Classes Begin at Last

More in the style of Canada of all places, classes here at Yonsei are three hours long for one day a week. Just thought I'd throw that one out there. I have difficulty staying focused in a seventy-five minute class. Some of the classes are broken into two hours on one day, one hour the next, and that's not so terrible. Korean is two hours every day.

I went to Korean International Relations on Friday. The class should be interesting for me, as it not only talks about the Korea-US factor, but also focuses on major powers in the region (Russia, China, Japan) and puts it all in the context of a tumultuous modern history. The professor's English is like most here, what I like to call "textbook" (big on vocab, big on accent). The class should involve mostly reading (three textbooks this semester, cover to cover) and two short papers. These papers might actually be more of a challenge for me than one might think, however. Since the professor is in no position to criticize, the emphasis of the paper is less on style, grammar, and spelling, and more on original ideas and intriguing thought. Ouch.

My Monday morning was Korean-American comparative government, another that should be entirely interesting. We take a trip to the Korean Congress, do a little reading and some writing, and have a lot of discussion about differences in the governments, voting populace, tendencies, predictors, and procedures of the two countries. This professor's English was slightly better and less monotone.

Friday afternoon I took a placement test to see just how much Korean I actually knew. The University predicted that anyone with 4 semesters at another university would place into beginning level 2, and they were right about me. At first I felt jewed, but I know realize from attending my first Korean class Monday afternoon that it's exactly where I'm at. I have two teachers that alternate days, and the class size is maybe ten people, so learning will have no choice but to ensue. Oh, and the instructors don't understand when I speak English. So, yeah. This oughta be fun.

Today I go to Modern History, which I feel will simply repeat what is being taught in my other two classes. I may drop this course and sub in Korean War. We'll see.