Finishing up Finals
Week 15 is when the majority of my final projects and papers were due. These past few weeks, and especially week 15, were quite stressful but I kept up with my deadlines and was able to finish all my finals. The journey coming to a close... With my study abroad journey coming to an end, I thought back to when I first arrived to Korea and how it seemed like just yesterday. Time has flown by very quickly since then but I have enjoyed every moment being here. I experienced living on my own and in a different country, I made new friends, and have done so many fun and exciting activities in Korea. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity and I hope other students can have the chance to study abroad. In the next section, I have listed some tips that I think will be helpful for those students who are interested in Kyunghee University or Korea. Tips for students who want to study abroad at Kyunghee University or South Korea:
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Tonko House Animation Exhibition Tonko House is an animation company based in Berkeley, California that was founded by 2 former Pixar Art Directors, Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo. I was a fan of their short film, The Dam Keeper, and I was very excited when I found out they had an exhibition in Seoul. The exhibition featured artwork from "The Dam Keeper" and their other projects. Short video's were played throughout detailing the whole production process and with commentary from the animators. Catching up with family My dad recently moved back to Seoul, so we went to dinner, along with my cousin and his wife. We ate sushi for dinner (so good!) and some mango bingsu (빙수) for dessert. Preparing for Finals
Final Exam week is the week of June 17, but luckily for me, I do not have any final exams. Instead, I have 2 final presentations and 2 final papers, which are due before the final exam week. So in the coming days, I will be busy studying and working on my projects. Here is my schedule for finals:
Spring Festival The Spring Festival is a week-long event filled with performances, food, and fun for the entire school. Weekend Trip to Busan and Daegu This weekend my friends and I took a trip to Busan, and Daegu (on our way back to seoul). We took the Mugunghwa train to Busan, which took about 5 hours. The weather was very rainy and windy, but we still tried to adventure outside and visited Haeundae Beach, the Busan Aquarium, and the Gamcheon Culture Village. On our way back to Seoul, we stopped by Daegu and visited a cafe called 'a. nook' and 83 Tower. Vincent Van Gogh Museum & Han River I visited a art exhibition where I learned about the life of Vincent Van Gogh and his artworks. It was a fun experience as I don't usually go to exhibitions. Later, I went to the Han River with some friends. We had a picnic and there were alot of people at the park as well. As it got darker, we visited the Han River Night Market, which were filled with food trucks and vendors selling items such as jewelry, art pieces, etc. Gyeongbokgung Palace & Buchok Hanok Village Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest palace in South Korea and was a really beautiful sight to see. My friends and I rented hanbok's for the day and spent the day touring the palace and the Buchok Hanok Village right next door. Namsan Seoul Tower Namsan Seoul Tower is one of the tallest towers in Asia (its height is about 236 meters tall) and offers many different activities (restaurants, Locks of Love, Hello Kitty Museum, etc) while also providing a great view of the city. Arriate Flower Shop and Cafe & Trick Eye Museum in Hongdae The Arriate Flower Shop and Cafe is a very cute cafe and I recommend to visit if you have some down time in Hongdae. I also visted the trick eye museum and tickets were ₩15,000 won. With the tickets, I vistited the Ice Museum and the trick eye museum. SBS Super Kpop Concert in Gwangju On April 28, I went down to Gwangju with some friends to attend the SBS Super Kpop Concert. It took place at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium and the concert started at 7pm and ended aroung 9:30pm. I got to see many kpop artists including Twice, Momoland, TXT, N.Flying, and BTS! Midterm Week at KHU
From April 20-24 was midterm week at KHU and it is a little different compared to midterms back home. At KHU, this week was dedicated solely to midterm exams and there were no regular classes. Luckily I only had 1 midterm exam (for my Cultural Tourism class). The rest of my midterms consisted of 1 essay exam and 2 presentations, which were due after midterms week. Dragon Hill Jimjilbang A jjimjilbang (찜질방) is a Korean spa and bathhouse and Dragon Hill (located in Yongsan) is the largest one. I took the subway Line 1 from Hoegi Station to Yongsan Station and the jjimjilang was right next to the station. The entrance fee was ₩12,000 and you will receive a shirt and pants you can change into and your key (for your shoes, locker, and to pay for things inside the jjimjilbang). There are many things you can do at the jjimjilbang and there are multiple floors. While I was there, I went to the steam and ice room, played games at the arcade, ate lunch, went to the pool, and also took a nap. There are other things you can do as well, such as going to the cinema hall, PC room, getting a massage, visiting the sky garden, and more. Melting Pom Dog Cafe My friends and I went to study at a dog cafe called Melting Pom, which is near campus (less than 10 min walk). There is no entrance fee but each person had to purchase a drink (I got a strawberry latte which was about ₩5,500). Naksan Park Naksan Park sits stop Mt. Nakasan and is a great place to take a view of city. It is located near Dongdaemun and nearby is also the Iwha Murals Village. Bonus: Cherry Blossoms on campus 3.23-3.24 IFCC Global Field Trip The global field trip is a 2 day 1 night trip hosted by IFCC where the exchange students and korean students can have fun and make new friends. The trip consisted of various indoor and outdoor games and activities and dinner as well. Everyone met up at the main building on campus and took the subway together to the campsite. We played various games and had pork belly (삼겹살) for dinner. 3.26 Captain Marvel Last week, I watched Captain Marvel at the movie theaters. The closest theater was the Lotte Cinema at Cheongryangri Station so my friend and I took the the subway from Hoegi Station to Cheongryangri, which was just one stop away. Our tickets were ₩10,000 each (~$8.79) and we got a popcorn and hot dog set for ₩12,000 (~$10.55). 3.29-3.30 Mom came to visit! My mom came to visit for a bit so I spent the weekend with her. I took the subway to Yongsan Station to meet her and check into her hotel. Afterwards we did some window shopping at a nearby mall and met up with one of my mom's friends for dinner. The next day we went to Anyang Art Park (see slideshow below) and I had a fun time looking at the different art structures. We didn't get to spend a lot of time there and I couldn't see all the art structures so I hope to come back here again :) 3.31 IFCC Pottery Outing
