Club connection: cultural connection: Korea
There really is a place for everyone at West High. The brand new club Culture Connection: Korea is yet another example of that.
October 6, 2016
For many years I have kept my love of Korean culture private. I always thought that if people knew about it they would think it’s weird and inadvertently think I am a strange person. It wasn’t until the new club “Cultural Connection: Korea” began that I have stepped out of my “culture-closet” and finally felt at home.
*flashback*
My obsession started back in middle school with the “gateway drug” known as the Korean Drama called Boys over Flowers. It was a quintessential Kdrama with handsome boys, complete with a heart-melting love story. From there I slowly drifted to watch more Kdramas then eventually I fell down the pit that is Kpop. Once you are in there is no getting out. The complex choreography and man-liner (man eyeliner — it’s more attractive than it sounds) managed to tug me away from American pop culture to that of Korea. It was just completely different and something so novel. It didn’t even matter that I couldn’t understand a word they said and had to religiously use subtitles.
*end of flashback*
The Cultural Connection: Korea club began this year and was founded by Hae-joo Yoon ‘18 “I wanted to create a space for people to learn more about Korean culture and have fun talking about their interests,” Yoon said.
When I first entered room 224 , where the club is held, I was impressed by how many people were there. I didn’t really know that in the halls of our school were secret appreciators just like me. It see
ms that many club members shared this feeling of surprise in response to finding people who liked Korean culture as much as they did.
“I’ve liked Kpop and Kdramas for a long time but I never knew any friends to share that interest with so I thought maybe I could join this club and talk with people about it and make some new friends and bond over our interests,” Niam El-Zein ‘19 said.
The club from transcended being just a place to learn about Korean Culture to a safe haven for people with a common interests. “It was very difficult to find people at this school who liked Kpop but joining the Korean culture club helped me find new friends,” Bailey Green ‘20 said. It’s a place for everyone to come together.
“I enjoy the fact that people from different backgrounds and cultures come together and discuss their similar interest in K-culture,” Yoon said.
Together, we crowded around the classroom’s smart board and fan-girled at all the handsome Kpop artists and giggled at Kdramas. It was been nice to finally find people to relate to and connect with. The club has been in session for four weeks. The first week was for introductions, the second to do Kpop Jeopardy, the third to learn a Kpop dance and the fourth to watch a Kdrama called One More Happy Ending. Coming meetings promise Korean lessons and, of course, more Kpop and Kdramas.
“I joined the club because I knew some about Korean culture and I was really getting into Korean Pop at the time and I figured if I joined the club then I would get to discover more about their culture,” Green said.
Overall, the club has been a nice escape from the ever-present and overly dominant American culture and a fresh step into a world of Korean culture. I guess what they say really is true: there is always a place to belong at West High.
