결론 | In Conclusion

This last Wednesday, I got up very early in the morning and got a ride from my first host family to Incheon, a city nearby Seoul. In this city, the major feature is Incheon International Airport, which was where I got on the plane and finished my year abroad. Upon my return, I realize that there is still quite a lot of things to still experience as a result of the exchange, but I have already learned and experienced so much from the year.

From my year, I learned quite a few skills that I will be taking with me. The first and most obvious of these being some knowledge of the Korean language. I am certainly not fluent (I would probably need another whole year in Korea at least to be fluent), but I definitely made quite a bit of progress. I will be certain to continue my studies of Korean, because it is such a unique and interesting language. I also brought back some skills from the culture classes that I took. The first of these was learning Korean calligraphy, to paint out the letters in the traditional style. I really enjoy doing painting, and the skills that I picked up from this art will certainly be useful. I also was able to bring back the materials so that I can continue with the calligraphy that I learned. The other thing that I learned was through my Samulnori class, where I learned how to play the 장구 (chang-gu). Although I wasn’t able to bring back one of these instruments, I am hoping that I will be able to find a way to continue learning how to play this instrument here.

I also was able to see many new things in Korea and experience many parts of the different culture. One visit that really stands out in my mind was my visit to the DMZ (De-militarized Zone) between North and South Korea, which really brought the conflict between the two countries into perspective for me. In my mention of cultural experiences, the main experience that helped me in learning about Korean culture was getting to live with my three wonderful host families. Getting to experience cultural things firsthand as part of the family.

With my experiences in Korea in mind, this summer, I will be working as a lifeguard at 숲속의 호수 (Sup Sogui Hosu), a Korean camp in Bemidji, Minnesota that is part of the Concordia Language Villages program. I had gone to this camp for a short time before my year abroad, so it will be interesting to go back and see just how much I truly improved in my understanding of the language and culture. Then, in the fall, I will be going to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I am still undecided on my major though, but I am certain that the skills I gained from learning Korean and living in a foreign culture will be vital tools for any field that I choose.

I am very thankful for Houghton Rotary for providing me with the opportunity to spend this year abroad and for the people in Korea who made it a fantastic experience. It was a difficult year, but I have definitely learned very much from it, some of which I my never fully realize.

Korean Class Report: Things I Have Learned in Korea | 국어 레포트: 한국에서 배운 것

This is a report that I wrote for my final project in Korean class along with a translation into English. I hope you enjoy it.

한국에서 배운 것

Things I Have Learned in Korea

저는 대한민국에서 많이 배웠습니다. 대한민국에서 살면서 두가지 것을 배웠습니다. 하나는 대한민국, 나머지는 나 자신에 과한 것입니다.

In Korea, I have learned many things, but two things that I learned while living here have been the most important to me. I have learned about Korea, and I have learned about myself.

작년에 제가 미국에서 있었을때 저는 한개의 큰 교환목표 있었습니다. 저는 언어를 많이 배우고 이 언어를 유창하게 하는 것이 있습니다. 저는 한국어를 여기에서 많이 배우지만 저는 불행히도 한국어가 아직도 유창 하지 못합니다. 한국어로 독서하는 것,  쓰기, 이해 등 여러가지 기술이 있습니다. 그렇지만 저는 말하는 것이 많이 어렵습니다.

Last year, when I was in the United States, I had set one major goal for my year abroad. I wanted to learn a lot of a foreign language, and to learn the language to the extent that I could be a fluent speaker. While I have been in Korea, although I have been learning a lot of the language, I am still unfortunately still not at the point where I am fluent. At this point, I have some skill in reading, writing, and understanding Korean, but I still find speaking to be very difficult.

교환학생 초기에 저는 한국어를 조금 알았습니다. 그래서 학교의 한국어 수업이 이해가 안되었습니다. 수업 대신에 저는 교실에서 한국어를 혼자 공부했습니다. 저는 많이 공부했고 지금 저는 한국어로 많이 이해할 수 있습니다.

