“Tiffany, why can’t you just stay home? I am really worried about you going to school in Korea. Why can’t you just stay here, in America? You don’t even speak the language well.” Said a man looking at a girl who seems to be his daughter. Surrounding them were other passengers checking in at the airport, as well as their families. Her flight must be either very early or very late since there aren’t that many people at the airport at this time.

His daughter quickly responded to her father, “Daddy! It’s going to be just fine. We have talked about this many times already.”

It seems like she has already checked in her other suitcases since there was only one carry-on bag sitting on the ground next to her feet. Tiffany, a girl with short brown hair, doesn’t look tired at all despite the fact that she is at the airport either very early or very late in the day. To be exact, she was quite excited before her dad began this conversation that apparently had taken place “many times” already.

“I know, I know, but it still worries me. What if you offend someone with your poor Korean?” Her father acclaims.

“It’ll be just fine Daddy. Jessica will be there, and she will be able to help me out.”

“All passengers going on the flight to Korea must board the plane now to avoid any delays. I repeat all the passengers…”

“I have to go, Daddy!” She leaned over and gave him a hug. “I love you, Daddy. I’ll be fine, I promise. But I have to go now! Bye, Daddy.” She finishes her farewell to her dad then quickly grabbed her bag and head for the gate.

“I love you too, honey. Give me a call when you settle in to your hotel! And if anything happens, CALL ME!” He yells and waves at the sight of his only beloved daughter walking away towards the airport gate. He sighs then left the airport.

***

After an extremely long flight, Tiffany has finally arrived in Korea at 4:00 PM, her home country. It took her about another hour to finish checking out and reclaimed her luggage. One could be fooled by her one carry-on bag that she didn’t take anything with her. But the fact is, the second she exited the airport, you can see her cart with two huge pink suitcases. How she managed to pass the weight check is unknown.

“Yay! I’m finally in Korea!” She screamed excitedly in English extracting numerous of weird looks from the people around her. She noticed their eyes and just smiled back at them showing her pair of smiley eyes. Then feeling kind of embarrassed she continued to walk on.

Out on the street, she spotted a taxi driving towards her direction and quickly waved at him to get his attention. The taxi slowed down, stopped in front of her, then got out of his seat to help Tiffany with her two huge suitcases. After placing the suitcases in the trunk, both the taxi driver and Tiffany entered the car.

“Where would you like to go, miss?” The taxi driver asked in Korean.

Tiffany, sitting in the back seat, scratched her head then slowly responded back in Korean “Star Hotel, please” in her huge American accent. Then worried that the driver did not understand her, she handed him the brochure to the hotel.

“Star Hotel? Ok!” The taxi driver said. After driving off from the airport for a few minutes, the taxi began to start a conversation with Tiffany. “What are you, miss? Chinese? Japanese? Vietnamese?” He asked in his best English. “Let me guess, ok? You Chinese, right? Your Korean is very good for Chinese guest.”

“Um…” Already feeling embarrassed, she softly replied “I’m actually Korean.”

The rest of the ride was just in an awkward silent. But nonetheless, Tiffany enjoyed the sceneries that she passed by on the ride to her hotel. She just couldn’t wait until she gets settled in so she could roam the streets of Korea.

Finally, she arrived at the hotel. After Tiffany has paid him, the taxi driver helped her with her suitcases then drove off. Though struggling, she managed to pull both her suitcases to the front desk in order to check in.

“Do you have a reservation?” Asked the front desk lady in Korean.

“Yes ma’am, I do. My name is Tiffany Hwang.” Once again she used poor Korean. She wasn’t afraid of getting embarrassed anymore. Besides, she should get used to it if she wants to live here, she thought to herself.

***

After checking in, Tiffany, with the help of a hotel employee settled in room with her two pink suitcases. And just when Tiffany was about to go out on an adventure in Korea on her first day, she remembered that she was supposed to call her dad as soon as she settled in.

“Alright, I’ll give him a call before I go.” She took out the cell phone that her dad as personally got for her that would work in Korea as well. She dialed her dad’s number and waited till someone picked the phone up. “Hello? Daddy, it’s me Tiffany…Yes I’m ok. Nothing happened. Everything went fine…Yes I’m settled in the hotel…No, I haven’t called Jessica yet…I will I will in just a bit…Ok Daddy, I’ll let you get back to work…Bye Daddy, I’ll be fine and will call you as often. I love you, bye.” She then hang up the phone call and stood up.

“Korea, here I come!” She excited screamed again then left her hotel room without calling Jessica like she said.

Tiffany didn’t go too far from her hotel, afraid that she might be lost. Good thing her hotel was surrounded by many shops and restaurants for Tiffany to look around. She spent about hours walking around, buying things, eating, taking pictures and merely just observing places.

“Omo, it’s Dennis O!” She squealed as she saw a poster of her idol Dennis O’neil at a bus stop. She quickly took a picture of herself standing next to the life-size poster. One picture is not enough. Click. A different pose. Click. Another pose. Click. This time with her signature peace sign.

Once again, she found herself being stared at by numerous eyes. She cleared her voice in embarrassment then just walked away. Remembering that she passed by a bridge on the taxi she decided to take a look. It is already 9 PM and Tiffany isn’t even tired yet. She wants to observe the beautiful city light on that bridge that she has passed.

Finally she arrived at the bridge and stood on bridge looking down at the lake. Although with many cars passing by and strong winds, the city lights reflected on the surface of the lake was extraordinary beautiful for Tiffany. She noticed there was another girl standing about 10 meters down but she didn’t cared and continued to observe the city from the bridge. And as she was looking around, the girl that was standing there caught her attention.

“I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!” The girl screamed in Korean with both hands around .

It was too dark and thus, Tiffany can’t really see the girl’s face. She can see, though, that the girl had a medium hair length to her shoulder and wasn’t very tall. I wonder if she’s okay, Tiffany thought.

Tiffany finally decided that it was late so she headed back to the hotel. After taking a shower and brushing her teeth, she lie down on her bed. She must be too excited and anxious for another adventurous day that it took her another hour to finally fall asleep.

***

“Ya! Tiffany, open the door!” A girl screamed from outside of Tiffany’s room as she bangs against the door.

“I must be dreaming, who here speaks perfect English? Aish,” Tiffany mumbled as she tries to fall back to sleep.

Still the banging kept going. “Tiffany! Wake up already! Ya! It’s me Jessica!” The girl screamed again.

“Jessica? Oh…it’s Jessica. I don’t know a Jessica.” And as she was about to go back to sleep, her eyes popped open. “Wait, Jessica?! I’m coming!” She screamed back to the girl and quickly gets up from her bed to go open the door.

As Tiffany unlocks her door, the door swings open hitting the half asleep Tiffany in her forehead.

“Ow! What the heck, Jessica?!”