By riakkim
School has started, and suddenly the hills of Anam are filled with students, conversation, laughter, and food- a stark contrast to the quieter days of late February. The start of school after three months of quiet living, traveling, and relaxation is strange and slightly surreal, especially as I occupy said strange place as a passing Korean yet exchange student.
Classes are hectic with add-and-drop, and there's a strange situation of English taught classes- where lectures are supposed to be in English but filled with Korean students, leading to the reality of lectures and questions in a mix of English and Korean. I luckily understand most of the Korean, yet my peers who don't speak the language are often confused and it can be difficult and tiring to translate everything going on, despite my best efforts. Classes are also quite different, as teaching style here is less interactive and more lecture-based, unlike many of the courses I take back home at GW.
I had the golden opportunity to travel to Busan this past weekend, as part of a sponsored trip for international students by one of Korean's largest conglomerates, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction. As my first time in Busan, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the area- Busan is one of Korea's major ports and I was shocked to see the ocean is so blue, skies so clear, and weather so mild with the ocean breeze. I fell in love at first sight, and wished my stay could be longer than 2 days 1 night. Since the trip was sponsored by Doosan, we had the opportunity to meet several managers and tour some of their facilities, my favorite being the RO plant, a reverse osmosis plant that purifies sea water into drinking water. The process is something that is usually known to be expensive and not very efficient, yet they had engineered a plant that purifies water at a similar cost to river water purification, technology that the Middle East particularly has a large need for (Saudi Arabia's government is a particularly large customer of Doosan).
Seeing such large technological developments and an more hands-on experience with potential areas of my field in Engineering was inspiring and I felt even more strongly that my field of study, Biomedical Engineering, was in fact the right fit for me. Despite Doosan being a more mechanical-engineering based company, I learned a lot about the field and engineering professionalism in general, especially for an international company.
Korean companies tend to quite large and encompass many things (for example, Doosan also owns a mall and a baseball team), often buying smaller companies to acquire patents. It was interesting to see the Korean philosophy of this company, since we were treated as first-class, with individual accommodations, large meals, and comfortable coach buses, despite only being students- I later learned that it was to remember Doosan with a good impression, especially when later applying to jobs.
Because this trip was only for international students, I learned much about the struggles that non-Korean heritage international and exchange students experience with their life in Korea- most of which are language and culture based. Since Koreans can be quite exclusive and only want to hang out among themselves, I learned it can be very lonely and hard to find peers to hang out, something that I also have experienced as a non-native Korean who isn't fluent in the language.
I feel that sometimes I can't fully experience Korea because of my identification as Korean-American, or "Gyopo". But there is still much time left, and perhaps as my Korean language skills improve and I meet new people, there is possibility to meet and befriend both other international students and natives to Korea as well.
