Entrevista

Name: SeongYeop Jeong
Age: 21
Country: South Korea
Studies: IBL (international business school)
Likes: Food and sports
Dislikes: Dutch bread and Dutch weather

Why did you choose Groningen?

I chose to go to Groningen because there is a high quality business school here and because my father comes here a lot for his business. Also there are a lot of similarities in how our country works economically. Holland and South Korea are both geographically small, but have a lot of resources. These similarities are very interesting to my studies.

What is the biggest difference in culture?

Definitely the way people address each other. In Korea, when we give feedback, we do it as polite and as ‘sugarcoated’ as possible, here in Holland it is exactly the opposite. For example, when I was working with a group of students and somebody wasn’t pulling his or her weight, the Dutch people said very directly that if they didn’t do what they wanted, they would kick them out of the study group. In Korea we would never resolve problems this way.

What do you miss most about your country?

I definitely miss the mountains. Everything here is so flat! In my country I like to do a lot of winter sports, but that’s not possible here. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first came here. Besides that I obviously miss my friends and family a lot.

What did you do for the holidays?

For Christmas I went to Dusseldorf. I really liked it there, Christmas in Germany is very big. They have a lot of lights and trees and so on. For the New Year I stayed in Groningen, which was also very nice. I watched the fireworks, which I always find very nice. The fireworks isn’t as impressive like in Korea, but it comes quite close.

Do you like your studies here in Holland?

The quality of the studies is very high, so I really like that. Also I get the possibility to travel within my studies. I really want to go to China for half a year. It is nice that I get a lot of possibilities like this.

Rui Valadão