University of Missouri-Columbia

“R U Ready?”

By Jung Il-shin, Senior, Dept. of Forestry

 

  Before I entered Chonnam National University, I thought CNU campus would be full of triumphant student voices reading the declaration of independence, and rejoicing in the freedom from their suffocating high school days. The reality of college life, however, is quite different from what I had imagined: most college students seem to believe that the absolute reason for studying is “to be hired” and they are doing their best to be the person who their future employers want them to be. More surprisingly, Korean society encourages those students to be more hardcore I-will-Do-Whatever-Society-Wants bookworms. From the very moment that I realized there was something missing in my freshman year, I have been searching for the way which would lead me to my ideal college life. One day, the answer popped up on my computer screen; Exchange Student Selection to the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) in the U.S.A.

 

   After I decided to apply for the exchange student program, I asked myself what I should focus on to be a “future exchange student,” and the answer was quite simple. First, keep my GPA as high as possible because that is the essential selection criteria. Second, there is no harm in being more prepared for English. Third, be a full grown person socially, who is able to successfully manage culture shock. Last of all, foster an open mind toward anything new. The experiences in my sophomore years of adapting myself to a totally different country, (Australia) through the internship sponsored by CNU, helped me a lot to get those answers easily. Fortunately, my efforts on those focuses did pay off: I became one of three exchange students at the University of Missouri (MU) for 2003-2004.

 

   Preparing for my journey to Missouri, it was very embarrassing to realize that Missouri was one of the most unknown parts of the U.S. Frankly, all I knew about Missouri was that people often make jokes about its name because it sounds similar to “misery” which is not pleasing at all. I tried to get some information about Missouri from the people who used to live in the U.S. I asked them, “I am going to spend one year in Missouri. What do you think Missouri is like?” Unfortunately, the answer was shocking enough to fade all my expectations and wishes about my upcoming life in Missouri: “Oh, man…there is nothing but corn and cows”

 

   Anyway, on August 16th 2003, I finally arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago with my luggage which was as heavy as my worries over the unknown place I was in.   I headed for the University of Missouri (MU) which would be my second home. When I got to MU, it was about seven o’clock in the evening. Since I could hardly see the obscure outline of the campus in the twilight, my first impression of MU was rather blurry. Standing in the middle of a campus road, I started to recognize the cold atmosphere surrounding me. (Remember,   it was the middle of August!) Immediately, I figured out the origin of the weird atmosphere. It was not because of the weather but because of the fact that I was now, “officially an outsider.” In short, my first day at MU was full of fear and anxiety.

 

   From the second day at MU, however, the story was different. Can you imagine what would be the only sentence that is suitable to describe the image of MU to me from the second day till the last day in the U.S.? The answer is this: “We are more than ready to help you.” MU was fully ready to welcome all the international students, of course, including me. They offered a 3-day-long orientation for new international students. The orientations covered everything, literally everything; campus tour, introduction of U.S. currency, famous restaurants and bars downtown, explanations about campus English, several basic tips for survival on  campus etc. After I went through those orientations, I felt as if I were a soldier who was overly-prepared, having experienced  numerous  imaginary combats, and who could not wait to face the “real combat” which would be tense  itself.

 

   The real combat waiting for me, however, was even milder and kinder. Can you feel any tension or hostility from the word “Pangaea”? Definitely not. “Pangaea” was the community name of my dorm. Because almost American students in this community are assigned to share his/her room with international students, everyone I met in this dorm was open-minded, willing to help international students and ready to learn and accept other cultures. At the end of each month, we had “Culture Night” such as “German Night,” “Japanese Night,” “Greek Night” to celebrate the diversity of the community and to have a better understanding toward each other. These parties were always full of traditional music, costumes, food, movies, and interesting stories from the native friends.

 

   Whenever I thought of someone who would use the word “world” as his/her everyday life based terminology, I used to think of the name Bill Gates, Keith Rupert Murdoch, Kofi Annan who are officially recognized world-leaders. The world seemed to be “their world” but not mine. One year of life experience in Pangaea with my multi-national neighbors- Spanish, Bosnian, Brazilian, Britain, Taiwanese, French, Puerto Rican, Japanese, etc- moved the world from an untouchable place to my vivid reality. Also, it awakened me to the sense that each individual from various nations is an essential member of the world and if each person lacks his/her own national identity, the whole world will finally lose its diversity. As a result, I decided to put more time and effort into knowing myself (who am I?), knowing my region (what kind of place is Chonnam and Gwangju?) and knowing my country (what kind of country is Korea?). Ironically, what I most clearly realized in the U.S. was the importance of having a solid identity about myself and my origin rather than the importance of fluent English or mimicking American life style.

