I went to New York through a cultural exploration program organized by Daegu University last winter vacation. There was a cold wave that hadn’t been seen in 100 years in New York, but our passion was hotter for exploration.

 

The cultural exploration program was organized by the Youth Culture Promotion Agency, and a total of six teams were selected. The B2B that I belonged to had luckily been in the 6 teams, and we got the chance to go to the U.S.A.

 

 

Preparation for such a selection was really difficult, because it was not simply going abroad to go sightseeing, but to go 'explore their culture'. We needed a specific plan. It was also difficult to think about how we could contribute to Daegu University via this program.

 

 

Through many meetings and conversations with our team members, we set up a plan with the theme 'We open our eyes to the awareness of the disabled in the country of freedom, America'.

 

 

We thought New York was the best place for this theme, and we thought about the whole plan, considering what we could learn there. We planned the introduction of the program, the necessity of the visit, the contents of the activity, the expected effect, and the budget.

 

 

After the process and presentation of our plan, we were able to be selected and at that time we were feeling as high as the sky!

 

 

After the selection, we made our own arrangements for flight tickets, accommodation, and transportation. I seemed to know a little about the purpose of this program by preparing all of these things for myself.

 

 

Our activities in New York began, and our team first went to New York University, the New York Museum, Madison Square Park, and the United Nations Organization. NYU has Braille books and plays a similar role to the Braille Library in our university. However, we were especially interested in reading books as a ‘talking book’, and we thought “what if this program actually applied to our university?”

 

 

I have also been to almost all of the museums in New York. I looke

d at how the disability facilities, services, and programs were going, and the most memorable place was the Noguchi Museum. They operate a 'Touch Program' for the visually impaired. 'Touch Program' is a program that allows the visually impaired to touch real works of art in the museum. There is also a guide for the visually impaired, so they can enjoy the art just like the non-disabled, using a sensation other than sight.

 

We were able to contact this museum in advance and experience this touch program directly. I was able to learn as much as I did from a visually impaired point of view and listen to the guide's explanation. It was also really helpful for the professional curator to prepare Braille works and various materials for us.

 

 

In addition to these activities, I was able to get a variety of opinions from the university, subway, store, and street by interviewing New Yorkers with their 'awareness of the disabled'.

 

Sometimes, I had difficulties due to the language barrier and unfortunate situations, but I had plenty of things to do first in New York. I'm also very proud that I went to learn something rather than just sightseeing.

 

 

When we returned to the university, our campaign continued. I wasn't able to interview many students because of the vacation period, but we attached the new disability mark for the students to see it easily on campus.

 

 

I learned a lot from my activity during the almost three weeks I was there. I learned about autonomy, the ability to collaborate and how to communicate, as well as content related to our activity theme.

 

 

I hope that our L.L.F. readers won't miss the opportunity of the University!

 

 

L.L.F. Editor-in-chief Eun-Young Kim

 

 

김은영  red7557@naver.com