Experience Report Yonsei University South Korea · Experience Report Yonsei University South Korea...
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Experience Report Yonsei University South Korea
E-mail: [email protected]
Study Program: Organization Studies
Exchange semester: Fall
Academic year: 2016-2017
Host University: Yonsei University
Country: South Korea
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Yonsei University’s main campus (Sinchon) is located in South Korea’s capital Seoul. Seoul is a huge
city in the north of south korea. The city is divided by a river in two areas; the lower area is called
Gangnam and is the more expensive part of the city. Yonsei is located in the upper part of the city
which has a lot of student areas. The campus is huge and has a bit of an American university vibe
(Korea has been influenced by the US a lot). The campus is actually located at the edge of a nature
reserve; Ansan mountain gives a great view over the campus and Sinchon. The restaurant in the
student union building has cheap and relatively good food (try the pizza). There’s a gym in the
international student dormitory and one on campus. Yonsei University is a larger than Tilburg
university with almost 40000 students. Yonsei is the oldest university in South Korea and is also one
of the most prestigious.
Seoul has so many things to see, you should obviously go to the famous palaces and Seoul Tower.
What I recommend most is the DMZ (demilitarised zone), it’s a very interesting experience. Trazy.com
offers cheap tours and restaurant reviews which can be quite useful. The city feels incredibly safe and
is actually quite clean. There are many free public toilets which are surprisingly most of the time also
quite clean. The public transport system works great and the English names of the stops are
announced in both the subway and most buses. The bus drivers drive like crazy though, like all the
traffic in Seoul (don’t try any jaywalking if you value your life). What I really enjoyed is that the shops
are all opened until 11 at night. The streets are very lively in the evening and even when there are a
lot of drunk people you feel very safe (Koreans drink a lot). In the mornings stores open a bit later in
comparison to the Netherlands, around 11 in the morning. It seems like Koreans just have a different
daily rhythm. A lot of things happen at night.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I received my pre-arrival information through email and documents for the Visa in (late) spring. They
give you most information during orientation. The only difficulty for me was that I had to prove my
English proficiency because my study program is officially in Dutch. You have to hand in a TOEFL or
IELTS test result but doing either of these tests is extremely expensive. I asked the university whether
the test offered by Tilburg University was also accepted and they said yes, so you should keep this in
mind when your study program is in Dutch.
Visa procedure and arrival
For the Visa I went to the Korean embassy in Den Haag, you don’t need an appointment. They state
the documents you need to take with you to the embassy on their website. You can also use a Visa
application service from ANWB to avoid going to the embassy yourself but that is quite expensive.
Make copies of all the documents you received from Yonsei as you have to hand a few of them in
during the Visa application.
As far as I know there is no pick up service organised by Yonsei. However from the airport to the
dorms (SK Global and International House) was very easy. There was a direct bus between the
airport and a bus stop almost in front of the building.
The introduction provided by Yonsei was quite short and a bit lacking to be honest, but the
atmosphere was great and the students presenting the introduction wore Hanbok (Traditional Korean
attire). The international student association organised a party that night which was a great way to
meet people. You could register to get a mentor group but they apparently messed up organising the
groups because I got added to a group only halfway the semester and I met them only once. But
maybe they’ll be doing a better job next semester.
Housing
Yonsei has two different international student dormitories International House and SK Global, of which
the latter’s rooms have their own bathroom/shower. It’s on the edge of the campus and close to the
building where the Study Abroad Courses are given. The Korean Language Institute is connected to it,
this is where you have to go if you follow an Intensive Korean Language course.
The support in finding housing is minimal, which is very inconvenient as there is limited space in the
dormitories and therefore the registration for the dorms is extremely competitive. If you want a room in
the dormitories you should register the second it opens. Overall I liked living in the dorms; it’s very
easy to meet with your friends in the kitchen or one of the lounges. You are however not allowed to
drink in the dorms and you’re not allowed to go any of the rooms of the opposite gender. But that’s not
really a problem because you go out to eat and drink with friends anyway. If you fail to get a room in
the dormitories the housing office is of little use. However there’s a facebook page for Yonsei
exchange students where people are asking for roommates or post room offerings, there are also
goshiwons(guesthouse) where you can rent a room.
My living expenses were obviously a lot larger than in Tilburg. Although going out to eat is very cheap
in Seoul, you still spend quite a lot of money on food. Especially fruits and vegetables are expensive
so take some vitamin pills with you on exchange.
Academic Calendar
The semester has a midterm and finals just a week or so before Christmas. There’s a Korean holiday
Chuseok, which is around four days is October, but other than that there are no holidays. During
Chuseok I travelled to Busan, which is in the south of Korea. Busan has a very different ambience
than Seoul and has beaches and a lot of great seafood. The semester starts at September the 2nd.
Around the end of September there are the YonKo games, which you really must experience. Yonsei
University has an old rivalry with Korea University and they fight it out during two days of rugby,
football and basketball games.