 

   Before I came to the U.S., I had most worried about how to deal with the dangerous enemy of foreign life: feeling lonely and insecure. However, as I mentioned before, MU was ready to alleviate my tension and loneliness.  On Friday, my international friends and I often joined “Craft Night” where MU offered lots of program to help people to celebrate major holidays and cultures in the U.S. I enjoyed having some free pizza, doing crafts (carving pumpkins for Thanksgiving, making heart-shaped paper boxes for Valentine day, making “dream catchers” which is a Native-American craft, making some aromatics and soaps on “Beauty Night”) and, above all things, chattering and giggling with lovely people who  were cool enough to help get rid of the compounded  stress of  the weekdays.

 

   If you are a person of complicated interest which t has made it quite difficult for you to match your “picky” taste to an ordinary class schedule, you can start your new semester at MU with happy worries of what classes to pick. Choosing a class schedule at MU for each new semester was just like a fancy buffet for me. No matter what kind of special thing I was interested in, it was not that hard to make a perfect schedule for satisfying my picky intellectual taste. Imagine that there is an endless list of classes for each semester and all you have to do is to know exactly what kind of intellectual interest you have (believe it or not, it is not easy to define your own interest when you happen to face excessive freedom of options) and make a brilliant combination of classes. Isn’t it gorgeous?

 

   Let’s say you have more complicated interests which are beyond all the combinations of the classes. Then, just talk with your professor. I am quite positive from my experience that they will be willing to help you find a solution to your tricky interest and even encourage you to do more “adventurous” things. When I took my GIS class, I told my professor that there was one thing I wanted to try in his class but it seemed to be overwhelming for me to carry it out. After he listened to my plan, he encouraged me a lot. “I think that will be a great project. Don’t worry. I will help you as much as I can” Thanks to his kind advice (he encouraged me to add more complex factors to my project!) and help (he was always the last person to leave the classroom to help me who was always the second last person to leave the classroom), I could successfully finish my project that I thought I should not dare to try.

 

   I would like to make one thing clear. All conversations I shared with my professor and classmates were not that fluent. More than half of the sentences from my mouth were broken English. I was often curious about how my American professors understood my disastrous spoken English. It seems that a lot of students are reluctant to apply to be exchange students for fear that they have to take classes in English. I do understand what they fear. . . Sometimes, it is not easy to take classes even in Korean, much less in English. However, the ability to actively absorb the essential points of a class and to energetically interpret those points in your own words depends much more on how well your study schedule is organized with preparation and review, (you may laugh at my antiquated advice but that is the key to successful schooling in the U.S.) than on whether an American notices the Korean accent in your English or not. If you are doing well at CNU, that is it! You are good enough to be able to do the same job or better job at MU.

 

   Compared to typical Korean college classes, those of MU were much more demanding and intensive. Almost all classes have more than three major tests, several pop-up quizzes, and some papers. Microeconomics, for example, that I took at MU had more than 20 various kinds of tests for one semester. Honestly, it was challenging. There was hardly a space left in my schedule after I had finished  marking these three things: “Quiz,” “Test” and “Paper Due” After the first semester at  MU, I finally got the  idea that those frequent tests release me from the frantic cram which has been the cause of much of my suffering  during my college days in Korea. Moreover, because of the various criteria for a class, more than just a mid term and a final, I did not need to make a risky bet on one or two tests for each class.

 

   You may wonder why I am not mentioning any negative memories about MU. Of course, I went through quite tough days: I had lots of friends at MU but it was very hard to find a “real” friend who was able to understand me no matter what language I used and no matter what color I was. .  The inevitable situation that I had to survive using my imperfect English always brought me huge stress and tension. However, I assumed that those things were part of the price I needed to pay to get much more valuable lessons and experiences in my life (You know, there is no free lunch). That is the reason why my essay is so rosy.

 

   I know many CNU students are complaining that we have only one school name in the exchange program school list to the U.S.; University of Missouri-Columbia. So did I. However, at MU, I met many Korean exchange students who told me MU was their first or second preference followed by numerous so called “top schools” in the U.S. I hope you are able to get some hint from my essay about why MU is the most popular university among exchange student wannabes.

 

MU was ready to help you. Now, the question is whether you are ready to be there. Period.

 

 

저작권자 © Chonnam Tribune 무단전재 및 재배포 금지