Report
for Student Exchange Program to Korea
A team of 12 Interactors from Sri UCSI Interact Club, led by
team leader PP Mohan Raj and teacher advisor Mr Soosai Naden went on a student
exchange program to Korea for 9 days from 28th November to 7th December 2013. We were sponsored by the Rotary Club
of Subang. The names of the interactors are the follows:-
·
Lim Zhe
Tzuen
·
Desmond
Loh
·
Jane Fok
·
Angela
Loh
·
Ooi Hui
Ling
·
Wong Ai
San
·
Low Yik
Shen
·
Nur Alisa
Jasmine
·
Nicholas
Chan
·
Yong Tzu
Ning
·
Nicole
Tan
·
Nikki Tan
Day 0 -
28th November 2013
At 2130 hour everyone gather at the
departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Lim Zhe Tzuen distributed
the shirt and name tag to all students, PP Mohan Raj and Mr Soosai. Several
members of the Rotary club of Subang and family members of student were there to
send us off. The flight took off as schedule at 2359 hour.
Day 1 – 29th
November 2013
We
arrive at Incheon International Airport as schedule in the morning.
Member of the Rotary Club of Hong-ju, District 3620 led by PP Jungsu. We took a
group photo at the airport and depart to Hongseong. It took approximately 2
hours to reach there. Upon arrival we visited the Haemieupseong Fortress, built
during the Joseon period. We were thrilled at seeing snow and throwing
balls at each other. Some of us even tried to build snowman
After
that we went for lunch and visited the Su-deok Temple. We had to walk up the
hill and it was really tiring. A visit to a migratory bird park where we
experienced 4 D visual about bird migration. We passed by a man-made lake
divided from the sea by the great Mr Hyundai. We stop half way for photo. Dinner
was severed at 1730 hour and we were picked up by our homestay parents whom are
mostly Rotarian themselves at 1900 hour.
Day 2 – 30th November
2013
As
the student stayed at various areas, we all meet up at a private bus terminal. Today
was a family day so the host families and Rotarian joined us for the day. We visited
the Korean Folk Village which to us almost 3 hours to reach there. Over there
we witness traditional Korean wedding, horse riding stunts, tight rope walking,
pottery workshops, museum and various types of houses, lifestyles. Lunch was
served at a open dining area and the visit continued until we depart at almost
1600 hour.
The official welcome
dinner was held at an exclusive mall where we were greeted by the District
Governor Rotarian Sun Yong Jeong and the District TRF Chair Rotarian Lee, Young
Ho. Speeches were made by the District Governor, TRF Chair, Rotary Club of
Subang Group leader followed us introducing ourselves and presenting a 1 Malaysia theme dance and
song. This continued with the introduction of the 15 students who will be
visiting us in February and they tried very hard to speak in English. Dinner
was excellent with almost 100 over varieties (Buffett) and we made many friends
mostly using interpreters and sign language.
Day 3 – 1st
December 2013
We meet up with the other at the common
meeting point. Today we had the students who will be visiting Malaysia in Feb
and their parents joining in the trip to Seoul. The ride took about 2 hours and
our 1st visit was the 'The war Memorial of Korea’ that were
once the headquarters of the Korean Infantry. We had an English speaking guide provided by the museum which was a
retired Lieutenant who had served in the Korean War. This followed with lunch
at the same place. Later we moved on to the Seoul tower also commonly known as the Namsan Tower
located on Mt. Namsan that offers great panoramic views of the city. We left
for dinner at around 1630 hour and the bus dropped us at the common meeting
point
Day 4 –
2nd December 2013
Today
we were separated into 2 groups, Desmond Loh, Low Yik Shen, Ooi Hui Ling, Yong
Tzu Ning, Jane Fok and Wong Ai San went to Daesan High School. They were met by
the headmaster Mr Kim and Ms Doy Kim the senior assistant and we had a
discussion before adjourning to the English classroom where we met 6 other
selected English speaking students. A lot was discussed; the students had
an opportunity to sit at classes being part of the studies and also a full
English class with English speaking students.
