Year Abroad in S. Korea: My Experience
Scroll to see replies
Strange times
Well this is definitely not the kind of post I'd ever expect to be writing during my exchange but it really is a strange time to be in Korea. My semester was supposed to begin at the start of last week but it's now scheduled to begin on Monday, and all my classes will be online for the month of March. No one has any idea how it's going to work and we're not sure how the rest of the semester is doing to be done - there will be an announcement on the 23rd about whether April classes will also be online, and we still don't know how on earth we're going to be assessed. On top of that we're going to also have catch-up classes to make up for the 2 missed weeks (they're still ending the semester at the same time) so somehow another 40hrs of teaching has to fit into 6 weeks of class. It's all a bit up in the air to be honest!
But before I get ahead of myself I should probably talk about what I've been up to recently. I thankfully passed level 3 so I'm moving onto level 4, which I'm quite nervous about, but I'm glad to have the semester over as it was a difficult one for me personally. Then pretty much as soon as I was done with class I started to pack up my room and flew home! I spent the first week doing things that needed to be done at home and with family, although I didn't get to see them as much as I would've liked. Then in the second week I was all over the place visiting friends and family. First Plymouth, then Wales, Leeds, and Durham. I only spent one night at home that week, but it was so lovely to catch up with everyone (and surprise some of them!). I flew back a few days later and had to finish my packing because everyone moves rooms at the end of each academic year in the global buildings. Luckily I only had to move 2 doors down on the same floor so it wasn't too much of a bother.
Since I've come back to Seoul I've mostly been trying to keep myself busy. I was expecting to come back to Korea and it be better than what was being portrayed on the news. I thought people would be relatively calm and wouldn't be panicking as much, but before I even got back to dorms I started to realise how serious things were. When I left the UK the number of cases here was about 30 and by the end it was almost at a thousand. I texted my roommate telling her that I was on my way back and she told me to be really careful and not take my mask off which I didn't expect, and one of my Korean friends (only half-jokingly) replied to my instagram story asking me why I was coming back despite the virus. For the first week back I was convinced that SOAS was going to call us back to the UK as it got increasingly scary, but they assured us that we'd be okay and should follow the advice of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the UK. Since that confirmation, I've been trying to live life relatively normally, of course whilst taking the proper precautions, but it's been a stressful time for sure. The problem these days is that all masks are sold out and we don't have access to the ones handed out by the government because we don't have national health insurance... That's especially frustrating when we're not allowed to enter the library, health centre, certain shops, or any common areas in our dorms without one. It's getting to the point where we're going to have to contact the embassy next week as our own supplies are running out.
Anyway, overall it's a weird time to be here. This might sound horrible but I don't think I'd be that upset if we got sent home at this point. When I first came back, that was the thing I was most terrified of but now that's maybe what I want to happen? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Seoul to pieces and I'm so incredibly happy to have had this experience but at the same time this isn't the Seoul I know and it's not the experience I want to have. First semester was an absolute dream and totally exceeded all expectations, and I don't want my experience this semester to drag down the whole year. Already, buddy events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future and not having classes in person makes you feel so isolated (which I know is the whole point, but it's not how anyone wants to spend their year abroad). It all takes a toll on your mental health and having it be totally inescapable can drive you a bit up the wall. More than anything I'm so sad that it's come to this and that I'm feeling this way. 'Sad' doesn't even really encompass the feeling properly, I suppose I'm disappointed? The word that comes to mind is 속상하다. But it's made trying to get on with life difficult and I'm worried to be starting the next semester with so much already on my mind. I guess we'll just have to see how things go
Sorry it's not a very positive update but it's not a great time to be an exchange student in East Asia. Hopefully things will be looking up next time I update
Well this is definitely not the kind of post I'd ever expect to be writing during my exchange but it really is a strange time to be in Korea. My semester was supposed to begin at the start of last week but it's now scheduled to begin on Monday, and all my classes will be online for the month of March. No one has any idea how it's going to work and we're not sure how the rest of the semester is doing to be done - there will be an announcement on the 23rd about whether April classes will also be online, and we still don't know how on earth we're going to be assessed. On top of that we're going to also have catch-up classes to make up for the 2 missed weeks (they're still ending the semester at the same time) so somehow another 40hrs of teaching has to fit into 6 weeks of class. It's all a bit up in the air to be honest!
