Gallery | 3 Photos

Sunny Lee (12) and Hannah Kim (12) at Busan Haeundae Beach

With less than three months left this semester, seniors have been going on long-awaited trips with their friends. Seniors are taking advantage of long weekends and the upcoming spring break to go on their trips. The planning process was especially memorable for some seniors since it was their first trip without adult supervision. 

“Prior to our trip, my friends and I made a list of all the restaurants and sightseeing places we wanted to visit on a google document,” Christine Yu (12), senior who recently went on a trip, said. “Our trip turned out very adventurous since we could spontaneously do whatever we wished to.”

Busan and Yongpyong are currently popular travel sites, for students can enjoy beaches and ski resorts outside of Seoul. As seniors take on the responsibility of organizing their own trips—purchasing train tickets, booking hotel rooms, and finding places to eat—many feel as though they are taking their first step to adulthood. 

“Until now, I usually relied on my parents to plan most of the activities when going on vacations,” Katie Lee (12), senior who traveled to Busan with her friends, said. “However, a trip with my friends was definitely a new experience since it was our first time allocating traveling expenses and researching places.”

Seniors who visited Busan spent time cooking food with friends, exploring the Haeundae area, and relaxing on the beach. 

“The best part of my senior trip was talking with my friends until four in the morning and walking along the beach shore at dawn,” Daniel Kim (12), senior who also visited Busan during Parent-Teacher Conferences, said. “We roamed around the city and ate a lot of popular local street food.”

Senior trips are particularly special for the Class of 2022. The current seniors have endured two full years of the pandemic and were not able to participate in most of the school events, including junior prom. With COVID-19 regulations preventing many from even having dinners or birthday parties with their friends, senior trips were the first as well as the last memorable event seniors experienced as high schoolers before their graduation. 

“My senior year trip with some of my best friends truly made my last days of high school memorable,” Andrew Jang (12) said. “I tried to take a lot of pictures of my friends since we will all be in different parts of the world in just a few months. I will miss them greatly.”