Here is an adorable couple who would never forget Chonnam National University (CNU) campus for each other. Klaus Schmidt (German) and Xu Yiran (Chinese, Senior, Dept. of English Language and Literature), who had been in different Korean language classes at CNU Language Education Centre (LEC), first met on December 2009 through the Korean culture experience program hosted by the LEC. Afterwards, even though Xu Yiran did not have a phone, Klaus contacted her through her friend and asked her to go out. At first, Xu did not consider it to be a proper date but went to see him to make a foreign friend. Although both were beginners at Korean and Xu could not speak English very well at that time, the language barrier was not a big deal. They formed natural mode and shared their thoughts by talking freely for four hours on the first date. After a few more dates, with a feeling of attraction for each other, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. Klaus is now working in Germany and, Xu is planning to study economy in Germany next year after graduation. Throughout the interview, she sometimes had tears on her eyes missing him. Recalling their daily memories, Xu said, “Every day was special. We walked around everywhere on campus”. She also said, “It is a hard time to be apart now but sacrifice is necessary for our future and our future family. That is the really important thing for couples”. This time next year, they will probably be having Christmas as a lovely married couple.
* Professor-Student Relation
Jeong Yo-han(Sophomore, Dept. of English Language and Literature) smiled shyly and greeted Professor Douglas Stuber (Dept. of English Language and Literature) as he came into the office for an interview. At the beginning of the interview, Douglas asked whether Yo-han had taken other classes before. Despite Yo-han having never taken Douglas’s class, Douglas felt that Yo-han was very familiar, somehow. The relationship between them has been interesting from the first moment. Actually Yo-han has known Douglas since the membership training of the English Language and Literauture department two years ago. “We had games like ‘judging food’ together, which was very fun”, said Yo-han. Although Professor Douglas barely remembers Yo-han at that time, Douglas clearly recalls the second time they met. When Yo-han applied for the volunteer work as an artist care staff for the Gwangju World Music Festival, Douglas interviewed him. Douglas remembers that moment and said, “I was glad that he got picked”. This semester, they met again in the class. Yo-han, who is taking Douglas’s class now, said, “I have come to see him from time to time and we’ve had some enjoyable chats. He told me an interesting story about his career as a musician, poet, painter and professor“. Douglas said that it is brave to think about taking extra time to develop friendship and work out English with professors, and he would pleasantly help them out. “I try to be a friend of students as long as I am in this campus. I also have lunch with a revolving informal group of students once a week. So you can come, too”, said Douglas. Yo-han gladly said, “I should never be late for the class anymore”.
