Thankses!

Before I get to the meat and potatoes, I need to take a moment to give some thanks.

First and foremost, I want to thank the wonderful Michael O'Connell and Dr. Brock Tessman who helped me receive the scholarship that paid for the trip, without which none of this would have been possible. Thanks so much for believing in me and helping me make this dream come true!

Special thanks also to David at Clocked! who hired me on and also helped finance the trip, and to my parents who sent me some moolah without my permission-- woulda starved without it!

And of course the incredible Rachel Stoker for helping make this all work out. YOU'RE THE BEST, RACHEL!

Thank you all so very very much!

Expect updates soon!!

Attention!

My tickets are booked, my visas have been filed, and my trip is financially squared away. That just leaves packing, mental preparation, entirely too much waiting, and a handful of goodbyes between me and my trip to Asia!

All systems go.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I DO NOT PLAN TO UPDATE WHILE ABROAD. 

In fact, I plan to be completely out of contact: No phone, no computer, nothing. This will afford me as much energy and presence of mind as this trip requires. I fear that the obligations of posting regularly and staying in touch would detract from my experience, so I plan specifically to stay out of touch. This will maintain acceptable post quality and will spare you floods of ecstatic minutiae.

I'll have a pen and notebook on me at all times (like usual) and will take meticulous notes; my camera too will always be at hand. No experience will go uncaptured. I plan to spend a considerable amount of time upon return to the States reviewing and reflecting upon my notes and recreating the events chronologically here for you. I think this will be easier for both of us.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned! Wish me luck! And have a wonderful few weeks!

-IEB

Exclamation!

Things are beginning to get a bit more real!

INTIMIDATINGGGGG

This form is what greeted me from the conference room table in the GLOBIS Center here at UGA.

Today was our orientation--it was our first exposure to each other as travelers and to more details on the trip itself. It was a lot, on a lot of levels: it was a lot of information, a lot of new people, and a lot of intimidating paperwork. In those ways it was a lot of somethingness; yet also a lot of nothingness: It was a lot of curiosity about my fellow travelers and the relationships we do not have but will undoubtedly form, a lot of uncertainty about what I and we will experience on the trip, and a lot of excitement for all of the above and everything else alike. The somethingness soothed anxiety about logistics and technicalities; the nothingness piqued interest and inspired action, learning, growth, and engagement.

In other words, it went well, and I can't wait to depart!

I've cut back my hours at work to make room for the crazy descent through Hell that is Finals season and am squaring away the details of my return. At this point, I'm just trying to find enjoyment in the ride and all of its chaos, confusion, excitement, and stress. Departure in less than a month!

Also, on a side note, I wanted to announce that I am the recipient of the 2012 SPIA Study Abroad scholarship (!!!). Without the magnificent kindness of those who donated, I would not be able to afford this trip. Through my efforts to win that scholarship and the countless hours of labor burnt away at my two jobs, I am paying for this trip by my self. At this point, I just feel overworked, overdrawn and eager to end this financial stress; once I've finally departed and have put some temporal, emotional, and physical distance between myself and this semester, with all of its absurd difficulties in preparation for this trip, I think I'll be proud of myself.

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to talk more about the members of the trip, but we did not have a chance to get to know each other beyond superficial introductions. I'd hoped we'd all click immediately due to our unhideable individual uniqueness and awesomeness and our shared love of and excitement for the experiences to come, but this, I realized, was unrealistic. We were tired from a long day of classes in the busiest month of the semester, and we disbanded unceremoniously at the end of the orientation like people with places to be and things to do. I hope to organize a time for us all to meet up, hang out, and get to know each other before we depart, but I know that nothing bonds better than shared experiences, so I know that things will work out whether we bond now or not.

Thanks for reading! I'll post when I can!

Realization.

One month from tonight will be my last night here in the States.

Typing that sentence does not make this fact any more true or pressing for me presently. I have to admit though that I am a fan of that sentence's pathos, and that I am excited to affirm it here on this blog. Think of it acontextually--Will that night be my last night for good in the States?! Why am I leaving?! Where am I going?!  I think the sentence is pretty darn exciting largely because those questions, although answerable on a superficial level, have profound and heretofore unexplored depths into which I will soon plunge. Typing that sentence certainly helps get me excited about this impending trip of mine, even if it doesn't for you. As the days between myself and Asia continue to melt away, I figure it might be time for me to try to wrap my head around the reality of this trip. Affirming this sentence helps.

Not my wad. I wish!

