My name is Lydia Kim (김현주) and I am a Korean-American exchange student from the United States. I was born and raised in the US and I am currently fulfilling my undergraduate studies at John Brown University for my major in biology and my minor in chemistry. This is my 3rd year, second semester and it is a blessing to be able to study at Handong Global University this spring semester.
Back in February, when I first arrived in South Korea, I was extremely excited to see what the next 5 months of my life would look like. If I was any other student, I would have been nervous to travel to a country where I did not know the language or culture. However, since I am a Korean-American (교포), I was more excited than nervous because I already knew what Korean culture looked like and practiced parts of it along with its language back home.
However, once school started, I could sense some things clashing. To my surprise, there was a lot more of Korea’s culture that I did not know of and I realized how much more American I was than Korean. One of the biggest thing was to make sure I was always used formal speech to everyone older than me, even if they are just a year older. I know this is important in Korea, but I did not realize just how important or predominant it was until I experienced it myself. Back home in America, I have a lot of friends who are a couple of years older than me and we talk to each other comfortably. It’s not being less respectful but simply because English only has “you” unlike “언니, 오빠, 형, 누나, or even 학우님” in Korean. I found it difficult to communicate with others sometimes because I did not know how to address them and it made things awkward.
But I am glad I went to Handong and not another Korean university because of the multi-cultured community members this campus holds. God had blessed me with wonderful roommates and groups of multicultural friends who gave me helpful tips and “know-abouts” for campus life and the Korean lifestyle. Because they too were international, we clicked and reminisced about our countries back home.
Now, I have roughly 5 weeks until this semester is over. By this point, I feel like I’ve gotten a good grasp of understanding and living a Korean lifestyle and getting to understand my other culture as an international student. Thank you Handong for providing a great learning experience for me and I pray you will continue to do great works for future international and multicultural students.

Lydia Kim(Life Sciences 17)