This was my first time to have my own blog. This was so much fun and it was actually really helpful for me to practice writing in English. :) I was surprised that I could update my own stories and share them with my classmates. I was a little bit ashamed because I thought that a lot of people might not be able to understand my English, but I guess my English is not too bad. hahah :).
The audience of my blog was my classmates and friends in Korea. I wanted to share my experience which I have been gone through here at BYU with them. Because I am international student, what I have been experienced would be looked different for my classmates. Also my new experience would be surprising and new for my friends in Korea. I hope they would enjoy reading my posts.
I was really happy for having this blog because I felt I was one of my class during blogging. I could read the stories of my classmates and get to know them better. Blogging made me feel I am not a outsider. In every class so far, I felt exhausted and sad because it was kind of hard to get involved in class. However, I didn't feel that in this writing class, especially through blogging.
Thank you My blog! :)
We got a Christmas tree in my home !! :)
This is what I and my roommates made last night!! :)
This was my first time to make a Christmas tree!! :) We also celebrate Christmas in Korea but my family did not have a Christmas tree at my home. I think I am having so much "first" experience after I entered BYU. hahah :) It was so much fun to decorate the tree with my roommates. I really missed Korea and my parents while decorating it. I hope my parent can have a great Christmas even though I can't be with them.
Love mom and dad! miss you guys so much..!! <3
Journalists have a Responsibility to Conscience!
In the book of my journalism class, The Elements of Journalism, I read about the responsibility of journalists.
Journalists have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.
For journalists to be able to exercise their conscience, managers and owners have to create an open newsroom, an environment that is essential to fulfilling the principles of journalism. However, exercising conscience is not easy. Allowing individuals to voice their consciences in the newsroom makes running the newspaper more difficult. It makes the news more accurate. Journalism is a moral act and know that all of their background and values direct what reporters will do and not do in producing a newspaper.
Since the audiences are looking for information, but they are also looking for validation, for authority, for honesty, and for a sense that the journalists have their interests at heart, journalists need to be more impartial, neutral, and objective and also be more credible and reliable. Linda Foley, the president of the Newspaper Guild, told us, "it's credibility, more than objectivity, that's important for us in our industry.... there has to be a culture in newsrooms that allows a journalists to have a free and open discussion."
Thank you, Professor Olsen!
My professor of Korean Literature class is Leif Olsen. He is really nice and kind. He is a good teacher. I was really surprised at first because he knows very much things about Korean literature. Since I entered the middle school, I read and learned so many Korean literature works. However, he knows more Korean literature works than I know and he can translate all of Korean literature to English.
One of Korean literature works which I liked was 詠井中月 (The Moon in the Well). I translated this poem in my Korean literature class.
One of Korean literature works which I liked was 詠井中月 (The Moon in the Well). I translated this poem in my Korean literature class.
詠井中月
The Moon in the Well
山僧貪月色
A monk in a mountain covets the light of the moon
幷汲一甁中
He raises water from the well into a bottle
到寺方應覺
However, when he gets back to the temple, he will realize
甁傾月亦空
even though he tilts the bottle, the moon is not in the bottle
Plastic Surgery.. ? No, I am pretty enough..!!!
Recently, however, I was also considering plastic surgery because I wanted to be more pretty. I thought that my eyes were too small and I had a flat nose. I wanted to make them looking more great. hahah. Few days ago, I asked my mom to get plastic surgery when I get back to Korea. She was very very upset and said, "Hwajung, you are pretty enough! I am so sad for you to think you are not pretty...". When I listened to her, I was really sorry to her. Sorry Mom..!! Yes, I am pretty enough~:)!!
Christmas is coming!! :)
New experience!! American formal dinner!!
One of my classes which I am taking for this semester is on-campus internship. In this class, we can work for a company and have an internship experience. I am working for a Vineyard which is a LDS church company for translating the English Church manual to Korean.
Last night, Vineyard invited us to have dinner for celebrating our works. Because it was my first time to have formal dinner in America, I was kind of nervous and excited. We went up to Salt Lake City and it was also my first time to visit a Temple Square. It was amazing, so beautiful!
When we started to have dinner, one of my group members told me that I need to use spoons from the very outside one. He said that we need to use different spoons when we eat different food. It was really surprising because we just use one spoon and one pair of chopsticks for while food except for a dessert.
