Student exchanges bridge Korea, Netherlands

Roos Bezemer, a Korean-born Dutch student, had always been curious about living in her motherland.

The 18-year-old, adopted when she was 17 months old, came to Seoul in February thanks to Youth For Understanding, a global nonprofit organization promoting international student exchange programs.

With the Korean name of Eun-bi, she stays with a host family and attends a women’s high school in Seoul and is finding how pleasant it is to be in a different culture. 

“I find everything interesting so far, because what seems to be so normal in the Netherlands is really different here,” she told The Korea Herald.

“I hope to learn the language and culture, and I hope to have as many experiences as I can to grow as a person.”

She is the first member of the exchange program launched last year by YFU branches in both countries.

Bob Poel, the national director of YFU Netherlands, noted that the youth exchange program could have a long-lasting impact on the young students involved.

“If you really (want to) understand why people think differently, I think you have to go and stay there,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

The Dutch director visited Seoul last month to better understand the country and to expand the student exchanges between the two countries.

He explained that the YFU’s exchange programs gave students a unique opportunity to step out of their “comfort zone” and “to start a new in a completely different environment.”

YFU’s foreign exchange students stay with a local host family and attend a school for either a short-term or long-term exchange, he said.

The purpose, he added, was to help young people learn the “life of somebody in their age, but in another culture,” and to learn about the similarities and differences.

“Also, I think if you want to really value what you have, we need an opportunity to step away from it for some time,” he added.

YFU’s exchange program was launched in 1951 by church leaders in Michigan in the U.S. when they invited 75 West German teenagers with the aim of bridging the World War II foes.

Its network has now expanded to 65 countries to become the operator of one of the world’s largest international educational exchange programs. There are currently more than 4,000 students participating in its foreign exchange program every year.

Poel, who has been leading YFU Netherlands since 2000, himself was a YFU exchange student. He studied in Ohio, U.S., from 1973-1974.

The Dutch director noted that he, too, was afraid of stepping out of his comfort zone, but YFU helped him to adjust to his new living environment.

“You do not feel completely on your own, because YFU arranges a host family and school for you,” he said.

Although nowadays people are becoming increasingly more globalized, the importance of student exchange programs will remain unchanged, he added.

“The world is still divided, not the East and West anymore but because of different religions,” he said. “So I think even today our organization has a task to build a bridge to existing differences, to bring the world together.”

YFU Netherlands currently organizes short-and long-term exchanges with 38 member countries, including Korea. He said there are currently two Korean teenagers studying in the Netherlands through the exchange program, and three Dutch students will commence their programs here this summer.

“We’re very much focused on expanding exchange programs with Asia. We think it is a very important continent already, and will become more important,” Poel said. “We hope to not only include more Asian countries, but also to improve the number of Dutch students going to Asia.”

Bezemer hopes to be able to speak Korean fluently before finding her biological mother one day.

“I think I’m not ready. But when I do I want to talk with her and understand her,” she said.

Poel said she would certainly have some challenges being able to communicate in a foreign language.

“But she’ll manage like thousands of other YFU exchange students have done before,” he added.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)