Cultural Exchange Sparks Study Abroad Journey

In fall 2023, Claire Butcher ’25, international relations and Asia and Pacific Studies double major, served as a global orientation leader with International Students and Scholars to guide and support LMU’s newest international students. During the program, she met two exchange students, Seo Hyun Kim and Hyuk Park from South Korea, who would be spending their fall semester at LMU. During orientation they encouraged Butcher, who was already interested in doing a study abroad program, to complete her program in South Korea. And in the spring of 2024, she did just that by traveling to study abroad in South Korea.

Butcher had applied to be an international orientation leader because she wanted to build a closer relationship with departments focused on international exchange to seek out places where, as a domestic student, her international relations major could be further explored. “I was really excited to spend time getting to know the international students,” said Butcher. “And this was where I met two exchange students from South Korea. The first thing I remember about them was trying to learn their names in Korean. They kept trying to teach me their English names, but I was adamant that I wanted to learn their Korean names.”

 During her study abroad experience, Butcher met up with the two exchange students from Korea, Kim and Park, a few times to share meals and even added them to her KakaoTalk, a message, and video calling app, to be able to reach out to them “when I was confused about school or the language. It allowed me to have people in the country I was studying abroad and ask them for help or guidance.”

“I have always been a big proponent of traveling because you get to learn and see cultural norms, but you don’t even realize some of the things that are cultural norms in your own culture,” said Butcher. “One of the biggest lessons is how traveling allows me to appreciate the place I travel, the place in ways that I interact, and all the possibilities I could implement in my own life. In Korean and other Asian cultures, respect is ingrained in how things are done and how you treat people, and that piece left a huge impression on me. In America, we sometimes have big egos. Still, I brought back with me to the states a value of respect, especially with older people in our populations who have more experience and knowledge where a higher level of respect is warranted.”

Butcher’s most memorable moment was visiting the Demilitarized Zone on the border between South Korea and North Korea. “As an international relations major, I had studied the dynamics between North and South Korea through textbooks and discussions in my classes, but getting to visit was a different experience,” said Butcher. “When you entered the zone, there was no sign of division other than different flags on each side of the border. It reminded me that division is often a social construct, and in the end, we are all just people who are neighbors. On both sides of this country are Korean people with a similar heritage, which connects to all the unity movements happening on the Korean peninsula.”

Food can play a significant and memorable role during any international journey, and Butcher found this to be the same as her experience studying abroad in South Korea. “I tried a lot of new food, and that was a big goal for me, which was to try all the food I could,” said Butcher. “One of the most memorable foods we got to try was when we traveled to the eastern side of South Korea to Chodang Dubu Village, known for dubu or tofu. We had a tofu stew there, and it was so good it disintegrated in your mouth. I didn’t get to try it, but other people I was with also got to try tofu ice cream, which they said was amazing.”

Being part of a study abroad program in Korea also pushed Butcher to declare Asian Pacific studies as a second major, pushing her to apply for fellowships in Asia for her time after graduating from LMU. “I felt like it was easier for me to exist in Korea because I felt like people were more on each other’s side, with a collective culture, and the irony is that for Park being from Korea, they shared how they felt like it was easier to exist in America,” said Butcher.

“What I took from that experience is that you need to appreciate what you have and find a place where you feel comfortable,” she continued. “Sometimes, I feel like my experience has been guided by the saying ‘stop and smell the flowers’ and that I need to stop and look around at the experience that I am in. I’ve been so goal-driven so many times. Going on this study abroad experience, I expected it to be a radical transformation of self, where I would struggle with the study abroad part and feel very fulfilled. When I got home from study abroad, I did not feel fulfilled by my study abroad experience. Towards the end, I was starting to feel very lost, and getting home was when I felt very fulfilled, being with my family and being in a space where I had such a strong sense of community and family. That was a big perspective shift for me, realizing I’ve always loved to travel and I’ve had an appreciation for global learning, but that also can be balanced and recognized with finding my community at home that I can come back to and seek refuge in when life feels hard.”

Beyond a study abroad experience in Korea, Butcher is also involved with a variety of student organizations and experiences at LMU, including being on the e-boards for Building, Advancing, and Loving Indonesia (BALI) Club, and Model United Nations, and working on-campus as a research assistant in the Asian and Asian American Studies department. During her first year she worked in the Pam Rector Center for Service and Action; two years ago she went on an Alternative Breaks trip to Morocco. She is also a part of the Sursum Corda service organization, which is focused on food justice. “I joined Sursum because I had volunteered at a food bank during high school,” said Butcher. “Even though my majors aren’t focused on food justice, being part of Sursum Corda has opened me up to the idea of pursuing a service-oriented career like working for a local or an international nonprofit.”