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CULTURE PASS (2% x 2=4%)

Students are required to submit two reports regarding culture pass. Students can 1) attend two Culture Pass Events or 2) attend one Culture Pass Event and participate in at least two Language Exchange Sessions w/ CELOP students. Each culture pass report will count for 2% of the final grade. Both culture pass reports are due by the last day of class, April 30th. Students can find Korean culture events in the Boston area on the BU Korean Program's Instagram page (@bukoreanstudies): https://www.instagram.com/bukoreanstudies/

Culture Pass Event Report:

Students attend Culture Pass Events organized by the World Languages and Literatures department or other cultural events approved by the professor. Students will write interesting aspects about the event in English and post a photo they took at the event. For each event, students may describe the event, what they have learned from it, and what they thought about it in about 15 sentences.

CELOP Language Exchange Session Report:

Write your name on each post.

Students participate in at least 2 Language Exchange Sessions (50 minutes each) with the conversation partners at CELOP. They will write a report summarizing what they learned throughout the language exchange sessions in 15-20 sentences in English. The students will post a screenshot of the online meeting participants with their names on Padlet to report along with other writings. Each session will consist of 25 minutes in Korean and 25 minutes in English. While speaking Korean, students can practice the expressions and vocabulary words they’ve learned in class. Participation in 2 language exchange sessions will be counted as 1 culture pass report. The report writeup should include the date, duration, and main topic of each session.

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During our first session, me and Kaitlin went to meet with our partners for the first time at a cafe. We went on February 12th at around 2:30. We were there for about an hour and a half to two hours. We started off by introducing ourselves, and talking about the weather. On the way there, it was very cold and windy, and we were talking about that. We also talked about how our schools were, and where they were staying. We talked about our families, and relatives as well as pets and if we want pets. Another thing we talked about was cults. We talked about how common of an issue it was in college campuses and in Korea in general. It was really funny to hear that my partner's professor even said to not join any clubs that aren't affiliated with the school in concern of that issue. We also talked about what clubs we are a part of, and my friend was a part of a reading club which also turned out to be a cult! Another cultural difference that is a bit more nuanced is their use of social media. It was really intreresting to hear about how first of all, TikTok isn't as popular, and there is a different main platform that users prefer which is Instagram. While people in the US also like to use Instagram, its also cool to note that there are two extremes, and it goes from very active and posting a lot, to having virtually no digital footprint! My partner mentioned that people tend to be more private about their lives which was a cool difference to note!

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During our first session, we did a lot of things. On February 21st, we got lunch at my favorite restaurant (sadly closed down permanently since then) and went to Newbury street, while she was in Boston I wanted to take her there and show her a couple of my favorite spots. After that, we went to the mall and walked and talked for a little bit while she shopped for a birthday/graduation gift for her friend. She went home for dinner after walking and chatting for a bit, but rejoined me later! I invited her to my dorm to hang out with me and meet my friends as it was her last night before leaving. (5) We exchanged talks about different slang, and what we think the American/Korean versions would be. We also talked about different subcultures of varying regions in Korea. We also talked about our favorite foods and what we like to snack on. We then went to CityCo and grabbed a few snacks and headed back upstairs. My other Korean friend outside of class wanted to meet her so we all talked quite a bit for a couple hours. We also talked about what we wanted to do in the future and what we were studying. It was also nice to hear advice from an upperclassman in general too! We ended the night with a light discussion of Korean/American politics, which we bonded over because both of our countries were also facing political turmoil. We said our goodbyes, and planned to call again soon! The exchange experience overall was really cool and it was enlightening to share ideas and cultural aspects that were new to the both of us.

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During the Korean New Year event, Kaitlin and I went together to experience and learn. We first went over the different Korean Zodiac symbols, and what they represented. I learned that I was born in the year of the dog! There were a bunch of snacks and corn tea, and it was a blast overall. We played Jegichagi, which is where you kick a small plastic toy with tassels and a bell as many times as you can off your feet! That was our personal favorite. We also liked Gonggi! It is a game where you throw and pick up five pebbles, in a specific order. While I was not the best at it, Kaitlin was so good! A lot of people knew these games from the show Squid Games, which happened to air their second season not long before this event. There were two more gaemes like Yuttnori and a Korean card game, but we ended up floating between these two the most. I also won a prize in the raffle event as well!

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During my day with Jun and Han, I decided to take them to the North End, my personally favorite area of Boston. This was actually our 3rd meeting but I forgot to take photos of the first two. We went on February 27th at around 4. We hung out for about 3 1/2 hours. The first stops on the list was Mike’s and Modern Pastry, two of Boston’s famous Italian pastry shops. Afterwards, we went to Cava because they had never tried it before and were curious about how it tasted. Throughout all of our stops, we talked about so many different, sometimes odd, things, I can’t even remember all of it. I do remember that when we were at the pastry shops, we talked about the different society and media trends in Korea vs America. In Korean, I was telling them about the current clothing trends that are going around and more specifically how I dress. They responded in English with the current clothing trends in Korean and how they dressed everyday. Han and Jun both said that they usually wear “basic” and “comfortable” clothing. On our way to Cava (on the T), we were talking about all the different clubs that we are in. Han is in a soccer club and student leadership club. Jun is in a math club and pickup

basketball club. I told them how I play volleyball and do student government. At Cava, our conversation was kind of different from the conversations we had previously. We talked about rent in Korea vs America. I showed them how much my rent cost and what my apartment looked like, then they showed me a similar apartment in Korea and how much it cost. Korean apartments are so cheap. I also showed them what a good sized house in Texas (where I’m) looked like and they were shocked with how expensive it was. Overall, I had so much fun getting to know and speak with Han and Jun. They are super sweet and I am so grateful to know them.

