My Summer Studying at Sogang International Summer College (via a KI Tuition Waiver) -Summer 2009

First of all, I would just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone at the Korea Institute who made this summer possible for me. I have always dreamt of studying abroad, but I never thought I would actually get the opportunity. If it hadn’t been for the tuition waiver and the guidance I received through the Korea Institute, I would have missed out on an unforgettably amazing experience.

From the end of June to the first week of August, I studied Korean language in an intensive program at Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. The reason Sogang was my first choice was because I had heard of their excellent language programs, and I also had heard it was a very close-knit community due to its small size. Everything about the school was just as I’d hoped it would be. The campus was beautiful—the school was built up against a hill, and there were so many old trees and park-like places. The classrooms were pretty old, but our dormitory was new with everything I could ever need (laundry, convenience store, gym, cafeteria, etc.) only an elevator ride away from my room.

But the best thing about Sogang was its teaching staff. The first day of class, I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure whether the course would be the right level for me, or whether I could survive six hours of Korean every day. But I needn’t have worried—right from the start, our teachers reassured us that they would adjust the material to best fit our needs and preferences. And as the day progressed, the incredible enthusiasm and dedication they showed as they taught us made everything so interesting and fun that six hours went by in a blur.

Not only were the teachers amazing, but Sogang’s curriculum was also excellent. The textbook wasn’t like an ordinary textbook with grammar lessons and endless vocabulary. All the lessons were centered around cultural themes, and new vocabulary and grammar were introduced to complement these lessons. All the exercises in the book kept me engaged and curious, and through them I not only improved my language skills but also learned so much about Korean culture.

I think what made Sogang Summer School such a cool experience was that the professors who designed the program really wanted students to go out into the “real” Korea and practice Korean with native speakers. So instead of six hours of classroom learning, we had three hours of bookwork in the morning, and then three hours of fieldwork in the afternoon. Fieldwork ranged from visiting palaces with a guide who explained the whole history of the place in Korean, to visiting Insadong, a neighborhood filled with traditional Korean arts and crafts, to eating out at a Korean restaurant with our teacher. Afterwards, we would write a blog entry in Korean, explaining what we had done that day and what we had found most interesting.

I don’t think any other summer language intensive does anything like what Sogang does. In addition to the fieldwork component of the program, the university also offered a five day fieldtrip for all summer school students that stopped at dozens of famous and historical Korean landmarks. We basically did a roundtrip tour of the whole country, staying in lodgings ranging from a seaside resort to a traditional Korean house. I think my favorite parts of the trip were when we stopped at temples such as Bulguksa and Haeinsa. Everything was so peaceful, green, and relaxed, especially in comparison to the crowded, busy streets of Seoul.

Every Friday, there was a master class where the university would invite several prominent cultural icons to speak, or in some cases, perform. The objective of these classes was to explore the ways in which Korea’s ongoing modernization and globalization relates to its rich traditional history. I think while at this point I may have more questions than conclusions about my culture and my own identity as a global citizen, I look forward to exploring the answers, perhaps again in Korea or perhaps in other parts of the world. THANK YOU AGAIN for such an amazing summer experience!!!

–Christine Jane Lee, '12