DICE, the Dormitory for International Cultural Exchange, is a special dormitory where both international and Korean students live. DICE has some distinguishing characteristics as compared with general dormitories because more than half of the DICE members are international students. First of all, there is a rule that everyone should talk only in English. This policy helps international students adjust to a new environment in Korea and provides Korean students a good opportunity to practice English conversation in real life. Second, DICE members can make their own food in the kitchen room, whereas cooking is strictly prohibited in other dormitories due to the risk of fire.

But it is not big enough. As the name DICE suggests, the most important role of this dormitory is to offer both Korean and international students chances to exchange cultures. For this, some interesting programs are provided in DICE.

Korean Language Program

Jaesuk Dustin Moon, a graduate student of the Department of Chemical Engineering, provides a Korean Language Program every Monday. He gives a lecture on practical Korean language to foreign students and some Korean DICE members also participate in this program as tutors to help the international students. Moon focuses on useful expressions in his lecture rather than on formal ones, because most of the pupils are exchange students who stay in Korea for one year at most, so they need to learn essential expressions.

For example, Koreans can express “excuse me” in some different ways using expressions such as “sil-re-ham-ni-da” or “jeo-gi-yo.” The former is more polite and formal, but in some sense it is unnatural and hard to pronounce, whereas the latter is easy. So Moon usually teaches the easy and practical ones.

Although POSLEC (POSTECH Language Education Center) offers some Korean Language Courses for foreigners, they are not enough to study the Korean language. These courses usually focus on the formal expressions and even sometimes the lectures are delivered only in the Korean language, so it is hard for foreigners to understand the details. That is why Moon started another Korean Language Program in DICE.
Regina Knobloch, an undergraduate exchange student from Germany taking both a POSLEC course and Moon’s program, said “The two programs are different in teaching styles and are complementary in many ways. So it is difficult to say which one is better, but I think Moon’s program is more interesting.”

Ukraine on Air

Igor Dzhebyan, a graduate student of GIFT, presents a program, ‘Ukraine on Air’, in which he introduces his homeland Ukraine every Wednesday. He explains Ukrainian culture, history, language, and heritage using vivid pictures and movies.

When Igor first arrived in Korea two years ago, he was surprised that most Koreans did not know much about Ukraine despite its being the second largest country in Europe after Russia and that many important historical events happened there. So he planned this program to introduce Ukraine to Koreans.

In this program, not only can the participants get information about Ukraine, they can also learn each others’ country’s culture and history. For example, after Igor explains a hero in Ukrainian history, he gives a question “Could you tell me an example of a legendary person in your country?” Then each person introduces a hero from his or her own country. Through this talking, the participants can learn other countries’ cultures in a very natural way.

Friday Night Party

DICE gives a Friday Night Party four times a semester. This is a kind of dance party with beer and chips. The first party in this semester was held with more than 40 DICE members at the Student Union Building on Sep. 25.

In the early part of the party, people had time to get to know each other in a cozy atmosphere. Through small talk with beer they could break the ice. Soon, the party heated up with exciting music and people started to dance. Dancing together, all the members became intimate with each other.

During a break time, Samthor, a Korean traditional percussion quartet group, played Samulnori music. At first, international students were stunned by the unaccustomedly noisy music, but before long they became immersed in the distinctive rhythm of Samulnori and some took pictures of the performers.

After the party an international student said, “It was a short time but I could make many new Korean friends and become intimate with them at the party. And it was great that I could watch a dynamic Korean traditional music performance that I have never seen.” He continued, “I think the Friday Night Party is a good chance to exchange culture with students from various countries, so I hope more people will enjoy the party next time.”