Lindsey Hobson
2022 American International Education Administrators Program
College of Lake County

Journey to the Fulbright Program 

I turned to my Argentinian student and pondered the pronunciation of 오 and 어. “They both sound like “Oh”, right?” She was so patient with me as we sat together in the Social Security Administration office in fall of 2017 waiting for paperwork to be processed.  

It was a new home for both of us. I had just moved to Chicago to work for Trinity International University as their Coordinator of the International Student and Scholar Office, and my 친구 had just moved with her new husband from Argentina. I was mesmerized by her ethnically Korean features and latina accent. She is a native speaker of Korean and Spanish, a 교포 now studying on a student visa in the United States of America. 

“What does it mean to be Korean?” became the title of my final project of the Korean language course I was taking through the Chicago Korean Education Center of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea during that time. Although I had first travelled to Korea in 2015, I was finally beginning my slow language learning journey and had many friends of Korean-descent who were willing to answer my questions about their culture.  

And even that was not the beginning. 

The seeds that littered my path to attend the 2022 IEA program began when a Korean international student arrived in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014 through a joint PhD program with Chung-Ang University and Cleveland State University. After developing my first friendship with a Korean, in 2015 I went to visit her home in Pyeongtaek during Christmas break and decided from that point forward I needed to learn Korean! 

After working for 4 years supporting international students and scholars from Korea who were studying in the U.S. and looking at our large percentage of Korean international students enrolled at the College of Lake County, I decided to apply for the IEA Fulbright program in 2020. Although I was selected for the 2021 cohort, due to COVID19, we did not arrive in South Korea until June of 2022. 

During our visit, I was surprised to see the large shift of international students now studying in South Korea. Korea has seen a continual influx of international student enrollment which makes programs like Fulbright increasingly more important for cross-cultural understanding and support. How will students integrate in Korean society? What support systems are available for students? I was happy to find that of the nine institutions we visited, many of them had buddy-programs to pair international students with local Korean friends.  

A highlight from the trip was connecting with a colleague at Inje University in Busan during a tour of their maker space called the “Dream Factory,” sponsored by the LINC program in Korea. College of Lake County also has a very similar space called the “Baxter Lab” where Engineering students can collaborate and develop new technology, use tools, and create. How cool would it be if we could host collaborative projects between our institutions?  

A week later I was leaving South Korea and ran into the same colleague in the Incheon airport. We found out we were on the same flight back to Chicago! I knew this was not an accident and that we needed to maintain contact. The opportunity that Fulbright provided for us to connect in person during the IEA allowed us to establish an MOU between our institutions in the following months. For a community college, this is no small endeavor. I was very proud that we were able to establish something that will outlast us and provide for continued educational exchange between our institutions! 

Journey back to South Korea 

The week following the IEA seminar, I continued to travel in Korea and visited an NGO in Daejeon called Science and Engineering Members (SEM). SEM has been assisting international students and scholars for the past 30 years. After our visit, I maintained contact and came on a student visa to Chungnam National University (CNU) as an international student myself in September 2023. I enrolled in the intensive Korean language training program at CNU, lived in the dormitory, and attended classes with other international students for 9 months. I also volunteered to assist SEM with student support.  

Currently, I am working for a U.S. Christian non-profit, International Friendships, Inc. (IFI), as their Mobilizer for Korean Outreach and continue as a volunteer with SEM in Daejeon, South Korea. Through my volunteer work with SEM, I’ve met my future husband, another volunteer serving here in Daejeon. 

Coincidentally, I have to thank the Fulbright program again. He is Chinese and we communicate together in Chinese. 

I was a Fulbright U.S. Student Scholar from 2015-2016 in China and during that time spent 4 months in intensive language training and 10 months researching the experience of Chinese international students. Now I am planning to marry a Chinese international student who I met in South Korea. 

Fulbright continues to provide deeply meaningful connections, resources, and opportunities for U.S. citizens to be engaged in so many regions of the world. If it wasn’t for Fulbright, I would not be living in South Korea today planning to marry a Chinese citizen. Thank you Fulbright for giving me this opportunity and thank you God for continuing to direct my steps in East Asia.