PERSONAL INTRODUCTION

My name is Vania, I'm a 23 years old girl from Italy. I was born and raised in a city outside
Milan, Cinisello Balsamo. I always loved reading, there are pictures of me as a toddler playing
among tons of newspapers. The thing that always got hooked me up were the plots, I remember
not wanting to go to bed because I needed to finish a certain book. Through the years, all of this
brought me to adore tv shows and my heart got captured by korean dramas.

While I was nurturing this passion of mine, I also tried to fulfill my desire to learn new
languages and cultures, which led me to choose a linguistic high school, where I studied for 5
years English, German and Spanish. I believe that reading and watching tv shows it's what made
me want to learn more about these cultures and their languages.

So when I had to choose a major from my bachelor's degree, I decided to focus on the
communication systems and the relationships between different cultures. This course involved
the study of a foreign language where the choices are Japanese, Chinese and Arab. My choice
was Japanese.

Although I loved studying this Asian language, I would have preferred to study, given the
chance, the Korean language. This led me to the choice I made for my final essay. I wrote a
paper about the Korean writing system, that talks about the birth and development of Hangeul
and Korean-Native words as well as the use of Hanja and Sino-Korean words. This made me fall
in love even more with the Korean language.

During fall 2014 I also spent a month in Seoul, where I had the chance to sightseeing the city and
also to meet and talk with people from there. I also spent a couple of days in Busan. This visit
changed my view of life, I suddenly realized that that was the place where I would like to live for
at least a couple of years of my life, if not for the rest of it.

I graduated last year, in March 2015, but I decided to take a year off to really think about what I
wanted to do with my life. My goal was to realize if what I felt during my trip in South Korea
was just the emotion of a moment or if that was what I really wanted to do.

So I looked for a job and I started working in a fast food restaurant. This job taught me a lot of
things of myself, I realized that I'm hardworking and patience. Before I didn't even believe how
much patience this type of jobs requires. I'm also focused and rational. Usually my friends and
family make fun of me because I always put my mind before my heart. However I believe that
thinking through something is better than just following your dreams. That's the reason why I
didn't ask for this scholarship last year, because I wanted to be sure that this is what I wanted to
study.
As I said before, I enjoy watching dramas but I'm also interested in the Korean culture and the
way it's perceived by the international viewers as well as the domestic. I also want to learn more
about the planning and production of Korean tv programs and shows. I think that the Korean
Entertainment Industry is unique so my goal is to learn more about it and also acquire new tools
to see how it reflects on the everyday life of the viewers.

My dream would be to be able, someday, to help in the planning and production of a drama or a
tv program.
With all this in mind I decided to try and enroll in the Culture Studies department, hoping to
study and deepen my knowledge on this subject.