[Bilingual Campus from Probing Eyes] Int’l Student in Club Activities
[Bilingual Campus from Probing Eyes] Int’l Student in Club Activities
  • Reporter Lee Suh-young
  • 승인 2010.09.22 01:20
  • 댓글 0
이 기사를 공유합니다

 “One and two and three and four. Remember to drop those shoulders to the floor when performing your shoulder isolations. Okay, here we go.” It seems like normal dance practice but there is one thing different. This whole conversation is going on in English. In the last summer, an exchange student joined Ctrl-D; since then, the other Korean students are also practicing dance with English notation.


The Postech Times had an interview with an exchange student from last semester, Hugo Janssens from Universite de Technologie de Troyes.

 

   

How did you get to know about Ctrl-D. As far as I know, you are the only one that joined a club as an exchange student.

First, I saw a show done by Ctrl-D in the Student Union. It was during lunch time, and some student started to dance to a Michael Jackson song and one of my friends was there. I was quite impressed by the performance. So after the performance, I went to the first Ctrl-D meeting and I decided to join the club.

 

What were difficulties in Ctrl-D. If you had difficulties in Ctrl-D, how did you overcome them?

For me this question is the most important part of my experience in Ctrl-D. Every Korean is friendly but too shy to try to speak English, so only few students tried to communicate with me. But it is part of the challenge and I had to be strong. For example, when I trained for the festival, they told that I wasn’t good enough only two days before the performance. I was angry about this because nobody was helping me and telling what was wrong or right. We had a problem of communication! I am sure all this was because of English. It was hard not understanding what they were talking about but I kept trying to enjoy dancing and to have fun with the few people who were talking to me.


How do you feel about the drinking culture of Ctrl-D.

It was with a drinking night that I had my first contact with the club. Actually, drinking soju is really important to meet Korean friends. Without this, it is much, much harder. But for me, it was fine and I was happy to share soju. It is a part of Korean culture and I love it. And it wasn’t that often, not often enough!


If exchange students want to join a club, what kind of advice do you want to give them?

If exchange students want to join a club they have to be patient and curious enough to try to understand the Korean culture. However, it is a really nice experience because you are always welcome and you feel easily comfortable. For me, it was a unique experience.