Lunch was at the school cafeteria and they watched
the children playing various games including baseball, basketball, table tennis
etc. Lunch time is 70 minutes and they are allowed to do these activities. The
school hours are from 8am till 10.30 pm at night!!! They also have a dormitory
where about 80 students from far away live in. thereafter they were taken shopping
at 2 locations namely a department store and an evening market. Dinner was
pizza hut and since it was the last night being hosted by Rotary club of
Seosan, the children were treated to a karaoke session too.
On the
other hand, the other group which are Lim Zhe Tzuen, Nicholas Chan, Angela Loh,
Nur Alisa Jasmine, Nicole Tan and Nikki Tan went to Hung-ju High School. They
were met by the headmaster and teacher/ Rotarian Jungsu. They also had a short
discussion before adjourning to the English classroom where there was Teacher
Faith, an English teacher from Canada. We had a 35 minutes presentation about
Malaysia to the 16 and 17 year old students and 10 minutes answer and question
section. The student tried very hard to ask us question in English and we tried
all kind of ways to explain and answer their questions. Overall they had a fun
and great experience. After that they were brought back to the headmaster
office and receive souvenir from the headmaster. their host brought all of them
to a nearby restaurant and we had our lunch there. Thereafter we were taken to
shopping at a local outdoor shopping area. Everybody then return to their
respective homestay by bus. And had dinner with the respective host family
Day 5 – 3rd December
2013
We
were transported by our hosts to a common meeting point where a mini bus was to
take us to Cheon-on which is about 2 hours away. On the way we stopped at Cheon-
an folks museum. Lunch was at a nearby place and then we proceeded to visit the
National Independence Hall of Korea which displays Korean
historical documents and relics from the past to the present, focusing on the
independence movements of the Japanese Colonial Period.
Our next visit was when we arrived at Cheon-on
city and we had the privilege of visiting the largest dental hospital owned by
pass district governor Jidan Moon, Eunsoo. He offered us refreshments, met up
with all of us later taking time from his hectic schedule, he also bought movie
tickets for all of us to watch the movie "Riddick”, paid for our dinner
and gave each of us a little gift. A little on Moon Dental Hospital, it employs
22 dentists and employs 110 people. They have up to 1000 patients daily. They
specialize on every aspect of your teeth from root canal, crowning, and
artificial teeth. We also had a tour of the hospital covering 4 floors. Watching
the movie and dinner took almost 3 hours and the students were sent again to a
common place where they met their new homestay parents and it was it for the
day.
Day 6 – 4th December 2013
We meet at a common
place again, jumped into a mini bus led by Interact teacher Mr Kim and proceed
to Gakwonsa Temple located at the foot of Mt. Taejosan. We moved on to
Dankook University originally founded by an independence activist, which has now become a
leading Korean University with more than 34,000 undergraduates, 4500 graduates,
1,000 teaching staffs and 500 non- teaching faculty in its two campuses . We
were met by the PR Department head Mr Lee Kyu Shik and his team and was shown a
power point presentation. 2 of our student, Ooi Hui Ling and Desmond Loh were
called up to talk about the experience so far in Korea. This followed with a tour of the campus which
had a dental and medical hospital. We were feasted to a sumptuous lunch by the
staff at the campus restaurant. We left the university at 1230 hour and were
taken to Lotteria, a local fast food restaurant where one of the Rotarians was
waiting to spend us lunch. Unfortunately everyone was full and upon persuasion,
we settled for ice-cream.
Our next visit was the highlight! It
was a visit to the Interact teacher's school, Cheon-An Commercial High School. As
we stepped out, we were greeted by the Interactors and staff who led us to the
meeting hall where the Principal and Vice Principal Mr Shim Sung-Kwon who could
speak English briefed us. The Interactors gave us a presentation / dance
lasting 15 minutes and we also decide to show them what we got, we presented
out 1 Malaysia theme dance and song. We had lots of fun there as they were all teenagers
and we made plenty of friends. A tour of the whole school, visiting staff rooms,
labs, computer rooms, the classrooms. There must have been at least 1000
students wishing us and trying very hard to communicate with us in English.
