Do you know what a gator is? It’s a short way to say alligator. The alligator is the symbol of University of Florida, so students of UF (University of Florida) are called ‘Gators’.
Yes, I was a gator last semester. I went to UF through an exchange student program at Kookmin University. Kookmin University and UF have been exchanging students every year since 2008 and I was the second participant. I applied for the program in March, 2009 and I was luckily chosen as the kookmin exchange student to UF. There are three students in 2008 and two students including me in 2009 who have participated in this program so far. There is a notice about the program at the beginning of the semester and certain criteria required, such as GPA, an official record of English test like TOEFL and IELTS and an interview. For more information, please check out the web page of International Affairs Team.
The white beaches, palm trees, Disney world, oranges, hot girls and guys in Miami... Those were the things that came to my mind before I left. Well, Gainesville, where UF is, didn’t have the same scenery I had imagined, but it was a small and peaceful college town in Florida and the weather was wonderful all the time.
I lived in off-campus housing near the school. It was 20 minutes away from the campus and had a nice pool with palm trees. I had three roommates, one from Spain and the others were American and they were cool college freshmen. We had a lot of parties and shared the cultures of each country. It was a great opportunity to understand and know American college student culture and mind.
Since there are many international students at UF, the International Center provides lots of activities for exchange students such as International nights and trips to tourist spots in Florida. I experienced many things and made many friends from other countries as well as America. I participated in the trip to Disney world in Orlando and finally could meet Mickey and Minnie in person! Furthermore, I volunteered for the International Student Speakers Bureau and gave a speech about Korea and Korean culture at Rawlings Elementary School. While preparing the presentation, I was able to study and think about our proud culture one more time. The kids and teachers I gave the presentation to showed their interest especially in Korean food and costume like Kimchi and Hanbok. It was one of my most memorable and rewarding experiences in Florida.
I took five courses and these were ‘TV and American society’, ‘Survey of Photojournalism’, ‘R’n’R & America’, ‘International AD’ and ‘Principle of Marketing’. It was an endless challenge for me to take courses in English, but all the courses I took were really fun and I learned many things about my major (mass media and advertising) and American society. The course I liked the most was ‘R’n’R and America’. It is about the popular music of America and it covered the origin and growth of the recording industry, music business and all kinds of American pop music, from blues to punk including Elvis Presley and also the Beatles. Our instructor was a DJ from a local radio station and he had enormous knowledge about music and was also really passionate with his class. He introduced very nice music in every class and interesting stories about American music and musicians. Even though it was a bit hard for me to follow the class because of the strange names of the musicians and song titles, I was impressed by the quality of the class, and also by the fact that there is a class about pop music. What I felt was that the instructor and students taking this course were very proud of their old pop music culture and eager to learn about it. I think confidence and interest in their culture are the fount of development of American culture.
Students of UF are very proud of their school and don’t hesitate to show that they are ‘Gators’. They wear orange and blue (colors represent UF) t-shirt, pants, bags and even shoes with a big gator symbol and decorate their car with a gator sign. Whenever UF had a football game, the whole town was full of a party atmosphere and became orange and blue. As a ‘Gator’ in this passionate college town, I had unforgettable memories and valuable experiences in my life and I also gained confidence by completing the big challenge of studying at a university in America. I strongly recommend that you participate in the exchange student program. Take a chance to have a totally new and wonderful experience! 

Source : THE KOOKMIN REVIEW No.216