On May 2, 40 Mississippi State students will travel to Asia for the 2009 Korea Study Tour.
The students will have the chance to go to South Korea and Japan during the summer for a two-week trip.
J.P. Shim, director of the Global Leadership Program Korea Study Tour, said the trip will be an excellent opportunity for students.
“This is great for MSU students,” Shim said. “It is a great way for students to broaden their horizons and have the opportunity to go overseas.”
Twenty-eight undergraduate students and 12 graduate students will go on the trip, he said.
“We have a variety of majors going on the trip,” Shim said. “There are engineering, arts and sciences, political science, veterinary medicine and many others.”
Shim said the entire trip will be 14 days with a four-day visit in Japan. Students will get a chance to experience the Korean and Japanese cultures first hand, he said.
“Students will get to learn about South Korea and Japan’s history and visit several companies for educational purposes in each location,” he said.
Shim said the group will get to go to places like Korea CNN, multiple IT companies, college campuses and tour cities in both Korea and Japan.
He said it will be expensive for the students to attend the trip, but it is worth it.
“Students will have to pay about $1,500 for the trip,” Shim said. “But that includes everything – airfare, hotels, transportation and other things.”
To help the students pay for the trip, the group has sponsors in South Korea.
“We do not have to pay as much as other schools because we have sponsors in South Korea that help us with the payments,” Shim said. “Other schools’ prices can get up to almost $5,000 for each student.”
Junior biochemistry and Spanish major Brooke Harris said she went through a long process to get selected.
“We had to write an essay about why we want to go on the trip and how it would affect our future and our life at MSU,” Harris said. “Then, after they selected finalists based on the essays, we had to do an interview and then they picked the 40 students who would be able to attend.”
Harris said she is very excited about the trip and is looking forward to the experience.
“It is a completely different culture in Korea, and they have a completely different outlook on life,” Harris said. “We get the chance to experience that and see how their lives are different from ours.”
Harris said she is looking forward to getting to stay with a family while in Korea.
“Part of the trip is a home stay,” Harris said. “We get to go and stay with a family and see what their culture is like and experience that with people who have grown up in Korea, and I think it will be an awesome experience.”
Harris said she decided to attend the trip because it will include more that just tourist activities.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Harris said. “Not only do we get to do all the tours and tourist activities, but we get to experience Korea and Japan by learning about their culture and customs.”
She said she is excited about visiting Korea CNN.
“We get a behind the scenes look at how these programs and companies function in Korea,” Harris said.
Junior general business administration major Clayton Walters said he is going on the trip to experience something new.
“I am looking forward to having a chance to experience different cultures,” Walters said. “I thought it would be a good experience, and I want to do something different this summer.”
For more information about the Korea Study Tour 2009, visit www2.msstate.edu/jps1/GLP_2009, he said.