We left for a short walk at a nearby
open market and thereafter were taken to visit Cheonan City Hall, the
International Cooperation / Planning and budget Section Chief Mr Gwon-Seok Han
welcomed us at the entrance with his team and they escorted us to a meeting
hall where a power point presentation on Cheonan City, past, present and future
was shown. All of us were given a little souvenir. We were taken again for a
tour of City hall proper and eventually ended at the meeting hall of the President
and his council members. We were allowed to sit in the hall as councillors do. Once
again, he presented all of us a personal gift. As usual, we had dinner and were
picked up by host family at the common meeting point at 2000 hour.
Day 7 – 5th December
2013
We
meet at the common area but today with a big bus awaiting us. Some of the
spouses of the Rotarians, home stay parents and children joined in the
expedition to Muju Deogyusan Resort located in Mt. Deogyusan,
the perfect place for winter sport. The trip was about 3 hours and we
stopped about a kilometer away to rent skiing equipment and proper winter
clothing. Upon arrival, we had lunch at Domino’s Pizza and move on to do
sledging. We were all exhausted after an hour of sledging as we need to walk up
the sledging station after every ride. Soon all of us went to an open area and eventually
play snow ball attack and build a snowman.
At about 1545 hour we
depart from Muju Deagyusan Resort. We stopped to return the rented equipment
and headed back to Cheon-an. We headed straight for authentic Korean cuisine,
joined by more Rotarians, home stay parents and others. After dinner, the host
parents took us for karaoke while PP Mohan and Teacher Soosai went back to
their hotel. We left the karaoke place at 2130 hour.
Day 8 – 6th December
2013
Today
we travelled to Seoul with some of the host. We went to Lotte World Located
in the heart of the city, a theme park filled with thrilling rides, an ice
rink, different kinds of parades as well as a folk museum, a lake, and much
more. It was really crowded. We left the place at 1230 hour and it took
us an hour due to the city traffic to reach our venue for lunch. After lunch,
we moved on to Namdaemun market, a large
traditional market for souvenir shopping. “Namdaemun” the "Great
South Gate," which was the main southern gate to the old city. It is the
oldest and largest market in Korea.
We left Seoul at 1630 hour and went to an exclusive
restaurant hosted by the District Governor, attended by the District General Secretary,
the District Treasurer and AG's, Secretariat, Chairman's. It was the farewell
party. It was overwhelming! We also had the chance to express our stay in Korea,
thank our foster parents and all who made our stay unforgettable. Tears were
shed, hugs, emotions, more tears, and hugs. It was truly an emotional night as
we all left the place with heavy heart and tears.
Day 9th –
7th December 2013
As we reached the meeting point
where the bus was waiting to take us to the airport. We were surprised to see
the District Governor together with the AG, Club President, Rotarians and host families
waiting to send us off. District Governor presented all with gifts and the
members of Rotary Club of Hongju also presented each student a gift too. Pictures
were taken, hugs, kisses, bye-bye, bye-bye again and again and we eventually departed
at approximately 1000 hour.
The trip to the
Airport took 2 and half hours and the students were shown the magnificent 22 km
bridge over sea linking to Incheon Airport. Rotarian Jongsu and Interact
teacher Mr Kim accompanied us, checked us in and then treated us to Mc Donald at
the airport. The flight took off as scheduled and also arrived on
schedule. PP Pushpa and PP Dr Krishna were at the airport to receive us
together with our parents.
That is the end of our student exchange program to Korea, a trip which gives
us great experience and exposure. Friendship that will never end and memories
were made. An unforgettable experience
and something we will cherish for a long long time.
Photos can be found at our Interact Club Facebook page :) feel free to go check it out. its just a click away : Photos of Student Exchange Program to Korea
Regards,
Lim Zhe Tzuen
Team Leader of exchange program
Community Service Director of Interact Club
Sekolah Sri UCSI
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