By: HyunSoo Lee
I cannot exaggerate how much I am excited for this semester at GW! My name is Hyunsoo Lee. I come from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, and this is my second and last semester in D.C. To be honest, it took me the whole semester to adapt to life at GW. Speaking English all the time was the most difficult part; I had to deal with my poor cooking skills, which, thank god, is improving now. Being away from my family and friends for a long time was definitely a big problem, too. In fact, the chill-out life that I had expected for my exchange life turned about to be a huge challenge for me!
But why am I still so excited? I would have to say that the fact that I joined Balance, the GW dance team, thrills me the most. I used to do ballet almost every day until middle school, but I had to give it up because I had to focus on studying in crazy Korean education system. After entering university, I am trying to dance again as much as I can. And I know dancing in Balance would be an experience that I would never have again; I am excited to try out different approaches to dancing and to perform ballet and contemporary dance here in America!
The courses that I’m taking this semester are exciting, too. I am still in the process of narrowing down what I want to do in the future, but I am interested in urban policies at the moment. So I’m currently taking courses related to policy making in different fields and from diverse perspectives; for example, one of my favorite courses is Gender, Conflict, and Security, where I can learn about the role of gender in policy making process. Also, State and Urban Policy is a course that I am enjoying very much, where I’m learning about the U.S. system of policy making in state and local levels. At the same time, I am also taking Design Fundamentals, just because I wanted to learn how to design and use Adobe programs. I am trying to give myself chances to learn different things and find out what I really want to do, here at GW.
Last but not least, meeting new exchange students this semester is so much fun, while at the same time, I am already so thankful for the friends that I made last semester. I am becoming friends with people from so many different countries that I would never have met if it weren’t for this exchange experience. Getting to know how much alike we are and how much we can love each other despite the differences of the places we come from is amazing.
My English is still not perfect; nor is my cooking skill. I still miss my family and friends A LOT. But I am certain that this semester at GW will make me grow and become a part of me that I will always want to remember.
