It's Daejeon

Hannam University is located in Daejeon which is the fifth largest city in South Korea. Daejeon has well-connected transportation since it’s in the middle of South Korea. It takes to 50 minutes to get to Seoul by KTX train, and two hours to get to Busan.

There are also several places to go:

Because Daejeon is the ‘Silicone Valley” of Korea, there are many science exhibits to enjoy. Try visiting The National Science Museum which has some exhibits and displays about science.

You can observe the solar system, stars, moon, galaxy, and nebula in Daejeon Observatory.

You can enjoy your time in the Expo Science Park near the Expo Bridge and Hanbit tower which are all symbols of Daejeon. This park offers hands-on interaction with science experiments, not to mention robots!

The Currency Museum near Kaist University has coins from the Korean dynasty, modern coins, medals, postage stamps, Christmas seals, as well as coins and currency money from around the world. If you go there you can get to know the history of currency, and the history of banknotes.

EXPO bridge

Kumdoriland is one of two amusement parks in Daejeon. It is located near the Expo Park, across from the symbol bridge of Daejeon.

O-World is the second amusement park and the second largest zoo in Korea. It has roller coasters, great food, and a sculpture park among many other things. 

Near Chungnam University you can find Yuseong. There you can enjoy the natural Hot Springs Spa. There are many hotels in Yuseong area if you intend to stay overnight.

The Daejeon Museum of Art

If you love the arts, visit Daejeon Cultural Art Center and Daejeon Museum of Art, which are located near the Daejeon Government Building in Mannyoungdong.

 

The crowds flock to the balloon festival.

Daejeon is known for its family entertainment and vibrant sense of community. You can find many festivals happening here year-round; festivals such as science festivals and a balloon festival every year. This year’s balloon festival was held recently on October 16~17, 2010. Many people came to the festival to take a hot-air balloon ride and play with water rockets, air rocket, and kites. Sadly, due to the wind, many people couldn’t ride the balloons. There was also an international food festival happening on the balloon festival grounds. People could enjoy trying different international foods, as well as hanging around for Daejeon’s 1^st Annual Rock Festival that began at 7pm that evening. The most beautiful part of the night was the ‘Night glow show’, the fireworks and the candle balloon. The sky was lit up in true Daejeon style!

If you want to do more than just imagine the amazing things this city has to offer, come visit us!

--BoRa Kim

Sports Day!



The LGC girls play kickball.

 In Korea, from elementary school to university, there is a "Sports Day" every year. Students are split along with the class and compete with other classmates. However, in college, because there are a lot of students, each department organizes a sports day. Each department has several majors, and each major competes with the others.

On Oct. 7^th, there was a sports competition between the law department and Linton Global College. As I mentioned above, the competition is held by each school department, but Linton Global College, which only has two majors and a small number of students compared to the other departments, joined up with one of the small departments' sports competition.

There were several games at the competition that were only for boys or for girls, and some that were for both genders. For boys, there was soccer, basketball, and foot volleyball, and for girls, there was dodgeball, kickball, and girls’ free throw. For both genders, there was tug-of-war, jump rope, seven-legged race, and relay. Most people at the event said that the most exciting games were the ones with both genders.



LGC students cheering on their team.



But the most interesting part of the sports competition was food. Each team cooks for their players at their bench, and it cheered up both players and supporters. Sun-bo and Hye-jin from LGC said, “Even though we are not playing the games, we are enjoying today because we also can be a player by cooking and cheering them up.” Usually, students made buchimge, Korean pancakes, and some say that the real charm of the sports day is eating buchimge while cheering up the players.

One of the goals of the sports day is improving the teamwork of the group. Asian cultures usually give priority to the group rather than the individual, and this is true for Korean culture, too. Hannah (LGC) said, “It’s a good chance to show how each team has good teamwork.” Also, each team has a unique uniform. Most interviewees said that they really like their uniform, and it enhances the feeling that they are part of a team and representing a group. Jun-taek said, “Because of the uniform, I can easily tell who is in my major. There are many students in the law department, so that it’s hard to know each other."

Jun-taek, from the law department.

For foreign students who come from western countries, the sports day was a new cultural experience. Rachel (LGC, exchange student from the U.S.), who is from Western Carolina University, NC, U.S., said, “It’s good chance to be out of the class room,” and added, “My university doesn’t have anything like this. After seeing the sports competition, I want to go back to my university and tell the leadership about this, and see if we can start something similar.” Moses (LGC, exchange student from Uganda), who was a number one runner and led LGC to win the all-around championship, said that it was interesting that the sports day is supported by the student council, not by the university, even though it’s such a big event.

--Soo-min Kim

Welcome to Hannam Madang!

Hi everybody! And welcome to Hannam's new English-language blog!

What is this place? Well, we started this project as a way to share information about Hannam life and culture with students who are thinking about coming here in the future. While the official Hannam website has a lot written on it, there is nothing on that site that really captures what daily student life is like here. And that's something important to know for anyone considering making it their home.

Let me explain the name. "Madang" is the Korean word for the courtyard in front of a house. We thought it was a good name because a madang is a place for people to gather and greet each other, and that's what we want this blog to be, too. Please share your stories and your experiences with us!

Over the next weeks and months, we'll be talking to people around campus, taking pictures, and more. We want to hear about what makes Hannam special to YOU the students. What is your life like here? What do you love about it? What challenges are there for you?

We'd love to interview both Korean students and foreign exchange students and get many different perspectives. Those of you from abroad, what is it like living in another culture where you may or may not understand the language and be able to talk to people freely? How does Korean university life differ from what you know back home?

And, last but not least, you should know that the articles, interviews, and stories we post here are not the entire point! Hopefully they can become starting points for discussion and sharing of opinions.

I hope this blog becomes a place where we can capture a snapshot of Hannam life! Your thoughts, opinions, funny stories, or even just questions will all help this blog grow, and in turn, help others learn about Hannam.

If you're interested in talking to us or have an event or topic you think we should cover, email us at hannam.yav@gmail.com. Don't be shy! We'd love to hear from you!