Your Sign to Move Abroad ✈️

I never thought I would live abroad and be so far away from my family. But after a classmate (later turned good friend) told me the reason why she was studying Korean was to be an ESL teacher my whole perspective changed. I was a film major and started the Korean class simply to boost my resume as BTS was becoming popular at the time. I went home and looked up more vlogs of other ESL teachers and absolutely fell in love. My whole plan of graduating and moving to LA flew out the window. I always wanted to travel, but as a broke college student it was something that was far off in my future plans. I tried to ignore the thoughts about Korea. I have always been a planner and it has been in my plans for years to move to LA. Was I really willing to give up my plans to go on this new adventure? I graduated college early and the pandemic hit. I knew that breaking into the film industry is not an easy job at all and can take years. On top of that the pandemic shut down all productions. I had two options 1. Be a starving artist or 2. See the world while I’m still young and come back later with plenty of time to pursue my dreams. I obviously took the second option and it was the best decision of my life. I never knew teaching abroad was an option especially for someone who wasn’t an education major. I am forever grateful to my friend for introducing me to the opportunity. I want to also be the beaming light for someone else who might not know of the amazing possibilities waiting for them out there.

1. You don’t have to major in education! 👩🏽‍🏫

I know this is one of the top things someone might be curious about. You can major in whatever you want as long as you attain a bachelor’s degree. And you get your tesol or tefl certification. I took an online self paced course and finished in two weeks while still taking my college courses. Super easy and not expensive.

2. They pay for your airfare ✈️

I know in this economy most people aren’t traveling because of money issues. I’m not sure about other countries but in South Korea the schools typically pay for your airfare. In most cases you have to pay upfront and they will pay you back. For public school it is a flat rate they give you. So if you can find a cheaper ticket you are actually making a profit.

3. They pay for your housing 🏠

They pay for your rent. All you have to worry about are your utilities but they are extremely cheap. The most expensive month I had of utilities was $100 for everything.

4. You make lifelong friends and memories 💕

I went to Korea all by myself not knowing a soul. So I know how daunting it can be to move to a new place, especially one where they don’t speak the same language as you. I starved my first night in my apartment because I was too scared to go outside and talk to people 😂. The wonderful news is that you are not alone. There are plenty of other foreigners around you who are just as eager to make friends. If you go the public school route you have an orientation where you can meet other people from your city and the surrounding cities. If you go with a hagwon you are surrounded by foreigners every single day. You just have to step outside your door to make friends. You are all sharing this once in a lifetime experience. You will carry memories with you forever that you can’t wait to tell the grandkids. You can also experience a different culture. It is one thing to go somewhere on vacation. It is a completely different thing to live amongst its people and integrate yourself into their daily lives. You gain a completely different perspective on life.

5. Opportunity to travel 🧳

If you work in Asia it is super cheap to travel to other Asian countries. You can take a weekend trip to Japan, Vietnam, Bali, etc whenever you want. It also only takes 2 hours to get from one end of South Korea to the other. My carry on luggage was always packed 😂.

6. You grow as a person 🫶🏾

Lastly, you grow as an individual. You learn things about yourself that you could have never learned in the comfort of your home country. I was super shy before leaving and hated going into stores by myself. I soon had to get over that fear when I lived by myself and groceries needed to be bought. I can confidently say I can walk into any room now and make friends within minutes. I know how to handle scary situations that I would normally have run away from.

I hope this at least finds one person who dreams of seeing the world but doesn’t know how or who is too afraid 🫶🏾.

#Lemon8Diary #travel #advice #movingabroad #livingabroad #southkorea