"Why are you studying Korean Medicine?" Many upperclassmen have asked me that question when I entered the college of Korean Medicine this spring. They might have wanted to know whether I came here on my own will or was forced by my parents' persuasions and the social estimations of doctors. There are many smart answers to this question, but I have always said that it was because my grandfather and father are both doctors of Korean Medicine. In others' eyes, it can look somewhat rude, ostentatious, but that is my honest reply. My father was influenced by my grandfather to become a doctor when he was young. He didn't make me feel pressured to carry on the family practice, but his presence alone awed me and with the caring image of my grandfather in my faint memory, it was enough to plant in my head that doctors were great people.

I first encountered Korean Medicine when I was very young. I ate the herbal remedies and I've also been treated with acupunctures. When I was little I was so weak that people used to joke, telling me not to say my father is a doctor. I think that is why I am so familiar with Korean medicine. And maybe that's why I have nothing against the taste and smell of Korean medicine. The ones used for dietary supplement tend to be sweet, and medicine for illnesses such as cold are very bitter. I can tell them apart by their tastes. Because I encountered Korean Medicine in this way since I was very young, and I thought of it as my own future I chose the college of Korean Medicine without a second thought.

My friends used to think I was already really good at Korean Medicine in the beginning, although they know better now. School curriculum is not that easy and peer pressures are relatively high. At home my father does not talk about Korean medicine that much. If he talked more about it, that could have helped me adjust faster. On the other hand that could have set me against Korean medicine. Because what we learn in high school is all Western knowledge. To tell the truth, I was confused and disappointed at the beginning, with all the different kinds of knowledge flooding into my brain, that were totally new to me--not just me but for most of my classmates also. I'm still working on my way.

If accepting new wisdom is this hard for me as a university student, it could have been unacceptable for me as a kid. Back then, doctors of Korean Medicine only meant "Grandpa" to me.

Many of my friends are getting distant from their fathers because they don't have anything to talk about. I find myself lucky that I and my father are different from them. Aside from father-son relationship, I can also have a senior-junior, or teacher-student relationship with my father as a future doctor on the same path that he has taken.

As time goes on, I am more and more satisfied that I can ask my father questions and we have a common subject to talk about. Before my entering collge of Korean Medicine, he used to stress the importance of the attitude towards school life and keeping up with studying English. That was told to me so that I wouldn't have the same regrets as himself.

But, as the saying goes "some things are better unknown." My father know too much about what I should expect from school. Before I came into college he did not meddle with my studies. Now he likes to preach. "See, this subject is ... blah, blah, blah ..."

As there are two sides to a coin, so I also have Eum(陰) and Yang(陽). I have many memories of last semester. Skipping class and going to see a movie, getting pressure from studying ancient Chinese characters, studying English at seminars, etc. Many fun, interesting things and many regretful things. But I am certain that through this trials and errors I will eventually get into the right track.

After spending one semester at college, I wonder how much of the dreams and ambitions I had at first are still here with me. I would always keep up with the challenging spirit. I would like to introduce Korean Medicine to the wider world, and I would like to become a better doctor than my father and grandfather. Contributing to the society is my--as a fearless first grader--dream.