Having been through twelve years of elementary, middle, and high school, this year’s seniors are finally done with their application process for college. The winter break helped them to get the rest they wanted. Jane Han relieves her stress through a trip to her favorite country, Japan. Lauren Kim travels to Cambodia for a club. Eugenia Lee goes on a short trip with her family at the southern most tip of Korea.

Jane Han (12)

During this school year’s winter break, Jane Han, Wonjai Lee, and Joanne Lee traveled to Tokyo, Japan as a way to celebrate the end of the hardships of writing applications for college. They visited many major tour sites such as the Meiji Temple, Disneyland, and Shibuya Crossing. Jane’s favorite memory of going to Japan was raiding the Forever 21 store at Shibuya. To keep as memory, they took many pictures with beautiful scenery. There, they snacked on Ichiban ramen and bought many packs of konjac jellies for their friends back in Korea.

“We didn’t have to worry about anything other than eating and finally getting the rest we needed,” said Jane.

Lauren Kim (12)

Unlike Jane, Lauren Kim traveled to Cambodia with a few of UNICEF club members. There, the team stayed for five days and six nights. They had been having many bake sales and holding many events to help raise money to build a dream house for the kids in Cambodia. They had finally raised the 400 dollars needed to build the dream house by the summer of 2017.

“It was really heartwarming because since I had gone [to Cambodia] every year in high school, I got to observe the changes that we were able to make,” said Lauren, “By going to the trip, I was able to see the physical form of UNICEF’s hard efforts.”

Aside from building the dream house, the team taught English to a group of 500 kids in Cambodia in two schools: Land School and Lake School. They performed this service with games and outdoor activities. Many donations such as notebooks, pencils, and shoes were also gifted to the young children.

Eugenia Lee (12)

Eugenia spent time with her family this winter. She traveled to Yeosu, located at the southernmost part of continental Korea, for a day and two nights. She relaxed by eating the food she loves, such as soy sauce crab, eel soup, and Korean sausage rice soup, sundaeguk.

“While writing college applications, I could barely travel anywhere nor even go out to eat with my family,” said Eugenia. “Now that it’s all over, I could finally relax and spend the most with my family.”

Though her trip was short, she was able to celebrate New Years together with her family.