January 6

Summer Sonata of Yaoyao Lou

 

Yaoyao Lou (BA 2015) received the KCC Company scholarship in 2015. Yaoyao was a media studies major at the Department  of Communication and Journalism. She graduated in May 2015 with the Latin Honors summa cum laude.

At Suffolk, she worked on Korea-related projects such as proposing a new media company that produces reality shows for Korean pop icons in Business of Media and a presentation on Korean business etiquette in Presentation  Skills.

She spent six weeks in Seoul taking language lessons at Yonsei University in the morning and interning at Chosun TV in the afternoon.  Shown above is a video that she made for Suffolk to document her days in Seoul.

Yaoyao got placed in the second level class where the teacher instructs in Korean only. Most students in her class were Korean Americans who would like to know about their heritage. Their class made a video called  “Where are our classmates?” (need to refresh the page if you see a blank screen) and won the Talents Prize.

 

September 19

Suffolk Students Intern in Seoul, Korea

Two Suffolk students spent the summer of 2012 in Seoul, Korea. In the mornings they studied Korean at the Korean Summer Language Institute at Yonsei University. In the afternoons they each had an internship at a Korean cable TV station. The students were funded by the Jongha Scholarship Foundation, which is operated by KCC Corporation.

The photo was taken at the ceremony when both students were presented with their scholarship checks.

(L to R) SH Lee (President of KCC Corporation); Suffolk students Daniel J. McCarthy (who was with SBS-CNBC); Norelis Popovic (Chosun TV); CY Lee (Chairman and Founder of KCC Corporation)

 

This was the second year of the Seoul internship program and KCC has indicated their desire to continue this program with Suffolk.

From Dan McCarthy:

My bags were packed, and the butterflies were in my stomach.  I’d traveled abroad before; however, this was the first time that I would be on my own in another country.  I was undoubtedly intimidated; my only prior experience with Korean culture involved a barbeque.  There were doubts, concerns and unanswered questions; as well as plenty of friends and family back home that were unafraid to share them with me.  But sometimes you just need to go for it, and be amazed by what happens next.

I arrived in Seoul, South Korea on June 19th, and from there it was pretty hard to look back.  I attended the Korean Language Institute at Yonsei University, while simultaneously interning at media-giant Seoul Broadcasting Systems (SBS), in the CNBC branch.  With classes five days a week from 9AM-1PM and work four days a week from 2PM-7PM, I immediately learned that time was a luxury and needed to be managed as such.

The language classes were unlike any I’d taken in my life.  Going from “A-B-C-D,” to “아, 어, 오, 우,” was overwhelming at first, and in many ways it still is.  Sitting in a classroom with a majority of Koreans made it easy to stand out when stuttering through counting to ten and naming fruits and vegetables.  There’s a great deal of shame that comes with being a “dunce” in Asian culture, and I understood exactly what that meant for the first time in my life.  It was quite a way of getting me inspired to hit the books!

Another reason I felt the need to learn the language quickly was due to my experience at SBS-CNBC.  Of the dozens of employees working in both the studio and office of the company, I could count on one hand the number of people who spoke English.  However, those who could speak English, and even those who couldn’t were extremely friendly, and succeeded in making my internship a memorable one.

The highlight of my time with SBS came on the last day, when I spoke on camera about the developing Apple vs. Samsung case, and helped define some American slang-words used in the trial that would otherwise be lost in translation to Koreans.  While explaining what a “knock-off”  was, I used a box of cereal that was clearly a rip-off of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.  It will probably go down as the strangest news broadcast I’ll ever do, but almost certainly my favorite as well!

During my time in Korea, I had the opportunity to live with over 200 students in the program.   They were close to the same age as myself, but from a VAST variety of backgrounds and cultures that differed from my own.

Malaysia, Quebec, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, Jamaica, and even South Dakota were just some of the places and cultures that my classmates called their own.  Retelling some of my stories to friends back home often sounded like the beginning of a bad joke; “So an American, a Dane, and a French-Korean guy walk into a bar…”

However, we did far more than just goof off.  We studied together.  Learned together. Traveled South Korea together.  While I was one of fewer than 10 non-Korean students in the program, it was truly enlightening to realize how none of that matter to us from the very first day of the program.  Their passion for the Korean culture gave birth to a passion of my own.

The trip was as historical as it was hysterical.  No day I spent in Seoul was like the day before or after it.  Whether I was peering over the Demilitarized Zone, practicing Taekwondo on the beautiful campus of Yonsei, standing in front of the camera at SBS-CNBC, or losing my voice at Norebang with some of the best friends I’ll ever have, the only thing I couldn’t do over those 6 weeks was wipe a smile off my face.

I’ve been back in the United States for over two months now, but the experience continues to have an effect on me.  I’m looking to resume studying the Korean language, however outside of the classroom since Suffolk doesn’t currently teach Korean.  My goal is to return to South Korea in 2018 as a media member for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and I figure my best bet to make that happen is with a firm grasp of Hangeul.  Plus, I’d like to be able to say “this round’s on me,” to my friends in the program, using the language that brought us all together.

If you’re looking to travel; if you’re looking to immerse yourself in a culture far from your own; if you’re looking to build friendships that transcend race or nation; if you’re looking to fully take advantage of the opportunities Suffolk University has to offer, then get involved in this program.  You’ll be glad you did.

 

September 14

Students in Korea

Suffolk had two students studying in Korea this past summer. Sophomore Julie Ritz is majoring in international relations in the Government Department and her advisor is Professor Simone Chun. Senior Katharine Sampson majors in broadcast and journalism in the Communication and Journalism Department. Her advisor is Professor Dana Rosengard.

Both students spent the summer of 2011 studying the Korean language at the Korean Language Institute of Yonsei University in Seoul. In addition, Katharine had an afternoon internship at the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) Channel 7, one of Korea’s major TV networks.  Both Suffolk students received scholarships provided by the Jongha Scholarship Foundation, which was established by the KCC Corporation in Seoul. On the Suffolk campus, this year’s summer program was facilitated by Professor Henry Kim of Economics and Ronald Suleski of the Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies.

From Katie Sampson:
If someone asked me six months ago what my plans were for the following summer, my response would have been one with casual ambiguity. I never dreamed I would spend it pursuing my broadcast career in the heart of Korea. When I was approached about a potential internship opportunity at SBS-CNBC in Seoul, I pounced on it. Of course, the idea of living in a foreign country for six weeks – something I had never done before – was intimidating, especially because I did not speak Korean. But an experience like this comes once in a lifetime, and I was not going to let it pass by.

Living in Seoul proved challenging yet invigorating for a student like myself. I was immersed in a culture I had never known, forced to embrace the traditions and customs that accompany it. Being the minority was humbling. I received a scholarship to take a Korean language course and live in the dorms at Yonsei University. This allowed me to learn some basic Korean and meet some amazing people (and eat as much kimchi as possible!). As for my internship, it was incredible to see that most aspects of news stations are universal, even when in a different language. I felt comfortable, like this was the one constant in a “foreign” situation. I was initially unsure of how I could offer help to a news station that broadcasts in Korean, but was relieved to find out about a segment called ‘Wall Street English’. Teaching English to Korean viewers, this segment takes US-CNBC video clips and explains certain words and phrases to the audience. I helped choose and define phrases and even co-anchored the segment three times a week. I could not have asked for a better experience and environment.

Now back Boston, as I continue to search for a great Korean restaurant, I can’t help but think about all I have learned and most of all – when I will visit that amazing country again.

 

Katie Sampson at Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS).

Read more at: http://www.suffolk.edu/48763.html