But before I get ahead of myself I should probably talk about what I've been up to recently. I thankfully passed level 3 so I'm moving onto level 4, which I'm quite nervous about, but I'm glad to have the semester over as it was a difficult one for me personally. Then pretty much as soon as I was done with class I started to pack up my room and flew home! I spent the first week doing things that needed to be done at home and with family, although I didn't get to see them as much as I would've liked. Then in the second week I was all over the place visiting friends and family. First Plymouth, then Wales, Leeds, and Durham. I only spent one night at home that week, but it was so lovely to catch up with everyone (and surprise some of them!). I flew back a few days later and had to finish my packing because everyone moves rooms at the end of each academic year in the global buildings. Luckily I only had to move 2 doors down on the same floor so it wasn't too much of a bother.
Since I've come back to Seoul I've mostly been trying to keep myself busy. I was expecting to come back to Korea and it be better than what was being portrayed on the news. I thought people would be relatively calm and wouldn't be panicking as much, but before I even got back to dorms I started to realise how serious things were. When I left the UK the number of cases here was about 30 and by the end it was almost at a thousand. I texted my roommate telling her that I was on my way back and she told me to be really careful and not take my mask off which I didn't expect, and one of my Korean friends (only half-jokingly) replied to my instagram story asking me why I was coming back despite the virus. For the first week back I was convinced that SOAS was going to call us back to the UK as it got increasingly scary, but they assured us that we'd be okay and should follow the advice of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the UK. Since that confirmation, I've been trying to live life relatively normally, of course whilst taking the proper precautions, but it's been a stressful time for sure. The problem these days is that all masks are sold out and we don't have access to the ones handed out by the government because we don't have national health insurance... That's especially frustrating when we're not allowed to enter the library, health centre, certain shops, or any common areas in our dorms without one. It's getting to the point where we're going to have to contact the embassy next week as our own supplies are running out.
Anyway, overall it's a weird time to be here. This might sound horrible but I don't think I'd be that upset if we got sent home at this point. When I first came back, that was the thing I was most terrified of but now that's maybe what I want to happen? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Seoul to pieces and I'm so incredibly happy to have had this experience but at the same time this isn't the Seoul I know and it's not the experience I want to have. First semester was an absolute dream and totally exceeded all expectations, and I don't want my experience this semester to drag down the whole year. Already, buddy events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future and not having classes in person makes you feel so isolated (which I know is the whole point, but it's not how anyone wants to spend their year abroad). It all takes a toll on your mental health and having it be totally inescapable can drive you a bit up the wall. More than anything I'm so sad that it's come to this and that I'm feeling this way. 'Sad' doesn't even really encompass the feeling properly, I suppose I'm disappointed? The word that comes to mind is 속상하다. But it's made trying to get on with life difficult and I'm worried to be starting the next semester with so much already on my mind. I guess we'll just have to see how things go
Sorry it's not a very positive update but it's not a great time to be an exchange student in East Asia. Hopefully things will be looking up next time I update
Spoiler
(edited 4 years ago)
Oh also I was considering doing a small guide-thing on difficult language concepts? Things like particles, the different forms of future tense, honorific v. formal etc which can be really confusing at first and take a while to get the hang of. I thought it might be helpful for people self-teaching or in first year so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in
The end of second year
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!! My account is on private so please PM me your account name so I can accept your request
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!! My account is on private so please PM me your account name so I can accept your request
Spoiler
(edited 3 years ago)
i'll be starting Korean at SOAS in September (Hopefully) ... i'm rly sorry if this has been asked before but i don't think it has. i'm curious what is the difference between SNU and other unis in terms of your year abroad? i'm aware of the rankings of the unis but more as in what are the teaching differences if you have any friends on your course at the other unis? ... is there more language than theory at certain unis etc? i heard Sogangs language course focuses more on speaking and i wonder if its the same for exchange students?
is SNU taught at a higher level than the others?
