Until January 2007, I have stayed in four different places and experienced four different cultures, including my hometown Jilin, Beijing, Kobe, and Charlottesville. Of course, my life had changed by the change of the places.

I was born in Longjing of Jilin, China. It is a small city where most of Korean Chinese people live. My grandfather or grandmother emigrated from Korea in the 1930's. We speak Korean. I studied in Korean through high school. The tradition of Korea has been kept as far as food, festival, and other cultural aspects. Of course we also studied Chinese using Korean. Therefore, I grew up in the Korean environment. My parents still live there now.

In 1997 I entered the university and I spent four years in Beijing. Because my classmates came from various places in China, I was able to experience the different cultures from Korean's and I started to speak Mandarin. This is my first life change and challenge: moving from Korean culture to real Chinese culture. The support from my teachers and classmates let me overcome the difficulty and gap between the cultures that I faced. So I have a lot of beautiful memories from university and I made many friends in Beijing.

After I graduated, I went to Japan to continue my study. I stayed four and a half years in Kobe, which is a very beautiful city and it is my hometown in Japan. In Kobe, my life had a big change; I faced the gap of culture between Chinese and Japanese. I also had to face the same pressure from life and study. At that time I got encouragement from my professor and Japanese friends. I sincerely communicated with the Japanese around me, and I tried to learn more about Japan not only in school, but in society. And finally I could totally get accustomed to Japanese culture and I worked in Osaka for one and half year.

Two years ago, I came to here, Charlottesville. Again, I face the new American culture and I will start my new life. I believe I will be challenged by a lot of things here. With support from American people, I also want to make friends here.