McKay Nicole Novak

McKay has always loved learning languages. After learning Spanish for thirteen years, and Chinese for seven years, she wanted a new challenge and decided upon the language of Korean for her next linguistic venture. After learning this language for a little less than a year, her curiosity had expanded beyond the language itself and settled on the culture and people of Korea as a whole. It is for this reason McKay chose to spend the fall of her junior year in Seoul studying at Yonsei University. 

McKay’s time at Yonsei allowed her to propel her broken knowledge of Korean into a better, more well-rounded tool to communicate with, and better understand Korean people through intensive language courses. Beyond her linguistic experiences, she will forever be grateful for the four months spent discovering more about the Korean language, people, and culture, and is extremely appreciative for the opportunity to witness the unique strength of the Korean people during this tumultuous political time. Due to her positive experiences, McKay hopes to live and work abroad in Seoul after taking a year post-graduation to further develop her Korean language abilities to a level of proficiency in both business and general speech. However, McKay first looks forward to continuing the study of both language and Korean Studies when returning to Penn for her senior year. McKay believes serving as an Undergraduate Fellow within the James Joo-Jin Kim Program can facilitate her desire to increase her knowledge and awareness of Korean studies while making a positive contribution within the Kim Program and the general Penn community.