When I started my exchange year, I only knew a small amount of Korean, so I wasn’t able to understand the classes at the school. So, instead, during class I spent the time studying Korean on my own, and now I am able to understand much more.

한국어 많이 공부할때 저는 많이 저기 수양에 관한것도 배웠습니다. 예를 들어서 지금 저는 많은 목표와 일정을 잘 만듭니다. 그 일정으로 저는 아주 조직적으로 생활합니다. 지금 저는 시간을 효과적으로 쓰고 일을 능률적으로 합니다. 내년에 대학교 가는 것에 도움이 될 것입니다.

With all of the Korean studying that I did, I also learned a lot about self-discipline. For example, I have been working to make goals and a schedule to stay organized and work as efficiently and effectively as I can. I am sure that these skills will also be helpful when I go to college.

제가 대한민국에 있을때 저는 많이 한국 역사도 배우고 있었습니다. 이 역사는 미국 학교에서 안 배우지만 한국 역사는 정말 재미있습니다. 우리 세계에 한국 역사도 아주 중요합니다. 한국 역사를 통해 북한과 한국 투쟁을 더 잘 이해합니다. 투쟁의 배후를 설명하기 때문입니다. 한국에서 저는 이 역사 배우고 이 역사의 중요한 장소들을 봤습니다.

While I have been in Korea, I have also been learning many things about Korean History. This history is something that I did not learn in my school in the US, but it is very interesting and important to the world. One example is how it has helped me to understand the conflict between North and South Korea much better through learning about the background of the situation and understanding its roots. While in Korea, I have been fortunate to not only learn about the history but also to have the opportunity to see many of the important places.

대한민국의 문화를 배우는 것도 중요합니다. 첫번째, 저는 한국의 전통적인 문화를 공부했습니다. 학교에서 수업을 통하여 한국문화를 배웠습니다. 사물놀이 수업으로 저는 정구 연주하는 것 배웠습니다. 서예 수업으로 전통적인 쓰기를 배웠습니다. 요리 수업으로 한국 음식을 만들었습니다. 마지막으로 한복 수업으로 전통적인 옷에 관해 배웠습니다. 또한 한국에서 살은 것으로 가족과의 생활 차이를 많이 배웠습니다.

Learning about Korean culture has also been very important for me. One way that I have been able to learn about the traditional culture is through the Korean culture classes that my school offers. In Samulnori Class, I have learned how to play the 정구 (an hourglass-shaped drum); in Calligraphy Class, I have learned about the traditional writing style; in Cooking Class, I have learned about cooking Korean food; and in Hanbok Class, I have learned about the traditional clothing of Korea. Also, through living in Korea, I have also been able to learn about some of the family differences here.

그렇지만 대한민국은 현대의 문화도 있고 저는 이 문화에 관해서도 배웠습니다. 한국은 영화와 텔레비전 쇼로 독특한 스타일이 있고 저는 이 스타일을 정말 좋아합니다. 제가 한국에서 살았때 많이 영화와 텔레비전 쇼를 봤습니다. 저는 한국 음악이 독특한 스타일을 가지고 있기 때문에 좋아합니다. 저는 영화, 텔레비전, 음악, 만화 그리고 책을 읽는 것도 좋아했습니다. 그렇지만 한국 현대의 문화는 완벽한 문화가 아닙니다. 한국은 너무 강한 교육 조직을 가지고 있고, 이 조직은 아주 스트레스가 심한 학생으로 만듭니다.

But Korea also has an important modern culture, and I have been able to learn about this culture too. Korean movies and television have a very unique style to them, which is something that I have really enjoyed. Because of this, I have watched very many of these programs. I have also found Korean music to have its own unique sound that I have enjoyed too. Along with the movies, television, and music, I have also really enjoyed Korean books and comics. But, although I enjoy Korea a lot, I know that it certainly isn’t perfect. One of the major problems in Korea is the intense school system that is very stressful to students here.

