The Waiting Game

I finally booked my flight.  I've decided to make a stopover in Hong Kong to visit the family for a couple weeks.  It cost a bit more but I think it is well worth it.  While I think I am leaving on the 6th of August, I am still waiting on my working visa to come through.  I really hope it gets here in time for me to fly on the 6th of August.  Otherwise, rebooking the flight will be a pain/more expensive.  The wait continues and there is absolutely nothing to do but learn some basic Korean.

The Very Beginning

I thought I would write a little bit about the work it took to finally reach the point of going to teach in Ulsan, South Korea.  

I was fascinated by the idea of going abroad to teach my first year out of college.  However, the idea did not come to me until this summer.  When I finally knew I would be committed, I had a lot to get done.  I did not officially have my degree yet since I had an ongoing senior thesis that I thought I would have more time to write.  That main objective was to finish my thesis, present it, and get graded for it.  That actually took a majority of the first month of summer.  While I was trying to complete the thesis, I spent some time to get all the other required documents (medical report, reference letters, background check, etc).  When I finally finished my thesis, I was overwhelmed with excitement due to the fact that I will be able to get my final documents (official transcripts and degree certificate) and send it to South Korea.  It was at this point when I experienced an anxiety/panic attack for a time span of 36 hours.

When I went to get my transcripts and degree, I was told that I had an "un-fullfilled" requirement.  Meaning that I was not officially graduated.  When I heard the news, all my thoughts about the fun times and experiences I would have in Korea went out the door.  There was absolutely nothing they could do, the computer did indeed show that I did not take an arts/humanities course.  I was certain that this was a mistake but had no evidence to proof it. Here is the stressful part:

I tried contacted my academic advisor that assisted me throughout my college career.  She emailed me back and told me the University "let her go" after spring 08' and she was now at the University of Kentucky.  So she was unable to help but she pointed me into the direction of people who can.  My next contact was the administrator of my college.  An automatic email response came back saying she was out of state till July 11 and would not be able to respond to emails till then (my documents were due July 15).  That is not enough time to solve the proble and get my transcripts printed.  So she was unable to help either.  So my choices came down to the APAS director and another advisor/former professor of mine.  The APAS director decided to take an early day off to go to the dentist and Professor Seykora told me the computer system is down for the day so he won't be able to look into it until tomorrow.  Needless to say, no one was able to help me on that gloomy day as I imagined my next full year working in some office for some company that I don't care about.  I picked up a summer course right away as an insurance measure and thought my trip to Korea would just have to be delayed until the fall.

Next morning, emails from the APAS director and professor Seykora both said that the computer was right and I did not take a class to fullfill that requirement.  As I started typing my letter of apologies to the Pegasus program about the situation, an email popped up on my computer.  It was from professor Seykora saying that they made a huge mistake and that they looked into more and realized it was a computer glitch and I did take a class that fullfilled that requirement.  It was a close call considering I was just finishing up typing "sincerely," on that letter.  

It was indeed the most stressful 36 hours of my life.  Sorry for the long blog but this pretty much covers the very beginning of my journey to South Korea.  Now, I wait patiently to book my flight over.