https://soundcloud.com/malika-abel/me-like-yuh-k-feat-hoody

Me Like Yuh feat. Hoody – Jay Park 

Play this song while reading. It is a Korean hip hop song. 

          How many times have I heard that statement? It was probably 30+ times. I didn’t take the statement in perspective when I first came to the campus. I didn’t open myself to any clubs, and any communities. I regret doing that. For the first couple of weeks, I felt disconnected from the college. Except for going to class and then doing work in the library until 8 o’clock in the night, I didn’t do anything else. I would go to the library during my breaks and eat my homemade lunch in the dining space in the Vertical Building.

Why did I do this? It was the same things I did in high-school. I didn’t participate in any clubs or organizations in the school, but always traveled throughout the city, either with friends or alone. I found joy in traveling and discovering new buildings, new areas, new food, and new cultures in NYC. I thought I could do the same in college with all the free time. I obviously thought wrong. I didn’t think that commuting and studying every day would take up all my free time.

Back in high school, I sacrificed sleep to be able to travel around NYC. I will not make the same mistake in college. I joined three clubs: Conversation Partners Program, Golden Buddies, and Korean Student Association (I’m not Korean, but they accept everyone.). I spend my breaks talking to my new friends and getting to know new people. I spend my time on the train reading the textbooks for psychology and then when I get home, I go to sleep. During the weekend, I have fun.

My fun has evolved. Now that I’m 18, I can go to festivals and clubs that I couldn’t go to as a high school. My most memorable event of 2016 so far has been going to the innovation event @ Northside Festival. I was able to talk to Elon Musk about his role at Tesla, SpaceX, and Paypal. It was definitely worth my time.

I am slowly becoming connected with the Baruch community. It is making me fall in love with the college, something that I was not expecting to feel at the beginning of the semester.

Play this song while reading. It’s the English version of a song from the Descendants of the Sun OST.

Artist: Gummy [] Song Name: You Are My Everything

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The following is the Korean version.

“What is so good about Korean dramas?” my brother asks. I feel joy from watching them. When I am resting, it is my form of excitement. I watch Korean dramas (K-dramas) for the unique storytelling and screenwriting. Most of them have similar concepts: Cinderella and her stepmom, rich guy and poor girl, a rich girl and poor guy, old women and young man, an old man and young women, and sick man and healthy girl. Even though these concepts are so similar, I watch for the drama hence the genre, drama.

Korean dramas are not similar to American dramas because American dramas represent the mindset of the one’s directing the drama, while Korean dramas can focus on a wide set of people and mindsets. The really good dramas are able to differentiate between good writing and good directing. There are really not separate, but synonymous with each other. For all Kdramas, there is only one writer and one director. Once all the writing is done, the actors are hired and the director is chosen. Most dramas that had popular actors act in them had high ratings. In South Korea, since these dramas air on a TV network, the drama’s life is determined by the percentage of people watching the drama as it airs.

2016 has been one of the best years for K-dramas. Many of the highly rated dramas aired this year and last year. Dramas like Signal, W-Two Worlds, 25 Task Force, Uncontrollably Fond, and Doctors. All 5 of these have different flavors. Signal was about a guy getting a radio that enables him to communicate with a person in the past. W-Two Worlds is thriller K-drama about a female surgeon that has a father who draws a cartoon comic named W, but the surgeon is able to travel to the comic world. 25 Task Force is about conning people for the good of society. Uncontrollably Fond is a melodrama that focuses on a rich actor who becomes diagnosed with a terminal disease and falls in love with a girl. This one hits the correct emotions at the right moment. Doctors is about two neurosurgeons falling in love but meet several obstacles in the workplace and their private life. There are a variety of dramas about different things.

Amazingly enough, all those dramas I mentioned are better than most of the trash that are made in the US. If people were to ignore the culture differences and watch Kdramas without any prejudices, they would enjoy watching the art.