Yonsei has a great international office which responds very quickly to emails. I personally never had
any problems so I don’t know really how their service was. But I heard from friends who did that they
were really helpful. Don’t hesitate to email them because their English is perfect and they always
answer extensively.
Culture and Language
Personally I didn’t experience culture shock at all. Korea and Seoul specifically is very modern, safe
and English descriptions are everywhere. The small setbacks that I experienced were something I
could laugh about afterwards. Besides, there are a lot of exchange students in the same situation so
you’ll probably discover the city together with people who don’t know anything about Korea either. It’s
not difficult at all to get around in Seoul without speaking the language. I did follow the intensive
language course, which is two hours a day. You’ll learn really quickly and you can put the things you
learn into practice easily; like reading the names of busstops. It’s something you have to get used to
at first but you can get very far just with pointing and smiling. There are always people that can be
unfriendly towards you, as a Caucasian or western person in general you will stick out. However,
most Korean people act very friendly towards you, even when their English is not that good.
Especially in areas that where there are few tourists. What I learned about Koreans is not that they
are necessarily more polite than say Dutch people; they just have a different form of politeness, like
handing and receiving things with two hands. They won’t hold the door for you or things like that, but
they will do anything to help when you ask directions. There’s a really strong ingroup outgroup thing
going on in Korean society. If you don’t belong to the group you’ll be almost invisible. As a foreigner
however you’re a bit of exception, you’re often excused when getting the Korean customs wrong.
Koreans have a different perception on personal space; you’ll notice people walking past you much
closer than in the Netherlands where people try to keep at least half a meter distance from other
people. Also the hierarchy system works extremely different, older people can get away with a lot of
stuff younger people don’t. It’s really interesting to see Ajumma’s(title for older women) elbowing their
way into the subway for example. If you dare sit on one of the special seats in the subway for
pregnant women or the elderly they’ll they you to get up, both foreigners and regular younger Koreans.
But honestly it’s just really an interesting experience, and you learn a lot from seeing how other
societies function. It puts the Dutch culture in a different perspective. I noticed for example that we are
very punctual. The best advice I can give is to not take things too personal, just go with the flow and
you’ll be fine. What I noticed is that I was easily able to do a lot of stuff which I thought I wouldn’t be
able to beforehand. Such as living on the other side of the world in a different time zone and living
with a roommate. Just throw yourself into the experience and try to see the bad things that happen
and homesickness in a different perspective, all the other exchange students go through the same
thing.
Among the exchange students there are a lot of Kpop fans that came to korea to be closer to their
idols. The entertainment industry in korea is absolutely huge and you’ll hear Kpop everywhere, often
constantly the same song. But that’s obviously part of the charm.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The study abroad courses that I followed were easier than what I’m used to at Tilburg. However there
are a lot more assignments. The teaching style is mostly theoretical and for the exams it’s more
important to remember the concepts than understand them. In one course the whole class started a
discussion with the professor because one of the midterm questions didn’t make sense, but she didn’t
budge and refused to remove the question, no matter what kind argument we gave. I do feel that the
study abroad courses were a bit less organised than the regular courses, grading was often vague
and sometimes very subjective. The regular courses are however a lot harder apparently and better
organised. All the courses I followed were bachelor level courses.
Course Prere
quisit
es
Exam EC
TS
Comments
Introduction to
management
information
systems
IEE3356-01
None (the
teacher does
expect you
something
about
coding,
which half of
the class
didn’t)
Written,
presentation,
assignments
6 A lot of assignments. Really interesting
course but the professor sometimes
overestimated what the class
understood and didn’t adjust his
teaching method to this. But he put a
lot of work in this course and really
wanted to teach us. At the end of the
course he took us out for Korean BBQ
and paid for the whole class
Principles of
Marketing
IEE2060-01
None Written and
discussion (which
wasn’t really a
discussion but more
her asking questions
and the group
answering them)
6 A nice course if you want to learn a bit
about marketing. It’s not a difficult
course if you spend enough attention
during the lectures.
I’m quite happy with this course but it’s
not outstanding.
Traditional
Korean Society
& modernization
IEE3121-01
none Paper and written 6 Very interesting course material about
Korean society. You really understand
the Korean way of thinking so much
better after this course. The lectures
are horrible though, the professors
English is difficult to understand and
he’s quite chaotic. However, because
of what you learn and the reading
material you have to read, this course
was worth the trouble for me and I
really liked it.
Korean Intensive
Language
Course
KLI1001-02
None Speaking, writing,
pronounciation and
listening
(we had four exams
during midterms and
finals for this course,
a bit stressful)
12 This course was oftentimes difficult as I
had class for two hours every day,
however my teachers and classmates
were really nice and we had loads of
fun together. The pace is fast but it’s
not that difficult to follow.The teachers
speak only the bare minimum of
English which makes it hard at the
beginning but helps later on. Overall
I’m really glad I did this course as it is
also another way to get to know
Korean culture and it gives so much
satisfaction when you understand a
few sentences and words that you hear
around you.