During the past 45 years, it has evolved into a vibrant intellectual community that shares knowledge and experience with students from different parts of the world.
This year, the Summer College was organized into two sessions: Session 1 and Session 2. Session 1, which lasted from June 23 to July 22, provided various courses including, Korean Studies/East Asian Studies, Business & Economics, Music, Art & Design, North Korean Studies, Social Studies, Women’s Studies and Korean Language Courses.
After Session 1, Session 2 was held from Aug. 6 to 20. The theme of Session 2 was “2015 Introductory Korean Studies, which brought together courses and programs to help students gain an in-depth look into Korea.”
International Summer College consists of regular courses as well as field trips.Through the program, students can enhance their understanding about Korea both in and out of class.
From Aug. 10 to 14, and Aug. 17 to 19, students took a Korean Language Course. Based on the results of placement tests, students attended classes- basic, intermediate and advanced levels- in the morning.
After class, students attended special lectures and went to half-day field trips. Special lectures covered topics including Korean Art, Cinema, Economics, History, Pop Culture, Food, Traditional Korean Music and Art. Students on half-day field trips visited various cultural places, such as National Museum of Korea, Gyeongbok Palace, the War Memorial of Korea, and Hanok Village at Buk-chon.
From Aug. 7 to 8, there was a Special Cultural Excursion Trip. Students stayed in a traditional Korean-style home and enjoyed traditional Andong cuisine at Hahoe Village in Andong, a site designated as a UNESCO cultural heritage site. They also had a chance to watch a traditional mask dance and attend a traditional music performance.
In order to feel the excitement of the International Summer College Program, Ewha Voice tagged along to one of the most especially rememembered excursion for the students: the outing to Bukchon Hanok Village.
While strolling down the streets and enjoying the scenery of the village, students headed toward Bukchon Traditional Crafts Experience Center.
At the center, an instructor demonstrated how to make bracelets.
She taught students how to make traditional knots, one by one, and they learned the process. After several moments of undoing and redoing the knots, unique and dazzling bracelets were finally completed.
“All the other schedules of today were very good, but making bracelets in the workshop was definitely the best one,” said Hanifa, a student who took part in International Summer College. “The fact that I participated in the entire process of making it was very exciting to me. Also, these pragmatic bracelets are very cheap, costing only 7,000 won.”
After experiencing the traditional Korean crafts, they visited the Han Sang-soo Embroidery Museum, an art museum established by jasujang (embroidery artisan) of Important Intangible Cultural Property, Han Sang-soo. The museum had collections of Han’s art.
Yoon Jung-in
cocolate96@ewhain.net