SISO (Soongsil International Student Organization) is a student diplomacy program under the Office of International Relations, whose aim is to support the livelihood of the exchange students in SSU. SISO consists of the Project Team, Inside Campus Team, Outside Campus Team, and PR Team. SISO and exchange students have held events such as pottery making, a picnic, and a city tour, in line with the monthly program activities. One of the special events that they have held was “Sports Day,” which was held in the gym of Jo Man-sik Memorial Hall in the spring semester to welcome the exchange students. ST participated in that event.
First, ST interviewed Shin Su-ho (Statistics and Actuarial Science, 07), who designed this event, to find out the purpose of the project. Shin said, “I thought of a way to help the exchange students from diverse countries to get along well with one another. After much consideration, I decided to come up with ‘Little Olympics’ because it is a good venue for forming friendships, and it can be held in spring. So I set up ‘Little Olympics’ as a theme and tried to make it ‘recreational Olympics’ rather than ‘competitive Olympics.’ ”
At 11 a.m., April 6, SISO and the exchange students gathered in the gym. The participants were divided into four teams: red, yellow, blue, and green teams. After each team’s announcement of its team name and slogan, the students were made to attend an orientation and to engage in a one-legged fight. They were quite awkward in the chicken fight at first because for most of them, it was their first time to engage in a one-legged fight. As the games progressed, however, they became enthusiastic and came to act like real chickens. After the one-legged fight, they had lunch and then did a couple mission race. The game rule was simple: With their ankles tied together, the couples were to perform the mission given to them through the given route, and to reach the goal line. The mission was made up of five parts: moving a Co-co ball with the spoon in their mouths; eating a snack hung on a thread; searching for a piece of candy in a bed of flour, and eating the candy; shooting in a basket; and setting camera lenses laid randomly and taking a picture. They then did tug-of-war and dodge ball (pigu). The exchange students showed much enthusiasm at every stage of the event, despite the lengthy program. The event finished after the closing ceremony.
ST interviewed two exchange students and asked them what they thought about the Sports Day event.
Katja Quibeldey (Korean Language and Literature, 10) : I’ve played the one-legged fight once, at the program. It was so exciting and funny, so I looked forward to the next Sports Day. Also, it was good because I was able to gain many friends through it.
Nguyen Thu Trang (Global Law, 08) : I have played tug-of-war many times in Vietnam, but for the one-legged fight, I just saw it on TV. It was my first time to play it. It is really interesting!
ST lets you have a secondhand experience of the Sports Day event held for the exchange students. It was really good to see them enjoying the day and getting along with the other students in spite of their different backgrounds. ST sincerely hopes that this project for them will go on, and that they will gain more friends through such project.
