Fulbright ETA Final Dinner: The Rather Anticlimactic End to Our Grant Year

After making a short visit to the War Memorial of Korea, we arrived at Hotel President, where the Fulbright Final Dinner was going to be held. 

Emerging from the underground subway to this view was quite a pleasant surprise! Buildings loomed protectively around a modest expanse of green grass. 

There were tents pitched everywhere and a lot of yellow decor. We realized after taking a few more steps that we were passing by a Sewol memorial. 

One of my companions murmured under her breath: "Well, this changes the mood a bit..."

Remembering the Sewol tragedy
These two men were here from the time I entered the hotel to the time I left the dinner

We were on our way to cross the street when a group of ETAs sitting under one of the tents called out to us

Judy ran out and hugs were exchanged everywhere. Of course mine was a bit delayed since I had to capture these photos first

Judy's smile is one of the best I know! I legitimately miss this young woman

The two of us crossed the street so I could make a withdrawal from a Busan Bank, which, contrary to my previous belief, also exists in Seoul (and in other parts of Korea!).

Dinner was held near the top of the hotel with an amazing view of the city.

Once I finally sat down at my table, I had a hard time processing that this was it. Our Fulbright ETA family was gathering to celebrate one year lived in Korea. I tried to take as much of it in as possible, knowing that I had to leave at the 8:00 p.m. mark in order to travel back to Busan.

There were many preliminary activities, with dinner beginning at 7:00 p.m. They had prepared an amazing array of dishes for us and I was happy satiating my hunger. However, it was a bit disappointing to have so little time to actually socialize throughout the dinner as we were told to sit down and enjoy other presentations, musical performances, and final addresses.

One speech that I did not mind sitting through was Ray's. He is a dynamic speaker whose genuineness comes through in the anecdotes he told this evening. I consider myself blessed for having shared the city of Busan with him this year.

PHOTOS WITH SOME OF MY FAVORITE ETAS

Like I said, we didn't have much time during the actual dinner to mingle (and I had even less time with my 8:00 Cinderella story), but I was able to take several photos with a very small handful of my favorite ETAs from this year.

RAY

His blog Project Be Better will live on past his Fulbright Korea grant year. Follow his post-Fulbright adventures there!

RYAN & RAY

...because Ryan kept trying to photo bomb when taking a normal photo together is obviously the better course of action!

WITH RYAN

Thanks for the hilariously random Facebook messages. Even without them, you would have stood out in my memory as someone who remembered what the sign for California is.

GABRIELLE

I know we were assigned at opposite ends of the country, but I wish I had spent more time with you. You uplift me and many others with your joyful spirit!

JUDY

I have mad respect for you for your ability to maintain a rigorous flossing schedule. Despite the short amount of time we had this year, I hope you go back to the states knowing that you are truly one of my favorite people! I hope you continue to bless this world with your beautiful smile!

TARA

My roommate at Jungwon University! Tara, you are familiar to me no matter how long we have been apart. I consider myself blessed for having had such a sweet young woman to share my first month in Korea with!

TARA & BRETT

I insisted on taking this photo with the two of you because I am anticipating that my prediction/prophecy will come true and I will have evidence that I told you so! Brett, thank you for being a gentlemen and treating Tara's heart with the utmost care. I wish both of you the best now and in the future!

...and just like that, 8:00 o'clock struck and I had to leave. It was rather anticlimactic, but I have found that this is the stuff most of life is made of. You just have to make as graceful an exit as you can muster (which here, for me, was not that graceful at all - it being in the short interval between musical performances).  

I was the first one to leave and missed many of the other performances, including Mrs. Shim's farewell speech. I left so quickly and so quietly (?) that some of the ETAs weren't even sure I had attended the dinner! 

Waiting for the elevator

The air was cool outside, and the lights reminded me that I was just in a world within a world

Life continues on. I did my best to keep stride as I shuffled quickly back down the underground subway station

Passed by the Sewol memorial again on my way to the subway just across the hotel

Here are the men again

A little girl frolicking in the grass. The world must look huge from her perspective!

By 8:45 p.m., I was sitting on a KTX train bound south for Busan. I arrived back in my beloved city just before midnight, and crawled snuggly into bed at a little bit past 1:00.

Like most events in my life, it takes me a bit of time to process what has just happened. I closed my eyes at the end of the day not having fully processed the goodbyes that I had said, or the goodbyes that never even took place.

MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU

What anticlimactic events have you experienced in your life?
Fellow ETAs, did your goodbyes go as you had expected? What would you have changed after the fact? Share in the comment box below.