Can you imagine working in a different country than yours—a country where they speak a different language, use different transportation and have a completely different culture? Sunwoo Kwon, an exchange employee who worked for the Aurora Water Department for the last year, sat down with me to share her journey.

Sunwoo is from Seongnam City, Aurora’s sister city in the Republic of Korea. She is the first employee to take part in a municipal exchange program that was established between the city of Aurora and the city of Seongnam in 2017 through the Aurora Sister Cities program.

Sunwoo had an opportunity to apply for the municipal exchange program in 2018 along with others in her city. Ultimately, Sunwoo was the employee selected for the program which allowed her to travel to Colorado on sabbatical and learn what it was like to be an Aurora city employee for over 10 months!

Sunwoo’s experience coming to a foreign country was like no other. She said “Life felt much slower… the transportation was slower, people shopped slower, and it just felt much different than in Korea.” She mentioned her first experience at a King Soopers and how she thought it was a very beautiful store. She said it was so different that “I had to take a picture to remember it!” On the weekends, when she was not working, she would go explore different places. She explained that in her home country, there aren’t many parks and trees like in Aurora. She said she liked taking her son to different parks to explore. (Sunwoo traveled to Aurora with her husband and her four-year-old son). She also went on to talk about her experience outside of Aurora like going to Boulder and Estes Park. She talked about the beautiful scenery that Colorado had to offer and how much she enjoyed exploring it.

Overall, Sunwoo had a great experience living in and working for the city of Aurora. Her experience allowed her to adapt to a new environment, improve her language skills and learn how city government works in the United States. And she will bring back her new knowledge to her own city in Korea. When asked if her experience was worthwhile, Sunwoo said absolutely and “Hopefully, in the future we can continue to support these exchanges and give others the opportunity to explore Aurora.”

About the Author: Maria Martinez is Aurora’s first Denver Foundation Nonprofit Internship Program intern. She was raised in Aurora and graduated from Central High School and just completed her first year at the University of Colorado at Boulder where she is currently pursuing a dual-degree in Political Science and Leadership

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