Parks

London is very famous for its parks. Two of the most famous are Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which conveniently enough are only a couple blocks away from my dorm.

These parks are always filled with tourists as they are great places to sightsee. Both parks boast impressive landmarks as Kensington Gardens is home to Kensington Palace and The Albert Memorial, while Hyde Park's claim to fame is its biggest lake, the Serpentine. 

However, native Londeners also spend a great deal of time in the park. People love to come here to exercise as one can rent a bike and go for a ride, play soccer or rugby on the available fields, or run the 2 mile loop around The Serpentine. The parks also serve as a social destination as there are always people hanging out on benches or just reclining in the grass. Hyde Park also routinely hosts concerts and other big events.

Living in a huge metropolitan area can get old at times, so having the parks here is essential for allowing one to go outside and get some fresh air.

Entering into Kensington Gardens.

Plenty of open space to kick the ball around.

 Kensington Palace

The Italian Gardens -Part of Hyde Park

The Arch in Hyde Park with Kensington Palace in the distance.

The Albert Memorial

The Serpentine

Are You Craving A Shawarma?

Hey guys! So if you haven't guessed it already this blog post is going to be about the scrumptious foods I have tried so far in Israel. Let me first start by explaining to you some differences between the US and Israel when it comes to meal time.  Beginning with breakfast...you would think of some pancakes, waffles, eggs, maybe some toast and cheese or yogurt with granola. Well, scratch that image and think salad. That's right. I said salad. About a week ago I met up with some of my Israeli family here in Haifa. When they asked me what I usually eat for breakfast and I replied yogurt and half of a grapefruit, they were shocked! They said, "What, no vegetables or cheese?" Here in Israel it is pretty typical to have an assortment of vegetables with your breakfast. These veggies usually go along with cheeses and eggs, and some really awesome pastries. I'm pretty sure I haven't had such a delicious chocolate croissant until eating in Israel. Also, a really popular dish that is eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is called shakshuka. It's basically tomato sauce, with onions and tomatoes chopped up and mixed in with two sunny side up eggs placed right on top. You dip bread into eat and eat it all together. Sounds a little strange but it is so yummy!
Now, when it comes to lunch and dinner...the first thing I must tell you about is a shawarma. Yes, this is the dish that is talked about in the movie "The Avengers." My family friend put it into perspective for me, he said that if an Israeli has his last 10 shekels in his pocket, he'll use it to buy a shawarma. Now let me tell you, he was right! A shawarma is a pita bread filled with a combination of salads, hummus, tahini  sauce, sometimes fries, and a type of meat or curried chicken which is cut up off of a huge roast. A falafel sandwich consists of the same things except instead of the meat, the pita is stuffed with deep-fried chickpea balls. It's also delicious. The last thing I want to tell you all about which is everywhere, and with practically every dish here, is hummus. For those that don't know hummus is a thick paste or spread made of ground chickpeas and sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon, and garlic. Growing up my family always had some on our Shabbat table to eat with bread. But here it is actually with almost everything! During the CIEE orientation we went to the ancient city of Akko for the day, and had lunch at a famous hummus place. Everyone had the choice to add extra things into the hummus, like ground meat, eggplant, or mushrooms. I got mine with mushrooms and I'm pretty sure it was the best hummus I've ever had! On that note, all this talk about food is making me hungry, so dinner time it is! Until next time...shalom everyone!

About Academics

About… Academics:

Course registration

SKKU course registration has caused much confusion and stress among all international exchange students. The course registration period starts in August. In comparison to my home University in Hawaii, you have to be much quicker about course registration, if not the courses you want will certainly be full. When I say quick, I mean that you should have your courses registered within the first week of registration period. I was very lucky with my courses, but other exchange students came to Korea without being registered for any courses at all. Even though SKKU makes an exception for international students and lets them enter courses that are already full—as long as the professor gives his ok—it is still super stressful to take care of course registration when you’re here! Even then, SKKU allows students to ask the professors for an exception. So I recommend registering as early as possible.

The courses:

SKKU offers two different types of classes for foreigners that are taught in English:

1. IEC International exchange courses that are only open to exchange students and are offered every semester
2. Regular courses that are taught in English and open to all students

I thought that the IEC would be really nice to take so I registered for two of them, but after the first week of school I realized that it was a mistake!

In fact, the IEC courses are taught by teachers who are pretty unenthusiastic and speak English not as fluently as I would have expected, but the teachers I have in my regular courses are brilliant!

Not only do the regular courses allow you to meet Korean students, the course quality and professionalism of the professors is on a completely different level. If you are looking for some easy classes, IEC courses may be what you want, especially since the regular courses can be pretty challenging. One of my teachers from a regular course requires us to read about 200 pages each week. This sounds a lot, but if you’ve got the right study-techniques it’s manageable and the class is seriously soo much fun! So overall, I definitely recommend not to sign up for too man IEC courses but rather to chose the regular courses that will be taught in English.

