First interview

(1)   Interview preparation:

  I think about my first interview in this whole week, I start to prepare my first interview after I finished my special education test. It was my first time to do the interview, it were challenging and experience for me. Tell a truth, I was really shy to interview the people. Frist, I write down my questions on my laptop and print it. Then, I read my questions list several times, it will help me relax in interview time. Last, I write down several sentences to connect the whole interview. I invited my special education classmate to attend my interview, because this week I was really busy, I do not have enough time to contact other people.

  At Thursday afternoon, I give a phone call to my classmate. We met at Caribou, we both were ordered the coffee and all of us were enjoyed the wonderful time. I used my phone to record the whole interview and my interviewee felt comfortable about it. I was supervising that my interviewee was a Korean but he has a half of Chinese descent.

(2)   Interview report

   I met with YI in Caribou on the 17^th of October afternoon, we interview around 1 hour. We talked about lots of things, all of us felt comfortable and enjoy about interview time. I prepare 17 questions to interview him. He name is YI, he come from South Korea and he was an exchange student. He told me that most of Korea students were exchange students, they finished their first three years of university in Korea then they come to United Stated to continue study. During the interview, I know many Korea culture and got information about YI. My first interview was very successful.

(3)   Country report

  South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula The name Korea is derived from Goryeoe, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages. It shares land borders with North Korea to the north, and oversea borders with China to the west and Japan to the east. South Korea lies in the North Temperate Zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It comprises an estimated 50 million residents distributed over 99,392 km2. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 10 million.

   South Korea has a market economy which ranks 15th in the world by nominal GDP and 12th by purchasing power parity (PPP), identifying it as one of the G-20 major economies. It is a high-income developed country and is a member of OECD. It is the most industrialized member country of the OECD. South Korea is the only developed country so far to have been included in the group of Next Eleven countries. South Korea had one of the world's fastest-growing economies from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and South Korea is still one of the fastest-growing developed countries in the 2000s, along with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, the other three Asian Tigers. South Koreans refer to this growth as the Miracle on the Han River. The South Korean economy is heavily dependent on international trade, and in 2010 South Korea were the sixth largest exporter and tenth largest importer in the world. Korea hosted the fifth G20 summit in its capital city, Seoul, in November 2010. The two-day summit was expected to boost Korea's economy by 31 trillion won, or 4% of Korea's 2010 GDP, in economic effects, and create over 160,000 jobs in Korea. It may also help improve the country's sovereign credit rating. Despite the South Korean economy's high growth potential and apparent structural stability, the country suffers damage to its credit rating in the stock market because of the belligerence of North Korea in times of deep military crises, which has an adverse effect on South Korean financial markets. The International Monetary Fund compliments the resilience of the South Korean economy against various economic crises, citing low state debt and high fiscal reserves that can quickly be mobilized to address financial emergencies. [1]

(4)   Interview transcription

Minjie Zhu= M

Yi E=E

M: Good afternoon, my name is Minjie Zhu, during this interview I will ask you several questions, it will take around 1 hour, and did you mind it?

E: Oh, that’s Ok, my name is Yi E, I was really happy to attend interview.

M: Thank you for you attend, I will use my self-phone to record us conversation. Did you feel comfortable about it?

E: That’s fine, I don’t mind.

M: OK, let’s start. Do you like the weather in St. Cloud? Please explain

E: Of course not, first time I saw the snow I was surprise. My country was warm so I have never seen so much snow like this.

M:  Are you live in St. Cloud? Where are you born?

E: I was born in South Korea and I am living in St. Cloud now.

M: Could you please tell me about yourself?

E: Sure, you know I am a Korean, I am 23 years old. I like warm so I want to move to a warm place, such as Florida.

M: Do you feel comfortable about talk about your family?

E: Oh, no problem. I have a small size family, my father, my mother and my young sister. She is only 4 years old, I can show you pictures.  

M: Why you choose SCSU?

E: The university which in Korea and SCSU have cooperative relations. We are study in Korea for 3 years then study abroad for 1 year.

M: What is you major?

E: Accounting.

M: I heard it was very difficult.

E: Someone think it is difficult, but I enjoy it.

M: Why you choose you’re major?

E: I do not think too much, I just interested in it.

M: How often do you communicate with your family back at home?

E: I am studying in St. Cloud and my family is living in South Korea, we communicate through self-phone and we make phone call around once a week.

M: What is the biggest holiday in your country? Please explain about the holidays.

E: Korea’s holiday same as Chinese holiday, the biggest holiday was Spring Festival. In that day, people made food by themselves and all the family member will sit together to have dinner.

M: Wow, same as us

E: Yes, I believe that all the Asian countries have Spring Festival.

M:  Did you face any racist problems?

E:  No, I just heard a little bit, I don’t have experience about racist problem.

M: In what ways might it be difficult to practice your religion here in the U.S

E: I don’t have religion, so it is not a problem for me.

M:  What’s the biggest difference between the American culture and your culture?

E: This question is interesting. Em… the biggest difference is holiday. We celebrate different holiday.

M: What are your goals for the future; after you graduate, what are you going to do?

E: The goal for the future?  Sorry, I have no ideal. I will go back to South Korea then I hope I can find a great job.

M: What do you do for leisure?

E: 1000 million things can do. Playing game, listening music, chat with my friend etc. but never do the homework. Haha… just joke.

M: Tell me some important things from your culture?

E: Both of us come from Asian country, our cultures were same, and so I think you already know my culture.

M:  Do you have any questions for me? I have asked so many of you!

E: Are you enjoying our interview time?

M: Good question! I was really enjoyed.

E: We are already know each other, I do not have extra question ask you. I don’t want to interview you again. Haha…

M: You are so funny, I like stay with you. Thank you for your patience and thank you for your time. See you next Monday.

E: Bye-Bye.

Work Cited

[1] South Korea. October 6, 2013.

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea