Gwangju International Center

The 1st Gwangju Tour with Global Friends Review 

by Nayan Chandra Das

 In the world, there are 7.4 Billion people. In the journey of life, we meet many people. Everyone has their own story to tell. I am a story collector. I always look for the opportunities to gather stories. 

 Here is the recent one:

 I believe the best way to know a country is to know their culture and history. To be honest, I came South Korea last September (2015) without knowing language and any idea of culture and history. Before coming here I was in the USA for my MS study. So I had a stereotypical idea how a foreign country could be to me. But I am totally wrong and I am happy about it. South Korea is surprising me in every step. 

It’s been nine months I am in Gwangju. Every time I get a chance I go for travelling different parts of South Korea But I didn’t have the opportunity to discover the Kwangju which is the 6^th largest city of South Korea and known for delicious cuisine and democratic uprising. At last GIC gave me an opportunity to be a part of unforgettable journey to explore the beauty, culture and history of Gwangju.

 For me the journey started on Friday (May 13) evening through the orientation. I thought orientation would be as usual boring and I would sit behind of everyone and sleepJ. So I and Uzzal (another Bangladeshi guy) sat on the corner.  But as usual surprise. There was quick and short power point presentation about GIC and the tour. Around 30 students were in a room and half of them were international. But no one talking to the unknown. Everyone is in their comfort zone. This situation last for few minutes as the tour leaders and volunteers did fantastic job making groups of Korean and international students and assigned them some funny tasks and games. What could b the better way than funny games to bring closer some strangers to get to know each other? We had lots of fun during the whole orientation program and those people who seems stranger to me two hours ago became very good friends. We all were looking forward to the tour.

 Tour stared at 9 am on Saturday (May 21) from GIC. Every group has their own name. The name of our group was “Travelers”. Our first destination was Yangnim History and Cultural Village. Again there was team work. It’s not just going to see a place and come back. It was all about exploring by ourselves as a team. 

 We were able to visit some beautiful places and came to know about the history little bit. I was surprised by the penguin village. The village was great example positivity and encouragement. It teaches us how we can make beautiful things from ashes. The whole village is an art museum.

 Our 2nd destination was Chungjangsa (Shrine of General Kim Deok-ryeong).  It’s located inside Mudeung Mt National Park. There we came to know about a tragic story of a hero. At the time period of the Joseon dynasty, Deok-ryeong Kim led the loyal army in the war against the Japanese. After the victory, instead of reward, he was falsely accused as a traitor and received a dead sentence at the age of 29. The place is surrounded by mountains and very peaceful. We showed our respect to the hero. Then headed for lunch.

 Lunch was delicious Korean pork BBQ. I loved it. After lunch there was free time for one hr. There was a forest near the place we had lunch. So some extra curious or adventurous people like me went for a walk into the forest. It was very quiet and peaceful place. There was a creek coming down from the mountain. One can hear the sound of the water. It was very soothing. We were in the forest for one hour. There I came to know some Korean and international friends from other groups.

 Traditional Cultural Center was next destination. It is located in a very beautiful place. There we enjoyed the traditional performances. After the performance we went back to the GIC. 

 There we assigned again team work on the art street. It was different kind of experience to be a part of art street exhibition. Lots of interesting things to see on the art street. We were given some money to buy souvenir, so we did. After visiting Art Street, we went back to GIC. All groups presented and assigned tasks, pictures and videos. It was hilarious. The program ended for the day with dinner. But the result of the GIC tour was about to show up. 

 Everyone was very tired but no one wanted to leave the moment. That was what GIC tour did to us. Bonding of friendship grew among us. We decided to hang out in downtown area. We went to a bar to chill. Now there is no groups. We are all in one group. More enjoyable thing was getting to know people and having conversation and making fun of each other. It was all good and perfect. Just like a dream. I heard someone was saying, “I wish this moment never ends”. But life goes on. After a certain time, everyone was heading to their places with lots of beautiful moments with them. 

 2^nd day tour started at 11 am on Sunday (May 22) from GIC. Not Many people showed up. We were around 12 people. Our destination May 18 cemetery, the most important place to know about the history of modern democratic Korea. After reaching there we had our lunch and watched a movie about May 18. The movie made most of us laughing and crying. We were all moved by the movie. The movie was funny at the beginning, then it showed what kind of brutality happened during the democratic uprising.

 After the movie we went to visit the cemetery. We showed our respect by burning incense in front of the cemetery. We had a tour guide who explained some stories of the victims.  We also watched a documentary about May 18 at the exhibition room. It was emotional moment for us. It gives me a feeling that a country just doesn’t shine by itself. It needs a sacrifice of a generation. Modern Korean people should feel lucky that their previous generation sacrifice their life for them. Somehow I feel grateful to those people who died in the democratic uprising.  Because of their sacrifice, Korea has come to the present state and I was able to come to study to a reputed institute like GIST.

 As it says “nothing is permanent. So live in the moment”, our wonderful journey came to an end when we returned to GIC. Sometimes I feel saying thank you to someone is just unfair they deserve more. Now I am feeling that to just saying thank you to GIC for arranging such a wonderful unforgettable program. Specially the girl Jeongmin Lee who was behind the program to make it perfect. Constantly keeping contact with all the participants was not an easy task. Her friendly behavior, dedication and effort was something no one can miss it. With a group of dedicated volunteers she did very good job.

 If the purpose of the program was connecting people and introduction of Gwangju, then I would like to say GIC was very successful. Through this program I came to know a lot about Gwangju and I found some truly good hearted people. As a foreign student, it’s mean a lot to me. Now we have our own kakao group of travelers as well as tour participants group where we are staying connected and looking for opportunities to meet. At last I wanted to give big thanks to GIC, Jeongmin Lee, all the volunteers, participants and everyone related to the tour. Thank you so much for giving me wonderful, unforgettable experiences. Stay in touch. See you somewhere someday. Keep the good work going…………………………  J