Week five has gone well so far! I spent some time with one of my friends from last year’s study abroad experience, and that was really nice. Having friends across the world is really fun because when you finally meet up after some time has passed, there is so much to catch up on, and it makes the relationship feel particularly special. Despite our somewhat prominent age gap and the fact that we have grown up on opposite sides of the world, we have so much in common as far as interests, personality characteristics, habits and tendencies, and more. On Saturday, I was deep into the Korean cafe culture as my friend and I sat in one cafe for about two hours. Since the weather is so humid and uncomfortable, we just sat and enjoyed the air conditioning and hearing about each other’s lives over the past year. Then, we ate sushi at a neighborhood restaurant then headed to Ttukseom Park on the Han River. We watched the sunset, discussed the political state of the world, went for a stroll, then decided to end the night with another cafe! On Sunday I went back to Hongdae, however the weather was truly unbearable so I went home only a few hours later. I enjoyed some good food before I left, and my roommate and I got caricatures drawn of us which was super fun and cute! The trend of getting a caricature drawing of yourself has blown up in Seoul since last time I was here, and it’s a cheap and fairly quick experience that is totally worth it to me.

I have always been pretty naturally inclined to lead others, whether it’s in group projects,  in my competitive dance experiences growing up, or when it comes to planning an itinerary for a trip. I tend to instinctually carry the weight of others’ reliance and trust, and I typically end up being the one to make decisions whether it is just me and one other friend, or it’s me and a group of acquaintances, and I enjoy doing so! I think growing up as an only child comes into play here, as if I didn’t make decisions about what games to play or how to entertain myself, there was no one else to decide either. As for my leadership style, it has always fundamentally been a very personal, almost intimate thing for me. Before I make decisions or give directions, I always like to do two things in no particular order. I always try to loosen up the atmosphere by saying something funny or more typically something strange that makes people get out of their own heads and maybe crack a smile. I also make sure to ask questions about every person I am interacting with, and keep the conversation either fun and happy or inquisitive and engaging, depending on the context. With my fellow social work students, a good combination usually works best because we learn about horrific aspects of society and often like to engage in discourse about less-than-fun topics, and this brings us closer. When the group is made up of people with all different interests, sharing light-hearted conversation is best. So all in all, my leadership style has evolved to be me taking note of the “crowd” and then bringing up topics or asking questions that I believe will get people to open up. Then, we can tackle the task at hand with the foundation of a good relationship set.

Now that I’m at this internship, my leadership skills are directed towards our Korean students who are learning English. As I conduct one-on-one calls with the students, they look to me for guidance and assistance with conversation topics as well as English vocabulary and grammar. In this role– as my supervisor has described it– I am the professional! Even when I feel uncomfortable or unsure, it is my job to lead the students in our English lessons because they usually feel even more unsure and uncomfortable than me, as they are speaking a foreign language. This internship has forced me out of my comfort zone as far as making small talk, taking phone calls daily, and communicating with people from across the world via email. These fortified communication skills that I am gaining are making me a better leader because arguably the biggest part of leadership is communication with the people you are leading. Although I have always been naturally inclined to lead, my skills are being fine tuned as this position essentially shoved me into a leadership role starting about an hour into day one, where I had to exude tranquility and confidence while guiding a student through her first English evaluation despite it being my first time as well. Overall, my approach to leadership has not changed in any drastic way, however I think I am getting much better at leading and guiding people while making them feel comfortable to be themselves, ask questions, crack jokes, and disagree with me.