What happened in Korea stays...on the Internet and is shared with the world

It's been just over a month since I returned from Seoul, Korea, and I still haven't decided whether the trip was ages ago or just yesterday. I'm not sure if it's the time warp we experienced or simply the fact that it was so surreal visiting a country I never imagined visiting at 20 years old. Though I was technically 21 over there because they count your birth as the first year.

I traveled to Korea with one professor and another student to gather interviews at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Meeting. The experience was part of Janna Anderson's Imagining the Internet project. We spoke with 32 people about their hopes and fears for the future of the Internet and some of the important topics in society today dealing with the Internet and its governance. Looking through headshots I took of the people we interviewed, it still seems incredible to me to think of these people's credentials and the amount of diversity we saw in the group. They came from Egypt, Senegal, Finland, London, France, South Korea, America and the list goes on.

The fact that this opportunity was given to me is still astounding to me. I have been so blessed through the years, but I've had the opportunity to visit five countries already in my first two years in college. I have plans for at least five more in the next two years.

My trip to Seoul, far more important than the travel experience, was the opportunity to interview the people we did and to learn SO much about my career in journalism. The Internet is taking over, print journalism is dying, everyone needs to know how to shoot video, do stand-ups, layout pages, design a Web site…we've heard it a million times before. The experiences I've had at Elon have given me all that and more. And this trip is just another one of those experiences that challenged me academically, professionally and culturally.

Learning how to push aside the fact that you're interviewing a U.S. Ambassador, the CEO of Pandora TV or the FCC chairman, was a challenge in itself. It was certainly good practice, though. I can't get nervous and start stuttering just because I'm talking to someone like that – they're human, too.

The days at the conference were long, but we made the most of every minute. And at night, we were rewarded with incredible banquets of delicious food, wonderful entertainment and excellent company (from New Zealand, Korea, etc.).

Staying optimistic and bubbly throughout the day was key…not only for our own morale when realizing it was bedtime at home on the East Coast and we were looking forward to lunch on the Eastern half of the world, but to show that despite the ware on our faces from the 12-hour time difference, we were truly enthusiastic about talking to everyone there.

I think that we really made an impression on people. We were cheerful and smiling, just generally ecstatic to be in Korea at the conference. And I'm confident that excitement showed. People were very surprised to hear how young we were. Craig is 21 and I’m 20…what were college students doing at a conference on the future of the Internet economy? Well, we are very interested in it, actually, something that we learned about ourselves after the five days in Korea. And everyone we spoke to seemed impressed that two college students and their professor were so eager to learn more.

Revisiting the video interviews we shot reminded me of how incredibly thoughtful everyone was and how brilliant the people who attend these conferences are. What an experience.

The videos will be here soon!