A little bit about Abby

You may know my voice, but you probably haven't seen my face. I'm Abby Rhodes, the newest team member of KBS World Radio's English service. Each one of KWR's foreign services employs a native speaker of its respective language, so I'm honored to fill the post for English service.

I'm from a tiny town in west-central Illinois. It's usually easiest to tell people I'm from Chicago, but my hometown is very different from the busy, boisterous, and densely populated streets of the windy city. I'm from a rural farming community where, growing up, my closest neighbors were several kilometers away. My family didn't farm, but our home was surrounded with vast corn and bean fields that we watched turn from lush green in the summertime to golden brown by harvest.

Through elementary and high school, I only had about forty classmates in my grade. My high school had one hallway, and for fun, my friends and I went to Wal-Mart . . . there wasn't much else to do!

After high school my next step led me to a slightly larger city where I started college at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (I bleed orange and blue!). I received bachelor's of science and master's of science degrees in broadcast journalism from UIUC. My five and a half years in Champaign-Urbana were some of the best of my life, and have definitely molded me into the person I am today. Through my courses in the College of Communications, I was able to spend three weeks reporting in Peru, create a national award-winning television documentary, and produce a two-hour radio documentary for public radio in the U.S. My connections to the department also took me to Kenya where I assisted two UI professors in documenting human-wildlife conflict around the Masai Mara wildlife reserve.

It was through the journalism department at the U of I that I learned about KBS. I knew immediately that the opportunity KBS was offering would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance that many recent journalism graduates dream of. I arrived in Seoul September 30, and every day since has been a rewarding experience both personally and professionally.

I look forward to bringing you more informative and entertaining content on KBS World Radio, and hope you enjoy seeing Seoul through my blue eyes via this blog. I invite you to submit comments on my blog . . . ask me questions, give me tips, and share your personal stories. Can't wait to hear from you!