2012 EISC Session I Participant: Elizabeth Mah
Smith College, USA

Ewha: More than a University

Forgive me for being cliché, but this summer at Ewha University was like an unforgettable dream, leaving me a different person, miles from where I was one month ago at the beginning of my summer 2012.

Admittedly, I was a little nervous on the first day at the welcoming ceremony. It’s that anxious feeling you get when you stand in a roomful of strangers and you’re not quite sure where you fit in yet. Would I be able to find friends among these faces? Little did I know that I would find lifetime sisters that would remain at my side through every adventure that I’d have in Korea.
The classes were entertaining, the campus absolutely beautiful. I fulfilled a lifelong dream of learning to play the gayageum (가야금). My favorite piece to learn by far was Hwimori (회모리) as I had heard my instructor perform it for us. The class even had five boys this year! (There was only one in last year’s session.) Dressing up in our hanbok (한복) at the closing ceremony to perform for our friends and show off the skills we acquired in the short month was a thrill! It’s a shame that I have to let the gayageum (가야금) go as I return to the States. I hope one day that I may pick it up and pursue it again.
This scholarship to Ewha gave me more than a chance to study abroad. It was a key to the entirety of Korea. It was the first time in 12 years that I had visited Korea and I had free reign to explore every aspect of it! On weekends, I took trips to Kyungju (경주) to help a new friend meet her birth mother, Buddhist temples to sit among monks and learn their philosophies, visit palaces where the royalty of my history books used to reside, and so much more.
There were street performers singing cool acoustic sets on summer nights by the Chunggaechun (청계천) stream, countless trips to street vendors for chicken on a stick among other delicious treats, coffeehouses throughout Hongdae (홍대), shopping sprees through the streets of Edae (이대) and MyeongDong (명동), late night pat-bing-soo (팥빙수) dessert runs to the famous Ho-Mil-Pat(호밀밭) shop in Sinchon (신촌), and simply taking the time to wander throughout the city and discover amazing things by some stroke of fate—always in the right place at the right time.
Ewha was the place to be this summer. People underestimate the power of study abroad. Not only has it further cultivated my independence and self-efficiency but it has given me confidence in everything from navigating through the subway to bartering with shop owners for the best deals. Speak up! Be a force to be reckoned with! Don’t take no for an answer!...but all with the charm and wit as is befitting an “Ewhaian”, as they have come to call us.

I feel as though I’m one step closer to being the type of person I have always aspired to be: confident, passionate, independent, and more than anything else, more in tune with my Korean heritage.
I had high expectations for my month in Korea but the real thing ended up surpassing all of the hopes and speculations that I could have ever had. It was indescribable and unforgettable. I’d like to thank the members and sponsors of the EUW Alumnae Association, Washington D.C. Chapter who have played a pinnacle role in allowing me this opportunity to be at Ewha University this summer as well as the staff and peace buddies (you know who you are!) of Ewha who made this short month one of the most memorable for years to come. It has