Every year in the fall, Yonsei and its lead competitor, Korea University, hold a series of games over the course of two days. This is what we at Yonsei call YonKo Jun (Yon from Yonsei Dae, Ko from Koryo Dae). Likewise, Korea U calls it KoYon Jun. Brief note: universities are casually shortened to the first syllable and then dae (dae hakkyo=undergraduate college). So Yonsei Dae Hakkyo is called Yondae. Hon-gik Dae Hakkyo is Hongdae.
I'm not the sports type. I don't usually get into the game, or yell or shout. But today I have no voice. Why? Going to the games isn't about watching ball. It's about cheering and dancing for the team. This is where some "culture shock" happened: no one yells profanities at the other team. In fact, when we came back to campus, we saw reds and blues sitting together in a circle eating on the lawn. My friends and I had internal error messages poppingup for a while before we got used to it. But I still didn't really understand whether to cheer with Koryo kids when they chanted yondae or not. I felt mocked, but I didn't think that's what they were trying to do.
The games were a tie, by the way.
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