Study in Korea…Must Do:

Must-Do:

Hike in Bukhansan National Park

About School…

SungKyunKwan University

About School…

I was really happy to be in the I-House for mainly one reason: It’s so close to campus. This means: less time and money for subway/bus/walking. I literally just need to step out of the door, walk a few meters down the street and one of SKKU’s smaller gate brings me straight onto campus. It takes maybe 5 minutes to get to the first building. From there, however, there are many more buildings up the hill, which is pretty steep. To get to the Law school building it could therefore take a little longer. But I personally like moving a bit, especially after sitting in class for a few hours!

 Beautiful, old walls surround the campus. Entering the campus area is particularly exciting: right behind the main gate is the historic campus, which is still well maintained. I believe that the buildings had to be reconstructed, but they still give us an idea how the Sungkyunkwan University from the 14th century might have looked like.

Walking up the hill brings you to the huge and modern buildings. On the campus you can find so many things, from cafés and several cafeterias to a post office, a hair salon, and internal bank branch. 

The Housing Situation:

SKKU offers three different housing options for international students in Seoul: 
The I-House 
Migaon Ville 
Koart Ville 

Each of them have there advantages and disadvantages: 

The I-House 
+closest to our campus--only 5 minutes away 
+no active curfew, because the code lets you in at all times 
+ping pong table in lobby 
-the kitchen is large, but pretty dirty and smelly, so I personally never cook there 
-the rooms are smaller than in the other dorms 
-the air-conditioning doesn't seem to work in some rooms 
-the heating system will only be turned on in November, so the rooms that don't get much sunlight are VERY cold in November 

Migaon-Ville 
+it's not as close as I-House, but also walking distance 
+students will share whole appartments with their own fridges and kitchen. The appartments can be huge and really nice! 
-there is a curfew, and only the guys have figured out a trick to open their door. Girls will either have to be back by 12 or come home after 5 in the morning 

Koart Ville 
+some of the rooms are bigger and much nicer than the ones in I-House. There are also fridges in the room. 
+the kitchen is nice and many students cook there, so it's a nice place to mingle 
+the are around koartville is great for shopping and there is a nice river that's perfect to go for a jog... 
-it's quite far away, 2 subway stations. Students will need about 30 min to get to school and off course its more expensive to always use the subway (SKKU will pay some of the money back if you apply for it) 
-there is also an active curfew (code not given to students), but you can open the door from inside (so you can always call a friend who stayed in) 

I live in I-House and I am personally very happy that I live in the dorm closest to campus. It saves me a lot of time. To be honest, the housing is nothing special, but certainly convenient and nice to meet many other students from all over the world. In the I-house we have one large kitchen, a ping pong table, a few computers, couches etc. The rooms are small and are always shared by two students. SKKU is very strict about separating genders, therefore each men and women have their rooms on separated floors. Bed, mattress, pillow, blanket, and covers are there already. However, the pillow wasn’t very comfortable, so I bought a new one with a cute pillow case. 

Even though the housing management officially says that there is a random lottery system for the rooms, we have a different theory. It seems as if not two people from the same country share the room, but nonetheless, all students from Europe have a roommate from another European country, while all students from Asia seem to be paired with other students from Asia. But as I said, this is just our theory!

Arrival in Korea…first impressions!

The Flight: 

My flight with Emirates was nice, but long. I flew from Frankfurt, stopped for a few hours in Dubai, and then took the plane to Incheon. Nonetheless, I recommend Emirates! The service was fantastic and the plane’s equipment was great. Besides 100s of channels for music, tv, movies, games etc., I thought it was really nice that the ceiling of the corridor was covered with little “star-sky” light when the normal lights were dimmed. In comparison to my previous experiences flying with American Airlines, United, Lufthansa, British Airways etc., this flight was much better in service and equipment. So if you fly to Korea, don’t hesitate to chose good airlines, like Asiana, Korean Air, or Emirates. In my case they were even among the cheapest airlines to fly to Incheon airport. 

Arrival: 

First impression at Incheon Airport? Live Opera… 


amazing! From the moment I landed, I couldn’t stop smiling… It felt so great and very exciting to be in this foreign country at the other end of the Eurasian continent. 

To be honest, until the moment I actually landed I was pretty critical, probably because I was nervous. I was scared that Korea would not be for me and I was afraid that this whole trip would be a mistake. But when the pick up service drove me through those tiny, little streets to bring me to my University I was excited as if it was Christmas. I have never seen a city that’s so full of life. The streets were narrow, but alongside the road were uncountable little stores, lights, and people. In fact, not only the first story of every house was “filled” with busines, but the stores and cafés were also in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th story of most buildings. Driving through this specific area, I told the friendly pick-up service driver that I definitely want to visit this great area. But little did I know, the next turn brought us up a quieter road and a minute later we stopped in front of the International Housing building (I-House). You can imagine how excited I was to find out that I would live and study right in this exciting neighborhood.

