미국
The Best Summer of My Life
By Park Sue-hye, Guest Reporter
In addition, it excited me knowing that I could work and make money in the USA and also could be a New Yorker for two months. This makes my mind full just thinking about it. Since it was the first time to go abroad alone, even the plane exuded an exotic atmosphere to me. After traveling to the other side of the world, I could meet all counselors and support staff having different hair, eye and skin colors from all over the world at the airport. While living in my camp located in the north part of New York, I could learn the value of a warm spirit of camaraderie of foreign friends and realize the real value of money. After eight which was the best and hardest time in my life, I said goodbye to my friends whom I may never meet again and left for Manhattan.
Travelling Manhattan in New York
On the first day, I went to the downtown of Manhattan called the heart of New York, jam-packed skyscraper, many different styles of buildings, the incredibly flashy neon signs, busy New Yorkers, a great variety of people make my eyes fascinated. The first sight of Manhattan was so strong and attractive for me. The places I really wanted to go to were Times Square and Broadway. Times Square I fell in love at first sight literally as it was full of splendid stars and looked like the middle of the day, even at night. Gorgeous streets and neon signs made me press the shutter of my camera. In addition, as in anything to others, when we think of New York for the first time, it might be a Broadway show.
Just thinking of the thing that I watch original musical, especially “The Phantom of the Opera,” in New York makes me be on cloud nine. It was more awesome and I can’t describe it in words. Movin onto Chinatown, it appeared to be a small part of China in New York and there are some people shouting to buy the fake designer bag and I Love New York T-shirts. However, Chinatown in itself looked dirty and I moved to Soho through Canal and Spring Street. Soho was really quiet and antique to a degree that I spend the whole day there. There are a lot of brand name shops which captivate women’s eyes.
It is not much to say that all the visitors are willing to wait more than one and a half hours if they can go up to the top of the Empire State Building. I could go up to the 86th floor after a thorough security inspection. There, Manhattan I could see at first sight was magnificent and it made me dizzy from looking down. The last place I went was the symbol of the USA, the Statue of Liberty. While going to the island of Statue all the time, I could not help being excited because of the thoughts I could see the symbol of the USA directly. It was indeed as magnificent and marvelous as I have heard. While traveling in New York for a week, I fell in love with it.
In short, the feeling that I felt in New York was that New York has a great variety of cultures. All the things were really amazing from the food, language, money, to their lifestyle. On arriving at the airport, the first feeling that I felt was that whenever Americans make eye contact with strangers, they exchange greeting very naturally “Hello, how are you doing, hi there..” like this. It is somewhat funny that if Koreans say hello to a passerby in Korea, they are treated as a strange person. In addition, I could realize again that America is an obesity country. More than half of the people regardless of sex and age have fat around the waist like a balloon.
After coming to New York, the hardest thing is not homesickness but eating habits; bread, pasta, steak, pizza, hamburgers, and so on. Also, the thing that I am accustomed to American culture is I instinctively say “I’m sorry, or excuse me,” even if I hit or I am hit by somebody gently. Even though two months might be short to know the whole culture of America, I realized America is a really big country and there are many reasons why America is a developed country and the reason why we want to study and stay there.
Thoughts about Traveling Alone
I think traveling alone is a privilege of youth and taking some time for retroflection. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I ask me about myself over and over again “What should I do, Where am I, where do I want to go.” Making self travel schedules and standing in unfamiliar circumstances among strangers makes me independent and think about who I am. When I was young, I was really shy, passive and an introverted girl. I didn’t know how to make myself socialized, and I was really a dependent, selfish girl. During these two months in the USA, I learned how to earn money, how to set up self confidence, how to be accustomed to foreign friends and what should I do after I go back to my country. Through this special vacation, I feel further grown-up as well as I could discover another ego. Let me say thanks to all the authorized people in CCUSA and to CNU for giving me many unforgettable memories in my life.