Thanks
is SNU taught at a higher level than the others?
Thanks
Original post by 3mptyhead
i'll be starting Korean at SOAS in September (Hopefully) ... i'm rly sorry if this has been asked before but i don't think it has. i'm curious what is the difference between SNU and other unis in terms of your year abroad? i'm aware of the rankings of the unis but more as in what are the teaching differences if you have any friends on your course at the other unis? ... is there more language than theory at certain unis etc? i heard Sogangs language course focuses more on speaking and i wonder if its the same for exchange students?
is SNU taught at a higher level than the others?
Thanks
is SNU taught at a higher level than the others?
Thanks
First of all please don't take this as gospel because I'm only relaying what my friends and teachers have told me! I don't think anyone can give a truly objective view on this unless they've studied/taught at all 3 of the unis. Sogang is incredibly speaking focused, they do very little writing in class and everyone is encouraged to speak as much as possible. This definitely appeals to some students but I heard from one of my teachers that when Sogang students compete in the cross-uni speaking competitions they are very confident speakers but make a lot of mistakes. She said to us that this is because teachers there are told not to correct their grammar mistakes when speaking in order to build confidence. There are pros and cons to that approach of course so you'd have to think about what you're aiming for. My impression is that SNU and KU are similar in terms of how each skill is weighted. SNU might be slightly less focused on speaking but only by a fraction. The main difference as far as I can tell is that what would be taught at level 3 in KU is taught in level 2 at SNU, so rather than being taught at a 'higher level', it's more that the curriculum is more condensed and fast-paced
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by umbrellala
First of all please don't take this as gospel because I'm only relaying what my friends and teachers have told me! I don't think anyone can give a truly objective view on this unless they've studied/taught at all 3 of the unis. Sogang is incredibly language focused, they do very little writing in class and everyone is encouraged to speak as much as possible. This definitely appeals to some students but I heard from one of my teachers that when Sogang students compete in the cross-uni speaking competitions they are very confident speakers but make a lot of mistakes. She said to us that this is because teachers there are told not to correct their grammar mistakes when speaking in order to build confidence. There are pros and cons to that approach of course so you'd have to think about what you're aiming for. My impression is that SNU and KU are similar in terms of how each skill is weighted. SNU might be slightly less focused on speaking but only by a fraction. The main difference as far as I can tell is that what would be taught at level 3 in KU is taught in level 2 at SNU, so rather than being taught at a 'higher level', it's more that the curriculum is more condensed and fast-paced
ahhh thank you so much this is really helpful!!!
I’m thinking about studying Korean at Soas in 2020, too. Do you have any korean understanding before applying to the course? I have passed the TOPIK exam so i hope that will be enough. I am thinking of pairing it with one of these three: economics, development studies, or social anthropology. Any ideas which one would be good? Thanks
Original post by rossnl
I’m thinking about studying Korean at Soas in 2020, too. Do you have any korean understanding before applying to the course? I have passed the TOPIK exam so i hope that will be enough. I am thinking of pairing it with one of these three: economics, development studies, or social anthropology. Any ideas which one would be good? Thanks
Which level TOPIK did you pass? You don't need any prior knowledge, I went in with the very basics and was fine and there were a few people who knew absolutely nothing. As for combinations, they're 3 very different subjects so it really comes down to what you enjoy more. Maybe have a look at the modules offered and see what takes your fancy. Do be aware though that the East Asian Studies department is currently undergoing some restructuring so some dual honours might not be available. Have you not already applied though? If you wanted to study from this December the deadline was ages ago
@umbrellala I'm curious if you've received more information than i have about the course changes considering you're a current student ?? obviously the changes that you will see and what i experience will be completely different in some aspects
the email i got read
'Moving the year abroad to year 3 (rather than year 2). This will have three benefits: (1) allow mobility after the impact on travel from of Covid 19, (2) allow students more time to prepare for the year abroad, and (3)lighten the load of the first year.
We have also changed the core modules for year 2 in order to allow for better and more thorough preparation of the year abroad.
