Hello everyone (or anyone)!
My name is Claudia Paguay, and I am extremely excited to be sharing my journey to South Korea with you all.
This upcoming Fall semester I will finally be a Senior at Hunter College, where I study both Urban Studies and Media Studies.
During my time at Hunter College I dabbled in many different areas of study, and my many interests left me worried about which career path I should follow. Thankfully, last semester I took my first documentary production course and I discovered that I loved it! I began to seriously think about working in this field when I luckily learned about the Media Production and Cultural Studies program in South Korea with Brooklyn College. It was perfect for me!
Not only will this summer study abroad program allow me to improve my production skills, but it will also allow me to travel, explore Korean culture, and make beautiful memories.
A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to some aspects of Korean culture, like the food and music. After that, I began to do my own research and I felt like Korean traditions and customs were so interesting. On top of that, I was enticed by the beautiful sounds of its language. My respect and love of Korean culture even lead me to take two Korean language courses.
In fact, I am hoping that I can use what I learned from those two language courses in South Korea. I want to be able to correctly translate street signs, menus, and I would love to hold a conversation with a native Korean. I gathered all my notes from my Korean classes and I am re-writing them into a neat little notebook that I will take with me. I want to explore South Korea without getting lost or feeling scared, so this notebook will help me do that.
I leave for South Korea on July 10, and I have yet to pack. Before you give me an “are you serious?” look, I would just like to say that I have a very good reason.
My summer program’s final projects consists of us creating documentaries that compare two different aspects of American and South Korean culture. We were broken up into groups of four and had to start on our American part of the documentary. I was put in a group with the fun and amazing Cherry, Emmy, and Nia! We all instantly got along and have been working hard on scheduling interviews, shooting, creating a project presentation, and editing. We finally finished our second rough cut last night, so now I can finally focus on packing.
I have a lot ahead of me, so I hope you stick around and experience this journey with me!
P.S HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
