Alex Nugent, ’28, Social Studies, Korea Institute Undergraduate Summer Language Study Grant to Ewha Womans University (Ewha EISC Tuition Waiver), Summer 2026
Alex Nugent, ’28, Social Studies, Korea Institute Undergraduate Summer Language Study Grant to Ewha Womans University (Ewha EISC Tuition Waiver), Summer 2026
I was really excited to have the opportunity to study at the Ewha International Summer College this summer for Session I. My experience staying on-campus in I-House was extremely positive. My roommate was a fellow half-Korean American student and we spent most of our afternoons and weekends exploring Seoul together. Highlights of our adventures include when her grandfather treated us to a meal at a traditional Korean restaurant, visiting a dog cafe, and making bag charms at a traditional mother-of-pearl (najeonchilgi) crafting class in Hongdae. We also met up with a friend from Harvard for ramen and noraebang, and caught a performance by the Harvard Din and Tonics at a mixer for the Harvard Club of Korea.
On the academic side, I took two classes: Cross-Cultural Psychology and Elementary Korean, for two and a half hours each per day. I was really impressed with how comprehensive the Cross-Cultural Psychology class was, especially for such a short course. I was able to make many connections during the lectures to concepts and terminology that I had learned in my psychology coursework here at Harvard, and we were also given many opportunities to discuss material with our classmates. Since my peers were all from different countries (including Asia, the USA, and Europe), we were often asked to theorize about how our home cultures perceived certain actions and how that might be applied to the topics we were studying. I found the Korean class to be easier than my coursework at Harvard, with less written work, but still found the vocabulary and speaking practices to be really helpful. Beyond the classroom, however, I noticed my fluency reading Hangeul improved significantly over my travels, and I supplemented my composition by writing postcards to my grandparents in Korean.
After my grandparents left Korea in the 1960s, my mom and I had never visited. Neither of us learned the language until I started taking classes this past school year, and we had very little exposure to the culture. I found it extremely meaningful, therefore, to be able to take in so much of Seoul and build my language skills. From learning about hanbok clothing and hanok villages to the thrill I felt at being able to read street signs or order at restaurants in Korean, it was so rewarding to feel connected with my heritage for the first time. My favorite part was FaceTiming my grandmother, who graduated from Ewha in the 1950s, while walking around campus to compare notes on which parts of the campus had stayed the same and which were now different.
In addition, I've stayed in touch with my roommate and am already thinking about when I can travel back to Seoul.
