Our internship program took us on another weekend trip, which was Jeonju! I originally was not planning on going, but I am so glad I did. On the first full day, we got to try on hanboks, which is a type of traditional clothing. I was given a hanbok that was green and red, and when I showed pictures to my coworkers they let me know that the hanbok I wore signified high status. I didn’t know that the colors had meaning like that, so it was very interesting to learn about. After trying on the hanboks we learned Korean manners, such as how to properly bow, and made bibimbap. It looked and tasted absolutely delicious.
We were then allowed time to explore Jeonju, and one of my coworkers told me to try out choco pies from a specific bakery that originated in Jeonju, called PNB. I was feeling a little greedy and tried three different versions of the choco pies, and they were all delicious. My first introduction to choco pies was in my Korean class in my first year at Pitt, when my professor brought in some packages choco pies for us all to share. I only learned that they originated in Jeonju after speaking to my coworker, so I knew I had to try them.
I then visited a cathedral and a temple with a couple of friends, which were gorgeous. The only downside of this trip that it was right in the middle of the rainy season, so I got caught in the rain a couple of times and it was quite cloudy out. I ate dinner at a night market, and it was delicious.
The next day we went to a military experience center, and that might have been the highlight of my trip. We got to test our the accuracies of our aim shooting BB guns, and after that we were able to explore a movie set that was right next to the military experience center. I was able to take a lot of great photos, and it was absolutely gorgeous.
After going to South Korea, I noticed several differences in communication compared to what I am used to in the United States. In the United States, I am used to people being more direct about what they want and what they think about in a situation. When it comes to work, my leadership style is very direct, which I think comes from the U.S. being lower context. In South Korea, I noticed that communication can be more indirect, and because of that I found myself wondering if I was missing something when I was going about my work.
In my internship, for example, I would sometimes struggle working in the taproom of my company’s brewery because I was unsure if I was being helpful or not when it got busy. I sometimes struggled to remember what glass to serve beverages in, and had to ask a lot of questions as I was still learning. I was worried that I was slowing them down, so I didn’t know if it was better to take a step back and let them do the work, or if I should keep trying to help them as best I could.
Another challenge was communicating in a workplace where Korean was primarily used. I was lucky enough that all of my coworkers knew English and I was able to talk to them, but when they were talking amongst themselves they would use Korean. I took Korean in college was studying on my own time as I was in Korea, but I was nowhere near close to being able to closely follow the conversations they were having. I was able to pick up generally on what they were talking about, but not enough to engage. Luckily, though, whenever I asked my coworkers were happy to fill me on the conversation so I could participate, which I was grateful for. They also taught me some terminology in Korean so I could more easily bridge that gap.
I believe these experiences have made me more conscious of my own communication style. Before going to South Korea, I never taught about how direct I was when communicating with other people because that was what I was used to back at home. However, being in a different cultural environment has made me more aware of how I communicate, especially to someone from another background. I have tried to become more flexible in how I communicate with others, and I believe this will follow me in my day to day life back at home as well.