Author: Chaenny Sim

1. Language acquisition is definitely one of the hardest processes. This may be my STEM brain talking, but it is significantly harder to learn a language then to understand a science concept. The latter can be done with studying and asking questions, but the only way to improve a language is practicing it. As a generally shy person, I think it is even harder to practice a language. I do not talk much as is in English. Therefore, I find it infinitely harder to muster up the courage to talk in a language that I am less confident in. That being said, I think that my goals for this program were a little bit on the unreasonable side. However, I do think that my understanding of Korean news and articles has improved significantly. Although i still do not understand every work, I think that I am picking up more and more of what the announcer says. I think this is because I watched a lot of soccer this summer as the FIFA World Cup was taking place, and Koreans love soccer. I also think that my writing skill have improved; even though it is still not perfect, I received less and less red marks on the assignments I turned in as the summer progressed. 
2. I honestly think that I earned so much more than I had dreamed of attending a language study abroad. I did not think that I would gain much insight because I have a Korean heritage, and I have been back to Korea several times since moving to America. However, being in Korea away from my family was a very different experience, and I felt like I learned more about how I fit into the culture and the country in tandem with the influences I have received from growing up in the States. I think that I (and other Korean-American students) have a hard time figuring out exactly which society I fit into because even though I have done all of my schooling in American, I live in a very traditionally Korean household. Therefore, there are some cultural disparities between me and my caucasian friends. In addition, I never felt like I fit into Korean society because it runs so differently than that of the US, and I have never been able to fully adjust to it. However, on this trip (being let loose), I feel like I got to the point where I understood why the Korean society runs the way it does and how I fit into that as a “foreigner” who does not look foreign. I think that before this program I thought that I would never be able to live in Korea or anywhere else abroad, but now it is an idea that is very appealing to me. 
3. I think the best way to improve my Korean at this point is to read a lot of books in Korean and to watch Korean TV shows. Obviously it is important to practice my speaking as well, but on a realistic scale, there are not many native Koreans that I can speak to at Notre Dame. Before leaving Korea, I stopped by a book store and bought a few Korean books, and I also know that the Notre Dame library and public library in my hometown have some Korean books to offer as well. So I will slowly start to work my way through those. As the world has become significantly technologically advanced, many Korean shows have become available on the internet, and I received many recommendations for shows to watch from the Korean friends I made over the summer. 

7/30/2018

Last Thursday was my last day of classes at SNU. This past month and a half at Seoul National University has really flown by. I definitely spent an action packed time in Korea, even though I did not get to do everything that I wanted to try. There’s just so much to see and do here!

First off, I think that my Korean has improved. At first, I was a little concerned that my Korean would not improve much as the class was a little difficult and because I feel that it is hard to improve in a language after you get to a certain level. However, I think that my professor did a wonderful job trying to match the wide range of levels in our class. I felt that we spent more time on Korean culture and how it shaped Korean language, such as learning about different 사자성어 (sajaseonguh) which are four letter idioms. We also did a lot of shorter writing assignments that helped me improve my writing. These writing assignments focused more on how to make more fluid sentences in Korean rather than focusing on our grammar or spelling. I think that this helped me get a better grasp on writing while also helping my grammar. Also because the assignments were shorter, we were able to get feedback more quickly and make corrections in our next assignment which also helped me retain the information that I received.

Second off, although I did not make many Korean friends as our program was not in adjunct with the normal SNU summer courses, I did get to befriend a few who happened to live in the dorms as well. I think through these friends I learned a lot more about Korean culture. Even though we learn about culture in class, I think it is completely different from experiencing it first hand and hanging out with people who grew up in Korea helped me better understand the culture better (although they totally understood when we made cultural mistakes as we were foreigners who did not know any better). Probably one of the most useful things I learned in Korea was how to grill meat at a Korean barbecue. Although I have gone to many Korean barbecue places, I have never grilled the meat myself. But this time, I put what I had seen in K-dramas and what I have seen my parents do in practice. The first time was a little ruff, but I got a hang of it really quickly.

Lastly, I think that I have made some of my best friends here. Although they live all around the world, I hope that one day we will be able to meet again as successful adults who have achieved our goals and dreams. 그래서 꼭 다시 만나자! (So let’s definitely meet again!)

7/10/2017

The wi-fi in our dorm is currently not working (this seems to have been caused by the recent rain). As an excuse, I decided to go to one of Seoul’s thousands of cafes in order to get some work done. Within the last couple of decades, the cafe culture in Korea has been booming. When walking down the streets of Seoul, you are guaranteed to walk past a cafe every minute. However, these cafes are different from your average American cafes like Starbucks. Most if these Korean cafes have a certain theme and an interior to match it. The themes can range from animals, cartoon characters to flowers and even Legos. So no two cafes are the same.

I decided to come to a cafe called 토끼의 지혜 (Rabbit’s Wisdom), which is a book cafe. The walls of the cafe are lined with bookshelves filled with books of every genre. I decided to come to this cafe not only because of my love for books but also because my Korean professor told me that the best way to improve my Korean was to read as many books as possible.

After coming here I wonder what it would be like to have a cafe like this in the States. I feel like it would be very popular…

P. S. I read a short novel by 정세랑 (Jung Saerang) titled 섬의 애슐리 (Ashely of the Island).

7/5/2018

It has been a little over a week since my program at Seoul National University (SNU) has started. The first week has consisted of getting used to the new environment and learning how to use public transportation. Because SNU is much larger than Notre Dame, it is sometimes necessary to ride the buses to get to class (especially during the current monsoon season). The first few times I accidentally got on a bus going in the opposite direction that left the school campus. After asking around, I discovered that there are free shuttle buses that only go around the campus. Thus, my worries of getting on a bus that leaves campus has shrunk significantly. Other than that everything has been smooth sailing so far. My classes (Korean Culture and Korean Language) have both been great so far. In my Korean culture class, we are learning about the differences in the two Koreas (North and South) after 1945. This seems like a great opportunity to learn more about Korean history and analyze how it has shaped modern Korean society and culture. For my Korean language class, I placed into level 6 (the highest level). This class has definitely challeneged me so far by looking at more detail specific grammar points and more ambiguous topics in the Korean language, such as onomatopoeias (Korean has a vast collection of these that sound similar but must be used for a specific situation). Overall, I think that I will enjoy my time here and cannot wait to make new memories!

P. S. Here is a picture of me and my roommate with the SNU cheerleadin team. Their definition of cheerleading is very different from the definition that I am used to.