan, I felt like, personality wise, it was a perfect fit. At the end of the six weeks covered by my scholarship I couldn't believe I had to leave. I wasn't ready to leave, it was too soon. But as soon as that plane landed back in Houston I searched for more ways to get back overseas.

How I Became an NSLI-Y Scholar: As I am highly involved in the exchange community, I know great deal of information about dozens of the exchange programs that exist out there. So, with the knowledge of all the different programs and scholarships available to me, I set out on a quest to find one that fit me best.

For most programs, you pick a country and pay tuition (ranging from 6000$ to 9000$ for a summer program and 7000$ to 15,000$+ for a year or semester) to go on the program. For others, like Rotary, you put down a list of countries you are interested in and you'll be assigned to one of those countries. Some programs (that go through other programs in the bigger picture) are scholarship only, meaning that you cannot participate unless you win the scholarship. These are usually highly competitive and include CBYX, YES, and NSLI-Y, which are all sponsored by the United States Government. Because I'm unable to miss school to go on exchange at this time, I decided to again apply for summer study abroad programs (although most (including NSLI-Y) give both summer and long-term options).  NSLI-Y places a ton of emphasis on language learning, which is something that I also value because I firmly believe that a country's language offers a huge amount of insight into their culture, lifestyle and history. In fact, a few of my favorite moments from my exchange in Japan were the "click" moments I felt when I realized that I was speaking and understanding so much Japanese. So, I felt that NSLI-Y would be a great fit for what I was looking for. Because my host family in Japan was half-Korean, I had become quite interested in the Korean culture, prompting me to put Korea as my first choice on the application.

As you're probably aware of, after months of waiting I found out two days before my birthday that I've been selected to receive an NSLI-Y scholarship to spend seven weeks in Seoul, South Korea, and I am so grateful! After applications, essays, and interviews, I'm still shocked that I got the scholarship. Thank you to the State Department and NSLI-Y for giving me this incredible opportunity and I'll certainly make the most of it!

Blog Name? My blog is a semi-clever play on the words Bi Bim Bap, which is the name of a Korean dish of mixed rice, vegetables, and meat. Although I have yet to try the authentic Korean version, I've had the Vietnamese adaptation and I love it, and well, I wanted a creative name for this blog. Hey, it was the best I could do. XD

What This Blog Will Cover: I'll be writing about my pre-departure experiences, exchange in general, the NSLI-Y program, and of course my experiences living in Seoul with my host family and attending Korean classes at Sogang University. Those are just the basics though, and if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to comment below each post!