Ajou International Summer School (AISS) is a short-term international program progressed by International Exchange Team at Ajou University during summer vacation. Any students who are interested in international programs and foreign languages are able to participate in AISS. In there, students from more than twenty countries take English lectures concerned with various studies altogether for six weekends. Beside academic lectures, a lot of activities make students experience cultural events and global networks. The Ajou Globe received several essays from students who really experienced AISS. Through their essays, The AG hopes a lot of students who are interested, or will be interested in AISS become more informative through the essays. More about the program plans, fees and registration information are written in the website, http://www.ajou.ac.kr/aiss.
Ajou International Summer School 2016
Cheuk Ying Lee
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Canada
I have made a right choice in participating the AISS program in 2016. It was the best summer that I have ever had. I used to come to Korea during summer but I have had was just visiting Seoul and shopping. Studying at the university that is not located in Seoul has provided me a chance to explore Korea more.
Field Trip
We went on a three-day trip to Jeju Island before the classes were started. It was a great opportunity for all the AISS students to get to know each other. We stayed in the hotel that located next to the beach and it was really nice and a good place to chill. The schedules were really tight and unfortunate that we had to skip two activities due to the shortage of time. However, the view from Seongsan Ilchulbong peak was the best landscape that I have ever seen. Although we have used 30 minutes to walk up to the hill, it is really worth it. I will never forget the party that held at the second night of the Jeju field trip. We have played lots of games and it was the first time that I have been introduced to the Korean drinking culture. All participants in this program have become closer and I have met lots of new friend due to this trip.
Dormitory
Most of the AISS participants were lived in the New International Dorm that was newly built in two years ago. Since it located at the top of the hill, my friends and I often found it is so hard to walk back to the dormitory especially you have completed a list of activities on that day. The dormitory is nicely built and room is being shared with another person.
I will absolutely miss the food provided by the cafeteria next to our dormitory. The price is definitely affordable and meals are delicious. I have also tried to order delivery through phone at the dormitory and it was the very first time that I order delivery using Korean. I was afraid that the people who picked up the phone did not understand what I ordered but I finally made it!
Classes
I have taken two courses in this AISS which were Korean Language 2 and Korean Culture class. The Korean culture class was taught by Professor Scott Scattergood. I was really surprised at first that a foreign teacher taught Korean culture. He was really nice and he has introduced us the differences between Western and Korean culture in different aspects. He has also brought us to a temple that is located behind our dormitory which took us for around 40 minutes. We got a chance to know about the Korean monk culture and we have visited several monk temples. We have several watched several movies that recommended by the professor which are King and the Clown, Friend, and Ode to My Father. I did really enjoy it and will recommend others to watch those movies too.
For Korean Language class, the Korean teacher has given our class a task which we have to choose a song to perform at the last class and we have voted to perform Bang Bang Bang from Big Bang. The teacher has recorded our performance and I was surprised my classmate did the rap part really well. And I really appreciated the time and efforts that the teachers spent on us. I have learnt a lot about Korean culture and my Korean has definitely improved.
Overall Experience
I really enjoy this summer program and I will definitely miss all the friends that I met here. And I really want to say thank you to the people who worked for this program and who prepared all those activities for us. To be honest, I do not think I will go to those places that we went for the Korean Cultural Workshops if I plan my own schedule. Although we have only been together for six weeks, I really enjoy hanging out with all the participants and sharing our culture.