K-soc in 2014

Our first semester was very successful and has encouraged us to work even harder for the second part of the year! We had ten events in all, as well as the odd social event here and there. We finished the semester with our Christmas party – our first night out as a society. Making a fool of yourself dancing to cheesy 90s and 80s pop is by far the best way to get to know a society’s members.

It’s hard to become known among so many students, particularly when there are so many societies competing for attendance – furthermore, even among the cultural societies, the Korean culture is a rather obscure interest. However, those that do attend our events are passionate and enthusiastic. We generally have between ten and twenty students present (which is impressive for a new society) depending on the type of event; social events, especially those centred around Korean pop and drama, tend to have the best attendance but little or no males: academic events attract a smaller, but more varied audience (e.g. people who have no specific or prior interest in Korea but are studying World Languages in UCC). The Food Night we held was, by far, the most popular with both sexes.

Almost everyone at the events hears of them through the UCC Korean Society’s Facebook page, where we post news and updates and create event posts with specific information details. Facebook makes it difficult to have your posts seen by large audiences without paying to promote them or having enormous amounts of likes (we have nearly 200), so getting important things seen often involves including a photo, tagging people, and linking other sites or Facebook pages – all of which make the post visible to more people. A handful of our attendees hear about the event through Twitter but, due to its blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nature, our tweets aren’t seen by many. But, my New Year’s tweet was re-tweeted by the Irish Korean Embassy, which was exciting! We have an Instagram account, too, for posting photos and, occasionally, posters from the events.

We’ve also tried to become more known through collaborations. Earlier in the semester, we collaborated with UCC Taekwondo Club, as it’s a Korean martial art, and also with SÁMH Society (and Munster Lost and Found Pet Helpline) in an event we arranged which involved bringing puppies onto campus for people to stroke and relieve their exam stress. It caused a lot of excitement and even some hysteria, and we begin the new semester, for which we have many events planned, including participation in RAG Week and Kaizoku Con, armed with the knowledge that puppies are the best way to get anything done.

“Koreaholics” Support Group

Our event last night was extremely successful. We wanted to get to know our members a bit better, and we certainly did! We decided to have a light-hearted support-group- themed event for “Koreaholics”, since most of us get confused (and amused) reactions when we mention our love of Korean culture. We had each person stand and introduce himself or (predominantly) herself, à la support groups for various other addictions. The reception was fantastic; there aren’t many such clubs or groups – whether within universities or not – for people to meet and discuss their interest. I was worried that people would be nervous to speak in front of the others, and not have much to say… but the building was closing before we were finished! Few of our members had ever been in a group that shared their interest before, and everyone was so enthusiastic and willing to participate. To continue the light-hearted theme, we gave everyone who attended an official-looking certificate – mine is below. We even provided tea and snacks, because we’re just the loveliest, most welcoming society.

There was some confusion with the rooms – largely due to the fact that I put the wrong time on the posters…I’m still learning. However, we had an impressive turn-out for such a young society. Among those who came were some members of a Facebook page for Korean culture in Ireland, whose Admin I’ve been talking with. The page is rapidly growing in popularity – which shows how quickly the interest in Korean culture is growing. About a third of the people there were Korean and they were happy to share with us what interest they had in pop music and dramas, and also why they came to Ireland and which Irish groups they liked. U2 and Westlife proved popular. Jedward did not.

All the committee members were thrilled by the attendance and reception of the event, as well as the variety: there were people from many different countries, and everyone had a different story about how they became interested in Korean culture. The attractive celebrities and wonderfully-melodramatic TV dramas were more or less a constant, however. Quite a few people – including our auditor – had a previous interest in Japanese culture (Often J-pop and anime/manga). They were introduced to similar Korean music and TV by friends or Youtube recommendations. In recent years, K-pop videos on Youtube are gaining popularity, with Psy’s infamous “Gangnam Style” being the most viewed music video ever, and many others having tens of millions of views from all over the world. Korean is one of the top suggestions when you search for language-learning videos on Youtube, K-drama, too, is easily accessible, often for free, and thus has an increasing worldwide audience. Most of our members can use some basic Korean phrases, and several of them are interested in visiting Korea. As we get to know our audience better, we get a better idea of the kinds of events people want to attend. Tonight, we meet to discuss our event next Tuesday, and plan upcoming events. 한구 동아리 화이팅!

Greetings, Blog-world.

Hi everyone, I’m Tabi!

I’m the new Public Relations Officer for the equally-new UCC Korean Society and I’m going to be blogging about the goings-on in our K-soc. I was officially elected at the EGM last week, along with the other committee members. We also screened the wonderful spy thriller, “Commitment”. Our attendance is steadily rising, so we’re pleased. We won’t stop until we’re the best. 

K-soc doesn’t just want to share the culture of Korea with UCC students, but also to welcome Koreans to Cork and share Irish culture with them. Up to half of our attendees are generally Korean, and our events are always aimed at both groups. Tomorrow, Koreans are also invited to share with us why they came to Ireland and ask any questions they may have about Irish culture.

I helped found K-soc earlier this year along with some friends who share a passion for Korean culture. UCC was a little reluctant to add another cultural society to its portfolio, but we swayed them with our bedazzling enthusiasm. It’s only our fifth ever event tomorrow, and we are yet a litter of puppies; learning as we go; falling over a lot. So far, we’ve had an historical talk (from guest speaker Dr Kevin Cawley, without whom K-soc would probably never have been established), a workshop on the Korean alphabet, a collaboration with the Taekwondo Club and the screening/EGM. We like to mix fascinating – but fun – events with more social affairs, so tomorrow we’re having a relaxed event centred around getting to know our members and their interest in Korean culture. Next week, we’re planning a second workshop.

The poster for our event on the 21st October

As P.R.O, it’s my job to make posters for the events, among other things. So far, this takes up a lot of my time. I’ve always had an interest in art and design, though, and I previously studied art for a year so – fortunately – I have rudimentary Photoshop skills (judge for yourself in the picture). I also run the Facebook and Twitter accounts. On top of this, we put a lot of preparation into most of our events (particularly the workshops) so it’s a time-consuming business, this “society” thing. Hopefully we can continue to attract interest, and introduce Korean culture to more people – while providing a place for Koreans in Cork to meet people and learn about Ireland.