Chelsea Carlson, '13, Tuition Waiver at Ewha Womans University & Senior Thesis Research in Korea-Summer 2012

Tuition Waiver Experience:

One of my favorite memories I have of my experience at Ewha is from a field trip to the National Museum during Session II of the summer program. I had befriended another student from Canada who was also an enthusiastic photographer. We spent most of our time during the guided tour exchanging ideas about different shots or how to solve blurriness in shots with dim light, while occasionally tuning in to the docent’s brief lectures on each object in the museum. Towards the end of the tour, our group arrived at the “Pensive Bodhisattva,” a Korean national treasure. This friend and I stayed behind after the group moved to the next exhibit to photograph the statue, and I was having trouble capturing a clear shot—the glass was making it hard for my camera to focus. My friend motioned to me to move closer to one corner of the glass enclosure around the statue and said, “See the reflection of the back of the statue in the glass over there? That would be an awesome shot if you take a picture of the statue at an angle from here.” That picture is still one of my favorites from my time in Korea.

I feel that this story encapsulates my experience at Ewha—through the friends I made over the course of my six-week program, I learned and benefited from multiple perspectives on Korean language, culture, and history through befriending and engaging with my fellow students. The quality of the education that I received was undeniably high, but what made my Ewha experience special was learning together with people from many different cultures. I made friends from Japan, China, Denmark, England, Canada, and, of course, Korea, among others. Simply by talking with these students from very different backgrounds during class, dinners, or on Ewha’s organized field trips and outings, I learned to see Korea through many new perspectives.

The immersive language experience also had an especially significant impact on my time at Ewha. For example, I was unable to communicate with my friends from Japan unless it was in Korean, since most people in the program did not know enough English to have a conversation. Not only did this help to improve my conversation abilities and my confidence, but it also gave me the opportunity to ask them about their experiences and learn from them firsthand about how they were experiencing Korea. Learning from them helped me to pay attention to new things—I was always surprised by what they found interesting or unique about a lecture or field trip exploring Korean culture.

When I look back on my experience at Ewha, I will fondly remember the laughs I had with my roommates, our embarrassing but funny situations arising from occasional inadequacy with the Korean language, and the fun trips we took with newfound friends out into Seoul. When I was asked to make a speech at Ewha at the closing ceremony, I said then that I refuse to say goodbye to Ewha, as I am sure that the summer program will not be my only visit. I still hold the same conviction, and I hope to go back to Ewha soon. I am so grateful that my trip to Ewha was made possible by Harvard’s support, and it was an experience I would not trade for anything.

Thesis Research Experience:

This summer, I spent a lot of my time doing research for my senior thesis in Korea. I am currently writing a microhistory on Jeonju Kijeon Women’s High School in Jeonju, northern Cholla Province, and the students’ involvement in the March 1, 1919 independence movement. I have compiled information on that school, and am working on getting more research on a couple other high schools in the Jeonju area that were also involved in the movement before I leave. Being in Korea and having access to primary sources on these schools—particularly rare books by alumni that cannot be found in the United States—will undoubtedly help me to write a better senior thesis.  

My research experience has made obvious the fact that no major project is completed without the input and kindness of many people. I was moved by how kind Korean professors were to me during my research process, sending me copies of rare books, giving me copies of their articles, emailing detailed bibliographies tailored to my topic, or putting me in touch with friends or colleagues that could direct me to other resources. In every case, it was clear that they all put time and effort into compiling the things that they sent to me. I am thankful for their patience with my Korean abilities, and for their willingness to guide me in my research. Meeting them not only made my research experience more enjoyable, but also shaped my project in unexpected and exciting ways.

Doing my research has also brought new friends. I met a fellow undergraduate researcher from Emory, who was not only an impressive scholar but also a fun research buddy. We met at the National Library on a couple occasions to research together, and I am thankful to him for showing me the workings of the National Library and for making my visits much less lonely.

Above all, I was very thankful to have my advisor, Sun Joo Kim, and my graduate tutor, John Lee, in the country for part of the summer to help me address problems with my thesis as I encountered them. They provided invaluable advice on how to work through problems finding evidence, or how to begin interpreting my research. This process would have been much more difficult without their help, and I am thankful that they were here to guide me through parts of the process.

One of my favorite things about my research was that it took me outside of Seoul. I made a couple of trips down to Jeonju in northern Cholla Province to visit the school site and local museums in search of more information. It was lovely to take a break from city life in Seoul. While the bus ride to Jeonju was long, I was happy to have the chance to take in Korea’s beautiful countryside scenery. My research also took me to places like Daejeon to visit the National Archives, as well as the National Library in Seoul.  

For those considering research in Korea in the future, I would encourage them to jump at the opportunity to find funding and just try their hand at research in Korean history. While researching in Korea is certainly more difficult if you are not a native speaker, challenging myself to research in a different language and go outside my comfort zone has taught me never to sell myself short. There were times during my experience that I was anxious about how my project would turn out, or that I would be unable to find something because my language skills were not as good as they could be, but I have learned to take those anxieties in stride and keep focusing on exploring new source possibilities. I have surprised myself by how much I was able to do. Doing research here is so fun, and so exciting, and I am so glad that I was able to spend a large portion of my summer focusing on my thesis research.