February 11, 2025
•
)
EF's partnership with UT Austin
EF offers study abroad opportunities across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia and the South Pacific. Chloe was part of the first cohort of students to experience UT Austin’s partnership with EF Study Abroad to co-create a freshman year experience in Seoul. Students spend the fall in Seoul at a prestigious international university before returning to UT Austin in the spring.
When Chloe Yoo had the chance to study abroad in South Korea, it was more than just an academic travel opportunity: It was a chance to find herself. During her semester abroad with EF, Chloe had the chance to live like a local in Seoul and attend a prestigious international university, while reconnecting with family, and redefining her identity.
When we travel, we change. When we encounter different cultures, languages, and ways of life, it puts our own world view into a different perspective. It can be equally grounding and disorienting.
The longer we spend somewhere, the more profound that experience can become, teaching us things about the world, about others, and about ourselves that we could never have imagined.
For Chloe Yoo, her travel journey is one of homecoming; not to Texas, where she has lived for 18 years, but South Korea.
Chloe was born in a South Korean family. Her mother and father moved to Texas decades ago, where her mom worked as a nurse while her dad studied engineering at University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). Growing up, Chloe was always exposed to Korean culture and learned the language of her parents from a young age.
“I’ve been exposed to Korean culture since I was young,” said Chloe. “Whether my mom was putting Korean cartoons on television or reading her favorite childhood books to me. I went to Korean school every Saturday and we would eat Korean food regularly, so the culture was always around me growing up.”
Of course, there was also the family remaining in South Korea, including her grandparents, whom Chloe and her family would visit every four or five years. But these visits were relatively short during summer break and focused on family time. Living in Austin, she would always describe herself as American-Korean, but as time passed she felt a need to deepen her connection with her cultural heritage. She added:
“I had this instinct that I had to connect with my Korean culture. I have always sought it out. At the same time, I was on the search to feel more myself; I wanted to understand Korean and other cultures better.”
)
Chloe (far right) with her parents and siblings on a trip to Colorado in 2013.
Following in her father’s footsteps, she applied to UT Austin to study Asian Studies. While the program itself had her name written all over it, there was also the option to apply for an EF Study Abroad program in Seoul, South Korea, for the fall semester of her freshman year.
In early 2024, Chloe received the news: She would be spending her semester in Seoul, leaving just one day after she turned 18. With the euphoria of being granted this incredible opportunity came the sudden realization that this would be her first time visiting South Korea without her parents.
“This was really a chance for me to gain some independence”, Chloe said. “It was also a chance to spend time with my grandparents and really live like a local in Korea, not just a visitor.”
During her semester, Chloe would fully immerse herself in the culture of her heritage, live the language of her parents, and deepen her relationship with her grandparents and other family members. At one point, she even brought her UT Austin friends to her grandparents’ house for a traditional Korean dinner, with several falling asleep on their couch afterwards in a “food-induced stupor”.
While living there, Chloe experienced some significant personal developments too. Thanks to her proficiency in Korean and her familiarity with the culture, she became a lighthouse figure to her peers on the trip. She even volunteered as a teaching assistant as they learned Korean at the EF International Language Campus in their first weeks in Seoul.
Chloe enjoyed capturing the colors and culture of her South Korean home. Credit: Chloe Yoo.
“I always enjoyed organizing things as a kid”, Chloe reflected, “but this was the first time I really felt like a leader. I want to follow a career in the military, so the chance to develop that language skill was so valuable for me.”
Crucially her study abroad experience gave her the opportunity to embed herself in the culture, giving her the time to live like a local, emerging with a renewed perspective. Whereas before she would always describe herself as “American-Korean”, after her time in Seoul Chloe said she has “never felt more Korean than I do now”.
“It means everything to me to have gone to South Korea. The change is subtle, but I feel more myself. I know my culture now. I lived there and it gave me the chance to shape my identity. It is mind-blowing that I had this opportunity.”
Chloe is now adjusting to her new life back home at UT Austin as she enters her first semester on her “new” home campus. Although she is over 11,000 km away, her heart remains in Seoul where she had that life-changing experience.
“Sometimes I stare at the ceiling at night and think, ‘Wow! I cannot believe I lived there.’”
And what will she do with her newfound identity? “Discover more that the world has to offer!”
EF Study Abroad gave her the freedom to explore herself and to develop her independence, which she now wants to test by connecting with other cultures. For her, the journey of self-discovery is only just beginning. Asked what she would say to other young people considering such a leap, she encouraged them to “just try”.
“If you ever have the opportunity to travel, just try. You never know how you will change thanks to that experience. Travel will give you a completely different perspective of yourself and your culture."
More impact stories