Standing outside Incheon International Airport in South Korea, I tasted the cigarette a smoker before me had flicked away. Despite the lateness of the night, cars, buses and assorted taxis honked and roared past. Their exhaust fumes invaded my unaccustomed suburbia lungs. Bright lights, not unlike Chicago at night, melted away the last traces of jet lag from 22 hours of travel. The underlying humidity in the air hugged me tightly. It was as if my dormant senses – taste, sound, smell, sight, touch – burst into ripened maturity. It may not be an exaggeration to say I learned more, realized more, felt more and understood more in two weeks than I did in years of classrooms. Every minute expanded into eternity; thoughts tripped over each other in rapid-fire occurrence. My brief venture in South Korea and Japan as part of the 2006 Scripps Howard Foundation National Reporting Competition was priceless. Our homework prior to the trip was to study “Confucius Lives Next Door” by T. R. Reid, a 249-page read that tunneled our points of view and silhouetted our gateway to the East. And before I could say “Konichiwa,” it was time to witness firsthand the influence of Confucius’ teachings on modern Japanese society and what the East had to teach us about living in the West. Nine aspiring student journalists shook hands with one another in the lobby of Four Points by Sheraton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel. Our first meal together at the Mirage Restaurant inside the hotel was quite polite and proper, strangers starting a journey. Over the next 12 days, we would bond over soju and sake (traditional alcoholic beverages in Korea and Japan, respectively), share each other’s wonderment over the exotic Asia and congregate through the sheer centripetal force of braving the Pacific together. The night we landed in Korea, we hit the streets, rubbing shoulders and cheering with the people of my heritage when Korea won against Togo in the World Cup 2006. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans wearing red “Corea” shirts burst into the national anthem in a single collective voice, as if triggered by some invisible conductor. My eyes welled with unexplainable tears as my heart swelled with pride. Oddly touched, I hummed along to the national anthem I didn’t know the words to. The practical teachings from “Confucius Lives Next Door” constantly integrated itself throughout the trip. Did you know in Asian mentality “we,” “us,” “our,” is more common than “I,” “me,” “mine,” as is common in American mindset? That as Reid suggests, there truly is that pulsating, overarching consideration for group harmony? A fascinating culture clash was printed in pictures we took with Korean junior high girls – them, clad in their matching uniforms down to their socks, and us, our personalities stamped onto every stitch and our individuality worn proudly. Spending two weeks with students from all over the country helped me define the bubble I’ve been living in, here in the cornfields of Champaign-Urbana. Knowing what a speaker said before it was translated from Korean to English also showed me understand what a huge asset it is to be bilingual, especially at meal times when everyone asked me to translate every dish on the menu. I asked the CEO of the largest business newspaper in Korea: How did Maeil get to where it is today? His answer surprised me: Humility. Too often journalists tend to be arrogant, he said. Here was a man, sitting ensconced in luxurious leather in an impressive conference room with ceiling-high windows overlooking breathtaking scenery, who valued integrity above ambition. This year was the first time the Scripps Howard Foundation awarded their annual scholarship non-monetarily, and it had been a highly selective process, we were told. Our trip co-leader, Dean Brad Hamm of Indiana University, said the foundation was significantly investing in the nine of us. Therefore, I took responsibility upon myself to make the most of the trip, by learning and soaking up as much as I could. The trip was the priceless opportunity to make true of a profound Confucius teaching: “Isn’t it a pleasure when you can make practical use of things you have studied?”