As the taxi I took from the airport drove away, I was left alone with my things at the entrance of the hotel I was staying at for the night in Durham. It was early July, and I had two HUGE bags, a carrier, a backpack, and a piece of paper with the name and address of the hotel. I checked in, dragged my bags to my room, and went down to the bar to grab a bite. I got my receipt and stared at the ‘tip x___________’ section for a few seconds. I had forgotten how to tip (we don’t tip in Korea). Hmm. Maybe two dollars? Okay, two is fine, I guessed.

I was only semi-new to the US. I had lived in Clinton, Mississippi, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, for a total of 7 and a half years. Mississippi, for 6 and a half from when I was age 4 to 10, and in Jersey for about a year when I was in college. It had been three years since I’d been in the States, so some things were still, well, interesting and new.

I came here to try to get a job. I never wanted to work in Korea (no offense South Korea, you’re great but I needed a change of environment), and I’ve always wanted to come back to the States. I knew it would be nearly impossible to get a job in the States while I was in Korea. But let’s be honest – it’s already hard for internationals to get jobs here, why would anyone hire me, who is halfway across the globe, has no work experience, and doesn’t have a globally recognized undergraduate degree? (Again, no offense Ewha Womans University, but you’re more well-known within Korea.)

So I needed something that would get me connected geographically to where I wanted to work. I’m into marketing and advertising, and I wanted to work in a market larger than Korea. So it made a lot of sense to apply to the Fuqua MMS program, where I could get the connections, motivation, and business knowledge needed to help me start my career in the U.S. As I’m about three months into the program, I know I made a good choice – the Fuqua brand connects me to successful professionals in diverse fields and offers me more opportunities to learn. (Or, to be more accurate, it forces me to learn.) So far so good.