Why South Korea?
Studying
at The Hague University of Applied Sciences has led me to come in contact with
a vast number of students, each with their own unique cultural backgrounds.
Although each student had a story to tell, the ones that interested me the most
were those that came from foreign students from Asia. The complexity of each
individual Asian nation made for some interesting stories and viewpoints on
global issues, depending on the country the students were from. For these
reasons, I started to become interested in Asia even more.
Eventually, I chose a Korean language ECA during my 2nd year, as I heard the alphabet was easy to learn. Hearing the interesting stories from my Korean professor convinced me to choose the Business in Asia Minor during my 3rd year. During this minor, my professors shared stories about their times and experiences in Asia. Since I had already chosen the Korean language ECA, it was a fairly easy decision when I chose Seoul, South Korea as my exchange semester location. After researching the many partner universities, I eventually ended up choosing Hanyang University (한양대학교), one on the top private universities in South Korea.
Arrival
When I first arrived at Seoul-Incheon International Airport I immediately felt the euphoria of being in a new country. I was finally in South Korea and I was ready to start a new adventure ! I was the first student from my study to arrive in South Korea, so I had to do everything alone. The first thing I did was withdraw money from a global ATM. It felt pretty good to hold 500,000 Korean won in my hands (even though that’s only about 370 euro!). I quickly grabbed my luggage and went straight to the airport’s bus terminal. After waiting a couple minutes, I boarded bus 6007 and I was off to the mega city known as Seoul…
Eventually, I chose a Korean language ECA during my 2nd year, as I heard the alphabet was easy to learn. Hearing the interesting stories from my Korean professor convinced me to choose the Business in Asia Minor during my 3rd year. During this minor, my professors shared stories about their times and experiences in Asia. Since I had already chosen the Korean language ECA, it was a fairly easy decision when I chose Seoul, South Korea as my exchange semester location. After researching the many partner universities, I eventually ended up choosing Hanyang University (한양대학교), one on the top private universities in South Korea.
Arrival
When I first arrived at Seoul-Incheon International Airport I immediately felt the euphoria of being in a new country. I was finally in South Korea and I was ready to start a new adventure ! I was the first student from my study to arrive in South Korea, so I had to do everything alone. The first thing I did was withdraw money from a global ATM. It felt pretty good to hold 500,000 Korean won in my hands (even though that’s only about 370 euro!). I quickly grabbed my luggage and went straight to the airport’s bus terminal. After waiting a couple minutes, I boarded bus 6007 and I was off to the mega city known as Seoul…
After stepping off the bus and trying to find my student apartment I noticed something that was strange to me. It was something that I would notice for the rest of my exchange semester. There. Are. People. EVERYWHERE. ALWAYS. For the past 9 years of my life, I have lived in The Netherlands together with roughly 17 million other citizens. The city of Seoul together with its surrounding metropolitan areas are home to 25 million Koreans. I had to share the city with an enormous amount of people.
Korean people
During my exchange semester I had to get used to some cross cultural differences between me and Korean students and teachers. "Power distance" immediately came into play when I started attending classes. Respecting those who are older than you is very important to Koreans. This means that students will bow to teachers, children will listen to their parent’s every word and younger students will pour the drinks of older students. The Western sense of equality amongst peers is almost non-existent in Korea.
"Forwardness" is also a very strange topic in South Korea. Asian cultures have a phenomenon known as “saving face”. This means that Koreans tend to avoid confrontations or arguments in front of others to save face and ensure nobody gets embarrassed. This is one of the leftovers of Confucianism in North-East Asia. Although this sounds noble, I found it extremely frustrating as Koreans will dance around certain topics and not be direct about their opinions or actions. During group work with Korean students this issue was apparent. However, by being patient and talking things out I was able to complete my tasks at school.