그래서 대한민국에서 저는 많이 배웠고 이 새로운 지식과 함께 미국에 갈 거예요. 대학교에 저는 영어 문학과 독일어 공부를 하려고 합니다. 제 한국 경험은 이 공부에 아주 많이 도움이 될 거예요. 또한 이 경험은 제가 다시 해외로 가고 싶게 만듭니다. 아마도 다시 한국에 올거고 더 많이 배울 거예요.

With all of these things in mind, I have been able to learn many things in Korea, and I will be able to bring this knowledge back to my life in the United States. At my University, I am planing on studying English and German, and I am sure that the experience that I have been having here with Korean will be very helpful. Also, because of this experience in Korea, I am hoping to go abroad again, possibly to come back to Korea.

 

내 한국 학교 | My Korean School

Last week was my first week back at school after the two month long winter break. The school year works differently from the United States, so during this break, the Korean students moved up to the next grade level. For the exchange students in my town though, we haven’t switched to move up a grade. Instead, our school has had us change focus from learning Korean during school to participating in the classes with the Korean students.

The front gate of our school.

For school here, the schedule is different for each day. It doesn’t get to confusing though, because we are in the same classroom for almost every class, with the teachers moving between rooms. I am required to arrive for 8:00 in the morning when our “Zero Hour” starts. During this first hour of school, we will sometimes have a class if the school decides that it is needed. Otherwise, this can just be used as free time. At nine o’clock, we start with first through seventh hour of normal classes, with a break for lunch after fourth hour, which is very similar to my experience in the US.

In the school's courtyard. The building on the right is where the homeroom classes and the library are; the building on the left has the faculty offices and the English classrooms; and the building straight ahead is the new dormitory.

Each week, I have five classes in English. This has actually been one of my harder classes, not because of the subject material, but because my Rotary Exchange Officer is the teacher, so she knows what level of Korean we exchange students have. Because of this, we have been assigned to study the same vocabulary lists for tests in the class and will be required to give a three minute speech in Korean later in the year.

We also have four classes each of Math, Korean Literature, Science, and Social Studies. In my Math class, I have really discovered how international numbers are. On a test they had, I was able to get half of the questions correct without even using a dictionary.  The class is below my level of Math though, so I only can get held up by figuring out what the questions are asking me to do. In my Korean Literature, Science, and Social Studies classes, I have not really been able to do much, because they both use language beyond my ability, but when the teachers give notes, I take them down in my notebook to work through later.

My classroom. We only have 12 students in our grade level!

Outside of this main curriculum, we also have classes a few times per week in Engineering, Ethics, Physical Education, Music, Art and Hanja Characters. In the Engineering and Ethics classes, I usually find myself in the same position as in some of my main classes with the level of Korean I would need. My Physical Education and Music classes have also mostly been lectures so far, but I will definitely participate when we start to do things later in the year. The last two, Art and Hanja characters have been two of my favorite classes. Right now in Art, we are beginning to make traditional stamps, which is very fun to do. In the Hanja characters class, we learn the Traditional Chinese letters that the Korean language is based on. This has been very interesting for me, because it is something that is just completely different from classes that I am used to.

A "hallway" at my School

All of the time that we spend on these classes each day brings us to four o’clock in the afternoon, but we still have another hour before our school time is over. On Mondays, we have a sports club during which we get learn how to play a chosen sport. The sport that I chose to do was Ping Pong, which has been rather interesting, because I had never learned much of the technique to play before. On the other days of the week, we exchange students go to the library while the Korean students have classes to prepare them for the standardized tests they take during the year.

After this class, the school day is over, but the school has the exchange students stay after to participate in Korean Culture classes. So, we eat dinner at the school  then have free time until 6:20 when the Culture class starts. This school year, we are getting to do classes in Dancing, Samulnori, and Calligraphy. My favorite has definitely been the Calligraphy class, because it was something that I enjoyed at Sup Sogui Hosu, the Korean Camp I went to last summer before coming abroad.

Eating Dinner at the new cafeteria.

