A New Campus to Love

Classes have been in session for almost 4 weeks now, so it seems like a good time to offer a few thoughts…and images…pertaining to campus life here at Yonsei University.

Empty bookshelves and a big desk

First, as I sit at my (big and clean) desk and look at my (empty) bookshelves I’m struck by how, in many ways, things are quite different for me here than they are back home, on the campus of North Central College.

To be sure, there are external differences–NCC enrolls roughly 3,000 while Yonsei enrolls roughly 40,000; NCC is in a suburb 30 miles outside of Chicago while Yonsei is right in the heart of Seoul; NCC is a 25-minute drive from where I was born and raised (Elmhurst, IL) while Yonsei is on the opposite side of the earth with a 14-hour time difference.

Two home pages from my two academic homes

These are, indeed, real differences, as are the local language, the predominant race of my colleagues and students, and the headlines describing top national concerns.

But the most significant differences for me are less about the externals and more about my identity in each context.  The “clean desk” and “empty bookshelves” speak to the fact that I’m new here; unknown to nearly everyone; and  carrying sharply different responsibilities.  In some ways, it’s profoundly liberating.  No one here invites me to faculty, division, or department meetings…my office phone never rings….and no Yonsei students have (yet) requested letters of recommendation or help reviewing their grad school applications.  I teach my two courses, attend an occasional dinner, and give a few public lectures.  It’s a big change from what I’m used to at NCC.  Yet, in addition to being liberating, it’s also challenging.  I walk across campus–passing by 1,000 students–and I can’t identify even one student by name, nor do any of them know me.

Front & back of my name card.” Koreans exchange cards at a breathtaking rate–I sometimes come home with stack of 15 or 20 colleagues’ cards in my pocket!

When I’m introduced it’s as “Professor Hamalis, the visiting Fulbright scholar from Chicago,” business cards are exchanged, and–occasionally–I’ll be asked if I’m from the University of Chicago.  I usually reply, “I did my Ph.D. there, but I teach at North Central College, we’re an international exchange partner of Yonsei located in a Chicago suburb.” This typically leads to a brief pause before we smile at each other and offer one another a quick bow.  Building relationships with colleagues, it seems, will take some time.  It’s not bad, good, or “weird,” it’s just different (as my dear friend and NCC colleague, Robert Moussetis, likes to say).  The students, I should note, are wonderful and have made me feel right at home from the first day of class.  I’ll say more about them in a future post, but teaching a seminar course on “Religion and Politics in the West” to students from Korea, Australia, France, Italy, Finland, Taiwan, and the United States is nothing short of exhilarating!  We’re having a blast moving between historical texts (Maimonides, Al-Farabi, Eusebius, Locke, and Tocqueville, to name a few…) and current events (from Kim Davis,Pope Francis, and ISIS to Korea’s tax exemption for clergy, Australia’s preference for Christian refugees, and Britain’s publicly-funded “faith schools”).

One of the similarities between NCC and Yonsei is their two beautiful campuses.  Being established in 1885, Yonsei is not quite as old as NCC (est. 1861), but it has a classic look to it.  Here are a few photos from my walks across campus (and, literally, it’s a solid 20-25 minute walk from the main gate bus stop to my office!):

In front of the Theology Department Building, where my office is located.

Aerial view from widow at the top of the Humanities building.

The Yonsei Quad–A stunning oasis in a city of 13 million people.

The building where my “Religion & Politics in the West” course meets

A magnificent pine forest and pathway in the middle of campus.

Underwood Hall — Yonsei’s most iconic building.

Lots more to say, but time and space are running short.  I’ll post again soon…thanks for reading and for your good wishes as my family and I continue our adventure.