Korea.net has 3,432 Honorary Reporters from 105 countries who share news and stories on Korea in nine languages. They send Korea-related news from their neighborhoods to Korea.net and share articles posted on our site through their social media accounts. The following are three highlighted stories posted by such reporters last week.
By Hong Kilju and Jeong Mikyung
Among articles by Honorary Reporters posted last week, those about an Indian graduate student's life in Korea while studying at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and students majoring in Korean studies at a German university were attention grabbing. Another on an exhibition hosted by the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in Egypt drew the interest of Arabic readers.
■ Indian graduate student describes life at Korea's top tech school (Seema Thomas from India in English)
Indian graduate student Abdul Sameed Abdulwahab attends KAIST, Korea's top sci-tech school. (Abdul Sameed Abdulwahab)
Seema Thomas from India conducted a Zoom interview on March 19 with Abdul Sameed Abdulwahab, a graduate student of management at KAIST. A native of India, he was rejected for a scholarship to study in Korea in 2019 but got accepted to KAIST a year later with better preparation. He passed the Test of Proficiency in Korean through online study and gained work experience in related industries for a year.
He entered KAIST in March last year, served as the international student representative and is now a member of the university's student council. To those considering studying in Korea, he said, "It may seem appealing to study in the country of your (K-pop) idols, but once in Korea, you must devote a great deal of time to studying. Moreover, you'll be responsible for every aspect of your life including finances."
■ Do you want to major in Korean studies in Germany? (Anna-Lena Kwelik from Germany in German)
View of Ruhr University Bochum (University's official website)
Ruhr University Bochum was the first public university established in Germany after World War II. Honorary Reporter Anna-Lena Kwelik heard stories about Korean studies from the five students majoring in it at the university and professor Marion Eggert, the chair of the department. The questions included "Why did you major in Korean studies," "What I expected from Korean studies and the reality," and "Careers after graduation."
The students also discussed the difficulty of learning Korean, with one saying, "You should not stop learning in class at school. Rather, you need to confront the real world to reach the language level you desire." Eggert added, "In Korean studies, we study not only Korean in depth but also how their history and culture formed Korean society."
■ Review of 'Showing Our Talents' at King Sejong Institute in Egypt (Nurhan Mustafa Abdel Fattah Muhammad from Egypt in Arabic)
Amani Nabil and her work (Nurhan Mustafa Abdel Fattah Muhammad)
The KCC in Egypt hosted the exhibition "Showing Our Talents" on March 10 for students from the Cairo branch of King Sejong Institute. The event's purpose was to raise face-to-face events amid COVID-19 and promote student exchange. Students described topics related to Korea through calligraphy, painting, cards and origami.
Amani Nabil drew attention with a work that vividly portrayed Seoul's main street and her desire to shop in Korea, saying, "I wanted to describe Korea's unique commercial area." Writer Mustafa said, "We all cleared our schedules and came from different regions. Thanks to the exhibition, I could meet for the first time in person my Korean teachers and friends, whom I'd only met twice a week online."
kalhong617@korea.kr