The Culture classes finish at 8 o’clock, which means that I have a twelve hour day at school. It sounds rather harsh, but it really has not been too bad. Most of the Korean students even go to private tutoring schools, called hagwon (학원), after the normal school hours to get in even more studying. During the school day, I seem to find a lot of time to work on my own things, and there are also a lot of breaks, during which I get to interact with the other students in my class.

일월 (설날과 서울여행) | January Monthly Report (Lunar New Year and Seoul Trip)

This month, I began my two-month break from school. On my blog, I already summarized what happened during the first few weeks of break. During these weeks, I celebrated New Year’s Day, went skating, visited my extended host family in Gwangju, and attended my school’s English Camp. After the English Camp, I went to visit Sejin, one of my counselors from Korean Camp, in Suwon. In this monthly report, I will instead talk about the things following the trip to Suwon in more detail.

One of the major Korean holidays during this month was 설날 (Seolnal), the Lunar New Year, which was celebrated on January 23^rd. During this holiday, much like 추석 (Chuseok), which is a holiday I experienced earlier in my year here, Korean families go to the towns that their ancestors are from. Unfortunately, my new host family could not bring me with them because of a space issue, but I was able to spend the week surrounding the holiday at my first host family’s house instead. During this holiday, I was able to participate in 세배 (Sebae), a traditional activity during which the children of a family bow to their elders, receiving money in return. We also visited their ancestor’s graves and went on a hike during the holiday, along with eating the traditional soup 떡국 (Tteokguk). During the holiday, everyone advances in age by the Korean system of age, which makes me 20 years old here, even though I am still only 18 in the system used elsewhere.

 

쫑구 (Jjonggu), my first host family's dog and my exchange mascot, was happy to see me again.

The other major event that happened was that we went on our Rotary Trip to Seoul. To do this, we five exchange students took the train from Seocheon to meet with 지원 (Ji-won) and 효림 (Hyo-rim), two past outbound students from Donggang Junior High School who were showing us around the first day. The first place we went was to Gyeonbukgung Palace and Gwanghwamun. Although I visited some of the complex around these when I was here before with Sejin, this time I was able to see more of the attraction, which was very interesting to see.

 

Part of the Gyeonbukgung Palace Grounds

After seeing the Palace grounds, we went to Insadong and had tea, following which we shopped a little bit in the market. After being here, we went to a department store and spent our evening walking along Cheong-gye-cheon, a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. That night, we stayed at a place called “Rainbow Guest”, which was a nice bed and breakfast sort of place.

 

Salmulnori band in Insadong

The next day, we met up with another past exchange student, 예은 (Yea-eun), and went to the Korean Basketball League All-Star Game, which was a very unique and interesting experience. There were actually a lot of similarities to sporting events that I have seen in the US, but it seemed mainly to me as if the Korean style was more focused on making a show of the experience, while in the US, it would be more about the game. After the game, I was able to go up Namsan Mountain again to see N Seoul Tower. From there we walked to Seoul Myeongdong House, which was our place to stay for the night. At this house, we got to know one of the other guests, Richelle, who was visiting Seoul for a few days before embarking on an adventure to study in China. It was interesting to talk with someone who was just embarking on her adventure from the position at the midpoint of mine.

 

At the Basketball Game

On the last day of the trip, we went to the theme park Lotte World, which was a fun way of ending the trip. After we finished there, we went back to the train station to take our train back home. Originally, we were supposed to go on to have three more days in Daejeon, but those plans fell through. I was not to upset though, because I found myself rather exhausted by the intense trip that we had taken to see the city of Seoul.

Lotte World

수원하고 서울 | Suwon and Seoul

Last weekend, I went to Suwon to visit Sejin, one of the counselors I met at 숲속의 호수 (Sup Sogui Hosu), the Korean Camp at Concordia Language Villages. While there, I also got to see a lot of the city of Seoul, which I considered my first real visit to the city, because I had only seen a museum there during my first visit to the city. Upon visiting it, I felt that Seoul was definitely one of my favorite cities in the world.

