Ben - CP #4

Jin and I went to the FSU baseball game earlier tonight against Stetson and had a great time. Baseball is the most popular sport in South Korea so it was a great opportunity to hang out. It also happens to be Jin's favorite sport so that worked out nicely. We basically chilled and watched the game for a couple of hours, FSU was a lot better than Stetson and the game was not too exciting so Jin and I spent most of the time talking. He told me about how things have been; he's studying for a test at TCC that could give him some credit before he even begins classes so he's hoping to do really well. I mentioned that CIES was on a break but he told me that he didn't have any big plans, basically he just wants to rest and relax in Tallahassee before his next CIES session starts up again. Jin is still conflicted about whether or not he wants to stay in the U.S. or return to South Korea at the end of the year. Supposedly his father has a job lined up for him back home so now he is really weighing his options. Either way, he said he has had a great time in the U.S. so far and he just needs to figure out exactly what he wants to do with his life. I told him, you and me both.
It was nice to hear Jin open up a little bit about things that he misses back in South Korea. Although mostly it had to do with food that he missed, he did mention his family as well which is something we haven't really talked too much about up to this point. Jin is the only son in his family, and he is also the youngest sibling, so I think he feels some pressure (especially from his father) to achieve great success in whatever he decides to do. He knows that he has to study and work hard but he is torn because he's still trying to make sense of what it is all for. Overall though Jin is a pretty relaxed guy, I'm sure he will figure it out in the end.
I was really interested in hearing about the way that baseball is so huge over in South Korea. I didn't realize that all of the teams (there are actually only nine professional baseball teams in all of South Korea) have massive stadiums and huge fan bases. They are also all named after the companies that own them which I thought was a bit odd. So there is a team called Samsung for example. It would be as if the owners of sports franchises here in the States named their teams after the companies that they owned. Pretty interesting stuff.