UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — More than 100 Penn State students spent their spring breaks traveling the globe through seven College of the Liberal Arts embedded programs, which are Penn State courses taken on campus or online that include a short-term international travel component. The students saw the classroom come to life by visiting historical and cultural sites and interacting with local people.

Students taking KOR 499 had the opportunity to travel to Seoul, South Korea, as part of the Immersive Korean Language and Culture Spanning Generations and Lifestyles embedded program in the College of the Liberal Arts. The course is taught by Susan Strauss, associate professor of applied linguistics, Asian studies, education and linguistics, and Jayoung Song, Watz Early Career Professor in Language and Linguistics and assistant professor of Korean and applied linguistics, and explores the rich language, culture and traditions of South Korea and the role those elements play in both contemporary and old language use. The seven-day trip allowed students to practice their Korean language skills and learn more about South Korean culture.

Funding for the course and a major portion of the international travel component came from an Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Grant through the Department of Education.

While in Seoul, students had the opportunity to visit many local sites, such as the Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Namsan Tower, SM Entertainment Building and Paju Imjingak Peace Gondola. Students also had the opportunity to volunteer at Yurin Wonkwang Community Welfare Center, an elementary school for Korean children.

Students on the trip were provided a cultural immersion experience in South Korea that helped their language learning of Korean and their understanding of South Korean history and local community practices. Many students were able to hone their Korean proficiency skills by interacting with local South Koreans and each other. The trip also allowed students to go outside the comfort of the classroom and into an authentic cultural immersion.

“This course has provided me the necessary cultural immersion experience conducive to language learning that I need for an eventual academic and professional career in Korea,” said Juntae Rocker, a fourth-year Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar double majoring in Korean and Asian studies from Warrington, Pennsylvania. “It integrated an invaluable complementary component to a course on immersive Korean that challenges how traditional classroom and language learning is conducted. From cultural excursions that exposed us to South Korean historical landmarks to close interaction and language practice with local communities, I was able to hone my language skills from a proficiency of intermediate-high to levels of advanced while fine-tuning my academic, cultural and social understanding of South Korea.”

A favorite experience amongst students on the trip was their trip to Gyeongbokgung Palace, where they got to dress up in hanbok, a traditional South Korean garment. Traditionally, hanbok was worn by citizens of high-rank and nobility. Wearing its silk and satin material showed wealth and prosperity.

For avid fans of K-Pop music, another favorite experience was visiting SM Entertainment Building, one of the world’s major K-pop entertainment agencies. K-pop, short for "Korean popular music," is a music genre that originated in South Korea and combines modern-day aesthetic pop with Korean romance-inspired music. Today, K-pop is listened to around the world, but its most popular artists still come from South Korea. Inside the SM Entertainment Building are exhibits of different artists and shops where fans can buy official merchandise.

Many of the students were able to participate in the trip thanks to Liberal Arts enrichment funding — money awarded to Liberal Arts students through the Career Enrichment Network to help cover the costs of out-of-classroom experiences, such as education abroad, internships and research.

“The Liberal Arts enrichment funding provided me the additional financial support I needed to make the most of my trip,” Rocker said. “This generous funding from the College of the Liberal Arts has mainly offset airfare costs while also paying for some independent travel and personal food expenses.”

Rocker recently received the 2023 Neil C. Patel Memorial Changemaker Honors Scholarship from the Schreyer Honors College, which he will use to return to South Korea this summer to pursue academic and professional opportunities.

Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network

The Career Enrichment Network empowers Liberal Arts students to explore, engage and define their career journey through diverse career development opportunities. Students can meet with a career coach to explore careers, internships, education abroad, research, the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program and more. Through donor support, the Career Enrichment Network is able to provide Liberal Arts students with funding to support many of these experiences.