It’s not every day that students get the chance to travel abroad or live in a different country for nine months,but Seo Young Kim has the chance to do just that. Kim moved almost 6,000 miles from her home in Daejeon, South Korea.

“The culture and English, it’s very different for me,” Kim said. Kim has the chance right now to attend an American high school and learn what high school is about and experience a Montana school year.

“I like to hike, listening to music, cooking, and playing flute,” she said. English is a hard language to speak, according to Kim.

“It’s very hard, [but it’s] better than before. I was 4 years old [when] I started learning English,” said Kim, adding that school is completely different at CMR than back home.

The school day in Korea goes for 14 hours instead of the seven or eight hours CMR students experience. Students start at 8 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. She said they don’t switch classes back home.

“We are like a family, always together for everything. Monday through Friday, go home, sleep, school,” she said. Koreans stay in the same class except for  P.E and music class. They also wear uniforms. Their major subjects are English, math and science.

Usually twice a week South Korean students play a sport, including kickball, soccer, and yoga. She said that Great Falls is smaller than Daejeon, which is one of the six major cities in South Korea. Some of the holidays Kim celebrates are Seol Nal, Chu Seok, and Hangeul day.

Seol Nal is a New Year celebration, and Chu Seok is celebrated after harvesting the crops, praying and visiting an ancestor’s grave. Hangeul Day is Korean language day.