(topic2) 7월9일

[JONY]

Discussion Topic

Drinking culture among university student
 Stop pushing me to drink!
Every March, most university freshmen worry about being forced to take part in a drinking binge or hazing ritual.

However, students attending Hannam University in Taejon are engaging themselves in a different kind of a ritual, ``volunteering,’’ for the elderly who are living alone to welcome new students. A total of 600 students at the engineering college of the university have visited the seniors who live alone, instead gathering with their seniors over beers or ``soju,’’ Korean liquor, on weekends this month.

The university’s student council has held volunteer activities to help the needy residents living in the region with free meals or papering the walls of their rooms or repairing their houses. In Taejon Station, students also distributed lunch boxes free of charge to about 200 homeless people residing around the station on March 24. ``I have my grandmother who is living alone after surviving grandfather many years ago. Through these volunteer activities, I am very glad to give the elderly who live alone pleasure,’’ Yoon Sol, freshman of the university, said. ``I hope the volunteer activities will pave the way for creating a new culture instead the old hazing rituals for freshmen every March,’’ Yoon added.
Meanwhile, freshmen attending Geumgang University in South Chungchong Province will join a volunteer event of walking through rice paddies on Sunday.
Through the walking event, students are expected to experience collegiate life and promote friendship, together with the disabled peers to complete walking a 10-kilometer-long course.
Some college students beat-up freshmen as part of hazing rituals for freshmen around March, the beginning of the college year. The tradition of beating freshmen as a congratulatory gesture causes a lot of problems, sometimes resulting in serious injuries and fatalities.

Korean people like to say that drinking makes them feel friendlier and more open. After a session or two, you can see why. In their fairly stiff, Confucian society, drinking is the one time when people can cut loose. Any night of the week is a good night to see drunken groups staggering and singing songs on the streets. And since singing constitutes such an integral part of the good times, it is difficult to find an area in Korea that does not include at least one singing room (called a noraebang).
Korean traditional alcohols do not have the same hard kick as Chinese drinks, are not as fine as Japanese drinks, are not as sophisticated as wine, and are not as strong as Vodka. A mild flavor, natural color, and soft texture are dominant qualities of Korean traditional alcohols. Although fine in moderation, soju in particular can become your worst enemy, leading to what many foreigners call the 'soju experience.'
In order to really appreciate Korean traditional alcohols, one needs to lift away the hot temper of people in modern society. Because of the family-brewed tradition of Korean alcohols, drinking helps Koreans return to a more relaxed, pastoral frame of mind.

<Questions>
1. Have you ever been forced to drink unpleasantly?
2. Do you think Korean university students have problems in their drinking culture?
3. Do you agree with the Korean people's belief that drinking helps people become closer
    with each other?
4. What are the solutions for university students to enjoy collegiate culture as well as
    their desireble drinking culture?