Settling into Seoul

Programs for this blog post

K-Pop Immersion

Authored By:

Vanna Vongchareun

We all landed safely in Seoul with 31 global navigators ready to immerse themselves in Korean Popular Culture! We didn't waste any time and jumped right into the excitement with our first k-pop class taught by Dr. Jungwon Kim who is an adjunct faculty at Yonsei University and Korea National University of Arts. We started off with a brief lesson about South Korea's history and got more into the different forms of traditional music and dance and how they are utilized in modern popular music here in South Korea. In this first class, the students learned that for their final class project, they will be split into 4 groups and have the task of creating a free form music video. The students all seemed so excited to put their dance and music video making skills to use! 

Later that afternoon, the students took a short walk to the Gahoe Minhwa museum to paint traditional Korean fans called buchae. After the fan painting activity, the navigators headed to the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theatre's Cafe Remember where the students got to enjoy a warm drink and delicious pastries in a traditional Korean home, which are called hanok. The students then returned to their hotel after a full day of activities to get some well deserved rest.