Atlanta and back in 36 hours.

So I just got back from Atlanta, where I had my EPIK interview. I stayed with Oz, one of the girls who played for FUEL this past fall before she graduated and left us...

I got into Atlanta around 8 o'clock on Tuesday night. I drove straight to the park where Oz was playing league. I watched her team play til about 9:30ish. Afterwords, we went to an Asian place called Doc Chey's that was really good. Had the pad thai (obvi). The restaurant was in this really cute section of town where there were just a dozen independent restaurants and boutique-y clothing stores and I was like, I wanna come back HERE sometime and shop like mad. The fortune in my fortune cookie was awesome (especially in regard to my interview): You are the master of every situation. Crazy, right?

So, we went back to Oz's place, where I watched the magic/lakers game (go magic!) and got ready for bed. Her family has a huge golden doodle that was a-freakin-dorable named Patrick.

Woke up at about 9;30. Had some breakfast, got ready for the day, but not the interview, which wasn't till 2:30. I read some of A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway (really good if you're into Hemmingway's style). I am almost done with that. Up next: Water for Elephants

Oz had class at 8 a.m. (sucky) and then after she got back, we decided to go to H&M!! It was awesome, since we don't have one in Gainesville or back at home, and because it's cheap and super cool. I got two new shirts and spent most of the pre-interview day relaxed as can be. We went to lunch at this place called taqueria del sol. Super cute, really bright and cheery, blues and whites and yellows, and super delicious carnitas tacos. We passed this famous bbq place (fatt matt's?) where Chris Brown ate when he was last in atlanta, and I was all sad about not going there.

Anyways, got back and showered and got ready for my interview. Oz lives about 15 minutes from where my interview was which is SUPER convenient. Got all dressed and drove downtown without any real problems (phew!) and parked. It was about a block walk from the parking garage to where the interview was. I walked into the Consulate and literally everything (posters, signs, EVERYTHING) was written in Korean and everyone was speaking Korean and I was just like oh Christ. But, I just had to wait like five minutes and then I got called into the office where I was interviewed by two people: an American lady and a Korean guy. Pretty standard interview: what 3 adjs. best describe you, what are your biggest strengths/weaknesses, etc. plus some questions about adapting to other cultures, working with children, teaching, etc. The Korean guy asked me a really weird/hard question: What do you know about Korea? He didn't really explain exactly what he meant (culturally, historically, politically, etc.), but I think I handled the answer pretty well. All in all, I think the interview went about as well as I could have hoped/expected.

I'm not positive the timeline on when I'll find out because they accept applicants on a rolling basis, but the people who interviewed me will have to send their recommendation to the EPIK office in Korea who will look over my application/their recommendations and then let me know their decision. I assume it'll be 2-4 weeks, but it could, in theory, be longer than that.

After the interview I drove over to the georgia aquarium where I saw SO many COOL sea creatures. Hammerhead sharks, sawfish, beluga whales, jelly fish, sea otters (they were sleeping and all huddled together and it was SOOOOOOO cute), etc. I left kinda early from the aquarium because I really wanted to go to World of Coke which is right next door, but when I was walking up to World of Coke I saw a sign that said: "closing early for event" and I had missed the cut-off time for buying a ticket by like 20 minutes. BUMMER.

So I hit the road, and drove home through some rain. No speeding tickets!

Sorry this was so long, so much to share!

xoxo,
A