A Super Positive Woman Ever from TV show “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

One of DSKUSSS members love to watch TV sitcom shows. She found one great show to watch and she wants to share the story a little bit and tries to explain why she is into it. Read this writing and let us know what you think of this sitcom! We are welcome to any comments :-)

A Super Positive Woman Ever

from TV show “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Yunzee Kim

Graduated from Dongseo University

Communication and Media Studies

A new TV sitcom came up in 2015. In the show, there is a super positive and fun women who try to keep having hope no matter how she has been through tough situations. Her name is Kimmy Schmidt who left the miserable life in Indiana state and moves in New York. When she was in Indiana, she was kidnaped by a cray cult leader who insisted the doomsday of the world is coming soon. Then, she kept living her life in a bunker of a basement for 15 years. Whenever she wanted to go out, the leader warned her that the world has been vanished and they should live in the bunker forever. Luckily, after the 15 years, the rescue team who has looked for this woman and other missing people found them and Kimmy finally saw the sunlight. From then, the media could not get their eyes off them, they called them “mole women”, and all people in American felt pity for them. Since Kimmy is very positive and independent, she abandoned all the life in Indiana and decided to start over her life in a new place, New York.

The episodes of season 1 deals with how she lives in the new world. Since she is innocent and positive, she turns typical New Yorkers who only cares about themselves into better people that cares other people. Her roommate and her employer were selfish and only cared about their life. However, they started to involve Kimmy’s life as the episode goes. The episodes are full of fun and ironical situations and these make people laugh and smile. If you want to know how a positive person can change the world, this TV show could give you a clue! Please enjoy it!

Giving Tips in America

It is unfamiliar for Korean to give a tip when you go to restaurants or beauty salons etc. However, in the states, there is culture that gives a tip when you get a service. Please read this and get some tips on how to pay the tip in the states! Let us know, if you have any thoughts or opinions through comments!

Giving Tips in America

Jungwon Lee

Dept. of Global Studies

Pusan National University

Whenever Koreans travel U.S. and dine in nice restaurants, most people worry, thinking ‘After finishing my meal, how much tips should I give to the waiter or the cashier?’

A tip, also called a gratuity, is a sum of money customarily tendered, in addition to the basic price for a service performed or anticipated. Tipping is a widely practiced social custom in the U.S. It is known that the practice of tipping began in Tudor England. By the 17^th century, it was expected that overnight guests to private homes would provide sums of money to the host’s servants. Soon afterwards, customers began tipping in London coffeehouses and other commercial establishments.

Tipping by definition is voluntary. In restaurants offering traditional table service, a tip of 15% of the amount of a customer’s check is customary when good service is provided. Higher tips may be given for excellent service, and lower tips for mediocre service. Some restaurants kindly show how much tips should the customers voluntarily pay. However, if it is not indicated, people should calculate the tips by his or her own and that could be annoying. In the case of bad or rude service, no tip may be given and the restaurant manager may be notified of the problem. Tips are also generally given for service provided in golf courses, casino, hotels, concierge, food delivery, taxis, spa and salons. This etiquette applies to bar service at weddings and any other event where one is a guest as well. The host should provide appropriate tips to workers at the end of an event; the amount may be negotiated in the contract.

Well, Tipping culture is new to us Koreans because we just pay what says on the bill. So Koreans might get a little bit stingy when giving tips. However, in America, when we don’t add tips, we would be easily regarded as cheapskates. Some servers who work in American restaurants may behave rudely to Koreans because they know that the tipping culture do not exist in Korea. On the other hand, some cities in the U.S. tried to implement the ‘no tipping policy’. They changed their former tipping policies by charging 15% higher prices to cover paying higher wages to staff. Also, they informed their customers that they don’t need to leave extra at the end of their meal.

 

Tipping culture in America is difficult to catch up, and sometimes it is hard to understand. However, like the old saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” indicates, it would be best if we accept one of the U.S. culture and be smart travelers!  

American Classes in My Room; Coursera

Are you interested in MOOC? If you are, you maybe heard "Coursera". This is one of the biggest MOOC sites. If you aren't, you can know what it is through this writing. One of DSKUSSS members explains why this site is convenient to use. Please, read this and let us know what you are thinking through the comments!

American Classes in My Room; Coursera

Soeun Kim

Pusan National University

Polymer Science and Engineering

Have you ever imagined that you are taking popular classes in U.S with famous professors? You might think it is only in your dream. However, there is one way to make your dream real. Coursera, one of the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) sites, can let you bring the American campus into your own room. Coursera is a pro-profit company that offers MOOC, and works with universities to make some of their courses available online. You can take courses from Harvard, Princeton, Wharton and so on, which are considered as foremost schools.
   This brilliant site, the Coursera was founded in 2012, by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University. At first, Coursera had few lectures, but now, they provide more than thousands courses and have over 13 million users from 190 countries.

Even there are many users, as the Coursera is based on online services, it would be hard to motivate and maintain the users who take the courses. However, it is said that the users are consistently motivated in the Coursera. How? There is a huge difference among other online lecture sites, “Certification system”. They give the option to pay a fee to join the “Signature Track”. Students on the signature track can receive verified certificates, if they take all of the courses, quizzes and other assignments. This system can make students self-motivated, as they can get certification by participation to the courses.

Through the Coursera, you can take any courses you want. You can learn Marketing from Wharton, Humanities from Harvard, or Thermodynamics from MIT. I believe that the Coursera made a campus without borders. At the same time, they made another way of educational opportunity. Why don’t you try to catch this great chance? Turn on the Coursera, and bring the world campus into your room!