I grew up in the Midwest as a Korean adoptee. Living in Seoul helped me finally feel Korean and American.

"I ended up printing out a picture of an Irish friendship ring. Even while I was presenting it, it just felt like a total lie because I had no connection to it. I just wanted the assignment to be over. She managed to meet her family on a three-day layover in South Korea, on the way back to the US from Guam on a research trip."

A 27-year-old Ph.D. student living in South Korea for a year began a birth search in 2018 through her adoption agency. She was adopted at eight months old and grew up in Iowa in a loving Midwestern family where her adoption was never hidden. She always knew she was Korean but lacked language for what that meant while growing up. A junior-high heritage assignment left her feeling separated from her family’s Irish and Czech roots, and she chose an Irish friendship ring despite feeling it was a lie. After an email from her birth mother, she planned a meeting during a prearranged three-day layover in South Korea, spending a week learning etiquette, practicing bowing, and trying on dresses to present herself well.

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