Opening a new column about exchange and foreign students.

When I was proposed to write about this column, it was a hard decision to make. Starting a new column is always a difficult thing to do. And damn, in English? I had a dilemma between writing a new column in English and not disrupting Alli's motto, which is to write reader-friendly, putting me a lot of thought into this. Why foreigners? Well, Alli has been striving to become a ‘HUFS-like’ magazine. Among those efforts, we decided to write about how foreigners or exchange students feel about HUFS and Korea. To start off this, I interviewed a beautiful French lady, Adeline!

 Well, when I first met Adeline, she was a bit pissed off at me. I showed up 20 minutes late LOL. My bad Adeline. This is a timid apology. Actually, we became good friends after.

(For your information, I'm Daniel and my interviewee is Adeline)

Adeline : You must have drunk a lot yesterday. (I did drink a lot yesterday with my editor-in-chief)

Daniel : No i'm fine (LAUGH)So aren't you going to introduce yourself?

Adeline : Well, do you know anything about me?

Daniel : Uh... Sincerely, NO. I heard nothing about you except for the fact that you're French.

Adeline : Duh... Yes. my name is Adeline, French, and 20 international age. I'm a Korean major so I can speak Korean, but I am NOT going speak in Korean, Because it is NOT required for me right now, and I don't want to embarrass myself.

Daniel : (Laugh) So your Korean major? IN France?

Adeline : Yeah. I've been learning for 2 years.

Daniel : Why?

Adeline : (She seemed wondering why I would ask such a stupid question) Wow this is a hard question. Um... No Really. You wouldn't have asked someone who is English major?

Daniel : (Cutting in the interview) Relax. Relax. LOL

Adeline : No I'm joking. haha.. Well, Korea is interesting... Alright, in France, we did get into the Korean craze when I was in high school. It was interesting. You know, like, we were really into...(SIGH)K-pop was so colorful and fascinating. Every week, there was something new. We were so into it.

Well, I also grew into other aspects of Korea. I found this really interesting blog about Korea. The owner writes about social issues in korea, so I developed an interest in the position of women in the korean society. Before coming to Korea, Also I got interested with how different beauty ideals were in Asia from Europeans. Did I talk too much?

외국인이 바라보는 우리학교의 수업

Daniel : Uh... Yes. (HAHA) But it's absolutely fine. Tell me about the school.

Adeline : I don't know. It's so easy to get good grades; like I got 2 As and B+s and I didn't do anything. But I think it really depends on which university you're in. I have a friend who studies in Sogang. And I know everyone calls it Sogang high school; because it's supposedly hard. but here... it's so easy. Even the Korean language schools. I don't know....

Daniel : Then what did you do? Besides studying? drink?

Adeline : Well, I definitely do not drink as much as you do....

Daniel : (WTF?) WOW

Adeline : But I think France is the country that drinks the least in Europe. I probably drink twice a year...

Daniel : Okay, whatever!

외국인이 바라보는 한국인들의 화법

Daniel : Can I interview in Korean?

Adeline : No. Because in Korean... First of all, I don't know you, and you're older than me, I'll tell you the formal stuffs but I wouldn't be sure yet. You know in class, you don't talk friends formal. I don't use 반말 all the time. And I really don't. You know for example, talking about my parents. I don't do that. When people say "아버지께서는...“stuff like that. I don't talk about thosethings because I don't speak that way, I have to think so much before I speak in Korean, because it's so versed.

외국인이 바라보는 한국인들의 시선

Adeline : I feel bad saying 'foreigners' because Koreans really say 'foreigners'. It's really Korean-ish, You know like ‘와 외국인이다’(HAHA)You wouldn't be talking 외국인 in my country. When I think about it in French, we don't say ‘foreigner’. We would say exchange student or we would call them by their nationality, or... just say ‘she's here for something.’ We wouldn't say 'Oh there's a foreigner!' Especially from the position of the distance that is the puts you from the rest. But that's alright, I'm living okay. So you're just getting used to it?

Daniel : Yeah, that's okay. I'm not saying this, because I'm kind of cliche. But I don't get any kind of racism.

When I started this column and the interview, it gave me a lot to think of. Korea has always been eagering to become a country with diverse nationality. Before bragging about numbers of immigrants, we have to be the first ones to change. ISO has been doing a fantastic job blending foreigners in our culture. Now their job has to be expanded to everybody. Let's act like HUFSians.

Dong-Kyu Daniel Kim 기자 fly_dkkim123@naver.com