Hi everyone! My name is Elisa Zhang, and over the next 12 weeks, I'll be living in Seoul, South Korea! Seoul is a large city, just like my hometown, New York. I loved growing up in New York because of its vibrant culture and energy. I’m always looking for new foods to try around the city and beautiful places to just sit down, have a cup of coffee and read a book. As you can probably tell, I’m a proud New Yorker at heart, but I am also fascinated by the different lifestyles of people around the world.
Why did I choose the city of Seoul? My journey actually starts from my high school days. When I was in high school, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor. My plan was to go to college, major in biology or chemistry and then attend medical school. However, when I was in my first year of college, I realized that my path wouldn’t be so clear-cut. I was taking a computer science class, a biology class about cancer and AIDS and even a class about East Asian art. In just a few months, my worldview and my interests expanded immensely. In my sophomore year at Cornell University, I took a course on Southeast Asia, and I was immediately captivated by the cultures that I was learning about and my professor’s passion for Asian Studies.
