Hyunji Kim

Identity confusion is common to people who travel around the world and live in many different places; however, experiences such as these only manage to define and strengthen many personal identity. My name is Hyunji Kim from a wonderful country South Korea and I define myself as an oxymoron. Even though I was born in Korea I spent crucial time in my life in India. By staying away from my home country, I realize how thankful I am for having a country that I can call home. That gave me a strong sense of nationalism. On the other hand, contradicting to my sense of nationalism, I have non-traditional world views. . There are major factors which shaped me who I am now; those are studying in United World College in India, travelling around the world and the way my parents raised me. Meeting and staying with people from different backgrounds all over and travelling around the world allowed me to have more broad and international perspectives when I perceive new ideas and looking at both global and national issues. At the same time all these experiences brought stronger sense of nationalism rather than causing me to loose the sense of my identity. Overall, I am satisfied with my defining label because it shows that I am able to take two contradicting traits and apply both in my life.