2014년 1월 9일 목요일


           Depuis mon enfance, la fascination envers l’architecture et les grandes villes a toujours resonné profondément dans mon cœur. La carte vue à vol d’oiseau, le dessin en perspective et le plan de masse dans les livres de mon père, urbaniste, a provoqué la curiosité de ce petit garcon que j’étais. J’ai souvent suivi ma mère pour visiter l’appartement témoin, me demandant comment les lignes du plan avaient été effectivement réalisées en structures physiques et imaginant ce que ce serait d’y vivre. Comme j’ai grandi à Séoul, la plus grande métropole coréenne, j’aimais aussi me promener à travers le centre-ville, entendre les bruits apparemment “chaotiques” mais énergiques des heures de pointe, et surtout, regarder longuement les gratte-ciels.
           Je me demande et m’interroge chaque fois que je “capture” d’impressionnants paysages urbains qui frappe mes yeux – que ce soit un bâtiment splendide ou une oeuvre abstraite d’art plastique placée devant une entrée de métro. “Qu’est-ce que l’architecture?” “Quelles pensées les architectes ont eu lors de la conception de ce bâtiment?” L’architecture, c’est peut-être créer et améliorer notre vie, plus que la simple construction de structures. L’architecture est évidemment une discipline établie et tangible, mais son interdisciplinarité avec d’autres études – par exemple, l’art visuel, la géographie et l’histoire – est si profonde que l’architecure touche presque tous les aspects de notre vie. En tant que personne intéressée à diverse matières, y compris l’art, la science sociale, la science naturelle et aussi l’architecture elle-même en général, je suis prêt à me plonger dans le domaine de l’architecture pour de bon.
           Il me semble que la France est un très bon pays pour étudier l’architecture, non seulement parce qu’elle est traditionellement renommée pour ses architectes et artistes mais aussi parce qu’à l’école d’architecture en France, l’éducation offerte pour chaque étudiant est très bien structurée et équilibrée, pas extrèmement dirigée vers un seul côté. De plus, la tradition et la modernité, tous deux existent en France. Même si elle a une très longue histoire, la France n’est pas un pays tourné vers le passé mais plutôt un lieu plein d’évolution et de changement. Donc, je peux apprendre comment réconcilier l’innovation architecturale moderne avec la tradition, un enjeu qu’architectes et urbanistes s’efforcent de résoudre partout dans le monde. Et parmi les vingt écoles présentes, je suis particulièrement attiré par l’ENSA de Paris La Villette, à cause de sa diversité de cours offerts et son accentuation sur la relation entre l’architecture, l’urbanisme et la culture. Je pense qu’à Paris, l’une des plus importantes villes mondiales, je serai capable d’observer, de voir actuellement ce que j’apprends à l’école et de comprendre comment cette ville est devenue un des cœurs architecturaux de l’Europe.