Football

Soccer is life here in Europe. Getting affordable tickets to watch good teams play is nearly impossible. Many soccer stadiums in England are much smaller than sports venues in the USA and most teams have a die hard following that buys up every ticket within a couple days of release. One can try a website like StubHub, but the prices tend to soar as individual tickets can cost upwards of $150. 

After struggling to find tickets for the first 2 months in London, my friends and I were finally able to secure tickets to see one of the best teams in London, Tottenham, play at home vs Hull City. 

The Tottenham Hotspur play about 12 miles away from my dorm room in central London. After a quick tube ride and a 25 minute walk, we made it to White Hart Lane just after kick off. The atmosphere was incredible, unlike anything I have seen in the USA. The whole stadium seemed to live and die with every kick of the ball. The entire stadium would join in in chants and songs, and when a goal was scored all 36,000 people in the sold out stadium went crazy. The game was tied at one, at the end of regulation so there was overtime. After each team scored one goal in overtime, the game went into penalty kicks where the Spurs ultimately won 9-8. 

All in all, it was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone traveling through London. Had I made a trip to White Hart Lane as a kid before Fenway Park, I probably would have played soccer at HPU rather than baseball. 

First view of White Hart Lane.

Corner kick.

We had decent seats for PK's.

Goal Spurs.

On the way back to my seat at halftime. 

Study Abroad in Haifa, Israel: First month overview

I made the decision to leave to Israel two days before my actual program with CIEE started, so i could meet up with family friends I have not seen in years. Upon my arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, I was greeted with a leap into a language I have grown up around but never actually understood. Aside from reading Hebrew prayers in synagogue and singing songs at the Shabbat table, my father speaks fluent Hebrew with his friends all the time. However he never thought to teach my brother, sister, and I. Thanks dad. This could have come in handy right now as I spend my year here. It was quite confusing since at this moment I was on my own with no one to actually translate to me where the airport coffee shop was to meet my family friends. When I finally found them an hour had passed and they weren't too happy. Guess I should have preordered my Israeli cell phone huh? Whoops. Anyway, the next two days instead of actually spending time with them I pretty much slept because of the awful jet lag. But nevertheless they were very nice about it and I will definitely make it up to them when I get the chance. Two days later I found myself back at the airport to meet the people who I would be spending most of the semester with. One by one a new exhausted face made their way off their flights and over to our meeting spot. Surprisingly, even though they all had just gotten off a long international flight, everyone was pretty bubbly for the most part. Once everyone was gathered together we made our way to our tiny bus covered in Israeli ads that would take us to our new home in Haifa. Having been to Israel once before I sort of knew what to expect from the landscape and cities. But it was very exciting to listen to the wonder and curiosity of my fellow group members. Other than myself, one other person in my group also had been to Israel before. So we both tried to give a bit of our input from what we both had previously seen. We slowly began winding our way up the side of a mountain, all of us anticipating the sight of the Haifa dorms. When we finally made it to the top we were greeted with what looked like a typical US college campus. We received our dorm assignments and we're sent on our way. The dorm is pretty decent, especially since the CIEE group was placed in the Talia dorms which are the "nicer" of the University of Haifa living facilities. Each dorm room has six separate bedrooms in it, with each room consisting of private bathrooms for each person. We all share a kitchen and a living area in each dorm too. Everyone in our CIEE group became good friends pretty quickly. We are all from different states and universities from around the US. The Haifa International School however, consists of students from all over the world. Students from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, as well as the US. In my dorm alone we are two Americans, one German, and three local Israelis. I think my favorite part about living in Haifa so far aside from the utter beauty of it, is the diversity of the people. I can actually say that I have not experienced any type of culture shock this last month, aside from language barriers. Life in Haifa and Israel seems very westernized and comfortable. I don't think it really hit me that I am in such a different place until I visited Jerusalem with the International School. Seeing the ancient architecture and the strong basis religion has on such a tiny country was peculiar but enticing. I definitely did not feel that way when visiting Tel Aviv, although I loved the city vibe it gives off. But being in a city that is considered so holy  and rich in history to many religions really gave me the sense of why this country is one of the most "talked about" issues in everyday news. I am looking forward to spending the weekend in Jerusalem with CIEE and experiencing more of what the city has to offer. This last weekend being spent in Tel Aviv was very cool. CIEE took us to see a live band called "Heartbeat" which works to bring together Israeli Jewish and Palestinian young adults to make music and discuss important issues. They were very cool, and had awesome voices. We also received a tour of an abandoned bus station in Tel Aviv which Not only has a very upbeat art scene, but is also a place where many refugees from Sudan and Darfur come to find work. The whole bus station not only turns into a daily market, but also consists of a church, a clinic, and the only Yiddish Museum in Israel. It was definitely an experience, and I am glad I got to see it. Anyway, that's all for now, Hebrew homework is calling my name! Shalom!