Guess I Will Start It Off.

When I first started thinking about writing this I face a bit of a conundrum: do I write specifically about my internship, or more about the experiences that I am...ahh, experiencing while in Korea. I have decided to lean heavier to the later rather than the former. And sorry for using conundrum in a sentence.

As I write I am two day deep into my second week in Korea, and according to the U-curve theory of culture shock it should still be in the honeymoon phase of my time abroad, and I suppose that despite my travels in Asia, which are fairly considerable (I have spent time in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan), I am. Korea, not surprisingly, is its own country, and I am still a little wide eyed as I walk around.

But, before I get carried away, allow me to get some of the basics out of the way, such as why I am here for example. I am a American University/Korean University Dual Degree candidate, and I am currently interning at the Asian Pacific Women's Information of Sookmyung University. The APWINC is a non-profit who operates under the APEC umbrella, and who's goal is the empowerment of women through ICT. What APWINC is really trying to accomplish is the spread of educational resources and economic opportunities to women in rural areas, and particularly in LDCs. What I am going to be doing here is trying to craft a policy proposal that APWINC is going to present to the APEC that tries to accomplish this goal while taking into consideration the various wants and need of the APEC 21 member economies.

Think that is about it for now.

-James