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           Depuis mon enfance, la fascination envers l’architecture et les grandes villes a toujours resonné profondément dans mon cœur. La carte vue à vol d’oiseau, le dessin en perspective et le plan de masse dans les livres de mon père, urbaniste, a provoqué la curiosité de ce petit garcon que j’étais. J’ai souvent suivi ma mère pour visiter l’appartement témoin, me demandant comment les lignes du plan avaient été effectivement réalisées en structures physiques et imaginant ce que ce serait d’y vivre. Comme j’ai grandi à Séoul, la plus grande métropole coréenne, j’aimais aussi me promener à travers le centre-ville, entendre les bruits apparemment “chaotiques” mais énergiques des heures de pointe, et surtout, regarder longuement les gratte-ciels.
           Je me demande et m’interroge chaque fois que je “capture” d’impressionnants paysages urbains qui frappe mes yeux – que ce soit un bâtiment splendide ou une oeuvre abstraite d’art plastique placée devant une entrée de métro. “Qu’est-ce que l’architecture?” “Quelles pensées les architectes ont eu lors de la conception de ce bâtiment?” L’architecture, c’est peut-être créer et améliorer notre vie, plus que la simple construction de structures. L’architecture est évidemment une discipline établie et tangible, mais son interdisciplinarité avec d’autres études – par exemple, l’art visuel, la géographie et l’histoire – est si profonde que l’architecure touche presque tous les aspects de notre vie. En tant que personne intéressée à diverse matières, y compris l’art, la science sociale, la science naturelle et aussi l’architecture elle-même en général, je suis prêt à me plonger dans le domaine de l’architecture pour de bon.
           Il me semble que la France est un très bon pays pour étudier l’architecture, non seulement parce qu’elle est traditionellement renommée pour ses architectes et artistes mais aussi parce qu’à l’école d’architecture en France, l’éducation offerte pour chaque étudiant est très bien structurée et équilibrée, pas extrèmement dirigée vers un seul côté. De plus, la tradition et la modernité, tous deux existent en France. Même si elle a une très longue histoire, la France n’est pas un pays tourné vers le passé mais plutôt un lieu plein d’évolution et de changement. Donc, je peux apprendre comment réconcilier l’innovation architecturale moderne avec la tradition, un enjeu qu’architectes et urbanistes s’efforcent de résoudre partout dans le monde. Et parmi les vingt écoles présentes, je suis particulièrement attiré par l’ENSA-Marseille à cause de son unique accentuation sur l’environnement côtier et méditerranéen et son cours sur la construction parasismique qui me permettrait de concevoir une structure non seulement visuellement agréable mais aussi plus sécuritaire. Comme beaucoup de grandes villes mondiales se situent au bord de la mer et comme il y a une grande nécessité, dans certaines regions, de prévenir les risques possibles par séisme, je pense que l’ENSA-Marseille m’offrira un grand avantage pour devenir architecte.

2013년 8월 28일 수요일

The Norwegian Wood reading journal #1

Reminiscence: remnants of the past

           The Norwegian Wood, a 1987 novel written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, is a nostalgic and retrospective story of the main character. The story starts with the scene where a B747 plane lands on Hamburg airport and the cover version of Beatle’s “Norwegian wood” resounds in the cabin. Toru Watanabe, the main character, then starts to cast back to his past when he was in a close relationship with Naoko.

           The Irish author Edna O’brien once said “Recollection is not something that I can summon up. It simply comes and I am the servant of it.” Indeed our memories and reminiscence of the past is so strong and sometimes even inevitable that you cannot simple reject it from getting mingled in our mind. Actually any thoughts and memories of the things that happened in the past are all recollections; they are what constitute who we are mentally and connect the present with the past-or actual occurrence of certain events-which is technically “gone” and therefore not existing in the current world.

           In this sense the novel “The Norwegian Wood” is similar with the previous ones we read, “On Seeing the 100 Percent Perfect Girl”, in that they both deals with reminiscence of the things that happened in the past. Also these two both deals with emotions and down-to-earth matters: daily and personal experiences. I have not read any other books written by Haruki Murakami, but I might say that he actually likes writing about something very pertinent to our daily lives.

           One thing that stuck my mind was that Kizuki, Toru’s best friend in high school who previously had relationship with Naoko, suddenly died and that his death is how Toru and Naoko started to get closer. Maybe Naoko did not actually loved Toru but became a girlfriend of him just because she desperately needed someone to be with. It is also possible to say that she needed somewhere to lean on because she would have been completely shocked by the death of her loved one; and the “target” was Toru whom she had known beforehand.

           Until the Chapter 3 it seems that the relationship between Toru and Naoko is not firm yet but still in the progress of getting developed. Also Naoko is still having some lingering feelings left on Kizuki because she burst into tears whenever she starts to think about him. Maybe she is unstably dwindling between her reminiscence on past relationship with Kizuki and her current situation. Whatever the reason is, Naoko is definitely not emotionally secured yet, a state which quite well matches with the April rain of the day when she and Toru slept together.

