Yep…
Before getting into that, though, I’ll start with what’s been going well.
I took advantage of our host university here and paid a visit to their campus, with the intention of making a few friends. It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. In any population, it’s a given that most people aren’t interested in learning other languages. Still, I hoped it might be at least 10%, but it wasn’t even that. Nonetheless, I eventually met two girls and they were willing to tolerate my rather terrible Korean. Turned out they were both majoring in Chinese, not because they wanted to work or live there but due to the country’s increasing economic strength and relevance. They also didn’t want to attempt to learn two languages at once, for which I can’t blame them!
The next day we went as a class and I was able to make a few more friends. From here it should be pretty easy–the outset is hardest but, as I’ve mentioned before, once you know at least one person you can ask them who’s interested in learning English, or just might be willing to help you practice your second language if not.
So, 4 or 5 new numbers in my phone and some plans to meet. As far as salvaging goes, it’s not bad at all. I can definitely use the half-month I have left here. On top of that, I’ve started to befriend 1 or 2 people from within the study abroad group too. But with this little time left, I don’t think it’ll really develop much.
By the way, if I have any advice for people traveling abroad to learn a language it’s this: get a cell phone. It’s a real pain to do in a foreign country but it pays for itself many times over.
Anyway. So in the previous post I complained about how things were being run a bit. This shouldn’t be terribly surprising but when I have to get up at 6am (bathroom sharing and all…) and then don’t get home until 9-10pm, when most places are closed and it’s too late to do much of anything, and when we’re walking around most of that, crammed into a van beyond its rated capacity for the rest, doing things that I didn’t come to Korea to waste my time on… Yeah, my mood tanked a bit. I tried not to make it too obvious but I do think I was a bit sullen and irritable.
Well the professor took me aside for a little the other day. I guess it must have been pretty obvious. First he does the usual spiel that I’ve been hearing since 4th grade or so (that is, about 12 years old)… Speak up, talk more, etc etc. As though one’s personality can be changed as simply as flipping a switch.
Then he asked if I was taking or had been receiving counseling. Okaaay, a little personal there but I told him no. His next batch of questions completely blew me away. “Have you been hearing voices?” Er. What? I hope I hid my surprise from my face, but as with the above, I probably didn’t. He went on to ask some other similarly themed questions. I still can’t quite believe it: my professor thinks I’m freakin schizophrenic. (Yeah, yeah, save the jokes for later).
That would take the cake if the implicit threats that followed weren’t so serious. One thing you need to understand is that a number of higher jobs–the government being the most well known for this but some private companies do it as well, something my professor is well aware of–do background checks. I don’t mean some online service that lets them check you for a criminal record; they actually send people out to interview people you’ve known, past employers, etc. And a study abroad program sticks out like a roman candle in the dead of night.
My skill set–languages, computers, things technical–means that ending up in one of those jobs is a very real and unfortunate risk. Well, maybe not such a risk anymore, and maybe my professor is really doing me a favor–I don’t want a job that invades my personal life, really.
I really should have just come here on my own to study. Not only would I have sidestepped the obscene cost of BYU’s thing, but I could have focused on language and making friends in one place from day 1, and, well, I would have avoided this professor. Even with the positive notes above, participating here something I really, truly regret. It’s going to be something I regret and feel the effects of for a long time. I leave at the month’s end but it’s not something I’ll get away from for years and years. Sigh…