(obviously this won't likely effect you a lot because you are already on your year abroad)
Finally, we are introducing more East Asia-based modules in order to prepare students better to work in the region (it is impossible to look at the UK without looking at the EU either), so this will equip students more effectively for the job market as the cultural and historical undercurrents become more explicit through teaching.'
(have they informed you/ do you know if this means some of the language modules will be dropped in order to give students more knowledge on east asia? i'm confused as to what would be being replaced but i trust the unis decision so i am not too concerned)
the email i got read
'Moving the year abroad to year 3 (rather than year 2). This will have three benefits: (1) allow mobility after the impact on travel from of Covid 19, (2) allow students more time to prepare for the year abroad, and (3)lighten the load of the first year.
We have also changed the core modules for year 2 in order to allow for better and more thorough preparation of the year abroad.
(obviously this won't likely effect you a lot because you are already on your year abroad)
Finally, we are introducing more East Asia-based modules in order to prepare students better to work in the region (it is impossible to look at the UK without looking at the EU either), so this will equip students more effectively for the job market as the cultural and historical undercurrents become more explicit through teaching.'
(have they informed you/ do you know if this means some of the language modules will be dropped in order to give students more knowledge on east asia? i'm confused as to what would be being replaced but i trust the unis decision so i am not too concerned)
Original post by 3mptyhead
@umbrellala I'm curious if you've received more information than i have about the course changes considering you're a current student ?? obviously the changes that you will see and what i experience will be completely different in some aspects
the email i got read
'Moving the year abroad to year 3 (rather than year 2). This will have three benefits: (1) allow mobility after the impact on travel from of Covid 19, (2) allow students more time to prepare for the year abroad, and (3)lighten the load of the first year.
We have also changed the core modules for year 2 in order to allow for better and more thorough preparation of the year abroad.
(obviously this won't likely effect you a lot because you are already on your year abroad)
Finally, we are introducing more East Asia-based modules in order to prepare students better to work in the region (it is impossible to look at the UK without looking at the EU either), so this will equip students more effectively for the job market as the cultural and historical undercurrents become more explicit through teaching.'
(have they informed you/ do you know if this means some of the language modules will be dropped in order to give students more knowledge on east asia? i'm confused as to what would be being replaced but i trust the unis decision so i am not too concerned)
the email i got read
'Moving the year abroad to year 3 (rather than year 2). This will have three benefits: (1) allow mobility after the impact on travel from of Covid 19, (2) allow students more time to prepare for the year abroad, and (3)lighten the load of the first year.
We have also changed the core modules for year 2 in order to allow for better and more thorough preparation of the year abroad.
(obviously this won't likely effect you a lot because you are already on your year abroad)
Finally, we are introducing more East Asia-based modules in order to prepare students better to work in the region (it is impossible to look at the UK without looking at the EU either), so this will equip students more effectively for the job market as the cultural and historical undercurrents become more explicit through teaching.'
(have they informed you/ do you know if this means some of the language modules will be dropped in order to give students more knowledge on east asia? i'm confused as to what would be being replaced but i trust the unis decision so i am not too concerned)
As far as I'm aware they won't be replacing any of the language modules, I would be extremely surprised if they did. They'll sacrifice open option modules to accommodate the changes. Even for 2019 entry they added more cultural modules to the first year curriculum so there were no open options as a result. If you're just doing BA Korean there shouldn't be any other changes that affect you
I just sat and read this entire thread as well as your y1 thread and I absolutely loved it! I’m not planning on taking Korean (I’ll be applying for philosophy this autumn so I feel like I kinda fit in the whole niche degree category?😅) but I really enjoyed reading all about your experience! From the initial reactions from your friends, family and teachers to seeing you now having completed your year abroad...it was lowkey inspiring. Btw you’ve also inspired me to do a year abroad! I’m not sure if I’ll follow through once I get there (I’m terribly shy😂) but you’ve definitely made me consider it.
