Some time ago I had entered a contest for a new show in Korea. It was going to star one lucky fan that would get to live with 2PM for a whole month. The show was going to broadcast what the daily life was like living with all the members. The twist of the show, that was somewhat controversy, was that the fan would be a female. I found it to be an interesting twist. Not to mention the fan would also be American. The director thought that it would be different to diversify it a bit, so that this show didn’t seem like the typical show. I tried my luck and entered into the contest. I was never a lucky person and had never won much in my life. However, all of that was changed when I got a letter in the mail telling me that I won the contest.

My best friend was so excited! She was glad that I won because she liked the group as much as I did and I was going to be on TV around the world. I was so nervous because I had never been out of the country before and I did not know Korean at all. I had a roommate in college, who could have taught me, but I never saw the need to learn it; I had never expected an opportunity like this to come about in a million years. I was given a week to prepare myself and make all of the necessary plans for my travel and stay. There was so much to do! I had to buy new clothes, get a passport, new luggage, a dictionary, let family and friends know about the event, and clean my room so that it would be neat when I returned. After all, I was going to be gone for a month. Once everything was in place and I was ready to go, 2PM sent me a welcoming package with all kinds of goodies and thank you notes. I felt so appreciated! This was going to be fun I thought to myself. It was a good thing this was during the summer because school would have interfered. I knew that I was going to enjoy myself and arrived at the airport to board my plane.

I didn’t know the flight was going to be so long! I had never been so restless in my life. I thought that it would be good to take some movies with me because I was going to need something to occupy me. I had gotten sleepy enough times to sleep long. After some time, I had finally arrived! Korea was more beautiful that I had seen in pictures. There were people everywhere and everyone looked so lively. However, the first slight disappointment that I had was that I could not read a thing that was around me. I cried a little on the inside. I was going to be provided with a translator, but I felt so handicapped. I now had to constantly think about what to say, when to say it, how to pronounce it correctly, and understand what was going to be said in response. There was going to be so much thinking involved and I did not know if my mind was going to be able to handle all of that. I had arrived midafternoon and it was quite warm. I had a driver meet me at the airport and there I met my translator. He was really nice and was able to let me know many things about my trip. The main thing that he wanted to assure me was not to be nervous and attempt the language. Everyone knew that I didn’t know Korean so everyone around me was going to adjust. As we rode to the place where 2PM stayed, I was thinking about what they were probably doing. Knowing them, they were probably at some photo shoot and were going to play some random game at night because they were bored. I laughed to myself at the thought. It also was a bit of comfort to me to know that Taecyeon and Nichkhun knew English and could understand me. It wasn’t going to be that bad. I was going to also have many people be able to teach me Korean. I was getting nervous and I was getting closer and closer to the dorm.

I arrived around 7pm. I had forgotten that I needed to adjust to the major time difference and felt more sleepy than normal. Plus, there was also a little bit of jet lag that I was trying to fight off. I was constantly fixing hair, making sure my lips weren’t chapped, my clothes were neat, and my translator all the while was laughing at me. He told me to just relax. I was trying, but he had no idea how serious this was for me. The moment almost didn’t seem real and here I was going to finally come into contact with them. We walked to the door. I took a deep breath and attempted to knock. The nervousness was causing me to shake. I really did need to relax but I couldn’t help it. I heard footsteps approaching the door. Taecyeon opened the door and embraced me. I was so happy and nervous at the same time. He called for everyone, saying that I had arrived and everyone was so excited. They took my bags the room I was going to be staying in and they were in the process of making dinner. Taec told my translator that he could go home and that I was going to be taken care of. They were considerate of how long it took for me to get to them so they let me sleep. When I finally got settled in, I lie on the bed and let my mind drift away. Slowly, reality was starting to sink in: I was in Korea, I was staying with 2Pm, I hugged Taec, and now I am lying down on a bed in their house. This day couldn’t have gotten better. I took a short nap and awakened a few hours later to eat dinner.