End of Semester Greetings

It’s hard to believe spring semester has come to a close, yet students have departed and summer students have arrived. It’s time for a long overdue look at some of the things students did during the spring semester. Let’s take a look back through photos, starting from the beginning of the semester.

Orientation

Being cute in hanbok, Korea's costume, during our Korean Spirit and Culture workshop (above & below).

 

Photo scavenger hunt mission to take group picture in front of CIEE Seoul Study Center (above) and with Comfort Woman Statue (below)
 

Excursions

We had two overnight excursions: Explore Korea Excursion during orientation and South Island Excursion mid-semester.
 

Observing creatures that inhabit mudflats

Community Service

Students could choose from a variety of volunteer opportunities such as teaching English to North Korean defectors or senior citizens, mentoring underprivileged children, making audio books for blind children, holding infants at an orphanage, or walking dogs at an animal rescue center.

 

Our student mentors help underprivileged children living in Shinchon area. On the first day (above & below), each mentor took a picture with their mentee to be printed on postcards and given to each mentor and mentee at the end of the program as a souvenir. 

 

Students and mentees enjoying an outdoors activity (above)

 

Teaching English to senior citizens (above)

 

 

Two students took part in making audio books for blind children. They read Korean folktale story books written by the CIEE Resident Director Suzanne Crowder Han in English and two weeks later, the audio books they recorded were available for blind children at Sungbook Library for the Blind.

 

Seoul Mates

Students interacted with our CIEE Seoul Mates (Korean buddies) one-on-one, in small groups and in a monthly large group activity. Check out these short videos made by some students and Seoul Mates:

 

 

 

 

 

On a Seoul Mate mission to the DDP (above) and learning about Buddhism while doing a temple stay program with Seoul Mates (below)

 

Other Activities

Cooking

Because many students are interested in cooking, we had a cooking session with students at a girls high school. They were divided into small groups and, led by the local students, each group made different types of Korean food such as kimbap and tteokbokki, which they all shared (below).  

Some students attended a smaller cooking class in a private home (below)

 

Music

Many students are into K-Pop so we had a K-Pop Tour whereby we visited major entertainment companies such as YG, JYP and SM artium, and walked along the K-Star road to experience K-pop music and culture. We also attended an indie concert to learn more about Korean music. After the concert, we took a group picture with the musicians and had a chance to chat with them (below).

 We also went to a modern pansori (a Korean narrative, epic, dramatic folk vocal art form performed by one person accompanied by one drummer) concert; many students got their CDs signed by performers (below).