I can’t imagine how useful others who are interested in studying Korean at uni would have found your series....heck I found it useful! Best of luck in the rest of your studies and I hope you’re well
I can’t imagine how useful others who are interested in studying Korean at uni would have found your series....heck I found it useful! Best of luck in the rest of your studies and I hope you’re well
Original post by justjas33
I just sat and read this entire thread as well as your y1 thread and I absolutely loved it! I’m not planning on taking Korean (I’ll be applying for philosophy this autumn so I feel like I kinda fit in the whole niche degree category?😅) but I really enjoyed reading all about your experience! From the initial reactions from your friends, family and teachers to seeing you now having completed your year abroad...it was lowkey inspiring. Btw you’ve also inspired me to do a year abroad! I’m not sure if I’ll follow through once I get there (I’m terribly shy😂) but you’ve definitely made me consider it.
I can’t imagine how useful others who are interested in studying Korean at uni would have found your series....heck I found it useful! Best of luck in the rest of your studies and I hope you’re well
I can’t imagine how useful others who are interested in studying Korean at uni would have found your series....heck I found it useful! Best of luck in the rest of your studies and I hope you’re well
Ah thank you so much for commenting! I really appreciate that you took the time to read everything, I'm impressed you managed to get through it all to be honest 😂 It's so exciting that you're thinking about doing a year abroad! Do you know where yet? Don't worry about being shy, a lot of my friends from uni that are out here now are shy and everyone's really blossomed since being here (as cheesy as that sounds), you'll have a great time I'm sure. Philosophy sounds so intriguing, which uni is your firm? Good luck for results day and I wish you all the best
Original post by umbrellala
Ah thank you so much for commenting! I really appreciate that you took the time to read everything, I'm impressed you managed to get through it all to be honest 😂 It's so exciting that you're thinking about doing a year abroad! Do you know where yet? Don't worry about being shy, a lot of my friends from uni that are out here now are shy and everyone's really blossomed since being here (as cheesy as that sounds), you'll have a great time I'm sure. Philosophy sounds so intriguing, which uni is your firm? Good luck for results day and I wish you all the best
I was hooked!😅 ah I’m not sure, I’d love anywhere really, all I do know though is definitely not the US, the uni vibe there is so not my thing😅 thank you for the reassurance, it may be cheesy but that’s exactly what I want I want, lowkey wanna finish uni a changed person (in the best way ofc!) oh I’m applying this year for 2021 entry, but I’m looking into Edinburgh, Exeter, Newcastle, Sussex, King’s College London (as of today haha), Cardiff, St Andrews...it’s a bit of a long list!
I’m so sorry for the late reply btw, I didn’t see that you’d responded!
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by umbrellala
The end of second year
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!!
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!!
Spoiler
Wow I am late to these updates! So so glad to hear you're safe and doing well - what exciting news about possible degree change <3 I'm sure you'll do great
It feels weird to think we won't have as many updates on this thread, but I'll deffo give you a follow on IG so I can keep up with your adventures 
Stay safe!!Original post by mollypew013
Wow I am late to these updates! So so glad to hear you're safe and doing well - what exciting news about possible degree change <3 I'm sure you'll do great It feels weird to think we won't have as many updates on this thread, but I'll deffo give you a follow on IG so I can keep up with your adventures Stay safe!!
It feels weird to think we won't have as many updates on this thread, but I'll deffo give you a follow on IG so I can keep up with your adventures Stay safe!!Thank you! I really appreciate your support through all my threads and I'm so glad you're doing well in your degree ❤️ lmk your insta so I can accept your request!
Original post by umbrellala
The end of second year
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!!
It's that time again where I have sit here at my laptop in total disbelief that another year has passed me by! It's so strange thinking that a year ago I was already getting nervous and worrying about whether I would be able to get to Korea and now it's not long before I'll be packing up my things and going home... I'm beyond lucky to have another 2 months here before my flight is scheduled but in a way having my lessons finish feels like the beginning of the end so I suppose it's a good time to reflect on the year I've had.
