The second drama I've watched was Love Story in Harvard 러브스토리 인 하버드. I was in the computer lab with a friend in class and he was looking up images from this drama. Admittedly, it caught my attention how beautiful both female main leads were. This was about a year before I started watching dramas, but it certainly left an impression on me to remember to check this drama out.
Love Story in Harvard is a drama about two Korean students who have come to Harvard to study. Kim Hyunwoo (Kim Rae Won) is a law school student. The other student is Hong Jungmin (Lee Jung Jin). Hyunwoo slowly gets accustomed to high vigor that is Harvard Law School. Jungmin is a favorite to Professor John Keynes and Hyunwoo has made a bad impression to the same professor. It leads to Hyunwoo and Jungmin to become rivals. Both Hyunwoo and Jungmin meet and fall in love with Lee Sooin (Kim Tae Hee), who is a Harvard Medical School student. Hyunwoo and Sooin become closer together, only for the relationship to stop short when Sooin is accepted to the OEP. The OEP is a non-profit organization that provides medical care to patients in Third World countries. After Hyunwoo and Sooin spend the night together, she leaves Hyunwoo a letter and two rings as she heads to South America for her volunteer work. Three years later, Hyunwoo has graduated from Harvard Law School and has become a very impressive lawyer in Seoul. While investigating an industrial chemicals case, Hyunwoo finds Sooin and Jungmin once again.
Amidst the love story, the drama explores a number of unique issues pertaining to their vocations. During the first half of the drama that takes place during the college years, Sooin faces a dilemma where she saves someone's life despite not having an actual medical degree. Both Hyunwoo and Jungmin are split between their views, which are based mainly on their idea of "the right thing to do" and "the legal thing to do". Hyunwoo becomes a lawyer who is adamant about using his knowledge of law to help those without a voice in the legal system. He is bold in fighting corrupt lawyers head-on in order to see justice brought to those who hurt the innocent people with their selfish, greedy desires. In essence, he plays the 'good guy' role which is not usually seen in typical dramas by the main male lead. Similarly, Sooin is a nice girl who pursues her dream of saving lives as a doctor but gets taken advantage of by those who have other intentions. One of the things I liked about Love Story in Harvard was that it gave me a chance to see what college life was like. I watched this drama while in high school and before I went to a summer program for high school students at a university. So this drama was pretty much the only image I had of what college was. It was certainly different from the "American party college" concept. Speaking of Americans, one of the funniest things I found about this drama was the numerous interactions between the main actors whose characters were native Koreans and their non-Asian classmates. I will admit, it was pretty refreshing to hear English, even if imperfect, since my ability to listen and read Korean at the time was not what it is today.
The soundtrack isn't too bad either. My favorite song would be "Right Beside You 너의 곁으로". It's a nice ballad with good vocals and emotion. The other song is the main theme, "So in Love". The instrumental tracks are also nice to listen to and very appropriate for this drama.
Looking back at this drama, this drama is a better example of what people should look for in a boyfriend/girlfriend. Neither of the main characters are unrealistically people who become nice towards the person they unexpectedly fell in love with. Besides, we see Asians all the time in law school and medical school. See? Not an unrealistic drama. I should probably ask my native Korean friends from college to see how close this drama is to their actual college experience. I highly recommend watching Love Story in Harvard. The American college setting and unique plot lines that explore real world concerns for lawyers and doctors make Love Story in Harvard one of my most favorite dramas.
