The Changing Seasons: Reflections of a Graduate Student in Korea
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Written by Kim Harold PEJI
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EXCERPT
How to live in a first world country always made me wonder. The internet somehow gives us a glimpse, but experiencing it firsthand is entirely different. I have traveled to a handful of countries for quick trips, however, when I got to experience living away from home for a long time, I realized that those sojourns, as respite, only contribute to raising one’s cultural awareness. Having weekend trips overseas might be entertaining, sometimes enlightening, but insufficient to fully understand the culture of a particular society. In my experience, one has to spend a significant amount of time immersed in a culture to have a profound understanding of it—at least six months to a year. Living in South Korea as a graduate student for more than a year now has allowed me to truly understand their rich history, culture, and people. They continuously impart lessons and evoke reflections applicable in my academic, personal, and professional life.
AUTHOR
Kim Harold T. PEJI is a graduate student at the Seoul National University - Graduate School of International Studies (SNU-GSIS) under its Development Cooperation Policy Program. He is a graduate scholar of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The views and opinions presented in this paper do not represent the views and opinions of SNU-GSIS and KOICA.
