Hello, I’m Pavisha and I am a third year Economics student who spent a semester abroad in Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea. Choosing to complete a semester abroad was one of the best decisions of my life!
First Arriving in South Korea:
The day I arrived in Korea was honestly quite nerve-wracking contrary to the excitement I thought I’d be feeling. I think the reality of “I am going to be here for 4 months and there’s no going back” settled in and it was quite a daunting feeling. I questioned why I even thought this was a good idea. But the next day we had orientation at the university and all my nervous feelings immediately calmed down. I met nice people who had already been to Korea before, and the university really broke down everything into detail with all the information I could’ve possibly needed. From that point on it was just the best! Here are some photos of the University:
Day to day life:
I was unable to get accommodation on campus so I ended up looking for accommodations by myself and booked one before I arrived in Korea. In Korea there is something called goshiwons and they are generally used by students. It is quite a tiny ensuite room, but it had all the necessary things needed, including a small fridge within the room. The place I lived in was about a 20 minute walk from campus but there was also a quick 5-10 minute bus ride. The campus was a lot bigger and on a steep hill so that was annoying sometimes, but it was quite a nice campus. One thing that was different for me is that we tended to have 3 hour lectures in one go for some modules. For me and a lot of other students, that meant that we could have Fridays off too and a longer weekend created the perfect opportunity to do many city trips within Korea. Another thing that was different is that we had midterms as well as final exams. There were also many canteens on campus that served quite filling meals for only around ÂŁ3-4, so I had lunch quite often on campus. The main cafeteria would have different menus each day too so that was nice.
My experience with economics at SNU:
If I’m being honest SNU offered a few good modules for economics that you can’t do at Southampton, but the choices were very limited. I ended up having to do a macroeconomics module, but it was taught very differently considering at Southampton it’s taught maths heavy but at SNU it was taught through diagrams. Also, SNU’s course signup system was very different to Southampton and it was on a first come first serve basis and was highly competitive. I got to do a teaching of economic geography module which was very interesting and unique so that was nice. I also done a corporate finance module which was quite hard, but the teaching was quite good.
Opportunities I had:
One opportunity I had was the Korean language program that allowed me to learn Korean. It was small classes and the teachers were so nice and it really helped with learning day to day Korean. One of the things I was quite scared about was making friends. But there were so many exchange students around me and everyone was very willing to talk to each other. This made it sooo much easier to make friends. SNU also offered a buddy scheme for exchange students called SNU Buddy. The Korean buddies would arrange events and this scheme allowed for us to do so many things that might have been hard to organise by ourselves. Here is a picture of a schedule for one of the months:
Fun, Unique experiences I Had:
There were lots of fun and unique experiences I had during the semester abroad and ill talk about 3 of my favourite memories. The first experience is a temple stay. The buddy group took us to a Buddhist temple outside of the city and there we learnt about Buddhism, tried some meditation, made lotus lanterns, had temple food, and attended prayer sessions. My favourite memory of the temple stay would be waking up super early to attend the morning 3am prayer.
Another one of my favourite experiences was visiting the Gyeongbokgung palace and getting to try on a traditional Korean dress (Hanbok). You could rent them in the area. The palace was very very pretty and also quite large. It was so nice to see the history preserved. I also got to see the guards changing which was quite cool.
Finally, another amazing experience was when I went to watch the New Year’s fireworks. There were a lot of options in Korea to watch the fireworks, but I went to the Lotte World Tower. I also heard that it is a tradition in Korea to watch the first sunrise of the year and make a wish. So, I got up early and went to a nearby bridge to watch the sunrise.Â
Advice for anyone planning on studying abroad:
Firstly, if you are contemplating studying abroad, then with no doubt you should go. During my study abroad time I used a Wise card because it had quite good exchange rates and it wouldn’t charge transaction fees once you converted money into the other currency. So if Wise offers the currency of the country you are going to, I would definitely recommend getting a Wise card. I have some advice for those going to South Korea too. For Alien registration card (ARC) applications, see if your host university offers an application process because it is significantly easier to do it through the university than alone. For those specifically in Seoul, getting a climate card and topping it up monthly can help save on transport costs. You top up 65,000 won (around £34) per month and you hae unlimited use of the bus and subways within Seoul. For a bit more higher price you can also use the bikes but you need to get your ARC connected to it before. Finally, Daiso is your best friend that probably has everything and anything you need. But yeah other than that, definitely go for it and make the most of it by trying everything you can! Thank you for reading my blog 🙂