So... why, of all the places on earth, did I choose to go to Korea? Probably not for the same reason most people do. I've been trying to learn Korean for a few years now. I speak Spanish pretty decently (I may even post in Spanish now and again if there is any interest), and I love learning languages. Japanese or Chinese, or even French probably would have been the next logical choice, but then again, when do I do anything logical? Besides, my friend Jennie is bilingual, so she started teaching me a few words here and there. I was so inspired, I went online and learned the alphabet. Here is the site I used. I HIGHLY recommend anyone learning Korean to start here.
finishing its fifth successful year in education business and is looking forward to a bright future. 
Notarized Copy of Diploma- This (and the CBC) are a two step process. First you must get a photocopy of your diploma. Black and white should be sufficient. You must then have the photocopy notarized. You cannot bring your diploma to any notary public to be notarized. Probably the only place that your diploma can be notarized is at your university. My university has a member of the staff of the registrar's office who is a certified notary public who was able to notarize the diploma. My suggestion would be to contact someone from your university's registrar's office to decide the best way to notarize your diploma. I was lucky, because I live only a 5 minute drive from my school. You may have to have your notarized diploma mailed to you. This may also prove to be a difficult task, because once you obtain your notarized diploma, it must be sent to the secretary of state (of your state, not of the federal government) to get an apostille. An apostille, as far as I can tell, essentially authenticates the notary's signature. This may need to be done in the state where the notary is registered, so if you live in a state other than the one where you obtained your degree, you may have to mail your notarized diploma to the secretary of state of the state where your university is located. (secretary of state of the state sounds redundant, but I don't know of any better way to phrase it) Your university's notary may have more information regarding this, because this is not something I needed to worry about.
Criminal Background Check- This also needs to be notarized and receive an apostille from the secretary of state. A federal background check should not be necessary if you are from the US. I got a State background check from the state of Vermont (I'm a resident there until May 31st). It took about a week to receive. Make sure it has a notary's signature/seal.
University Transcripts- These need to be sealed and probably should have a stamp or signature across the seal. Since you can't see them, you should check with the registrar how the name appears on the transcripts. Make sure it appears the same as it appears on your passport. Most schools require two total, one for immigration and one for the consulate. My school required four, since the school wanted two copies for themselves.
As I left off in my last post, after leaving Arlington National Cemetery, we headed over to the Basilica for the Baccalaureate Mass for Catholic University. I was so impressed with this building, I had to make a separate post to talk about it. Now, of course I barely consider myself Catholic anymore, although until about 2 years ago I was pretty religious. I have too many disagreements with the Church/ doubts about religion in general to really adhere to the doctrine, but I continue to be fascinated by the ecclesiastical arts. And by that, I mean art, architecture, music, etc. Even just driving by this Basilica I wanted to check it out. Here is a photo of the outside, its just incredible to look at.
e basilica is absolutely massive. According to the website, the upper church seats about 3,500 people, but can hold 6,000 people (I'm guessing thats the standing room capacity). It's one of the biggest churches in the world, and the largest in the US. The next thing I noticed was that the whole church is made of marble. Every color of marble imaginable. The floors have inlaid marble, the pillars are marble, the walls are marble. I can't even imaging how much just the marble alone must have cost, because this shrine wasn't completed until 1959. Then I started to look at the actual artwork. Everything is in mosaic. The ceilings are completely done in mosaic. Behind the altar there is an incredibly large portrait of a blond Jesus that is completely done in mosaic too. It's really quite awe inspiring.
All along the sides of the Upper Church there are small shrines to Mary (Well, this is the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.. I guess Mary is our national patron saint). Each shrine to Mary is from a different country. I'm guessing they are shrines to various Mary's that have appeared throughout history.. but don't quote me on that one.
g here), but the upper church wasn't completed until 1959. And even then, that was only just the structure, the artwork was completed at later dates. I guess the construction for the upper church was put on a hold until after the Great Depression and WWII. In the lower church, there is a large open space where the walls and pillars are lined with the names of families and organizations who donated money to the construction of the church. Beth's family was able to find a few family members on the walls there. In the lower church, there is also another "small" chapel where daily mass is held. I say "small" because it is bigger than quite a few churches I know of.
Well, I know this is supposed to be a Korea blog, but I spent the past weekend in DC, and wanted to post about this trip too. (I did call this Jo-Anna's Travel Blog, and not Jo-Anna's Korea blog).
We drove into the city down North Capital St, and as you drive down the street, you can see the Capital Building in the distance getting closer and closer. It was all lit up and very impressive looking. When we got downtown we parked and got some nice pictures of the Capital Building first.
ver to the Lincoln Memorial.
er is Robert Kennedy's grave, which is just a single white wooden cross. My question is, how come the Kennedy's get such special treatment? JFK gets an eternal flame and Robert Kennedy gets buried directly under Lee's house. I'm not saying that JFK wasn't a great guy, but he didn't even serve a full term before he got assassinated. Maybe he just wasn't in office long enough to screw things up like most of our other presidents have. Well, I guess he did do lots of good things for the country like civil rights, resolve the Cuban missile crisis and get the space race going. At any rate, the grave site is very impressive.
The tour bus then took us up to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier, where we got to see the changing of the guard. Evidently the soldier walks 21 steps in front of the tomb, stops and faces the tomb for 21 seconds, turns for 21 seconds and then repeats the process. 21 seconds represents the 21 gun salute. I counted the seconds after the guard we were watching took his 21 step walk and faced the tomb. It was more like 45 seconds. At least. But all the heel clicking and gun maneuvering was very impressive. I won't be stealing any bodies from there anytime soon. I wonder if the guns are loaded? What do they think about while they are just standing there? Do they ever forget what they are doing? Do you think that at night they stand there so formally like they do when the tourists are watching? These are the things I think about while I watch the guards stand there.
