Living in a new environment can be a troubling experience. Students often face the burden of speculating when it comes to choosing where to eat, where to get various supplies, how to cook their food, etc. In order to alleviate the burden of finding a place to eat for foreigners, ISSS has put forth the “Where to Eat at KAIST” event. It aims to serve students who come not only from different parts of the world but also those coming from other cities in Korea. ISSS is planning to have participants of the program visit a couple of restaurants outside campus. Then, they would write their own rendition of what would be a miniature introduction and critique of the places they visited and recommend their fellow students where to go depending on their personal tastes.

     ISSS has embarked on a new venture to give the international populace a host of options on where to eat and let foreigners have a shot at exploring different foods of the land. The aim is to catalog useful and practical descriptions of some of the more popular restaurants and make the information accessible to both international and Korean students alike. The catalog is to be posted on the international office website at io.kaist.ac.kr.

     Most Korean students do not have difficulties finding restaurants serving the menus they like. They can easily obtain the information they need with a mere entry on a search engine, finding themselves showered with results on a hundred different local eating establishments. However, the number of restaurants introduced in English is scant and those often posted on blogs and social media introduce expensive menus. Thus, internationals are only able to get a whiff of the information from their seniors, friends, or their Korean buddies. That is not adequate enough for students who want to go outside campus to explore the different cuisines of Korea. Therefore, ISSS has pushed on this program to bridge that apparent gap.

     As Susan H. Chung from ISSS stated, “We want the applying students to write an introduction of the place as they would introduce to it to a friend of theirs. Their friend might be vegetarian, may love spicy food, or hate sweets, or perhaps may not be willing to walk more than 10 minutes outside the school gates.” It also serves as a great opportunity for all participants to share their experiences with their fellow KAISTians. Students should refrain from writing about fast food chains. Anyone is free to participate in the program. Those willing to participate should fill out the form posted on the KAIST Portal and submit it to ISSS by no later than May 27. ISSS has prepared gift vouchers for the most illustrious submissions depending on the quality of their writing and the detail of their description.