Hey All, I know I got connected a couple of days ago and you probably thought I would write something sooner. Sorry about that, I have been working on some technical difficulties, so no pictures yet. (I brought the wrong camera CD so I need to download some software). Anyways time to talk about life as a grad student.
I have now had my first full classes. I have class on Monday and Tuesday, they canceled my Friday class because there were only two students and you need at least three. Unfortunately I think that was due to a mistake made in publishing the syllabus where an older one was used that mistakingly said there would be 5 pop quizzes. One of the guys in my other classes said that he wanted to take the Buddhism class, but he didn't want to do quizzes and a paper. Turns out the professor only gives quizzes in his undergraduate classes, not his grad classes. The new assistant is brand new and of course she gets no training so mistakes are made. Oh well. The part that bums me out though is that this class worked with my schedule, now I will have to take three classes next semester which might be a problem. And, in Korean universities, you have to pay a full tuition your first semester no matter how many classes you take, so if I take 2 or 3 I still have to pay the same, but every semester after that it is on a per class basis, so I lose money this way too. It frustrates me that such a small mistake could make me have to stay here 4 more months but there is nothing I can do about it. By the time the class was canceled, registration was closed(the first class was on Friday, and registration closed on Thursday) so I couldn't even call the other student to let him know there were no quizzes. Well, that's Korea.
My Monday class is US/Korean relations. It is taught by a Korean professor that was educated in the US (attended Harvard and Columbia, got his Masters and Ph.D. at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and his J.D. at Harvard Law School). The class is made up of about 5 international students and 15 Korean students. Four of us are American. We started with learning about the treaty of 1882 where Korea signed its first treaty with a Western power(the US). I am not going to repeat all the technical stuff here,(I will save that for another post if I feel like it). There is only one Korean student that fully opened up on the first day, but a few others started talking more later in the class. It's hard because it is all in English, but I really like getting the Korean perspective direct from the products of the Korean educational system. It's very interesting to hear what they were taught in high school and such. The professor made an interesting point about the Korean soldier that was just killed in Afghanistan. He said that one soldier has died but that 50,000 American boys died for Korea, is it fair for the press to be demanding an apology from the US. Now, that debate aside, I give this example to show how it is clear that this professor is not a product of the pure Korean system. We also spent the second part of the class talking about the current FTA and about how trade today compared with trade in the first 20 years of the Korean/US treaty. FYI from 1882 to 1905, Korea made up 1/100th of 1% of total US foreign trade. Today they are our 7th largest trading partner. For next weeks reading, I will be preparing a summary(about 2 pages) to be passed out in class and will present it. Each student has to take a turn doing this.
I find an interesting difference with my classes this time around(as opposed to my undergraduate). In this class I am ahead in the reading, because I want to read the material. I just remember so many classes that I read because I had to, not because I wanted to. I don't know if the difference is just time, or subject material. Most likely a mix between the two.
My Tuesday class is a bit different. There are four students including myself. So we sit in a little circle and discuss the readings. This is a class on Confucianism and its shaping of Modern Korean Society. It is part 2 so I borrowed the reader from one of my classmates and I am trying to catch up, though I think I will do just fine in class. The professor received her Doctorate of Theology from Basel University in Switzerland (which explains her tendency to quote European history when comparing Confucianism to Christianity) We had a very....spirited discussion on Tuesday. Mostly between the professor and one of the students who has lived in Korea for about 27 years(yes, his Korean is excellent). He wears hanboks(Korean traditional clothing) all the time and believes in a lot of Confucian teachings, but had some strong feelings on the differences between traditional Neo-Confucianism and Korean Confucianism. I will now proceed to reconstruct that debate in three parts.
First, the Confucian system is built on a merit based system of government exams. OK, I was just kidding about that whole reconstruction thing. I hope nobody skips this paragraph, I will have to make it the most interesting so they feel bad if they do. The interesting part of the debate was that these two took on almost the archetypes of the ex-pat and the Korean national. Direct negativity towards defensive nationality. This class promises to be interesting, and should also help me work on my debating skills, because if I am going to take Mike on I will have to on top of my game. The guy really knows his stuff. I already feel bad when I made the claim in my Monday class the America's first territories came from the Spanish/American war, when Hawaii was much earlier. Oh well, I was corrected, but my point was still valid.
So I like my classes. I have some possibilities I am thinking about for my thesis. I hope to have some possible outlines done by the time I finish this semester.
It takes me a little more than an hour to get to my school from my home but if the subway isn't too crowded I can do some extra reading, so it is not too bad. In the spring, when the plant life is blooming, I will take pictures of the campus. Things are kind of barren right now, so I am holding off. I should get my student ID next week. Let's see if I get student discounts anywhere.
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