Woosong University is made up by three campuses that are separated by a fifteen minute walking period from each other, but integrated by the surrounding neighborhoods. The surrounding neighborhoods consist of housing, restaurants, and other markets that allow students living in the dormitory to experience communal life while studying in a University.
Today was reserved for an Orientation/Welcome Ceremony and an on Campus Tour of Woosong University. They passed out schedules for the ceremony, and then they started the process. It quickly came to the part where each student would introduce themselves, but there was delay as some Russian students took there time to introduce themselves. In my perspective this appeared to annoy the coordinators, and they told us several times to make our introduction quick. The ceremony ended quickly, and this scared mike and I. We thought that the program began with a bad misunderstanding, because something was missing and weird about what just happened. Similar to how unlicensed vendors would rush and gather all their goods when a police car comes by. So, we thought that the coordinator couldn’t tolerate the students’ behavior and decided to wrap it up quickly. Mike and I freaked out and thought the students offended the Korean culture in some way. Before we came to Korea we heard about Korean politeness and how conservative the culture can be, and I guess it left us a little paranoid. I soon discovered that the first run was a practice ceremony. A video about Woosong was shown during this presentation that introduce how Woosong is interested in Globalization, and has a big international student program. The University is also very interested in community and the well being of the environment.
Downtown Daejeon was the first place that allowed me feel the reality of being another country. All the vertical Korean signage and the Korean population took me by surprise, because I am so use to American signage and a diverse population. I had dinner and shopped in downtown, but the language barrier was difficult to cope with. I am not use to the food in Korea, because it is too spicy tonight. While shopping I notice that accessories were very big in Korea, and that women’s clothes appear to be a lot more feminine in Korean compared to the United States. Make up has one of the biggest markets in Korea, because while walking in downtown I notice they have a lot of stores just dedicated to selling make up. Beauty appears to be emphasized here amongst women, but is a less cocky way. It does not feel like everyone is trying to top each other’s looks, but more like they want to look like they take care of themselves.
-nancy
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Could you speak into the mic? It's just practice...
Today, we meet the rest of the crew, students from China and Russia-already a mini UN Conference. In anticipation of what could or could not happen, the officials decided to rehearse the ceremony before the arrival of the university president and vice-president.
They just forgot one detail. Tell us when its rehearsal, too!
They were not trying to be rude, but for us, it wasn't just something you would expect! The staff for international students at Woosong seemed pretty young. The oldest look at the most 30. The team ranged from those with doctorates in English Language and Business to juniors and sophomores as young as 21.
After the ceremony, we had lunch with the president and staff at the university's restaurant- Woosong also had a top culinary degree program. Here we met our Russian counterparts and learned that this was first for many of them to be out of the country.
From far left, Jack (New Zealand, China), Mr Choi (Woosong, Korea), Eugene (Far East Trans., Russia), Jimmy (Woosong /Nanjing, China), Anastasia (Russia), Natashia (Russia), Nancy (Woodbury, US), my curry chicken tore up!
From here, we visited the Woosong's yearly exhibition for its School of Visual Branding. The work ranged from marketing products to designing packaging for various small businesses.
One interesting aspect of Woosong is its logo:
Global Leader Global Woosong
During the president's speech, we saw a presentation video of the Woosong and its achievements. The biggest theme was that the university has embraced globalization in such a way that it takes pride knowing its students have a success rate in getting jobs overseas. At first, you may think that its a rip off an ITT commercial or Devry for that matter; but then I began thinking about this summer program. We have students from China, Russia, and Nancy and I from the US. That would be an example of practicing of what you preach. Have Woosong students be able to go on record that have volunteering in a summer program involving with international students- how else would you want to be recommend for work overseas. In western universities, globalization is often spoken with a negative connotation because we tend to emphasize its negative effects- outsourcing, unfair trade, changing industries, sweatshop labor, etc. Do we forget that not only the West and third world countries are not only affected- but developing countries as well?
English is almost as valuable as gold in Asia's universities because of government initiatives to stay competitive in foreign marketplaces. So if regular English teachers want to teach abroad, these universities go out of their way to attract and accommodate these potential candidates with housing and salaries. So English majors in Korea have to compete with teachers from the US for jobs in Korea. Eh, who knew?
-nancy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Could you speak into the mic? It's just practice...
Today, we meet the rest of the crew, students from China and Russia-already a mini UN Conference. In anticipation of what could or could not happen, the officials decided to rehearse the ceremony before the arrival of the university president and vice-president.
They just forgot one detail. Tell us when its rehearsal, too!
They were not trying to be rude, but for us, it wasn't just something you would expect! The staff for international students at Woosong seemed pretty young. The oldest look at the most 30. The team ranged from those with doctorates in English Language and Business to juniors and sophomores as young as 21.
After the ceremony, we had lunch with the president and staff at the university's restaurant- Woosong also had a top culinary degree program. Here we met our Russian counterparts and learned that this was first for many of them to be out of the country.
From far left, Jack (New Zealand, China), Mr Choi (Woosong, Korea), Eugene (Far East Trans., Russia), Jimmy (Woosong /Nanjing, China), Anastasia (Russia), Natashia (Russia), Nancy (Woodbury, US), my curry chicken tore up!
From here, we visited the Woosong's yearly exhibition for its School of Visual Branding. The work ranged from marketing products to designing packaging for various small businesses.
One interesting aspect of Woosong is its logo:
Global Leader Global Woosong
During the president's speech, we saw a presentation video of the Woosong and its achievements. The biggest theme was that the university has embraced globalization in such a way that it takes pride knowing its students have a success rate in getting jobs overseas. At first, you may think that its a rip off an ITT commercial or Devry for that matter; but then I began thinking about this summer program. We have students from China, Russia, and Nancy and I from the US. That would be an example of practicing of what you preach. Have Woosong students be able to go on record that have volunteering in a summer program involving with international students- how else would you want to be recommend for work overseas. In western universities, globalization is often spoken with a negative connotation because we tend to emphasize its negative effects- outsourcing, unfair trade, changing industries, sweatshop labor, etc. Do we forget that not only the West and third world countries are not only affected- but developing countries as well?
English is almost as valuable as gold in Asia's universities because of government initiatives to stay competitive in foreign marketplaces. So if regular English teachers want to teach abroad, these universities go out of their way to attract and accommodate these potential candidates with housing and salaries. So English majors in Korea have to compete with teachers from the US for jobs in Korea. Eh, who knew?
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