As you will have seen from my last post, this year certainly hasn't been without its up and downs. I ended 2019 with my first experiences of anxiety and one of the worst periods of depression I'd ever dealt with, followed by some awful and totally unexpected news when one of my best friends fell seriously ill at the start of 2020. Then came the uncertainty of February and from then on the whole world has been in a bit of frenzy. That being said, my first semester couldn't have been more perfect. It felt like I was living in a movie from start to finish, and in the following two semesters I have made some incredible memories. I've made so many beautiful friends from all over the world and my list of places to travel to has become stupidly long. This country will always have such a special place in my heart and if I was given the chance to do it all again (bad parts included) I would jump at the chance. I've learned more about myself, about friendships, being independent, and what I want to do in the future than I could've even begun to imagine. Academically it's been a challenge and a massive learning curve, but we've improved so much from where we started in September and I've learned a lot about how to study effectively and how to juggle a social life and academia. But more than anything it's highlighted how much I don't know and where I need to improve, so I'm excited to have the time to go and work on that now!
There's been one particularly big development in the past couple of weeks and that is that I'm now planning to convert my degree to combined honours in September! That means that my degree will now be BA Korean and International Relations, which then means two graduations and essentially two degrees. I submitted my application to convert to that degree yesterday, and luckily since I did one of the big compulsory IR modules in first year I don't have to extend the length of my degree to be able to do that. It will allow me to take more East Asia-related modules and if I enjoy that then I might have a shot at applying for a masters in East Asian IR in fourth year... but we'll see about that. Other than that I'm very glad to have finished my finals and be able to relax. It's been another period of a lot of goodbyes and I waved off my Singaporean friend at the airport yesterday which was of course quite emotional.
I have quite a long list of things I want to achieve over the summer, one of which is to become conversational in Italian! My best friend from SOAS who is also at SNU (and also my neighbour) is Italian and I'd love to have another language under my belt. It'll be interesting to see how I handle learning totally independently after having learned through lecturers or teachers for most of my life. I will most likely make a thread on that and post the link here if anyone is interested
Talking of threads, I'm thinking that this might be the end of my Korean at SOAS series. I can't imagine many people would be particularly interested in third and fourth year, I know I was more interested in first and second year before I applied since third/fourth seemed so far away. There has generally been less interest in this thread than my earlier ones anyway, so I really can't imagine further threads being particularly useful. Unless there are people genuinely interested in me continuing, I think I might switch my focus to other parts of my role at TSR. It'll be really sad to see this series go but I've loved it so much and had the chance to talk to so many of you lovely people and form real friendships so I can't thank you all enough! I might pop back in on this thread with a post or two over the summer, but other than that good luck to all of you with everything you want to do, I'll still be around to answer any questions about Korean of course, and I wish you all the best <3
P.S. I document pretty much every day of my time in Korea on my instagram @ellaneve30 and have highlights on my account of everything I've done almost since the day I arrived so if you'd like to keep up with me or want to contact me there then you're more than welcome to!!
Spoiler
Hi, thank you for making this thread, I've read it all and it's very useful as I'm looking to take Korean in uni. I'm thinking of doing Korean and linguistics at SOAS (which was originally going to be Korean and French but they stopped offering the degree.) This thread has helped and inspired me a lot and I'm glad you're doing well, wishing you the best of luck for the future
Original post by yutaiscuter
Hi, thank you for making this thread, I've read it all and it's very useful as I'm looking to take Korean in uni. I'm thinking of doing Korean and linguistics at SOAS (which was originally going to be Korean and French but they stopped offering the degree.) This thread has helped and inspired me a lot and I'm glad you're doing well, wishing you the best of luck for the future
No problem! Good luck with your application and if you need any help with anything don't hesitate to send me a message
Hi I’m so sorry I’m replying to the wrong thread but I cannot seem to find the one I read!I was curious about pricing for the year abroad. I understand you went into the dorms, but in terms of money to spend there for food etc, did you find that your maintenance loan substantially was able to cover those costs? Or did you have to use your own money you saved up? Also in terms of phones! I know you aren’t able to just fly into Korea with your normal phone and expect it to work. How did you get around this? Did you keep rebuyjng sim cards? Did you get a phone out there?
