E: Probably have to say domestic.

I: And why is that?

E: U::m, I was adopted, so I was raised English-speaking. Um, the only exposure I had to Korean before I took the class was my senior year in high school I went to Korea for a cultural exchange program. I was there for about a month. So any Korean I had before this class uh, was very basic, it was like hello, uh, goodbye, just basic things like that.

I: And why, uh, when you were in high school, did you decide to do that exchange?

E: U::m, it was through the Lions program. Um, they’re kind of like the Rotary Club. Uh, the::y have that like a certain age group bracket, they send kids overseas basi—they, they do like they switch with other countries, um, not necessarily as like an exchange student kind of thing but basically just so the kids can experience the culture in like another place, like uh, my family’s hosted from like Italy and Germany and like Peru and stuff. We’ve had a bunch of different students. And they just come over, during usually like the summer months when they have vacation, and uh, learn about American culture and in our, I went over, and went to Korea.

I: Where in Korea where you?

E: U:m, most of my trip I stayed in (Yangju), it’s uh, a city a little north of Seoul. And I was in Seoul for the other half of the trip.

I: And did you stay with a family the entire time?

E: I was with a host family for three weeks. And then the last uh, week, my parents came over and we stayed at u:m, it was like a house that the adoption agency that I went through, um ,we stayed at a house that they provided kind of.

I: And was that the first time that your parents had traveled to Korea?

E: Mm-hm. Yeah, it was the first time I had been back and the first time they had ever been there.

I: And were you then, uh, born in Korea?

E: Yeah, I was born in uh, (Centrupo), it’s uh, in the southeast of Korea.

I: And how old were you when you came to the States?

E: Uh, five months old.

I: Five months. Do you still have family that you know of in Korea?

E: U::m, I can only assume so. I went, when I went to the adoption agency, they pulled out my file so I got small bits of information but not very much. Um, I, I think because of the culture, they have a very confidential where you can’t really initiate a search unless the uh biological parents on their end, like, how they give clearance to do it, or like initiate a search on their end.

I: Hm. And so what were your impressions over in Korea?

E: U:::m, it was very different. Um, I couldn’t understand very much at the time, compared to probably if I went back now, but um, near the end, you could, you could kind of get the gist of things even though you don’t, it’s hard to explain, you can kind of understand what people are saying even though you don’t understand any of the words. Like uh, I was in a taxi with my parents and there was a, a guide with us ‘cause none of us could speak, and she was talking to the, the uh cab driver back and forth, and like their voices got a little like higher pitched, and my parents were like, “What are they saying?” It was like, they’re talking about the, the cab fare, and like the guide turned and looked at us she’s like, “How do you know that?” and I couldn’t really explain but after awhile, you just kind of, that’s probably the best way to learn a language would probably just be immerse yourself in it.