When I moved to Korea, it was obviously a little daunting not knowing anyone. Before hand I was added to a Facebook group of other Grad Assistants so I asked if any one else was on the same flight as me. Rachel replied that she wasn't but would be landing in Seoul, Incheon around the same time so we could meet in arrivals before transferring to Seoul, Gimpo to continue on to Jeju. We planned to meet after baggage claim but once we were through couldn't see each other anywhere. Messaging each other we ran around arrivals looking for one another. I thought I spotted her and went over to say hello to her, it turns out it wasn't - I'd just somehow found the only other blonde curly haired person in Seoul Airport. Anyway, I thought I'd phone her to try and find her. Just as I did the blonde person I'd just spoken to answered her phone, I was somewhat offended thinking, hang on has Rachel just lied about being herself? No, it was just a coincidence again. It turns out we were simply in different terminals, so had no hope of finding each other.
Anyone that knows me well enough knows I'm quite "fussy" when it comes to friends I'm willing to spend a lot of time with. One great thing I realised about Rachel (and I hope she won't mind me saying this) is often she just stops listening mid conversation. This may sound like an odd thing for me to appreciate but I'm someone who often goes off on rants and moans about various things, so this was perfect because I could vent and get it out of my system and Rachel could just think about whatever. I'm sure there were multiple times when Rachel and I had two simultaneous conversations at once, each talking about what we wanted without fully listening to the other, and we were both fine with it.
We explored Jeju island together, were incredibly proud of ourselves for our first solo trip outside of the school campus, and went on holiday together to Seoul, Busan, and Hong Kong.
Rachel is a talented illustrator and although she did once moan I was "too skinny to draw", I have one of her prints hanging on my wall. She is now back in Jeju, working at the school again whilst working on her IPGCE. We met up in London over summer and will meet up again whenever we're next in the same country.
Filmed in Sanbangsan, Jeju, South Korea.
Known for 9 months at the time of filming.