Spring Festival is Here!

Granted, Spring is pretty much over, but nevertheless it is time for SCH's yearly Spring Festival. Basically, Spring Festival is a three day excuse for students to miss class before it's time to buckle down and study for the impending finals. I think the school has a different description for it, but that is what it is. It is interesting, college students can be really stressed when it comes to class, but when it's time to take a three day break, it's time to take a break.

Yesterday was the first day of this festival. The field has been transformed into a carnival like setting with a huge stage in the center of the field. The tents on and around the field are filled with vendors selling food and of course alcohol.

I don't think I've addressed the culture of alcohol in Korean schools, so here goes....Basically, alcohol is not only tolerated, but is completely accepted at Korean universities. The legal drinking age in Korea is 18, so every college student can legally purchase and consume alcohol. The issue of underage students obtaining alcohol simply doesn't exist in Korea, as a result, SCH is not a "Dry" campus. You can consume alcohol in the dorms, around campus, and on the fields. It is quite normal to see Korean students playing drinking games on the field between classes. They will then go to class a bit tipsy and the professors do not raise a fuss. My suitemates have a weekly get together Monday nights to catch up and drink in the common room of our suite. They will drink about three liters of beer, two bottles of Soju (Korean vodka), and two bottle of Macholi (Rice wine). They do not suffer any hangovers from this, even though the Soju alone has an alcohol percentage of around 40%.

When I first came to SCH, I was in shock. Coming from a "Dry" campus at SEMO to a school where drinking is about as normal as ordering pizza was an adjustment. This semester the drinking has been even more prominent. Half the girls in my suite are freshmen. The semester in Korea starts in the spring, so this is their first semester in college. Part of their initiation into their major department required a series of evening or overnight activities called MT Training. The upperclassmen would order the freshmen in their major to do certain acts, which included the freshmen guys to crossdress and sing, and all the freshmen to continue to drink until told to stop. My freshmen girls were absolutely terrified about this and rightly so. Looking back to my first semester at SEMO, I was scared the first week of college. The college environment is a foreign place compared to the carefree days of high school. It is the first time you are truly on your own and have to take care of yourself. Thankfully, declaring a major at SEMO does not require school approved hazing.

My heart would break every time my suitemates told me that they had MT training and how they didn't want to go. One of my girls broke down in tears because she didn't want to get drunk, but she knew her "Seniors" would make her drink until she could hardly stand. I tried to comfort her, telling her that no one has the right to treat her like that. She gave me a huge hug, but told me that she has no choice, she must do whatever they tell her. I think this extreme hazing comes from the aspect of Korean culture that demands that younger people must respect their elders. Young people must do whatever they are asked to do by their elder. This is wonderful in some respects, like younger people giving up their seat for the elderly on the subway. However, the college community at SCH has taken this cultural expectation out of context, turning it into a semester long hazing for young, frightened freshmen students, who want nothing more than to be accepted by their superiors in their major.

The suitemate I told you was dragged back to our suite by two of her Seniors. They dropped her on our couch, demanded that us other suitemates take care of her, and walked out the door without another word. No explanation of how much she drank or why they let it get to that point. I can't even tell you how mad I was. If there is one thing that makes me angry, it is when people treat other people as less then, when someone doesn't take the time to care. These two "superiors" forced a young girl using a twisted cultural norm to drink to a dangerous level. To leave a girl in their major, who they call their "family" at the university in such a state really displayed to me that college can be ugly anywhere in the world. We had to keep her awake, because she kept blacking out and we were afraid that she could be in serious trouble if she fell asleep the first two hours after she came back. We were able to find out from her between her trying to sleep and running the the bathroom to throw up that she drank an entire bottle of Soju, which really should be consumed by at least three people. Eventually, she got to a point where she could walk to her room and sleep.

SEMO is one extreme of the spectrum, being absolutely paranoid about a drop of alcohol existing on campus. At the other extreme is SCH, where alcohol is seeping out of every corner. There needs to be a middle ground where students realize that school is not Happy Hour or the Prohibition reincarnated. I don't know exactly where that point should be seeing that I do not drink, but I hope both schools are able to deal with this eternal issue with the right mindset.

Ok......THAT WAS A REALLY LONG TANGENT! It is a part of college life that can be controversial to write about, but it is something that needs to be discussed openly and frankly. Anyway back to the Spring Festival (which was the original subject of this post, what happened?)

The vendors have been present both day and night for the past two days of the festival. Each major has a stand selling various products. My favorite stand is the Management Major's Pineapple stand. Pineapple is pretty much golden perfection and the students (I should really say the mob) running the stand were very enthusiastic about Pineapple. Every time I walked by, I would get mobbed by at least fifteen students in red "Management Major" shirts, saying the few English words they can muster "Pineapple! Delicious! Very Cheap!" I must say all their statements were true, and my wallet was much lighter by the end of the day.

This evening, the main performer was a group called "Supreme Team." For those of you who are still learning your Kpop groups, Supreme Team is pretty much the most popular Hip Hop/Rap group currently in Korea. The group consists of two guys who rap and sing. They are extremely funny in their music videos and very talented, so I was very excited to see them live. They were incredible live! They have an amazing ability to play off each other and were very humorous as they bantered between songs. It would be an understatement to say that the Korean students were also excited. The field pretty much turned into a screaming frenzy as they took the stage. Cell phones were abundant as people recorded the performance and a girl behind me kept yelling in Korean: "E-Sens (the more 'thug' guy in the duo) I love you! E-Sens look over here! E-Sens you are amazing!" They are one of my favorite Kpop groups because they don't follow the redundant commonplace musical structure and performance style as most other Kpop groups. They have a uniqueness that can be hard to find amongst the redundant emotional cutesy Kpop songs.

Tomorrow evening at the festival, the main event of the night is something that is being called "Club night." The description was as follows: "A night that is like a club, only on the field." Too funny! Stating the obvious but it needed to be said. I will be going with Bermet and Elena, my two friends from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. We are going to dress up and go to this "club on the field." Will be interesting!