Is there any interpreters on TSR?
Original post by nenka222
Hi I’m so sorry I’m replying to the wrong thread but I cannot seem to find the one I read!I was curious about pricing for the year abroad. I understand you went into the dorms, but in terms of money to spend there for food etc, did you find that your maintenance loan substantially was able to cover those costs? Or did you have to use your own money you saved up? Also in terms of phones! I know you aren’t able to just fly into Korea with your normal phone and expect it to work. How did you get around this? Did you keep rebuyjng sim cards? Did you get a phone out there?
Not a problem! For covering day to day costs, it kind of depends on how much maintenance you get. I get the lowest amount and I had around £1000 in savings which together were enough to have a much nicer (and more spendy) lifestyle than I get to have in London, and I was able to afford to go to Japan and a few other in-Korea holidays. Definitely doable! For phones, I kept my phone from the UK but just got a Korean SIM card. There's a phone shop on the SNU campus who will sort it out for you, it was about ₩32,000 a month if I remember rightly for unlimited texts, calls, and 10GB data which is way more than you need considering there's wifi everywhere. Even though people basically never text or call but rather use kakaotalk to do those things, I'd still recommend getting a SIM because a lot of the wifi, particularly the subway wifi, requires you to be with a Korean phone company to log in. If you don't end up at the SNU campus, I wouldn't be surprised if other unis help you with this kind of thing but otherwise there are a few phone shops that have English-speaking staff to get it sorted for you
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- How does studying abroad work?
- Can I get a masters loan? -living abroad now-
- Does studying abroad disrupt your social life in the uni you go to when you return?
- Which course do i pick?
- Study abroad University of Surrey
- Mature Student thinking of going back to uni
- What is it like studying abroad?
- I need advice about my toxic Sister!
- travel grant student finance
- Applying to Study Korean - My Experience
- BA Korean at SOAS: First Year (2022)
- Where is the best place you have ever visited?
- which unis are good for languages (french and german)?
- travelling in uni - how often do people work
- Currently working abroad.
- Worked abroad for 2 and a half years, am I eligible for student finance?
- Korean studies
- Brunel or reading uni: computer science
- Current dream holiday destination?
- I do BA Japanese at SOAS, AMA
Latest
Trending
Last reply 5 days ago
British Council English Language Assistants 2024/2025Last reply 1 week ago
What is the best foreign language to learn? - ROILast reply 2 weeks ago
The Official Modern Languages Applicants for 2024 Entry ThreadLast reply 2 weeks ago
thread for people doing languages at leeds!!!Last reply 3 weeks ago
Edinburgh or Glasgow Uni for French/Modern Languages?Last reply 3 weeks ago
I’m a first-year French student at Oxford University - AMA!Last reply 3 weeks ago
Korean/Japanese Studies 2024 ApplicantsLast reply 3 weeks ago
Anybody applying for Arabic/Middle Eastern Studies?Last reply 1 month ago
Language degree to become a flight attendant?Last reply 1 month ago
A levels for Languages degree at OxbridgeLast reply 1 month ago
which unis are good for languages (french and german)?Last reply 1 month ago
KCL - English Literature and Modern LanguagesTrending
Last reply 5 days ago
British Council English Language Assistants 2024/2025Last reply 1 week ago
What is the best foreign language to learn? - ROILast reply 2 weeks ago
The Official Modern Languages Applicants for 2024 Entry ThreadLast reply 2 weeks ago
thread for people doing languages at leeds!!!Last reply 3 weeks ago
Edinburgh or Glasgow Uni for French/Modern Languages?Last reply 3 weeks ago
I’m a first-year French student at Oxford University - AMA!Last reply 3 weeks ago
Korean/Japanese Studies 2024 ApplicantsLast reply 3 weeks ago
Anybody applying for Arabic/Middle Eastern Studies?Last reply 1 month ago
Language degree to become a flight attendant?Last reply 1 month ago
A levels for Languages degree at OxbridgeLast reply 1 month ago
which unis are good for languages (french and german)?Last reply 1 month ago
KCL - English Literature and Modern Languages
