Interviewee Lucie Jedzokova(Czech Republic)

Q1. Could you talk about yourself briefly
hi My name is Lucie Jedzoková. I'm from the Czech Republic, I live with my family in a big house with a huge garden. I have a cat, Masha and a fish, Vincenzo. I'm a master student at the university in Ostrava and my major is Geology and Tourism. My favorite activities are travelling, hiking, listening to music and it might sound strange but also going to a part time job!

Q2. Is there some interesting Czech culture that you would like to introduce?

The most typical thing for the Czech people are drinking and brewing beer! You can find cheap and good-quality beer everywhere, along with small local breweries. Favorite activities among people are watching Ice Hockey in winter and Football in summer. Especially because you drink beer while watching the sports. We really love beer! Of course, we have some other traditions. On the first of May, boys have to kiss girls under a blossomed cherry tree to wish the girls healthy life. Our surname system is interesting as well. We put ova on the surname for girls. For example my father’s surname is Jedzok and mine is Jedzokova.

Q3. Why did you choose KMU or Korea?
I was quite familiar with the Republic of Korea even before coming to Korea because my father is working at Hyundai in the Czech Republic. I could easily hear stories about Korea from him and his coworkers sometimes visited my house. Probably due to the influence of my father, since I was a little girl, I had been admiring the beautiful Korean culture. The older I got the more I was getting information about this amazing country, and I was really amazed at how different the culture is. So when I got the chance to go study there and become a part of society for the whole semester there was no option for me. I had to take it! Additionally, I love K-drama and K-pop too. But they did not play a huge role to make the decision to come to Korea. I just love everything about Korea.

Q4. During the exchange period, have you ever experienced any difficult time?
At the beginning of my exchange I had to get used to living in big city like Daegu, I'm girl from really small city and having a subway and people everywhere were something new to me, maybe not difficult, but something really different to get used to. And the hardest thing is that I am going back home! My time in Korea passed really quickly, it didn't feel like 5 months at all! I made many great friends and unforgettable memories and it was really hard to leave those good memories.

Q5. Are you willing to come back to Korea in the future? If so, why come back?
Obviously yes. I really enjoyed my time in Korea. There are many reasons, but Korean society in particular was quite interesting. I want to go back and see more society. I think it's also a great opportunity to gain new useful experiences for your Korean language skills and career. I made a lot of good friends and met nice people while in Korea. I want to keep them close in my life. Also I still have a list of places I want to go, but I haven't been to that many places. As I said before, I love to travel. Exploring Korea was one of my favorite activities. Korea has beautiful and attractive nature. I want to walk around Gyeongbokgung Palace wearing hanbok. It was one of the best moments in Korea. As a student, I have very few good opportunities to go back. I can go back as an exchange student or do an internship. The Czech Republic and Korea are very different and their academic approach is quite different, so I would be very happy if I could get the Korea Government Scholarship Program (KGSP). It would be completely new to me and gave me more important knowledge to broaden my horizons.

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