Unexpected nomination to a Korean Essay contest

Couple weeks ago one of my Korean teachers sent me an email asking if I would want to participate in the Eastern Europe's Korean essay contest (제2회중, 동유럽성균한글백일장 대회) in Vienna, Austria, and that she would recommend me as a nominee if I decided to take part in the contest.

At that time I wasn't so sure how it would turn out and if I even were a suitable candidate for the contest so I didn't put my hopes up.. at least not too high~

After sending all the applications my teacher wanted me to already (at least) book the flight tickets 'cause the prices were going up pretty fast. I hesitated couple of days, because I wasn't actually sure if I really were accepted as a contestant or not, although my teacher tried to convince me that because of her recommendation I already were accepted for sure. Luckily after waiting those couple more days without trying to think much about it, I got an email saying I was accepted and that they would send more information in the near future but I should start preparing my arrival to Vienna.

Btw the place the contest is held, is really pretty too^^ >> The website of the place the contest is arranged at: Korean kulturhaus

So now, with the help of my dad, I managed to buy affordable flight tickets to Vienna and back, as well as a hotel-room for 3 nights. Apparently the organizing party refunds some the contestants' expenses (like flight tickets and staying in Vienna) up to certain amount of money,depending on the country of the contestant (Finland was up to around 350e). Well we'll see~

I have never been to Vienna and because I'm not that much into travelling around Europe, I basically don't know much about tourist spots in the city either^^'  But~ because my plane arrives to Vienna already at Sunday (18th of October) before noon, I have 2 full days to do tourist-stuff before the contest day on Tuesday (20th of October)^^ Still, I have to start practicing for the contest as well to make my essays better:) I am not that high-level yet in Korean language so I don't think I have a chance of winning, but I want to make this chance to matter so to speak~ and be able to write a nice essay^^ Also, it's a great opportunity to meet a lot of people who are interested in Korean language and culture:)

But just to mention, the grand price IS kind of amazing too^^ The organizing party is non-other than the Sungkyunkwan University, which is a very old University in Seoul, South Korea. And so those who qualify as the first (and it seems also as the second and third) place in the contest get the full scholarship support for the Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School for their Master's degrees. Kind of cool, ay?^^

Autumn is coming to the University campus too<3

All The Best,
Laura