Hello everyone,

My name is Karen McIlrath. I grew up in Kokomo, Indiana and I am currently attending Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The reason I started this whole account is because I have finally gotten a chance to fulfill my dream of going to study abroad in Seoul, South Korea.

My fascination with Korean culture began in sixth grade. I was only 11 years old and I absolutely loved listening to music and dancing. One day, my 11 year old self wanted to listen to a song on YouTube while I did my homework. The song was called 'Replay by Iyaz." This song had JUST been released and so I knew there was no music video or dance video released yet (trust me, I always knew when new music videos were released) and so when I saw a thumbnail of 5 guys in a dance pose you can imagine my astonishment. I thought to myself, "How the heck did these guys already make a dance video?! This song JUST came out!" 

So I clicked on the thumbnail to watch what I assumed was a dance video to the song. All of a sudden I am transported to a cute little coffee shop where some asian dude is staring at the barista girl. I was a bit puzzled because the tune that was playing in the background was NOT Replay by Iyaz. So I kept on watching thinking that the tune would transition into the correct song. I thought that this boy group had to be from California or some place with a large Asian population. Boy was I wrong. All of a sudden the boys start singing in a language I could not understand but I really enjoyed the soothing tone they had going on. 

I sat there with my eyes wide open just absorbing the foreigness of it all. I kept watching related videos and researching the groups and found out that they were famous Korean celebrities. I laughed to myself realizing that there is so much more in the world than just Mexicans and Americans (I was raised in a bicultural household  so those were the only two things I really knew). And I began to get exasperated because I had NO IDEA what the heck they were saying. So there started my infatuation with Korean culture. I started to teach myself the language. I watched Korean TV, read Korean news, and listened to Korean music. 

Ever since 6th grade it has been my dream to go to the land and meet the people that I have read so much about. Now that I am a sophomore in college and have been accepted to study abroud in Seoul, South Korea at Yonsei University through CIEE....I cannot believe that my 9 year long dream is becoming a reality. I have never wanted something so bad in my entire life. 

I screamed and cried the moment my acceptance email came through. I am so incredibly grateful. The program costs $9,000 and I have $7,000 at the moment. So I really need help raising about $2,500. I placed the goal at $2,500 just because I want to make sure I have a bit extra in case something bad happens while I am abroad (like breaking a leg or something....). Hopefully that does not happen but you never know. The money will be applied towards housing, food, transportation, and books. 

ANY type of donation helps. It means the world to me. I appreciate everyone single person that has ever encouraged me to reach and fight for my dreams and to never stop dreaming.