Caleb Lee, '17, Korea Institute Undergraduate Summer Language Study Grant (Tuition Waiver at Ewha) -Summer 2014

Caleb Lee ’17 Tuition waiver at Ewha Womans University – Summer 2014

Through the generous support of the Korea Institute, I enrolled in two courses at the International Co-ed Summer College at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. As it was the first time I would be embarking on a summer trip in a foreign country alone, I was somewhat nervous but also excited to begin the program; not to mention it was my first time returning to the country of most of my extended family since I was five years old.

Having taken the lower level Korean Ba and Bb courses at Harvard as a freshman, I took second level Korean as the first of my two classes. Though it was tough adjusting to the fact that the instructors spoke no English during class time and we were expected to do the same, I quickly saw my Korean language skills grow over the course of the four-week program. And while a lot of my learning came in the classroom, there is much to be said about the growth that came out of practicing what I had learned with native speakers, especially those who could explain exactly what I was doing right and wrong in English after the fact. Whether that was the family members I was meeting and practicing my Korean with every week or the friends I made during my time at Ewha, I was amazed at how much and how quickly I was picking up the basic nuances of the language, which was not something I could necessarily learn just in a classroom.

As a person coming into the summer with a high level of interest in East Asian Studies, I decided to take a course on the international relations of North Korea and the rest of the world. Though I had my doubts on how much knowledge I could gain in just a few weeks, I was pleasantly surprised by the rigor and demands of the course, which asked for multiple 15 minute presentations and a wide breadth of readings. More importantly, the professor—an Ewha faculty member who had been to North Korea dozens of times and knew the country firsthand—opened our eyes to the world of North Korea beyond what we would normally see on the news in the United States.

I am extremely grateful to Harvard and the Korea Institute for making this summer possible for me and one that will stay with me for the rest of my life as I continue to explore my culture, history, and language. I know that there will be times when I look back on the summer and marvel at the lessons I learned in such a short time in the country, and I have the supporters of the Ewha tuition waiver to thank.