Hey There! Welcome to Lex on the Loose! I’m Lexie, a passionate, loud, adventurous 28 year old with a love for travel. I quite my career in Commercial Real Estate in 2021 and moved to South Korea to Teach English Abroad.
I’m glad you’re here! What brought me to pursuing a life living abroad? I’d love to tell you 
My whole life, music has been everything to me. Singing was the first love of my life and growing up, I filled my time with voice lessons, choir practice, musical theatre, dance, and opera. I went into college pursuing a Music degree, but quickly found that the long hours in a practice room and in isolation were taking a toll on my spirit – something that brought me soul food and comfort was beginning to wear on me when monetized. The old adage in performing is, “if you like anything else, even a LITTLE bit, DO THAT INSTEAD.” I was questioning my identity – and upon some soul searching, I discovered that one of the main reasons I wanted to pursue Opera was because of the language study and opportunities to live and work abroad. In other words, while I love music, my heart was yearning for a life that consisted of travel and exploration.
It was around this time of questioning that I stumbled into my first academic study of Religion course – Interpreting the Hebrew Bible. While Religion was something that was all around in my life, studying it as an academic endeavor was a concept entirely new to me – and it lit my heart on fire. The study of Religion is almost impossible to define – its study includes Religion, of course, but also the study of Anthropology, Political Science, History, Communications, and Spirituality. I had personally left organized Religion, but it all fascinated me, with the study of Southeast Asian Religion particularly standing out to me. It wasn’t long before I switched to a Religion Major.
My days in Iowa were filled with reading about and longing for Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India. I had the strongest Wanderlust of my life while pouring myself into my studies. It was around this time that Teaching English as a Foreign Language was introduced to me, when a friend of mine from High School started a job teaching English in Thailand. I was OBSESSED. I connected with the International TEFL Academy immediately and began telling everyone that after graduation, I would pursue teaching English Abroad.
Ahhhh and then life happens, doesn’t it always? Upon graduation I found myself struggling in my college town, doing my best to recover from a devastating break up, navigating depression, and looking for solace in all the wrong places. I fell on my ass and made a call home that I never wanted to make – and moved back in with my Mom in the Chicago Suburbs. My goal was still the same – get a serving job to buy myself some time and money and then get my Certification to Teach English Abroad. My Mom’s boyfriend called me on the phone the night before I left Iowa, and said, “Hey, I know you have no interest in pursuing a career in Business, but I think you’d be really good at this one. Can I pass your resume along? You can just take a job for a year. This could be good.” Almost reluctantly, and with no expectations, I passed my resume along and somehow, wound up with an interview with a Property Management office on Michigan Avenue. My thoughts were, “Who would hire a new college grad with a resume that consists of performing credits and a degree in Religion?” I guess I was mistaken – I was hired and began my job on Michigan Avenue downtown Chicago shortly after.
My time in Commercial Real Estate was completely unlike anything I had ever expected. There were days in the beginning where I thought nothing but, “Why the hell did I think I could do this…?!” and labored over how an office job could crush my soul the way a circus breaks in an elephant (seriously, this was said to more than a few people…I’m nothing if not exceedingly dramatic). Yet, I learned. I adapted. I grew. I met some of the most marvelous people who have turned into some of my dearest friends and confidants. I found a network of people who pushed me, motivated me, and had my back. I’m forever grateful for that opportunity and that time of my life.
But the heart wants what it wants, and there was rarely a day that went by that I didn’t think about Teaching English Abroad. My life always revolved around it – I wouldn’t adopt any pets because “someday I’m going to live abroad.” I cried when I moved into an apartment in Chicago because it meant I wasn’t going to be moving abroad for AT LEAST another year…and I cried again a year later when we renewed that lease because it meant the same thing. I wouldn’t get into any serious relationships because “someday I’m going to live abroad and they’re NOT coming.” I believe I used to tell my best friend, “I gotta do this thing quick before I do something stupid like fall in love.” (I told you….exceedingly dramatic ;)). At the end of 2019 I finally got a bonus number that would pay for the TEFL Certification and I went for it. After years of researching TEFL opportunities in Asia, I knew where I wanted to go more than anywhere in the world – South Korea. In January 2020 I started my TEFL Course and knew in my bones, 2020 was my year.
(Let us take a moment of silence for that dear, sweet, naive, Lexie Lynn. And now, a deep, roaring, belly laugh).
While my plans were derailed by the pandemic, they also were beautifully, poetically, earth-shatteringly molded into place. There’s a saying “The best way to make the Universe laugh is to tell it you have a plan” and I must say, this is the greatest theme of my life. While I tried my damnedest to push it away, I fell deeply in love with the most wonderful man. After a month of dating, we moved in together after he visited me for “just a weekend” which happened to be when Chicago went into lockdown due to the pandemic. Every week we had a talk if he should go home, but…he never left :). He came to me months later with a proposition – he’d like to come abroad with me and teach English. I could never of imagined saying “yes” to anyone who asked this – in fact, I had said “no” to others who tried. But it was an easy “yes” to say.
I’m currently in my second year of teaching English in Busan, South Korea. My partner Jeremy and I have hiked mountains, explored temples, lived in three different apartments, taught at two different schools and have had countless students.
This has turned out to be an impeccable journey – I hope you join us for the ride here at “Lex on the Loose.” This is a place for me to share all of the marvelous, crazy, strange, and probably average tales I have for people who are interested in my life Teaching English as a Foreign Language in South Korea and living abroad. I hope at worst it makes you smile, and at best, it inspires you to listen to that still, soft, voice in your heart that is begging you to follow its deepest desires. If I may, some words from my Guru, Mary Oliver:
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
All my love, Lex
