●Name: Jeni Obenza Medrano
●Nationality: Philippines
●Age: 18

1. How is your life in Korea going?
Korea has always been the place I wanted to stay ever since I was in elementary school. At that time, I often saw celebrities in Korean dramas on Philippine television. But as I grew older, I had broader visions of studying in Korea. So far, life in Korea has been really awesome. I have attained so many memories that I will treasure forever. Memories of pure happiness, true friendship, struggle, pain and suffering. But the best things I love about life in Korea, independence and freedom.

2. Tell readers about why you want to study Korean, difficulties when you study Korean, and the attractive points of Korean.
Korean dramas are the first reason why I really wanted to study Korean. I wanted to watch dramas and variety shows without the need for English subtitles. This kept me going. Learning a totally different language is really hard. The most difficult thing for me would be memorization. There are just too much vocabulary, difficult spellings, and grammar, and this makes me really weak in writing essays. I am more confident in conversing in Korean than writing in Korean. I get really happy whenever I can talk with my Korean friends in Korean.

3. What was your position when you worked at the newspaper office in your university, and what do you think of the Keimyung Gazette?
When I was in elementary school, I was part of the school newspaper department. I had the chance to become a feature and sports writer and a photojournalist. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to experience journalism again after high school because I chose a major without any relation to journalism. However, we were tasked to make a newspaper of our own with just 5 people for our English subject. This gave me the chance to become the editor of a newspaper of my major, computer science. But, since I was accepted as an NIIED scholar, I wasn’t able to hold that position for long. This article is the start of my journalism participation in Korea and I am really pleased to do it. For me, the Keimyung Gazette is a way for journalists to express themselves and readers to be entertained and fascinated.

4. What do you think of the Korean wave?
I got way too crazy over Korean pop before I graduated high school. I can sing a Korean song even without understanding it, I can dance the choreography after watching it 3 times, I can memorize all members of boy and girl groups, and I study Korean showbiz more than my lessons. It’s pretty amazing how fast Korean music has spread to the world, and my love for it gave me a very good advantage, like meeting new people with the same interests and making Korean pronunciation easier for me.