After finishing military service, I had concern about my future life. I didn’t know what I should do for that. I wasn’t good at reading, listening, writing and speaking English even though my major is American Studies. I just knew English is such an important language because of globalization. Thus, I wanted to study English using a couple of ways such as a working holiday, studying abroad and being an exchange student. After I met my seniors who already experienced those kinds of ways, I was sure that an exchange student program has lots of advantages compared to other things. I had to study English in order to get a TOEFL score because of the exchange student policy at KMU. Actually, studying for that test was really difficult for me, so I had to focus more on it during winter vacation. Finally, I had a good score and I could be an exchange student in 2010.

When I studied at BI Norwegian School of Management as an exchange student in Oslo, Norway, everything I faced there was wonderful. However, at the time I joined an orientation held by BI, I realized that I couldn’t tell people about what I wanted to say in front of other students. At that time, I didn’t have any confidence in my English skill. In addition, there were several factors which were laborious for me living in Oslo such as cultural differences, high cost of living and the weather. But I thought I must do something to overcome the problems I had because I already had spent a lot of money and time. After thinking of that, I tried to never give up, and then I put some ideas into practice.

The first thing I did was English speaking practice. I tried to make a sentence that I’d like to say to my friends from other countries every day in the morning and used that expression when I was between classes and also when I had lunch with my friends. Also, I attempted to hold a soccer game, a BBQ party near Lake Sognsvann, and an Asian dinner party during the fall semester. While I did these kinds of activities, I learned both how to understand and how to communicate with friends who have various cultural backgrounds.

As time went by, I made lots of friends. Some of them whose mother tongue is English taught me various and exact expressions. Sometimes, we enjoyed talking about the history of Europe and East Asia and had time to discuss controversial issues around the world. I was able to broaden my perspective while having a good time with them. I will never forget all the experiences that I had in Norway.

As I am student of KMU, I dare you to do what you want to and then challenge yourself. Since we are still young enough, we should always try to face a challenge for a better life. This is what I’d like to say to the students at KMU.