▲ airport pick-up team

The first step of the International Student Council (ISC) is to welcome new students to Changwon University. The official March event of the ISC, the airport pick-up and dormitory guidance, was conducted for two days from March 2nd to 3rd. To facilitate the two-day event, Korean students from the ISC teamed up to welcome the students from the airport. Korean students of the International Student Council have previously divided their roles into three, airport pick-up roles, call-van roles and dormitory guidance.

First, The airport pick-up team stays at the airport from 11 a.m. to evening. Their role is to hold a picket to mark Changwon University and wait for the arrival of students abroad on time. Airport pick-up is available at two times, 2:30 and 6:00. They check the list of all students who arrived and check again to see if there are any missing friends. They make efforts to minimize inconvenience by welcoming friends who arrive in advance and speak to them to make comfortable, such as asking them how much they know about Korea and where they come from.

Second, call vans teams take foreign students safely by bus from the airport to the dormitory. They accompany them until arriving at their dorms, make sure every student wears a seat belt, and solve basic problems if they have questions or necessities. After finishing this work, they also have time to go E-Mart with international students to buy bedding and other things they need.

Lastly, The dormitory guidance team take over when students get off the bus. ISC students help to find room keys for each student in either the first or seventh dormitory. The ISC helped students with their medical forms and taught them basic dormitory information, i.e. how to unlock the door and where to take off their shoes. Some students arrived late at night, so this team had to stay late to help them.

Student of ISC, Lee Da-sol (Department of English Literature) said “I helped teachers of international affairs host the event last semester. Last time, I was in charge of guiding the student dormitory, but it was hard for me because I had never lived in dormitory before. However, I was happy to work at the airport pick-up this year. I had to go to the airport early in the morning and wait until evening, but it was fun for me to meet new friends. I think that the thing is “first impression is the most important.” I hope that the Korean students at the airport had a good impression on the international students. There was an interesting episode on that day. Two foreign students were missed while checking the list. It was no fuss at the airport to find the two missing students. However, the two went to the dorm by themselves without saying anything. I was really embarrassed then. It is also true that the immigration process was delayed much longer than I expected because they are foreigners. Also, communication was difficult because the nationality of the students are different. But overall, it was a valuable experience.”

Bae Yoon-bin of ISC (Department of English Literature) said, “I think the teamwork for this period of ISC was the best. Even though it was the first time, I am proud to have been part of a thorough preparation process and have led the students to Changwon University safely. Before the ISC was established, I heard that the work was complicated and difficult because only the teachers of the International affairs department had to share the roles. But from this year on, it's a good way for teachers and also Korean students to experience new things. And I realized that I misunderstood something; there are more Chinese students than I thought. And I guessed there would be many English-speaking students, but it was my mistake. So I think I have to learn Chinese, Japanese, and so on. I worked the role of guiding the dormitory. One of the foreign students who came in at night was unable to communicate in Korean or English, so a Chinese friend from the International affairs department helped translate. Thank you to that friend.”

By Lee Yeon-ju, reporter  rosielee@kakao.com

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