During the last ten years, the old streets of Itaewon have changed drastically, compared to the streets of today. We find ourselves walking among different racial groups that we could not apparently see in the past. Recently, National Statistics announced that the resident population is well over one million. The number of foreign students has increased as much as that of the resident population. For example, you will notice that there are a handful of foreign students at DKU. There are scores of foreign students at Jukjeon campus and 39 foreign students at Cheonan campus. So The Dankook Herald conducted a survey on “Are you interested in foreign students?” As a result, most Dankookians answered “So-so,” and even a few students responded, “Yes.” In addition, the DKH asked them a question about foreign students' daily life. They were curious about their culture, such as food, everyday life, holidays, and recreation. For the sake of Dankookians' curiosity about international students, DKH observed one enrolled student and interviewed several international students from different countries, with their permission, of course.

▶ Jin-Gi Seo who is chatting with his sister

DKH observed Jin-Gi Seo's routine. He’s a Chinese student who majored in Korean Language in Shanghai, China. After graduation from a 3 year college program, he transferred to Dankook University and now he is majoring in Korean Language and Literature at Cheonan campus. Our observation started at 11 o'clock in the morning. He greeted us with a warm smile. He just back from an M.T. hosted by GTN before this interview started, he must have been tired. But disregarded his exhaustion, he continued to guide us into his dormitory. As soon as he entered his dorm, he sat in front of his computer and tapped on his keyboard delightfully. That was one of the ways he communicated with his sister through the Internet. We asked him, “How much do you miss your family or friends?” His response was that he felt lonely at first but now he’s fine, and to erase his sadness, he watches funny animations and plays computer games.

During his lunch in the dining room of his dormitory, we asked him, “Does Korean food suit your taste?” He answered: “It was too spicy and sour to me at first, but now I have no problem to eat hot, sour Kimchi.” After lunch, he began to prepare for his major. Before his class, he met his friends and had a little fun, and then asked why he couldn't understand as well as Korean students did. After class, he came back to his dormitory.

Next, we asked him about his daily life. Our first question was how he made Korean friends. He told us that he made many Korean friends through the Global Talent Network (GTN), where he interacted with fellow international students as well as regular DKU students. He also mentioned that his classmates were aware that he could not speak Korean very well, so they spoke Korean with him as it will help him and he would become better at it. He’s also glad to learn Korean in Korea. We asked him again, “What difficulties do you have living in Korea?” He expressed that taking a taxi is tough as well as communication between him and the drivers. Sometimes a taxi driver who noticed his Korean pronunciation drove a long distance. He also said it feels difficult when he tries to speak to Korean.

The DKH had planned to have additional interviews with foreign students about their daily routines but failed: the other international students rejected us. To find out why we were rejected, we inquired of him why they refused our interview and observation. He carefully said that they were hurt by Korean students because many Korean students made racial remarks as if there is no problem, especially to Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolians. As our last question we asked, “What do you do during the weekends?” His reply was that he spends his time resting in his dormitory, watching movies, or going shopping with his friends. In fact, we've heard that many Dankookians want to make foreign friends but they hesitate making their attempt not for the communication barrier but for cultural differences. DKH felt that there is nothing special and unique from their daily life, compared to ours.

▶ Jin-Gi Seo and his Korean friends

Look at the clock, it was 3:30p.m., and suddenly he said to us that he wanted to take a nap. So we had ourselves an hour break from the interview, and after taking our break, we went to have a dinner. During dinner, we had a private conversation about each other. For instance, we asked him, “What do you want to be in the future?” His answer was to become a Chinese teacher in Korea. And he said that is why he studies Korean during in his spare time. After we had dinner, he went back up to his dorm to pack his notebook and Korean grammar book, and then headed out for Yulkok Memorial Library. We didn't want to disturb his study, so we finished our observation. We thanked him for permitting us to observe his routine. Although our observation did not last a whole day, we could conclude that the daily lives of international students are not much different from those of Korean students. We would like to say to the Dankookians who want to make an international student one of their good friends at Dankook University: “You should approach them with courage and tell them, ‘I would like to be your friend!"