2012년 11월 29일 목요일

Where is Waldo, really? (Junior Writing)



     Lots of young kids have probably seen this young, skinny, French character with a striped shirt on. In storybooks, this character named Waldo frequently appears inside the massive crowd, making kids find where he is. This case of finding where Waldo really is, in fact, is not just for kids to have fun. Depending on what Waldo represents, we can expand it to a lifelong and philosophical question.
     We first need to examine the type of situation Waldo is in. As mentioned above, he is in such a crowded environment that it is hard to easily identify him without any careful observation. This circumstance is actually very similar with what modern people encounter within everyday life. Waking up at 6:30 am, office workers head to their workplaces go through crowded subway stations and encounter so many people. If we were able to look down at our lives from the sky, what we see would probably resemble a storybook of Waldo.
     For this open-ended question, Waldo can represent so many things, depending on how people interpret the prompt. Regarding the situation above, however, it seems likely that Waldo is someone with some values we consider precious. People are trying to find something that is valuable from a mass crowd, which, in this case, is regarded as useless background. In any case, the way of finding Waldo will strongly depend on what it represents. If, for example, Waldo is ourselves, then we don’t have to look at our inner being and try to find where we really are or what kind of person we are. It’s not saying “I’m at school” or “I’m on my way home”; rather, having retrospection means thinking about our mental state or relationship with other people.
     If Waldo, in contrast, is not ourselves, then we need to have our focus on the outer world. But do we really need to know exactly where he is? Or is it that as we constantly put our efforts towards finding ‘Waldo’, we naturally succeed in finding him? I believe in the latter. Well, for a kid reading a Waldo storybook, he can just physically match him with the people appearing in the crowd. However, in real life, things are not so simple; we have to experience, do our endeavor, and sometimes make blunders in order to really find out ‘Waldo’ that we have ardently and continuously looked for. To exemplify, for finding a lifelong partner, we cannot simply look passively but have to go through real-sometimes poignant and cruel-experiences. Rather than spending time trying to answer the question “Where is Waldo, really?” passively and abstractly, it is often better to dive in and start the journey of finding him. Life indeed does not have a specific destination. Rather, it is more of an undecided path, so we rather have to live like a floating boat and will somehow be able to reach Waldo.

2012년 11월 25일 일요일

Take Home Essay (Junior Writing)


Topic: Should uniforms be made compulsory in schools?


My original opinion: No

Many students complain about their school making them wear uniforms every morning. They claim that school uniforms are inconvenient and nothing more than a mere pretense. However, after careful consideration, those students will learn that they have been futilely muttering against a rule that is in fact very beneficial and helpful.

Wearing uniforms definitely provide adequate school environment. Students, especially when they are in middle or high school, can be overly interested in appearances. Adolescents are indeed very sensitive to peers and they pay careful attention to how others look like. Such obsession toward appearances can make students not concentrate on their academics, but rather put tremendous effort on fashions even when they go to school. By making students wear uniform, school can prevent such problem because they would not think about what to wear before going to school. Plus, they would not compare what they wore with what others wore since uniforms are all the same.

2012년 11월 22일 목요일

Film Review: Ben X (Junior Writing)

A nice reversal


Bullying has definitely become a significant social issue for the past several decades. Especially in recent years, news about students who committed suicide due to the stress of getting bullied frequently fill the front page of a newspaper. Great concerns have risen all around the world in order to cope with this social problem that is related not only with the bullied himself but also with the parents and the surrounding environment.

Regarding the strong social impact, it is of no surprise that bullying is commonly used as topics for various films, literatures and even pop musics. Ben X, a Belgian movie directed by Nic Balthazar, is also one of the films that set its main character as a boy who is seriously bullied by his classmates. This outcast named Ben is actually an autistic boy who has a problem of communicating with others in daily life. In the movie, there is one scene where Ben has his pants pulled down by other boys and becomes naked in front of the video camera. This scene vividly illustrates how severe the situation of Ben is, indicating that he must have been highly stressed by other students who attacks him both verbally and physically. 

For many viewers, the movie can seem quite boring with such a cliché of having Ben, a bullied boy, to commit suicide; but the last 9 minutes of the film changes everything. Everyone in his “funeral” thinks Ben has committed suicide and cries over on the bullying scene. At that moment, Ben suddenly stands in front of the projector, surprising people who previously thought he was dead. The last scene shows Ben and his mother having a good time in countryside, letting the film end happily and preventing it from being too typical. At first, when I only watched one-third of the whole movie, what came up in my mind as a possible ending was Ben killing everyone in his classroom, just like what Seung-Hee Cho did in Virginia Tech; I expected the film to be a tragedy since a lot of bullied kids live such a desperate life. The ending was definitely novel and even works very well as Ben gets healed in a peaceful, calm countryside. By this way, Ben is a hero, though bit unconventional, in that he becomes happy after going through all these struggles.