Apparently buying things helps too, as I discovered by accident today. Let me first say for those of you who do not know that an act of consumption is extremely uncommon for me-- I've been pinching pennies to save up for this trip all school year, effectively upgrading my previously Spartan lifestyle to the level de facto of Asceticism. I say this hyperbolically and with full awareness of my privileges in life, but mean it to a degree nonetheless. It's been tough to sacrifice my dietary and leisure expenses beyond their normally modest (/understatement) levels, but what's been most difficult is the management of two stressful jobs on top of a full-time class load. Every cent I now possess was wrung from my very pores by my labours (sic); they've come to me at great cost in other domains (such as sleep, social life, art, and academics). When I mentioned my Sisyphean struggle earlier in this blog, that was the object of my reference-- my absurd work load. It's paying off, literally, and is enabling me to make some preparatory purchases! And somehow these purchases make me feel closer to my trip.

I've been researching cameras for what feels like an eternity now and finally made a decision on a cheep-but-good digital one today. Perhaps I feel closer to my departure by owning a camera because that is one immediately tangible and material investment I've made in this trip; one that I hope will enrich the experience and enhance my ability to extract and share value. It's like I'm now the owner of something that will enable me to really experience this trip, although we all know that's absurd. Perhaps it's just my socialized love of consumption that's got me all excited. Either way, clicking "Buy" made me realize more acutely that the days before my trip are melting away. I must admit that I like that thought a lot.

Tomorrow is our first orientation meeting as a group! I can't wait to meet my fellow travelers, and hope to blog on the experience soon! Until then, know that I've worked harder for this trip than I ever have before, but it's beginning to pay off-- I'm beginning to see the cliché light at the end of the tunnel, and I think I like it.

More coming soon!

Exposition.

Photo Credit: Britt Michaelian

"Why did I choose this program?" is a question that I often ask myself, and one that I think deserves discussion here in the run-up to the adventure itself.

Escher's Hand With Reflecting Sphere

I struggle to articulate why it is that I am so passionate about this trip specifically because I am so passionate about it-- when I search myself for communicable reasons, I find that I am filled with unbridled exuberance that cannot support an argument or make sense to anyone other than myself. Nevertheless, in putting forth my best-faith effort to my audience, I will presently try my hand at crafting a sensible argument to answer the original question-- why I chose this program.

First and foremost, I am drawn to this program by its extreme qualities-- the destinations are extremely far away (culturally, historically, ideologically, and of course geographically--14 hrs/ 7k miles!);  the amount of exposure is extreme (hitting the big sites in 3 distinct countries rather than sticking with one); and the cost is pretty extreme too! Of all the programs I looked into, this one offers the most in terms of experiences and most importantly in terms of departures from my comfort zones.  I knew from the beginning that I didn't want to study in another Western country when I could really spread my cliché-ed wings and expand my perspective by immersing myself in a drastically different culture and country. I figured that since I'll only get to study abroad once, I might as well shoot for the stars. In this case, that meant Asia!

I briefly mentioned the extremity of the cost above because it is an integral part of my story for more reasons than the obvious. This trip costs $6700 up-front, which does not include things like tuition or food/expenses... yikes! That's more than my average full-time, in-state semester! Neither I nor my family have any way of paying for this trip (and seriously, who does these days?), but I, being who I am, have not let that deter me for an instant. When I mentioned Sisyphus in my introductory post, this was largely what I was referring to-- the seemingly impossible challenge of funding this trip. I'm in the process of pulling it off surprisingly well, but... I'll save that story for another post!

There are other attractive facets of this trip than just its extremity. I have been interested in Asian culture for most of my youth-- I grew up watching anime; I have had very meaningful experiences with "Eastern Philosophies"/"Eastern thought"; I have studied (a very small amount of) Chinese, have enjoyed the friendship of a number of Asian and Asian-American students, and perhaps most significantly I have had two momentous interactions with Korean politics (which I will discuss in another post). All of these influential experience have laid the groundwork for my interest in Asia and are an integral part of my desire to study there.

These are the most accessible reasons I chose this program. Stay tuned for more riveting (/sarcasm) exposition as I count down the days to my departure!

Illustration.

THIS IS WHERE I'M GOING:

A Map! I'm shocked at how shaky the selection of East Asian maps is. Maybe I'll find a better one someday!

Introduction.

Sisyphus. Taken by bucaorg.

This is my blog. This is my Sisyphean struggle. This is the story of the most momentous experience of my undergraduate career:  The 2012 University of Georgia/Globis Center Asia Study Abroad Program. My name is Isaiah Broomfield, and I would like to welcome you to my blog and to thank you for reading. I suggest you bookmark this blog now-- it's only going to get bigger, better, and more interesting as time goes on!

Here you will find the de facto collection of experiences, analyses, and images from my adventures in Asia. I encourage you to check back often, as I will be updating as frequently as inspiration allows. There's much more to come, so stay tuned!

-IEB

THE ORIENT by I.E.Broomfield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.