17 year old Eun Park is a junior foriegn exchange student from Gyeongju, South Korea.

Park originally planned to go to California, but the only host family that was available was in Arizona.

“[My first thoughts on Arizona was] ‘it’s really dry, hot, and everything is big,’” Park said.

Park came from the city of Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a coastal city on the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province. There are many archaeological sites and cultural properties from this period that remains in the city, which leads to many tourists visiting.

“Where I lived was really pretty; there were many travelers and many traditional houses and clothes,” Park said.

Park left for Arizona in January. She had to take two flights in order to get to Arizona. One flight from Gyeongju to Washington is 12 hours long. Altogether, the flight from Gyeongju to Arizona was around 14 to 16 hours long.

To Park, Arizona is similar to South Korea because South Korea is hot but not as hot as Arizona is. Also, the people from both here and South Korea are kind.

“Arizona and South Korea are different because South Korea has four seasons and Arizona has only one, and the culture is very different,” Park said.

The school Park attended in Gyeongju was smaller than McClintock, and she considered being in a larger school in America to be a nice experience.

Park’s favorite subjects are art and dance. Her hobbies include tae kwon do, drawing, and hanging out with friends.

“[I would like to travel to] Europe and California one day,” Park said.