▲Attending a friend’s graduation ceremony (source: Ngyuen Thi tu Phuong)

Currently, many international students are living on campus at Changwon University. They participate in college life, take classes, and study with Korean students. However many Korean students don’t know how to approach international students. This interview with a Vietnamese international student Nguyễn Thi Tu Phuong at the Global Business Department may help answer some questions that Korean students have about international students.

Q : Please introduce yourself.

Nguyễn: I’m Nguyễn Thi Tu Phuong from Vietnam. After finishing junior college in Vietnam, I studied Korean for 2 years and went to Changwon University. Now I’m in the third year of my program.

Q : Why did you choose to study abroad in Korea?

Nguyễn : When I was in Vietnam, I liked watching Korean movies. I got the impression that Korea was a very beautiful modern country with many places to travel, and delicious food. Also, I wanted to experience Korean culture and cooking, so I chose to study in Korea.

Q : How did you learn about Changwon University, and why did you choose Changwon University among all of the Korean universities?

Nguyễn : During my first 6 months in Korea, I studied Korean at Gyungsang Univeristy. But later my friend from Changwon told me about Changwon University, so that’s how I learned about Changwon University. Changwon University is a national school with relatively inexpensive tuition, provides high quality education, and its faculty is ranked no.1 in evaluations by Gyeongsangnam-do Province.

Q : What is the most memorable situation that happened in your college life in Korea?

Nguyễn : When I was in my first year, there was a class with three other Vietnamese students. We were quite shocked by the professor’s quick lecture style because it was the first time we studied with Korean students. Our professor gave us an assignment, but we couldn’t complete it properly because we didn’t understand the lecture. The professor realized we needed help and asked three Korean students to help us with our assignment. Thanks to them, we were able to submit the assignment. It can be very lonely and hard to study abroad, but it was very touching and I was thankful that we received help from our fellow students and the professor. After that I felt more comfortable around other people and was motivated to study better. So that is one of my best memories of college life in Korea.

Q : What is the difference between Vietnamese and Korean Universities?

Nguyễn : There are many differences between Vietnamese and Korean Universities. Above all, the biggest difference is Vietnamese University has a military training course that men and women attend. If you enter a Vietnamese University, you have to do military training for two months at a four-year college, and one month at junior college, instead of being exempted from military service.

Q : Is there anything that you still want to experience in Korea?

Nguyễn : Yes, there are a lot of things that I still want to do. I want to take photos at Gyeongbokgung Palace wearing a hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing. And I want to experience making traditional Korean food. In college life, I want to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.

Q : What are some of the advantages of studying in Korea?

Nguyễn : The biggest advantage of studying in Korea is that the schools provide a lot of support for international students. There are many scholarships for international students so we can have opportunities for a good education. After graduating, there are many job opportunities in abroad. And I think it is good to study and live in Korea because I can develop relationships with foreign friends.

Q : What is something that you would like to say to Korean students?

Nguyễn : I think I am very lucky to study and live in Korea. I hope we can all be friends and learn about each other’s culture. Let’s all study hard and succeed!

By So Min-young, cub-reporter  minyoung_1216@naver.com

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