Chris Park

   Youngjae “Chris” Park is a student at the University of Minnesota, and a former student of Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). He is from the Gangnam District in Seoul, South Korea.
 

   Chris first became interested in attending school in the United States when he was doing his mandatory military service in South Korea. While serving he met many American servicemen, and he became fascinated by American culture. He had previously attended law school before his military service, but chose to dropout because he did not like the field. 
 

   Chris came to the United States three years ago after he completed his military service. He applied at MCTC because he felt it would prepare him for attending college at the University of Minnesota. Chris became interested in the sciences at MCTC and is now majoring in biology at the University of Minnesota. Chris was one of the only South Korean’s at MCTC, but there is a much stronger Korean community at the University of Minnesota.
 

   Chris knew very little English when he came here and he has felt that his, “English hasn’t improved.” He said that he has a lot of difficulty comprehending English and he has issues expressing his opinions. “When we don’t know what someone said we just say ‘yes’ or ‘ok’,” he said.
 

   Chris had had issue making American friends because of the language barrier. He also said that he hasn’t made many American friends because, “I have to study so hard so I don’t have time to make American friends.” Chris says he mainly makes friends with Koreans because of these reasons.
 

   Chris specifically points out that, “American guys are not that nice to me,” and also, “American women I like are not interested in me.” These issues were also discussed and confirmed by three of his Korean male friends. Some other cultural barriers that Chris had difficulties adjusting too were the openness of homosexuality and the public use of drugs, both of which are very uncommon in South Korea.
 

   Chris believes that his relationships with American’s have suffered because he has been too reserved when he would interact with his peers. “International students should change and speak up and don’t be shy,” Chris said. He is currently making more attempts to be more outgoing with Americans. Chris also suggests though that more Americans need to be more open with International Students so friendships can develop.