This was the first IFCC outing of the semester and I was really excited for it. I really liked doing pottery/ceramics when I was in high school so I was looking forward to the outing. 30 exchange students and a couple IFCC members came to the outing. We all met up at Hoegi station and took the subway to Bitda Ceramic Studio. We had a choice of making a cup, pencil holder, or something of a similar shape and I decided to make a cup. Afterwards, we all got lunch nearby and ate spicy pork ribs (감자탕). My Class Schedule: March 4th marked the official first day of school and during the first week was the add/drop period for classes. As mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to take the Conventions course but the class got full. However I saw that there was one seat open for the class and I wanted to take that spot. I had a time conflict with that class (Strategic Management) and in order for me to add the conventions course I had to drop the strategic management so there wouldn’t be a time conflict (later on I learned that there was a way to add a class without dropping another but at the time I didn't know that). So I dropped my strategic management class and waited until it was time so I could add the conventions course….but I wasn’t fast enough and wasn’t able to get the conventions course and get back into the strategic management class. In the end my final class scheduled looked like this: HOSPI2507-01 Business Statistics = BUS310 HOTEL3506-01 Principles of Chain Hotel Enterprise = TIM368 (Hospitality elective) TOUR2005-02 Cultural Tourism = TIM368 (T/T elective) **Note: For the Freeman scholarship, you are required to take at least 3 Business equivalent courses, but since I am a TIM major and making sure with Rikki, I just had to make sure I was taking 3 Business or TIM equivalent classes. 3.9-3.10 Weekend Trip to Gwangju: On March 9, I took the train down to Gwangju to visit my dad and some relatives. I took the subway from Hoegi Station to Seoul Station, and then took the KTX (Korea Train Express) at 10:25AM and arrived in Gwangju at around 12:25PM. The ticket was ₩47,100 (about $41). I had kbbq lunch with my dad and I also met up with my aunt (my mom's best friend). We went shopping around a nearby Lotte Outlet. For dinner, I met up with my aunt (my mom's sister), uncle, and cousin and ate shabu shabu for dinner (and it was VERY filling). The next day, I went to a birthday lunch for my uncle’s 60th birthday and got to meet some new relatives and some that I already met before. I tried sannakji for the first time and it wasn't too bad despite the octopus moving (just make sure to chew it thoroughly). Afterwards, I visited my grandma who lives in a care home and it was really nice to see her again. I took the KTX train back up to seoul at 4:39PM and arrived at Yongsan (용산) station at 6:33PM. Link to reserve KTX tickets: http://www.letskorail.com/ebizbf/EbizBfTicketSearch.do I departed Hawaii on February 23, Saturday, at 12:00PM and landed in Incheon International Airport at around 5:45PM. I flew Korean Air and the flight was about 10 hours long. I got two meals and one snack and the meals weren’t too bad. My dad, who lives in Korea, was able to pick me up from the airport and we headed to a hotel for the night so I could check in to my dorm tomorrow. The next day (February 24), my dad and I got breakfast at the hotel, bought some things for my dorm at Lotte Mart, and headed over to Kyunghee University to check in to the dorms. I am staying at Sewha Dormitory and the check-in period is from 10:00AM-8:00PM (lunch break 12:00PM-1:00PM & dinner break 6:00PM-7:00PM). I checked in at around 4:00PM and got settled in. For February 26 and 27, orientation happened and it lasted for the entire 2 days. On the first day of orientation, when you check in you will receive your student ID and will also need to submit your documents for the Alien Registration. Since I have a Korean passport, I did not need to do the Alien Registration, but I still brought both my passports for the staff to verify. The orientation days go over almost everything you need to know while at Kyunghee (Basic info about the school, how to register for classes, what to do in case of an emergency, dorming information, student clubs, etc). You will also get to meet your KHU Buddy (similar to the Shidler buddy program), where each exchange student is paired with a Korean student. The program is run by the IFCC (International Friendship and Culture Club) and all exchange and international students are automatically members of the club. Your KHU buddy is there to help you while at Kyunghee and answer any questions you may have. Since school didn't start until March 4, I had some free days which I spent exploring the city. I got familiar with the university neighborhood, went to Myeongdong and Hondae, and ate lots of good food :) Dear Mr. Freeman and the Freeman Foundation,
I would like to give my sincerest gratitude for being selected as a Freeman Scholar. I truly am thankful for your support and I am excited for this new chapter in my life. Next spring, I will be going to South Korea, attending Kyunghee University. I am looking forward to learning more about my culture, improving my Korean skills, and stepping out of my comfort zone. I would also like give my thanks to the International Business Organization (IBO) and Rikki Mitsunaga for their support. Throughout the 4 semesters I've been in IBO, I was able to learn a lot about study abroad and made me interested in going abroad myself. Thank you to Rikki for helping me get approved to apply for the Freeman Scholarship. Thank you again Mr. Freeman, the Freeman Foundation, IBO, and Rikki for your support! Sincerely, Jennifer Jeong |
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