Locality Summer School

I do not usual go out very often in Moscow, especially in the evening, but I can say for sure that this night market is a wonderful idea to spend time with friends and family members. Food unites people and so does Bamdokkaebi Night Market! The delicious smell coming from every food stall makes you want to try literally everything!

One of the best things of Bamdokkaebi Night Market is by no doubts the picturesque area it is located in. Situated in Banpo Hangang Park right near the Han River we enjoyed our food by admiring the beautiful evening scenery. It was so nice to have a meal outdoors together with good people by my side. I wish there were more places like this one in Moscow, too.

As the subject of our project was employment our team has tried various activities related to it.

First, we went to a photo studio to take CV photo. Originally I thought that it wouldn't be anything special at all, but I was genuinely surprised by how this process is different from that in Russia.

In Russia it takes less than ten minutes to take a CV photo – one sits down, a photographer takes a picture, slightly edits and prints it and voilà, here you go. However, in South Korea we spent around two and a half hours in the photo studio. And this is by no means a bad thing! It just shows how seriously Korean photographers take this matter.

Photo studios provide customers suitable clothes and hair accessories, and are furnished with comfortable sofas where people can wait for their turn. A photographer carefully checks a client's appearances and fixes up so that he or she looks neat and presentable. No one has to worry about their dark circles or skin problems as well – with Photoshop magic your looks become almost perfect.

My teammates told me that there is a tradition among Korean students to exchange with friends each other's photos and suggested that we should do the same. Now I have their photos in my wallet, so lucky! 

Since all of us are graduating soon we are all worried about our future. Will we be able to find a job? Will it be perspective? Will we enjoy it and won’t it become a burden eventually?

I strongly believe that people should have a job that unfolds their talents and corresponds to their interests and all of my teammates absolutely agreed with me. That is why we decided to take occupational preference test and visited a Birkman Cafe.

The Birkman Method is an online personality, social perception, and occupational interest assessment consisting of ten scales describing occupational preferences, eleven scales describing “effective behaviors” and eleven scales describing interpersonal and environmental expectations. The construction and comparative analysis of the Birkman Method is designed to provide insight into what specifically drives a person’s behavior, with the goal of creating greater choice and more self-responsibility. It attempts to measure social behaviors, underlying expectations of interpersonal and task actions, potential stress reactions to unmet expectations, occupational preferences and organizational strengths.

After completing the online test we finally received our results. According to them, I have an aptitude for jobs that imply a creative mind. Something connected with the literature, art or music. As I decided to become a translator of the Korean literature I was pleased with the fact that the job that I determined to devote myself to is identical to the job that actually suits me. It is truly important for me to enjoy what I am doing I was very happy to find out that I am on the right track.

As for my friends, each of them discovered something new about themselves. The test has helped my teammates to understand better their own personality and reconsider some things and they were glad that they had such a unique opportunity to take this test. 

During the trip to Seoul I have experienced what I have never done before and Water Gun Festival became one of those new things.

Being more of a staying-at-home type I have never actually participated in any flash mob or any events that involved a big amount of people and that is why I did not actually expect anything from the festival. However, it turned out to be one of the most memorable and literally one of the most refreshing episodes of the whole Summer School program.

The energy of Water Gun Festival was enormous. Loud music and big laughter did their thing. It was almost like all participants, kids and adults, were good old friends showering each other with water. The atmosphere just draw me into this water party and I had fun without any worries. We have had such a great time together with my friends and we were really reluctant to leave the festival.

And finally, I want to express a gratitude to my teammates. Hye-jin, Sun-young, Soo-bin! We have come a long way together! I am so lucky that I got to meet such wonderful people. I have never thought that I could become this close to someone in just one week. Despite cultural differences we were able to understand each other perfectly without any conflicts and misunderstandings. Always laughing and joking we successfully completed ‘2018 Locality Summer School’ program.  Our friendship truly means a lot to me. Hope to see you soon, my friends!​