It was my one more new culture experience. It was so much fun to learn new thing, and the food was really delicious! :) heheh
Last night, Vineyard invited us to have dinner for celebrating our works. Because it was my first time to have formal dinner in America, I was kind of nervous and excited. We went up to Salt Lake City and it was also my first time to visit a Temple Square. It was amazing, so beautiful!
When we started to have dinner, one of my group members told me that I need to use spoons from the very outside one. He said that we need to use different spoons when we eat different food. It was really surprising because we just use one spoon and one pair of chopsticks for while food except for a dessert.
It was my one more new culture experience. It was so much fun to learn new thing, and the food was really delicious! :) heheh
Final Personel Narritive
How Much Different We Are!
“Hwajung, you are so beautiful.” This was what Benjamin said when he held my hand. He was taking a Korean class after he got back from his mission in Korea and we were study buddies. When we met first, he asked me to be his study buddy, and I answered “yes, I will.”
Since it was my first month here at BYU, everything was new and fun for me, and I was glad to have a study buddy to learn how to speak English better. When we had our first study time, he kept saying that “you are so pretty” but I did not believe what he said because it sounded like he was just being nice.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked me after our second study meeting was over.
“I will do my homework” I answered.
He asked me again, “where?”
I said “in the library.”
He smiled and said “then let’s study together. I want to see you again tonight.”
I was surprised when he said that, but I pretended to be nonchalant. We met again that night and studied together in the library until midnight. While studying together, he often stared at me, so I could not focus on my homework.
“Where do you live?” he questioned me after getting out of the library. I let him know where I lived. He said that he would take me home and I did not refuse his kindness.
It made my heart flutter to walk with him.
When we reached my place, he asked me again, “what is your plan for tomorrow?”
“I will go to my class and study as usual” I said. He laughed and said good night before he left.
The next day, he sent me a message asking where I was. I told him I was in the library. So, he came over and we studied together again. As I guessed, he took me home again, but it was kind of different from yesterday. While we were walking home, he wondered what I thought about getting married to American guys.
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that before,” I replied.
There was a duck pond on our way home. He asked me to take a walk for a while over there. It made my heart beat to be with him. And all of a sudden, he held my hand and said “Hwajung, you are so beautiful.” It was sweet and I liked what he said. I was shy but I said thank you and we walked holding hands.
He took me home and gave me a big hug before I went to inside. After that, we often had dinner and watched movies together. We enjoyed taking a walk after studying together. Sometimes, we drove to Y Mountain, the representative place of BYU, to see the night view. The night view of Provo was amazing and romantic. I was happy being with him.
One day, one of my friends told me that she saw Benjamin having dinner with a girl. She said that it looked like a date. She thought that I should ask him about it. I hesitated for a few days because it could have been just a dinner with a friend, not a date. When we went to drive to the Y again, I could not resist the curiosity and questioned him about that dinner. He was kind of embarrassed about my questions and he said “I had dinner with her because I wanted to spend time with her. Is there any problem with that?”
I was really upset. “Are you cheating on me?” I asked.
“Hwajung, we are not boyfriend and girlfriend. We are just dating to get to know each other. I can date another girl while dating you.” he answered.
I was really shocked. I could not say anything at all.
Not understanding what he meant, I asked him, “but we already held hands and hugged, right? Doesn’t that mean we are boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Upon listening to what I said, he frowned and pondered, and he replied, “We can date several people at the same time before getting into a relationship. I thought you already knew that.”
I thought that we were a couple because Korean people never hold hands or hug if they are not in a relationship. Holding hands, hugging, and kissing apply to only couples in Korea. Thus, I considered our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend naturally.
I was embarrassed and was surprised by what he said but I could not blame him. It was not my fault or his fault. It was just differences between what we knew.
That night, we talked about cultural differences between Korea and America for a long time. He tried to enlighten me about American dating style and I tried to understand it. It was hard to understand because it was my first culture shock after I came here to BYU. However, I needed to understand and accept this new culture to live here and get used to this new culture.
“I don’t want to lose you. I want to keep dating you and get to know you better. Do you understand what I am saying?” he asked me with his soft voice.
I could not fully understand why we were not in a relationship but I just accepted the fact that we were not a couple.
“I got it. I also don’t want to lose you. Let’s keep dating and getting to know each other.”
From then on, we got over cultural differences between Korea and America. I could get accustomed to American culture about a lot of the other things as well as dating.
We are still good friends, and he often tells me “sometimes you look more like “Heather” than you do “Hwajung.”
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