To go to Suwon, I took the train from Gunsan. For me, the train ride was already an interesting experience, because it isn’t really a travel option for me in the United States. I have taken trains before, but never as the only mode of transportation for a trip and also never alone. It was not too difficult to do the trip though, because I only had to take one train and get off at the correct stop. In Suwon Station, I met with Sejin and we took the bus over to his apartment so that I could leave my bag there. After having lunch with him and his wife, I was going to be spending the day in Seoul. To get there, Sejin and I took a bus from Suwon to Seoul. It was a long trip, but Sejin had a movie on his computer that we watched.

Seoul Subway Car

Once in Seoul, we got onto the Subway and went to Insadong, which is a district of the city that has many more traditional shops. Where we first walked into the main street, a large crowd had gathered around a group performing traditional dance. They were wearing masks and were accompanied by musicians playing the traditional Samulnori instruments. From there, we walked down the street, looking at the many shops. One of the most memorable for me was a large tea shop that had free samples of their tea from Jeju Island. We got into the line that had formed inside the shop and had some of the best green tea I have ever tasted.

The Dancers at Insadong

From the market, we walked a few blocks away to wander the streets of the Bukchon Hanok Village. A hanok is a traditional Korean house, and this area was notable for the sheer quantity of them being preserved in one place. It was interesting to see the beautiful architecture of the houses in this part of the city. While we were looking around, there was a Chinese travel show that was also filming in the area, so there is a possibility that we might have made it onto Chinese television.

Sejin and I at the Hanok Village

After seeing the Hanok Village, we walked over to the National Folk Museum at Gyeonbokgung. It was part of a large complex around Gyeonbokgung Palace. We looked at some of the buildings in the area that we didn’t have to pay for, as I might be going back to see the Palace during the Rotary-sponsored Seoul Trip that I will be taking later in the month. From there, we walked by Gwanghwamun, the Gate to the Palace, and over to Cheonggyecheon, which is a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. Along the stream, they had walkways, bridges, art, and greenery that made it into an interesting walk.

We turned off from Cheonggyecheon after a few blocks, and we went to Namdaemun Market, which is one of the busiest market districts in Seoul. It was rather overwhelming, because there were people everywhere. Our major stop here was to get dinner. We went to a noodle shop, named 명동교자, that had extremely good food and was apparently rather well-known. When we went in, the restaurant was rather crowded, but we were able to get a spot very quickly, but when we were leaving, the line stretched out the door.

Namdaemun Market

Once we left Namdaemun Market, we took a cab to Namsan Mountain to see the North Seoul Tower (also called Namsan Tower). To get up the mountain and to the tower, we climbed up the stairs instead of taking the cable car that most people take, which has a very long wait. As soon as we reached the tower, they announced that they would be starting the tower light show, so we sat down, and watched the light show that was projected onto the Tower. We were extremely happy with our good timing to see that show. Although we didn’t go up to the observation deck on the tower, we admired the view and the attractions around the base of the tower. One of the most interesting of these attractions is the many locks that are attached to the fence on part of the viewing space on the top of the mountain. The reason for these are that couples will write a love message on a lock, attach it to the fence, and then throw the keys for the lock over the fence. After we finished at Namsan Tower, we took a bus to get back down. Because of the large demand to go up and down the mountain, the bus was one of the most crowded that I have been on. When we got down from the mountain, we took the bus back to Suwon and went to bed very tired.

Namsan Tower During the Light Show

The next day, I went with Sejin and his wife to pick up their kids from their Grandparents house in a nearby city. I spent most of the day with the whole family. We did not do as much on this day, because I was very tired, but I got to see more of the city of Suwon. We visited one of Suwon’s major attractions, Hwaseong, a fortress wall that extends around the main part of the city. Here, I walked around part of the wall with Sejin and his daughter. It was interesting to see the ties to all of Korea’s history still being visible in a major way. Most of that day, I got to spend with Sejin and his family, which was something that I really appreciated, but the next morning I had to take the train back to Gunsan.