It is very strange that you can feel you have known someone from your childhood, even if you just met him or her. Hyunsoo was a friend who made me feel just like that. When I first met her in America in 1994, I was participating in an ESL course at Harvard University during my summer vacation to improve my English and to experience America. There were some Koreans in the course, but I didn't really want to get acquainted with them. I'm not a person who can make friends quickly. Some people describe my character as being calm, composed, and moderate, though I don't think I agree with that. But that is quite true when I am around strangers. With strangers, I feel uncomfortable. I prefer taking a walk alone to dining with strangers uneasily. But, strangely enough, no sooner had I talked with Hyunsoo than I was sure we could be good friends. On vacation, I had a really good time with her, and in Korea after I came back, we kept up with each other. Even last summer, we went to travel in Europe together.
        From the time I first met Hyunsoo, I learned many things from her. She has a very unique character. She is very straightforward, active, critical, and cantankerous. Also she is too frank, so that many people who first meet her think she is rude. Yes, that's true. I saw her several times before I knew her, for she was also one of the students in my ESL course. Actually, at first I didn't get any particular impression from her. But the first time she addressed me, I myself thought she was really rude.
        At that time, I was trying on a one-piece dress in a clothes shop. When I looked in the mirror at myself, suddenly I heard someone say, "You look like a pig in that dress."
        Of course I was greatly shocked. "What?" said I.
        "That isn't becoming at all."
        I was only looking at her in perfect calmness.
        "Sorry, but I want to say that dress isn't good."
        What a rude and strange girl she is, I thought.
        "Well. . . , do we know each other?" said I.
        "I know you. Aren't you Korean?"
        "So what?" I said to myself in my heart, though, anyway, I didn't buy that dress according to her advice. This was my first meeting with Hyunsoo. I never imagined that I would be addressed by a stranger in such a way. But I was by her. On my way back from the shop, we started a conversation, and in this way, we could get to be friends.
        If you get acquainted with her more and more, it's of no account to you whether Hyunsoo is rude or not. That is only her habit. You can easily forget that. Instead, you will find many wonderful factors about her character. One important point in her character is that she is enthusiastic about everything. She has rich common sense and shows great interest in everything. When I went to the museum with her in Europe, looking at so many pictures made me tired easily. Thus after passing two or three exhibition rooms, I simply glanced around a room and ran into another room. But she was different. She always found something unique in each picture and gave her opinions and finally asked my opinion. What I really admire about Hyunsoo is that, whether her opinion is proper or not--because I know that sometimes she is wrong--she expresses her ideas without hesitation, but with confidence, as if everybody should at once admit that she is right. Due to her, I could see the world from a different point of view, or rather from a unique point of view. Thus last summer, when she suggested to me that we travel to Europe together without the services of a travel agency, even though I wouldn't have considered that once before, I agreed with her readily. I thought that some difficulties I might meet during the travel were trifling. If she was with me, it seemed to me that I could manage them well.
        Indeed, Hyunsoo is a stimulant to me. Her characteristic that stimulates me most is her unreserved frankness. Although other people say that is unpleasant, I really like this point. When she said openly what I was reluctant to admit or hate, which was an accurate description, she looked like a real 'devil' at first. But gradually I realized that what she said honestly was fair and that was a stimulant to make me do something. When there was a thing I hated to do but I must do or I had better do, I often looked for an excuse not to do it. Then she said, "If you truly think so, well, you don't need to do that. But if you don't do that because you simply feel annoyed, you have to do it. If I were you, I would do that." Besides, I could think many thoughts and take many actions I never imagined before because of her. So, in the two years I've known Hyunsoo I can find myself to be changed greatly.
        Recently at a meeting, one of my former high school friends complained about me. I was helping to make an alumni magazine. He complained about my lack of responsibility in making the magazine. At that moment, I was very angry at him. I did my best, though I was absent from regular meetings often. But in the next moment, my anger soon disappeared, and I admitted that he could think of me in that way. I was thinking that if Hyunsoo were him, she would be throwing a bunch of complaints at me. I could calm myself in front of others' complaints, think of myself not in a selfish way, and think of others in a generous way. Yes, I know that all these changes in my personality are due to her. During the period I spent with her, I naturally realized the following: one person thinks in this way, another thinks in that way, and some people can complain about me, because I have many weak points. Through Hyunsoo, I found the way to make myself strong, relaxed, and most of all, confident.