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Kaitlyn, Lindsey, and I all decided to go watch the new movie Mickey 17. We went on March 29 and the movie lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes. This movie was directed by South Korean Director Bong Joon Ho, who famously directed Parasite. The movie plot was confusing but VERY interesting. Mickey, played by Robert Pattinson, acts as an “disposable” human (someone that can die over and over again) during this expedition to colonize another planet. However, after one of his iterations doesn’t “die like it’s supposed to, ” there are now two versions of Mickey, Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. Mickey 17 is very cautious, cowardly and by the book. Whereas Mickey 18 is brave, spontaneous, and kind of dangerous. The two versions of Mickey reflect his two different ways of his thought process/blaming himself after the death of his mother in a car accident. The movie was thrilling, comedic , and super fun to decipher everything at the end. The directing of the movie heavily reflects the directing process of Parasite and it was entertaining to find similarities between the two, it’s evident way Bong Joon Ho is just a famous director.

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Hannah and I went to the Korean New Year event hosted in Miles. It was a great experience where we learned a lot about the holiday. For example, we learned about the different zodiac sign animals associated with each year. This year is the year of the snake! The professors also talked about different traditions such as 세배 and foods eaten on the day. We played many different games too such as 공기 and 재기. Hannah and I spent a lot of time trying to complete 공기. There were many snacks as well such as 약과 and teas. We took a lot of the snacks! Lastly there was a raffle where students won either a pen or tshirt. Hannah won one of the raffles! It was overall a fun event for us to attend. Even though I celebrate this holiday, there are still some new things I learned about it, like regarding the animal zodiac signs. 

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Hannah and I met two language exchange partners from Korea at Caffe Bene! Going into it, Hannah and I were worried it would be a little awkward, but it ended up being a great experience! We started off with basic introductions. We found out that the houses they were staying at were an hour away from BU. Their first class was at 8am so they had to wake up extra early to make it on time. We also talked about their colleges back home. The girl sitting next to me goes to a university in Tokyo while the girl next to Hannah attends Cheongnam University. Compared to BU, their campus’s were super tiny. We then talked about different slang words in English and Korean. We learned about the equivalents to “lol” and “ok” in Korean and other phrases that our generation in Korea often say. Upon exchanging Instagrams, we noticed that they both had no profile picture and little followers. I had noticed this trend previously as well, so we asked if it’s common for Koreans to keep their Instagrams secret. They said yes and that Korean people prefer to keep their lives private. This is a major cultural difference because people in the US love to share their lives on Instagram. Our conversation lasted probably an hour and a half before we parted ways.

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My second language exchange session was with Jaeseong from Cheongnam University. We met at a cafe called Maruichi Select which is famous for their matcha drinks. Once again, we began with basic introductions. We also talked about our different college lives. While I dorm in Warren, he commutes from home which is 40 minutes away from his house. He showed me his schedule and it was mostly filled with stem classes as he is a computer science major. He is also taking an english class! What I found interesting was at my first language exchange session with Hannah, the girls said that the BU english class was really hard; however, Jaeseong said it was too easy and that he learned more from his class in Korea. He showed me his worksheets that he got from class and even though they were basic grammar points, I don’t think I would have been able to successfully complete them . We also talked about our interests in music and TV shows. I thought it was interesting that he doesn’t keep up with Korean entertainment. He said he mainly listens and watches Japanese music/TV shows. The last K-Drama he watched was in middle school! Our conversation lasted probably an hour. I think this was a great experience for me to participate in as I learned a lot about my partner and cultural differences between the US and Korea.

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Meeting the translator of the novel Cursed Bunny has provided me with new insight on the process behind the translation of books. I have learned that not all translations directly translate each and every single word. Therefore, some meaning may be taken out/given to the translated version. Another interesting thing I learned was that the same word for 'bike' in Korean is located in a different part of our brain compared to the English version. Overall, translation is an extremely slow process, as anxiety accumulates in the translator to pay lots of attention to the given text. The subject is usually ignored in Korean, whereas it's the opposite for English. Two similar Korean sentences may have completely different meanings. Instead of translating words, translators do more of translating vibes to provide the same feelings as the original text.

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Matthew Kim - International Day of Dance

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Matthew Kim - International Day of Dance

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After attending this event, I have learned a lot about the different styles of dance across cultures. Korean dances today usually involve new songs with new dance moves, whereas Chinese dances incorporate old with new dance techniques. Although this may not be generally inferred, this is what I witnessed during the event. The Korean dance was much more energetic because they used more energetic songs, whereas the Chinese dances were more tranquil and slow because they used a very traditional song that had a mellow flow to it. The dance instructors were very thorough in their teaching processes and it was fun seeing the choreography of a song I like. The participants also learned the moves rather quickly so seeing that was also amusing. Although I did not dance, it was still a fun event.