Academics
I
attended Hanyang University during my time in Korea. The school has a beautiful
campus that’s the size of a small town in the Netherlands. Students from my
study who do their exchange programme in South Korea are typically required to
take five courses. However, I chose three. I could do this because I took an
Intensive Korean Language Programme course, which exchange students do not
normally take. While other students were
out partying every day, I had to go to 4 hour language classes every day for 10
weeks.
During this time I learned the basics of the Korean language, together with other internationals, who were there because they had ambitions to work in South Korea. It was a difficult time, but very rewarding. It was pretty nice to be able to understand the signs across the city, with my limited language knowledge. Also, since the programme was only 10 weeks long I only had 2 courses (Services Marketing & Tourism Management) for the final few months of the exchange programme, compared to my friends who had 5.
During this time I learned the basics of the Korean language, together with other internationals, who were there because they had ambitions to work in South Korea. It was a difficult time, but very rewarding. It was pretty nice to be able to understand the signs across the city, with my limited language knowledge. Also, since the programme was only 10 weeks long I only had 2 courses (Services Marketing & Tourism Management) for the final few months of the exchange programme, compared to my friends who had 5.
Work hard play hard
Korean student life truly lives up to the saying “Work hard, play hard”. The first aspect to this is work hard. From a very young age, Koreans develop an intense focus on academics. For example, high school students will attend regular class during the day. Afterwards, they’ll head to cram school and continue studying. This leaves very little time during the day for Koreans to play or focus on their hobbies. To Koreans, higher grades in high school will get you to the SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University & Yonsei University), which are the best. However, when they reach university it’s a very different story. Attendance is not always mandatory and their parents don’t have a ton of control anymore. This all leads to the “Play hard” aspect…
Korea has a drinking culture. After attending university during the week, Korean students will head to a Noraebang (karaoke bar) or one of the many clubs in Seoul. When you go with them, you should already expect it to be a night of heavy drinking. A bottle of soju, Korea’s most famous alcohol, costs less than $3. This means that, to the delight of money conscious foreign students (like me!), you can get pretty intoxicated without spending a whole lot. I’ve often woken up after nights of heavy drinking with friends to find out that I only spent around 10-15 euros.
Best and worst memories
My best memory of South Korea would be a school trip to Muwol village. Muwol village is a traditional village in the south of South Korea, roughly 4 hours by bus away from Seoul. I stayed there for 3 days together with about 30 other students from Hanyang. During this time our guides let us participate in many traditional activities. These included activities such as handkerchief dyeing, making floating lanterns, preparing rice in bamboo sticks and making Korean sweets. I had a lot of fun participating in all these activities. Also, I made a lot of friends during the trip. The guides made sure we interacted with each other and had a great time. This trip was exactly what I envisioned myself to be doing in Korea. It was great and I learned a lot about Korean culture in the process.
I don’t really have a many bad memories about my exchange semester. However, if I had to choose one that stood out, it would be the public transportation. Now, it’s not all bad. The metro and bus lines themselves are so integrated you can easily travel within the huge city. Also, they’re always on time and come every 5 minutes or so. It’s cheap, too. The standard fee is 1250 won, which is about 1 euro. The problem is that there are millions of people who live in Seoul. So during rush hour the metros and busses can get very full. So full in fact, that the temperature actually rises significantly since there are so many people together. Sometimes I couldn’t even reach for my phone in my pocket. There were just too many people there. Since I had to use public transportation everyday this got a little annoying. Also, all those people in one tight space doesn’t really smell good!
Final thoughts
Looking back, I had a pretty amazing time in South Korea. I met a lot of great students at my university. Some of them turned into lifelong friends who I try to talk to several times a week. Throughout my time in Korea I’ve visited traditional villages, a ton of museums, the DMZ and also travelled to other cities (Suwon, Busan and Damyang). Exploring a foreign country has made me realize that I would really like to graduate and find a job in which I can travel. I think visiting other countries will lead you to gain invaluable cultural awareness. This is something that I certainly gained during those 5 months.
About the author: Jonathan Hodge is 3rd year Bachelor student, International Business and Management Studies at The Hague University of Applied Sciences
