What is our most friendly space? Where do you give and take most letters or pictures? Cyworld! Probably, there are no students who don’t know about Cyworld in Korea. But have you ever wondered where is the most popular place for foreigners to contact each other? The Sookmyung Times (SMT) met two exchange students to talk about their familiar world. Alyssa Ashley (Alyssa) who is American, and Sandra Landry (Sandra) who is Swiss gave explanations of their web pages and introduced some different cultures we can find by using them.
SMT In Korea, Cyworld is the famous mutual web page. Have you ever heard about it?
Alyssa I came Korea just 2 weeks ago, and it is my first time in Korea, so I couldn’t have an opportunity to be aware of much of Korean culture until now. But I can know roughly that it is a web site like Twitter or Facebook after hearing your question.
Sandra Yes, I had seen it before, but I don't know much about that at all. I just came to Korea one and a half weeks ago, so I didn't have any chance to know much about Korea's culture. When I went to the Cyworld site online, it was completely in Korean, so it’s very difficult for me to understand the site’s features and I couldn't use it. I think it is difficult for foreigners like me, who don’t speak Korean, to use it.
SMT If you don't use Cyworld, please introduce your web page or blog you use like Cyworld.
Alyssa I mostly use Facebook. I use it all day, every day, and the web page Myspace is also common among my friends. These two sites are mostly used by people I know. In my address book of Facebook, there are many friends living in Finland, Switzerland, Middle East. I also have Korean friends. When I contact Korean friends, we usually chatted or talked about hanging out with each other.
Sandra I use only Facebook. It is the most famous interactional web site among international students. My friends also enjoy it. I had Korean friends in my address book of Facebook, and I met many friends through Facebook who have various nationalities, South American, German, and Korean, as well as Swiss.
SMT Please show the merits or recommendable characteristics of Facebook for potential international students.
Alyssa The best merits of using it is possibility for communicating with my friends in my hometown at any time I want to. I contact my two closest friends in America as much as ever in spite of the fact that I'm in Korea now. It is used by lots of international students and various people, so I could also have many friends from diverse countries.
Sandra I think it is very useful if you go abroad. In spite of such long distance, it can allow you to contact any people you want easily and immediately. In my case, I can always know about what my Cambodian cousin has recently done and how she is getting along. And another recommendable fact is the easy-to-use photo program. If I attach a name tag on people’s faces in certain pictures, people who were tagged can receive that picture automatically. This element allows people to know the newest pictures of their friends and communicate with each other speedily.
SMT On web sites like these interactional pages, people can feel the distinctions of various picture-taking customs of different cultures. Please inform about your country's features.
Alyssa Above all, I like different cultures among countries. I didn't know about Korea's particular culture well, but I like the differences that make it distinct from ours. In the past, I saw Chinese young girls making a 'V' sign with their hands in pictures. I wondered a little why they make that pose. We take a picture just with natural smiles. And mostly we don't say any word to give a signal for taking a picture, but sometimes we say, “Say Cheese!” or “Ready, set, go!”
Sandra I know Koreans usually make a ‘V’ sign for pictures. In our country, this pose or any acting is not common. In Switzerland, people take a picture with natural poses at most. We just take a picture without saying like “One, Two, Three!” Instead of that, we just take a picture without any word for notifying to start to take a picture, but sometimes we ask “Are you ready?”
