South Korea Delivers The Goods And Will Make You Want To Go Back For More Past Review
By Christine L (East Asian Studies., Wellesley College) for
CIEE: Seoul - Arts and Sciences
Of course! I am still processing everything, so I don't really know what I have learned about myself through this experience yet, but I definitely now have a more in-depth understanding of Korean culture, Korean history, Korean politics, and just the psyche of the Korean people. I understand why the people do what they do or believe what they believe in a much more complete way than before. My experience abroad did impact my cultural awareness but has not changed my academic interests or future plans much, except I now want to try and work in Korea after graduating from college/grad school. My overall satisfaction is actually five globes, except I do regret that the international students weren't more integrated with the Yonseian student body, and that it was so difficult to make friends with and meet natives. I got a lot of help from my friends who had graduated from college and were working there as well, a support system I realize many may not have--because of my friends I found a good church, I was able to get some tutoring experience, and I was able to visit some of the acclaimed restaurants that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
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Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I was able to study what I wanted to study, but the difference between Korean education and American education is quite large. Thus the teaching methods were different there than in America--American education is individual and participation heavy, while Korean education does not emphasize student participation and is rote memorization heavy. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
CIEE went far above and beyond my expectations. While the domestic CIEE advisor in America was helpful, her e-mails seems laces with impatience and snappishness--I'm not the only student who feels like our advisor was being unhelpful. However, the on-site administration of CIEE was ideal. The staff were so thoughtful, experienced and organized, and the programming was fun, engaging and insightful into Korean culture. I can't praise CIEE enough, truly. The support they offer, such as workshops concerning culture shock, were helpful; the speakers who came to talk about Korean pop culture, or North Korea, were professional and engaging; the program size was just right so that everyone could know everyone. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
CIEE requires all its students to be in the international students' dorm at Yonsei University. I liked the housing and facilities; the only irksome policy was the strict separation between males and females that made studying together or just hanging out difficult unless the group left campus. |
| * Food: |
I don't have any dietary restrictions, and eating on-campus or off was absolutely amazing. I miss the food in Korea so much--cheap, delicious beyond belief, and so much better than my normal college diet. Definitely don't ever eat at the same place twice--there are so many places to eat and so little time! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
We visited Japan and traveled to the DMZ and other historical and scenic sites in Korea like Gyeongju, Jeonju and others. We visited the American embassy, cooked at a culinary institute that had teachers who escaped from North Korea, went to one of Korea's drumming shows, and were able to attend a concert on campus that had a few major singers come perform. The people in CIEE were great to hang out with and I experienced a lot because of CIEE. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Seoul is SO safe. There are people everywhere all the time--it is truly so safe and there are few homeless compared to places like New York or Boston. Of course girls should always be cautious and not venture out at late night without companions, but up until maybe midnight I felt comfortable going around by myself. I got sick once, and a CIEE staff member helped me get the right medicine. My dorm was located next to the best hospital in the country so I felt very supported. There were no major health issues there and did not need specific vaccines. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | My meals ranged from about $3.50 to $10.00. I kind of just shopped as I walked around, instead of deliberately going out on a shopping trip to a mall. Other personal expenses, like bus/subway/taxi fare, toiletries, medicine etc. are all quite cheap compared to America. I'd say $3,000 for a semester is more than enough--with proper budgeting, you can obviously bring less if you plan on not shopping. But since shopping in Korea is so awesome, you end up buying a lot and thus spending a lot in the end--if you just spend money on transportation, books, food, some amenities and other necessary items, you can definitely bring much less. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I was fine concerning expenses, but I ended up buying an electronic dictionary that was $200, and paying to go to two concerts, tickets that were about $80-$90 each. So I didn't really plan for those things, but there wasn't anything truly unanticipated. Some friends ended up taking trips to Japan or to Busan or Cheju Island on a whim, so they needed money for that. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Korean Language 202, a fourth semester (second year) course. |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Korean friends I met over summer, and my classmate. I did need to know Korea to travel comfortably, but I wouldn't necessarily say Korean is necessary to navigate the country. Most people can understand, if not speak a little, English. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | I expected the other CIEE students to already be well-aware of Korea and to be looking for in-depth study, but it varied across the board. Some came because they didn't get into another CIEE program, some came because they had to choose between China, Korea and Japan and thought Korean would be easy to learn, some just came to fool around. But then others come because they have experience with Korean adoptees and want to know about their friend's heritage, some because they are Korean adoptees and want to connect with their ethnic background, and a few like me, Korean Americans who want to improve their Korean and know more about themselves. So don't have expectations of everyone having the same intent or purpose for being in Korea and connect with the ones who do have similar goals to you so you can achieve them together. Any student would benefit from this program, it is truly professional, well-rounded and pretty much ideal in my opinion. |
