A week in KU's ISP

Hi Sharks, it's Tiffany again and let me speed run through what a week in the International Summer Program with Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea looks like. 

Here was the tentative schedule KU provided:

      

As you can tell, the schedule was packed for such a short stay. I initially thought that a month's stay was good enough for me but I quickly realized I NEEDED a full semester. Korea is the country I have always wanted to visit and what's crazy is that in 2021, I wrote that I plan to study abroad in Korea for a scholarship essay, and the fact that I did just that this past summer is actually unbelievable. It was mainly hopeful wishing because I did not think it was feasible, especially because of money. Manifestation at its finest 🤞🏽. But all it took was making an appointment with Melissa because she literally helped, supported, guided, answered, reassured, and everything in between me to make studying abroad possible. Shout out Melissa, everyone say thank you Melissa 🥹. Anyways, I digress.

From Incheon Airport, I took the airport shuttle to the school. The airport shuttle has multiple stops throughout Seoul and thankfully there was a stop near. I dragged my luggage up a hill to the girls' dormitory and got settled. I also used this day to buy necessities and explore a little. The next day was Orientation, which took the bulk of the day and I got to meet my buddy. Each student had a native student of the school, a buddy, to help us around KU and Seoul in general. That day, our buddies showed us some spots near the school. We went bowling, played board games, and ate sushi for dinner.

Next, we had a two-day field trip to Jeonju where we ate good food and played dress up.

Then the first class of the program came. I only took K-Psychology, which was three hours, and fortunately, it was in the morning so my afternoons were free. 

Next, Waterbomb!! Waterbomb is a popular music festival involving a lot of water to cool off 😎. I saw KISS OF LIFE, Lee Younji, Jay Park, Kwon Eunbi, and so many more artists! And I left drenched from head to toe.

Lastly, weekends were dedicated to me and my downtime 😌. 

The subsequent weeks followed this general format but were filled with different places, experiences, and food. I really liked how the field trips were educational and helped me learn about Korea's history. Now I feel smarter whenever I watch K-dramas and the Joseon Dynasty is mentioned. At the same time, they planned fun activities such as amusement parks like Lotte World and Everland, and a baseball game (Korea does not play when it comes to baseball - each player had their own chant and EVERYONE knew word for word). The food was amazing and cheap. Transportation was fairly easy to navigate but the apps they use are different, instead of Google Maps, use NAVER maps. The majority of the people were nice and knew some English; however, there was only one incident where I was refused service because I could not effectively communicate. To be honest, I understand. I only knew what Duolingo, K-dramas, and K-pop taught me, which are the basics. I believe when traveling international waters, it is important to know how to communicate the basics so you are not completely lost. But other than that, it was not too bad 😅. When in doubt, use Papago (the better version of Google Translate).

Although this jam-packed schedule felt hectic and tiring at times, I absolutely cherish my time there with all the memories I made and every person I met. Today, I still keep in touch with the group of friends I made (we bonded over our love for food - we would stay up into the AM at the campus's convenience store and big back (eat) EVERY NIGHT (not an exaggeration)) and even KU's Senior Associate of International Office, Lucky. 

Love Korea, love my big backs, love Lucky, love Melissa, and love me 😍.