What I also liked about this film is its use of real Game in the plot. The director Nic Balthazar used the actual scene of the online game called ArchLord. This strategy emphasizes how strong Ben relies on virtual world in order to cope with the stress from the real life. In fact, he is so addicted to games that he does nothing except playing game at his home. As he walk into the school, he considers himself as a game character meandering in a stage. The actual scene and the game scene take turns to show the similarity between two of them. Among what I have watched, this is the first movie with actual game scene inserted, although there are definitely many films about playing games. 

Overall, Ben X, I would say, is a film that well-incorporated the significant social issue of bullying with some creative tactics such as a twist and a use of game scene. I was a bit bored in the middle because I easily predicted what would happen at the end. However, my prediction was proven wrong, and I was surprised but delighted at the same time to see such reversal.

10 Flash Fiction (Junior Writing)

1. Playing LOL in the dorm room. Feeling somebody’s presence behind the seat. Turning back and seeing the smiling face of Kim Dae-Gi.

2. The printer says: “not enough ink”......"Oh no! I've spent all night and even skipped morning exercise for Ms. Choi's homework!!!!!"

3. Sandra was chit-chatting loudly in Korean with her friends on the way back to dormitory from Dasan Building. Suddenly, she saw one boy smiling and texting something in his phone. A day later, Sandra found her name posted on the court list.

4. I decided to take a 10 minute short nap in the bed before having lunch, but woke up after 25 minutes. I ran to the cafeteria to get some pork slices, but they ran out just before me.

5. “OMG I never closed my eyes!” said Peter when the ball rang after the class ended

6. Left my dorm room at 8:01 but soon found out that I left my AP Calculus BC take-home assignment at the room

7. Me and my roommate brought some chickens to dorm room and was eating them delightfully. Soon we heard Kim Dae-Gi’s voice resounding in the corridor and recalled that we have not closed our door.

8. My final grade on AP US History: 89.43

9. Seeing Danny, my best friend, sleeping in the cafeteria, I slapped his head to wake him up. But he was not Danny; he was a senior student.

10. “Wake me up at 7:45”. “Wake me up at 7: 50”. “Wake me up at 7:53”…”Wake me after 3 minutes”…… Then the roommate shouts “Hey! It is already 7:57! I’m going out!”

2012년 11월 14일 수요일

2nd Assignment (Creative Writing)

Teaching is useless unless you can learn from your students.
by Martin Dansky


           There stands a shabby, gray one-story building next to the abandoned landfill. The star-spangled banner in the schoolyard flaps lonelily in the breeze. The weather is so gray that it is just about to become drizzly. Then a group of students, wearing worn clothes and dribbling basketballs, enters a school building. This is how DeAndre High School, located right beside the slum neighborhood of Los Angeles, normally looks like.

           Katelyn, a 26-year-old young women who have recently become a teacher of Los Angeles Unified School District, are newly appointed to this public school where 60% of students are Hispanic and the rest Black.


“Guys! Watch out!” Katelyn shouted to boys who were standing in front of the main gate.

It is her first day at the school; this young and inexperienced teacher, looking contemptuously at scampish-looking students, tried best to hide her discontent. But it wasn’t easy at all. With such a drawn face, Katelyn entered a freshman classroom B-101.

           “Oh it smells yucky here” she quietly whispered right after seeing a boy with tattoos. Katelyn tried her best to look confident although fierce-looking faces of students were enough to scare this callow teacher.  

--------->so I would like to have a white teacher assigned to a public school in black neighborhood of Los Angeles...so the atmosphere of that school is kind of gloomy and the white teacher is prejudiced about these Hispanic and black students. Then she later learns from one of her students how strongly prejudiced she was.

--------->she assigns a writing homework to students