My Goal for the Semester

So, typical of SCH, there has been a lot of interesting things that has happened in the last two days. First, my international suitemate Perpetua, was moved to a different dorm because of a mistake that was made when she moved in. She came late at night, and the dorm administrator gave her the key to the wrong dorm, C instead of D. We didn't know of this mistake until two Korean girls came to her room. She had to move all her stuff to the other dorm the night before classes, not fun!

So now I'm the only international student in my suite. I miss Perpetua in our suite, she is so funny. But at the same time I think this is good for me. It will give me so many opportunities to improve my Korean that having another English speaker in my room would impair.

Last semester, my goal was to understand Korea: The History, Culture, and People. This semester, my goal is to become conversational in Korean. It is kind of a large goal, but I want to study as much as possible so I will be able to hold a conversation in Korean. I want so much to be able to talk to my Korean moms in their language, and I want to learn as much Korean as I can before going back to the States. Up to this point, my Korean is still very basic, and I want to get to a point where I feel comfortable speaking with Koreans in their language.

I tested into the upper level 2 Korean language class. I had my first class yesterday. My teacher seems nice, and wants the class to be entirely in Korean. My teachers last semester spoke English for the most part of the class, which was comfortable, but I feel like it acted as a crutch and as a result we didn't learn as much Korean as we could. I am excited about this semester, because my Korean teachers plan to push my class to learn as much as possible. I am also in a small class (five students), so it will be really helpful.

Another way that I am improving my Korean is working with my suitemates. They are all really amazing girls and have agreed to teach me Korean. One way that I am learning from them is everyday, one of my suitemates gives me ten new Korean words, which I have to learn for a "quiz" the next morning. It has been extremely helpful to have eleven teachers living with me whom I can bring my questions to. One of my suitemates, Youngeun, is an English education major, so I will be working with her on her English. She is really sweet and has already been extremely helpful for me in learning more Korean, answering my questions about grammar and vocabulary.

It will be an interesting semester, but I am ready to push myself and learn as much Korean as I can. I hope I can reach my goal and spend the summer talking with my Korean families in their language.