NG Farrell Marketing

(Editor's note: we are pleased to welcome our marketing assistant intern Hyosang Yoo as a guest blogger. Enjoy!)

Have you noticed how many explorers are in Vancouver these days? I’m sure you’ve seen them, especially downtown. You see them in shops, restaurants, coffee shops, theatres. In fact the local economy in Vancouver gets a lot of fuel from these explorers. But what are they searching for? Why are they here? What riches are found in Vancouver that are drawing them here?

I will confess now that I am one of these explorers. I, like so many others, am a 21st century Marco Polo!

Joking aside. I’m talking about the thousands and thousands of international students who come to Vancouver, and other western cities, each year.

Travelling to other countries is not as easy as you might expect, especially when you are travelling for the primary purpose of achieving a higher learning experience. It costs lost of money, and it often means that you give up on many important things that are happening in your life back home. Nevertheless, tons of young people do not hesitate to volunteer to join this army of global explorers. But why? Again, the answer is not difficult. We want to explore a new world and learn new valuable things. We eagerly want to be pathfinders, even sometimes if it means passing up on opportunities, and the comfort and familiarity of our homes.

As one of these explorers, I’ve enjoyed my Marco Polo times at NG Farrell. Before starting the voyage, I had a really high expectation and eagerly looked forward to learning, experiencing and participating in anything I could while on my journey. Like most international students, my first step to explore was learning English, not only because English is the most commonly used language, but also, language is one of the most important tools required to understand new worlds. Consequently English has become my cornerstone for adventures in a new world.

Learning English was the boost my boat needed to make the voyage smoother!

But the first big step in my exploration was to experience global business in the new world. I studied business at Gastown Business College which gave me the skills needed to comprehend how business and corporate cultures work here in Canada, especially in Vancouver. Then, I started to work at NG Farrell. Almost everything I have learned and have done here was my first professional business experience, and that is exactly what I wanted. I now have so many new skills, including how to utilize WordPress, ExpressionEngine websites, Google functions and PhotoShop. I also met new clients, prominent people and joined many interesting meetings. Everything (especially the many, many coffees, haha) was very precious and inspirational to me.

Has everything I learned contributed to making me a better person? Will everything I learned be helpful in my country, Korea? Will my friends and family in Korea recognize how I have changed? I still ardently wish I could continue my voyage, but I am also excited to go back to Korea imagining a more mature me.

Which means the answer is YES.

It cannot be written in few words exactly what I have learned in the new world of Vancouver, but I would like to say I have extremely valuable experiences which will not be forgotten, and my high expectation I had before starting to explore was completely fulfilled. It is time to go back to my sweet home after a one year voyage, and I am very gratified to have been a 21st century Marco Polo.

New adventures will start again when I am back in Korea.

But everything will seem different now.