This was an unforgettable international cultural learning experience in Korea. This tour provided a perfect learning environment. After four lessons of the Korean language course, I was able to introduce myself, order food and hold simple dialogues with local Korean. I am very surprised that I could understand most of the basic dialogues in Korean, read and write most of the basic Korean words in a short period of time. Apart from the language improvements, I gain more understandings of traditional Korean culture including traditional wedding ceremony, Korean tea, farmer’s music and martial art on horseback in the visit of Korean Folk Village. I have just realized that most of the Korean like drinking cold water and cold tea. I enjoyed all remarkable activities such as samulnori, Korean cooking and taekwondo, and it was my first time to have a Korean cooking experience. Now, I miss all the unforgettable moments, teammates and Korean food. Thanks CSAO for granting me this valuable learning experience in Korea.
I had a lot of fun visiting Korea as I had an amazing cultural immersion experience there.
Besides classes at Korea University, we also participated in various activities and field trips. Here I'd like to mention two of them – Samulnori and K-Pop Dance.
Samulnori is a a genre of percussion music originated in Korea. It is performed with four musical instruments and each represents a natural element – Kkwaenggwari (thunder), Jing (wind), Janggu (rain), and Buk (clouds). I performed with Janggu, which is an hourglass shaped drum. As I immersed myself into the performance, I could genuinely experience the dynamic spirit that resembles nature.
We also learned Momoland Baam Dance. The dance moves were more challenging than what we had thought. Learning the dance made me realize that being a successful celebrity means putting a lot of effort into practice. As the Chinese saying goes: one minute on stage takes ten years of practice off stage. It’s never as easy as what you see on stage.
二十一天比我想像中確實過得快， 我真的很感激能在韓國度過我這個暑假，在這個旅程中我認識到很多韓國朋友，學習了韓國語言以及體驗韓國文化。
初來到韓國，我對周圍的環境都很不熟悉，每次搭地鐵都要花很多力多力氣才能去到目的地，幸好當時有Jin的幫助，使我更快熟習宿舍的環境和交通。整個旅程中，我們參觀了傳統民族村、景福宮、觀賞了「亂打」表演、樂天塔、南怡島…在參觀景福宮的當天，我能夠戴上古代的大髮髻和試穿韓服也確實是個新穎的體驗。此外，我們在傳統民俗村見識到古代平民的房子，實在大開眼界。當中我最深刻是 「亂打」表演，因為當時我被邀請上了舞台參與了演出的一部分，我在舞台上參加了包餃子比賽，雖然最終輸了，但這是一個十分深刻的經歷。
我們在韓國參觀之外，還學習很多與韓國文化，例如我們上了韓文堂丶四物打撃樂丶韓式料理丶流行舞蹈丶跆拳道...其中韓文堂佔了我們旅程中的大多數時間，但是幫助我們在短時間內學好了基礎的韓語，很感激學校還幫我們安排了一個高麗大學的學生作為我的語言學習夥伴，在二十天左右的時間裏，他就像我的好朋友，我們會約出來見面、吃飯和看電影，通過不斷以韓語交流，我的韓語溝通能力確實提升了不少。很榮幸我在結業禮能代表一眾同學發表我的感受和體驗。
很開心在這個旅程中結識了新的朋友，同時感激同行老師的帶領和韓語老師的教導，使我們都非常享受這三週的時間。
