Dea Aulia Kartini and Narumi Kartika Sari, the students of Physics and Engineering Physics Undergraduates UNAS joining a Winter Global Leadership Program 2014 and spring semester in Far East University, Korea.
Winter Global Leadership Program 2014 lasted for 6 weeks started from January 6, 2014 until February 12, 2014. Winter GLDP 2014?s teachers are:
1. Mr. M. Jared Burgess
2. Ms. Lauren Katherine Hoegen Dijkhof
3. Mrs. May Garin
4. Mr. Matthew Thomas
5. Mrs. Fransesca J.B.
6. Mr. Nathen Saucier
GLDP?s students were divided into two levels; level 1 and level 2 in accordance English language skills each students. Students with bad English skills were placed in level 1 and students with better English skills were placed in level 2. Narumi and I were placed in level 2. GLDP?s students consist of Korean, Thailand, and Indonesian and the tutors consist of Philippines students. Indonesian students who attended GLDP are only from Universitas Nasional.
Subjects which delivered during GLDP are Writing and Presentation, Speaking and Listening, and Reading and Discussion. In Writing and Presentation class, we learned how to write Pen pal which will be sent to unknown American students. Besides that, GLDP held field trips to museums and tourist attractions in Korea. Narumi and I were not be able to join field trips because we were late to come to Korea. The teachers also held various competitions during GLDP which are 2 minutes Speech and Spelling Bee. When the Spelling Bee competition, Narumi and I got into final round but I only get the seventh position while Narumi got the third position.
To make participants familiar to each other, we were divided into 4 house groups which each group consists of one teacher, two tutors, some students from level 1, and some students from level 2. Each group will get points if their member can gather faster than other group before lunch and dinner. Every student?s activity was also judged by teachers and tutors, if one of the students was absent or came late to the class, he/she will get minus point.
During in Korea, the teachers and all our friends help us to adapt. When we arrived at dorm, we were welcomed by Ms. Lauren and Mr. Jared and they took us around campus and downtown to buy our daily supplies. All our friends were very excited about our arrival because this is the first time Indonesian students attend a GLDP. They told us about the subjects of GLDP and invited us to travel to Seoul when Lunar New Year holiday. We also celebrated Lunar New Year Party in our dorm. We ate together with all the international students and we tried wearing Korean traditional clothes which is called Hanbok.
Narumi and I got the different room. One room filled by 4 people, all my roommates came from Philippines while Narumi?s roommates came from Thailand and Philippines. Because we are Indonesian, all our friends, tutors, and teachers asked us about Indonesia?s culture. They also asked about our religion because I?m wearing hijab which is very interesting to them because they had never seen a woman wearing hijab, especially in Korea. Every chance they always ask me why I wear hijab and Narumi didn?t wear hijab, they also asked if all Indonesia?s citizen are Muslim or not. This made us feel close to each other because we were able to share stories with other.
Another interesting story is about food in Korea. Because of our religion, we are prohibited to eat pork whereas almost all the food in cafeteria using pork as the material. So, all of our friends were confused why we didn?t eat pork and I had to explain to them why I can?t eat pork. After that if there is a food that contains pork, my friends would tell me and Narumi that the food contains pork and they would ask the lady in cafeteria another food for us. Usually the lady in cafeteria would give us seaweed and fruits instead of foods containing pork. One day, our lunch menu was steak which is containing pork but my friend told me to take the steak and then gave it to her because she knew that I couldn?t eat pork, so that day she ate two steaks for lunch.
I have already told by Miss Jang that we have to work as an English tutor to get our stipend. Stipend will be given after 5 weeks of work and the amount of stipend is 50.000 won per week. For this spring semester, I will take 5 classes consist of Beginning Korean, Daily Korea, Introduction to 3D Programming, English Writing and English Listening class. Miss Jang also has a plan to send Far East University?s students to Indonesia.
That’s all I can write for a report. Hopefully my stories will be useful for other students who will go to Korea next semester.
News from: Dea Aulia Kartini
Hello my name is Narumi Kartika Sari. I am a participant in 14th Global Leadership Development Program (GLDP) and Exchange Student in Far East University, South Korea. Now I want to share my story since I was here. Wow the program was so exciting. Although around four weeks here, I got many experiences, especially I can meet many friends from other countries, like Philippine, Thailand, and also from Korea. They are very kind and friendly so it is easier for me to adapt in a new culture.
First when I arrived here, Prof. Jared and Prof. Lauren took me and Dea to walk around campus and Gamgok-Janghowon Town. Then, the day after that, we entered the class. We got second level for the class, it means we got a higher level. In the first week, I only studied in the class on Tuesday, because from Wednesday until Sunday there was Lunar New Year Holiday. On Thursday, there was lunch party in Cafetaria. Professor provided many kinds of food and drink. We ate, chatted, and laughed together. After we finished eating, we tried ?Hanbok?, a traditional clothes from Korea. It was very beautiful. I took many photos with friends there.
On the second week we studied all day from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m, from Monday until Friday. We learned many things, such as in reading and discussion class, every three students must bring some articles with the same topics into the class, and then we discussed it together. For speaking and listening class, we learned pronounciation, word stress, phrasing, blending/linking, and intonation. The last is writing and presentation class, we learned many techniques in writing here.
GLDP ended on 12 February 2014, there was closing ceremony that day. In the first session, we must give the final presentation, it means that we must present something in a group, like singing, dancing and so on. After lunch, we entered the building again, with the President of Far East University. Then, Prof. Jared gave us the certificate one by one. And the last one is we took photos together.
News from: Narumi Kartika Sari
