Picture I Took On The First Day Of GLPS



I did not recognize it for several weeks but 2 months passed after I came back from KMLA. A few days after the return, the new semester started and I went back to my school. And now, I'm preparing for the mid term exam. Truth be told, I adjusted to my normal life very fast and some memories related to KMLA and GLPS already blurred in my mind. I think that alomost every camp participants, teachers, PAs and TAs did, as well. (Actually, the teachers in KMLA were preparing the next camp. When I entered the GLPS site by chance, I saw a notice about the 19th GLPS camp.)

Yet, the memory about the first day of GLPS is still clear in my mind. It was 2 o' clock or so when I entered my dorm room. My two roommaates-Soyueon and Jungyueon- were there. We unpacked our suitcases until 3 o'clock and went upstairs for the placement test. It was a big room and students used to study there in the midnight. Although I did not know at that time, the place was called 'Myeon Hak Room'. In 'Myeon Hak Room', we, the camp participants, had to write two kinds of essays: book reviews (or movie review) and essays about 'honesty'.

 I returned my dorm room after I finished writing. At the moment, I had mixed feelings. I was ecstatic since I could study in the school I admired with the best teachers in Korea and exceptional students for a month. However, I also thought, "what if the teacher and PAs who are scoring my essays think my pieces are awful? what if I can not adjust to my new life in this school? what if I can't understand what teachers and other participants are saying? what if I can not amount to anything? what if I get poor grades? " I sat on the chair and tried to do my school assignment but I could not concentrate on writing a diary. So I stood up again and tried to find my cellphone to take some photos.  As soon as I found it, I took a picture of my desk and bed.

                                                 

Looking back, I did not need to worry that much. I was placed in Class 14, one of the best classes -class 14, 15 and 16-  and adapted to the new environment pretty well. I especially liked debate class and writing class. My debate teacher was Mr. Kluge and he was also the advisor of Class 14. I did not even know what 'parliamentary debate' was before, truth be told, and I was not a good public speaker. However, I became more confident about parliamentary debate and public speaking through the debate class. As for the writing class with Mr. Garrioch, I and other Class 14 students made our own blogs and uploaded our writings. I tried to post as many writings as I could and finally got the Best Blogger Award among all the Level 1 Elementary school students in the closing ceremony. But I believe that I had to be nervous and worried at that time since if I weren't nervous, I might not have done my best during the camp.