In just a
couple weeks I’ll finally begin my Master’s program here at the University of
Fulda. I first found this program back
in Fall 2016 while surfing the internet – er…uh, while working as a substitute teacher
before moving to Korea. It’s now been about
three years since that day, and I must say it feels quite good to be here. Having also spent the past two years or so
mentally preparing for this program, I’m more than excited to start studying.
So, to
serve as a reminder of why I’m actually here doing this, and in case you were
curious, here’s my letter of motivation I submitted when applying for the
program earlier this year:
I was
first introduced to Intercultural Communication as a field of study during my
time studying abroad at the University of Munich in 2013/14. It was there I enrolled in an introductory
lecture on Intercultural communication with some of my classmates. Although I found the class interesting, at
that time I believe I was too young and inexperienced to really appreciate the
truly profound concepts that we were discussing.
Nevertheless,
my time abroad then left me continually seeking out more enriching
intercultural experiences. And so, I
returned to Germany the following summer in 2015 for a 3-month internship where
I worked with teams of international volunteers. Following that I decided to spend another semester
abroad in Bhubaneswar, India so that I might put myself in a place that was
decidedly less familiar than Germany.
Each
experience abroad always left me with a little better understanding of why we
do the things we do, and why we think things the way we do. It’s easy enough to point out the differences
between your culture and another, but to explain why those differences exist in
an effective way is considerably more difficult.
With
that in mind, I came to Korea in March 2017 and devoted myself to understanding
the deep-rooted cultural differences between Korea and the U.S. I’ve read over 1000 pages on Korean history
and culture, as well as various intercultural communication books by authors
such as Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Kathryn Sorrells, and Hans Jürgen
Heringer. I’ve studied the Korean
language daily and participated in weekly language exchanges and gone on many
excursions throughout the various provinces, taking my journal with me every
time to mark down observations that I have.
As a result of this, I am now able to cooperate with and understand my
coworkers on a much deeper level.
Additionally, I am able to speak about Korea with friends and family
back home in an effective, understandable way – And that’s what is incredibly
important.
As we
progress into the future, international cooperation becomes more and more
unavoidable. The problems we face today
simply are no longer solvable by one nation acting unilaterally. How effective that cooperation is, however
will be determined by our ability to uncover and communicate our innate cultural
biases first. Without effective
communication, cooperation becomes exponentially more difficult.
It is
for this reason that I am applying to the ICEUS Master’s program at FH-Fulda. After thoroughly reviewing the program
details, I believe it is the next logical step in my career. As a student in the program, I would bring
international work and study experiences that could contribute greatly to
classroom discussion.
So there
you have it, my motivation. Hopefully
this keeps me inspired while writing all those term papers in the semester
breaks…
