I attended K-pop dancing classes for my CIP. Since I love dancing K-pop and have been performing back at Emory as well, I thought it would be fun to take K-pop class in Japan. Fortunately, one of KCJS students was also interested in taking a dance class for CIP, so we went to the studio together. For the first try out, we took girls’ hip-hop class. It was fun but it was hard to interact with people since people were not really interested in new students and the instructor did not seem to be interested as well. Next week, we attended K-pop class since we both are interested in K-pop. Unfortunately, classmates were mostly middle school students, which made it difficult for us to talk to people or to get along with. Even though the class itself is very interesting and fun, it was hard to interact with people. Most of the classmates went to take other classes right after our class, so I felt like I did not have time to talk with classmates. However, I had a chance to attend K-pop class in Tokyo. There, the instructor was caring about new students and had a small talk after class about whether or not I enjoyed the class. Also, since I am a Korean and classmates were all very interested in Korea, when they knew that I am a Korean, classmates came to me to talk about their affection to Korea or how much they love k-pop or showing off their Korean skills. Compare to the studio in Kyoto, I would say I enjoyed the atmosphere and the energy of instructor and classmates of Tokyo studio more and it was way easier to have a conversation with people. The most important thing when entering new groups is the reaction and attention of existing members to new members. However, instructors and classmates in Kyoto studio were not very interested in new students, which made it hard for me to get along with people at Kyoto Studio.

Because my goal for CIP was to interact with Japanese people outside of KCJS and become friends with people who have same interest(k-pop), I was not able to achieve my goal at the studio in Kyoto. If you are willing to join dance studio for your CIP, try to find a studio where they have a more welcoming atmosphere and also try actively to interact with people.