Being able to make friends with locals in a foreign country is one of the best ways to learn about their culture and language. KDI School provides this opportunity for each of its international students to be paired with a Korean Buddy in order to learn more about this beautiful country's culture and language. 

I was paired with my Korean Buddy, Kang Yeonwook (MDP, 2022) during the Spring semester. He contacted me via KDIS Connect (KDI School's application for connecting students), and we met up. He happened to be a friend of my roommate, and we three of us got along very well. 

We shared same hobbies and academic interests. We would go to the gym together, study together, and eat lunch or dinner together. We occasionally talked about the final project we wanted to work on. We were both interested in minority protection, so we talked about it a lot. He taught me a lot about Korean culture and language. We used to speak English, but now we only speak Korean. 

We watched a baseball match at Daejeon Hanhwa Stadium last month, and he once again taught me a lot about Korean baseball culture. I was grateful to KDI School for pairing me with him. 

KDI School has a very diverse international environment. We bridged cultural gaps through this buddy program and other activities. We learned from each other and are now more than just friends. He is now my best friend at KDI School.