So I've decided to accommodate blogs by request from those interested in reading my thoughts on particular subjects. While BBR's are in their beta phase, I do not plan to charge for them, however, I cannot say with certainty if and when that will change. The first BBR is a courtesy to fellow NSEP'er Alisa. Alisa will be joining me at Yonsei for the Spring term 08 and of course, I offered her my full experiential assistance. I chatted with her the other day and referred to to this blog for info on Korea and my goings on thus far. Her response? Something along the lines of it not being what she was looking for. Hmmm... Fine. Here you go.

First things first. What I miss:
I can't say that I miss many American products, for the most part they're readily available at the local store. I didn't realize until today however, that I missed american chewing gum so much. Most Korean versions of american products are just that, Korean Versions. With chewing gum it is similar. Korean chewing gum is quite fruity, almost like juicy fruit. And while that's good if you're looking for a little snack, if you're looking to freshen the breathe between brushes, not so much. There's a Costco in Seoul, but you need a membership and it's a hike from the subway exit. (Just try to imagine carrying any useful amount of groceries 3 or 4 blocks each way...) Today I found a little convenience store that looks like a Costco reseller. My first thought was that most of the items were over priced, however, when I consider that the store owner is probably going to Costco himself and then selling the items individually instead of in bulk, well, he need to make a buck too. Today I picked up some essentials including Listerine, Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts, walnuts, korean sausages (yea buddy!), and some sweet grain snacks. (Had to stock up for mucho studying starting next week)

School:
I'm enrolled in three classes at Yonsei, all of which are offered directly through Yonsei University and not through Underwood College (the foreign exchange school on campus). Two "traditional" classes I'm taking, Int'l Political Econ and East Asn Int'l Relations are taught in English by Yonsei professors, but are predominately filled with Korean natives. The first challenge to these classes are the broken nature of the professors' english (although they both earned their phds in the US) and secondly the references to issues that can mainly be understood from within the framework of having grown up in Korea. At the same time the teaching style in Korea seems to be much different than in the US, based on my assessment of these two classes. The professors are very much accepting of the fact that there is simply no absolute truth in the social sciences. They stress the importance of recognizing that there are differing perspectives. While I agree that acknowledgement of such differences is important, in my experience, professors in the US seem much more willing to take stances on issues and challenging students to formulate solid, defendable stances as well. This is in contrast to the often heard, "that's an interesting perspective, who else has another interesting perspective?" in my Korean classes. My third class, which begins Monday is an intensive Korean class (intensive = 4hr a day 5 days a week) taught through Yonsei's Korean Language Institute. In an 18 month, 6 semester program one is expected to become academically fluent in the Korean language. I will be enrolled for 3 semesters. There are over 1500 students currently enrolled in the intensive language program spread throughout the 6 levels of proficiency. I'm looking forward to it!

Home: See previous blogs

Nightlife: See previous blogs

I think this covers most of it.. but if there's anything else I left out.. let me know and I'll amend the blog.