“First time skiing on snow in my life! What fun!”

KU IWC students visit ski resort

On Jan. 5, 2019, Korea University hosted a ski trip for participants of its International Winter Campus (IWC) program, taking them to Jisan Forest Ski Resort located in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do Province.

A total of 98 students took part, with most of them having come from countries where it rarely snows and therefore having never skied before. During the morning session, they were taught by seven professional ski instructors; later, they had time to freely enjoy skiing. Lau Wing Yin, a sophomore student from the University of Hong Kong, was pleased with the ski trip. “In my homeland, Hong Kong, I have never skied. I’ve only ever had a brief chance to ski during a trip to Japan. Today, I feel great that I can learn how to ski in Korea. Everything, including the daily schedule and the venue, was excellent,” she said.

Melika Jahanian, a sophomore student from the Queensland University of Technology, said in an interview right after lunch, “I had lots of fun skiing in the morning.” She continued, “I am now fully recharged after having lunch and will ski some more again in the afternoon.”

Tang Rongze, in her second-year at the University of Hong Kong, enjoyed herself on the slopes, despite her lack of skiing experience. “Although I have not tried skiing before, I skied today after learning from professional instructors, which, I think, was a well-organized event for students like me,” said Rongze.

The trip was executed successfully and safely without any incidents. Ha-il Jeong, in his third year in the Department of Sociology volunteered as a special assistant for the IWC ski trip. He thanked the IWC staff and participants for their cooperation. “I was worried since we had many first-time skiers, but fortunately everything went well. I should thank the students who passionately participated in the program and helped each other to complete all the sessions safely,” said Jeong.

From Dec. 27, the KU IWC embarked on its five-week journey, consisting of three-week credit courses and two-week cultural experience courses.

Since it first opened its doors to students from around the world in 2016, the KU IWC has received a total of 740 students from 88 universities and colleges in 19 countries including Australia, Singapore, the United States, China, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Republic of South Africa. Known as the best winter campus program in Korea, the KU IWC offers about 30 courses covering different subjects in the fields of business administration, economics, the humanities, science, and Korean language. The courses are taught by IWC faculty members comprised of KU professors and professors from some of the world’s leading universities including King’s College London, the Australian National University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and California State University.

Along with the academic courses provided by prestigious professors, various cultural activities are arranged for the IWC students to experience Korea’s seasonal sports, such as skiing and skating. Other cultural experience programs teach basketball, Taekwondo, calligraphy, K-pop dancing, and Korean cooking. Especially for this year, dance instructors, who were once members of KU dance clubs, will lead the K-pop dance program to teach students and to encourage them to have more interest in K-pop music.