“During my time at George Mason University, I was lucky enough to study abroad twice: once my freshman year in South Korea, and again my junior year in Thailand. Both experiences were life-changing for me and something that I will never forget!
In spring of 2022, I went abroad to South Korea as a freshman through the George Mason Global Gateway, a study abroad program specifically for freshman. I found out about this opportunity when I was applying to universities; discovering that I could study abroad fueled my decision to commit to George Mason.
As part of the Global Gateway program, I began the previous fall 2021 semester in a required class with students who were traveling with me in the spring. Thanks to that class, I already had friends before I traveled to the Mason Korea campus in South Korea, and that gave me some comfort as I was traveling across the globe alone. To this day I am still close with many of those friends from both Fairfax and Mason Korea.
Although I was initially nervous about finding classes and getting transfer credits, studying abroad at Mason Korea made the process easy. I was able to take both general electives and courses for my Honors College curriculum. I took Intro to Gastronomy, Intro to World History, Intro to Visual Arts, and Intro to Cultural Anthropology. I explored restaurants and tasted different cuisines in my gastronomy class and visited the National Museum of Korea with my visual arts class! A few of my favorite memories from South Korea were wearing a hanbok and visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, visiting the island of Jeju, trying so many new foods and visiting cute cafes, celebrating my birthday in Seoul, and exploring the city!
A few of my favorite memories from South Korea were wearing a hanbok and visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, visiting the island of Jeju, trying so many new foods and visiting cute cafes, celebrating my birthday in Seoul, and exploring the city!
Immediately upon returning home in fall 2022, I knew that I wanted to study abroad again. I started researching other study abroad options, which was challenging at first because as a junior I mostly had major coursework, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find an opportunity related to my major. In addition to this, one of my close friends from my first study abroad experience also wanted to go, so we needed to find a university that was offering programs for both of our majors. After considering many factors, like courses available, cost, and overall interest, I settled on the International College at Mahidol University in Thailand. During the application process, I worked independently, with the George Mason Global Education Office, and with the Thai university. Once I was admitted, I was able to take courses that transferred back directly to my major as electives or required courses, which helped me stay on track to graduate. Some of my favorite memories from Thailand were wearing a Chut Thai at Wat Arun, celebrating my birthday in Bangkok, celebrating the new year (known as Songkran), playing with elephants at a sanctuary in Chiang Mai, and exploring Bangkok!
I had an amazing time filled with lifelong memories during both of my study abroad experiences! I would recommend studying abroad to everyone – it is something that has defined my college experience and career goals. After graduating, I plan on moving to South Korea to teach English as a second language. My long-term goal is to become more fluent in Korean and eventually work in a hotel coordinating and planning events.”