Around 7:00 p.m., many Ewha students finish their classes and walk from the main gate to the Edae Subway Station to go home. Students’ eyebrows become drawn together, and they hold their noses to avoid the foul smell emanating from rotting food as they try to navigate the streets crowded with long-lined stalls. “I feel embarrassed to see undesirable sights on streets in front of my school. I am worried that some people might say bad things about the school because of this dirty street. It is also stressful and annoying for me to sheer away from the trash when I wear high-heeled shoes,” said Jung Yeon-hee (Social Studies Education, 1).
The City of
The street from Sinchon Station to
“The street from Shinchon Station to
The environment in front of
The Seodaemun-gu Office is exasperated by the difficulties of controlling the streets in front of Ewha and Yonsei. “Our sanitation workers in Seodaemun-gu Office start their work from 4:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. However, some restaurants and stall keepers discharge trash after workers’ working hours, which is totally out of our control. Also, they are supposed to put the waste in front of their area, but they put trash bags on the streets in order to make their surroundings look clean,” said Kim Dae-yong, who works at the Urban Management Department of the Seodaemun-gu Office.
“It is difficult to dispatch workers 24 hours a day to clean the streets. If then, we have to spend more than three times of the budget that we spend now. If people maintain basic order, and store owners behave consciously, the environment around universities may be improved,” said Kim. People who visit famous streets in front of universities and students need to keep basic orders and etiquette to ensure their own safety and to make clean environment around schools.