Crisis Gave Me New Chances

So Wang Sub The Graduate School of Engineering

I am So Wang Sub from the Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Korea. I am now an exchange student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University (OPU).

I would like to share my story about how I overcome various challenges I have had both before and after I arrived at Osaka Prefecture University. To begin with I was not supposed to be here at OPU. After two years of hard study on my research subject and Japanese, I was accepted at Tokyo Metropolitan University and was filled with joy and motivation. Then tragedy struck. On the eleventh of March Japan was struck by the Great Tohoku Earthquake that took the lives of a great many people. Day in, day out, the devastation was continuously reported on TV in Korea. Soon after the news reported that “Tokyo might be affected by radiation,” my admission to Tokyo Metropolitan University had to be cancelled, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was at a loss, but it was then that Professor Cha and staff members at OPU stepped in and helped me out. I would not be here without their single-minded effort to accept me at OPU.

After I came to OPU, I found I could not get the scholarship I was supposed to receive because my admission to OPU was considered to be an exceptional case. As my savings to support my life in Japan were not enough, I tried to get a part-time job to make ends meet, but it ended in vain. I was losing my self confidence among strangers in a strange country. Then I met a friend who supported me by saying “You will be happy again after you get through this time, just the same as you have got through difficulties and recovered in the past. Do not worry! I will be there for you!” I was saved by her smile and generosity and gradually got back my can-do spirit and self-esteem.

Six years ago, I served mandatory military service for two years in Korea. It was unbearably tough, physically and mentally. But the experience was also worth going through in order to strengthen my endurance capacity and to learn to maintain the spirit of respect.

All those difficulties I have experienced in the past really made me strong in body and mind and gave me opportunities to appreciate all the support I received from people around me. Now I am working hard as an exchange student at OPU as well as a part-time Korean teacher. I hope my story could give you a little courage to make a step forward in your life.