Midterm Travels (part 1)

So recently we had midterms week here at Yonsei. Last semester I had midterms throughout the whole week, so I didn't really get a chance to do anything. However, this semester I finished on the first day of midterm exams!! Two of my classes decided to have our midterms the week before the scheduled exam time period, one midterm was a take home exam, and I had one midterm on the Monday of midterms week. So this gave me a good opportunity to travel. Since it's spring here in Korea, it's a great chance to see a lot of pretty flowers!

A friend and I made a day trip to Pocheon Herb Island (포천 허브아일랜드). From Yonsei, it took a little more than an hour and a half by subway and bus to get there. You kinda have to be aware when taking the subway. You need to take the green line (line 2) and transfer to the dark blue line (line 1) and take it all the way to the last stop. The blue line was a little strange though because there were about 2-3 times where it stopped and we had to get off and transfer onto another train that was on the same line and going in the same direction. (The website that I linked above should give you more directions on how to get there.)

The place was so beautiful!! It was also very empty...possibly because it was the middle of a school day during midterms week. We went on April 23 and it just happened to be the last day of the lights festival (불빛동화추제), so it was very pretty at night as well.

Also make sure to try the yummy food there!! They have things like herb bibimbap and herb tofu salad. Korea is known for a red pepper paste called gochujang (고추장) and the restaurant that makes the herb bibimbap sells a special herb version that you can buy. They said it should last 4 months in the refrigerator, so I'm hoping it'll last so I can give it to my mom this summer!! :)
You can also check out their bread store for more herby foods!

Korean Manners

Hey everyone! Today I’ll go over some of the dos and don’ts in Korea. It’s very important to be respectful to others, even though they might not always give you the same respect back. It’ll give us foreigners a better image and you can impress Koreans with how much you know about their culture.

1. Age. Respect your elders. Some of them may be really pushy in the streets and on public transportation, but try to just let it go.
2. Age. It isn’t necessarily rude to ask someone their age, however, you don’t really need to ask if the other person is obviously older or obviously younger than you are. Usually people ask how old you are in order to figure out how they should treat you.
3. Greetings. Koreans usually bow when they meet people, but I think they are starting to get more used to handshakes too. If you bow, you’re probably not expected to do like a 90 degree formal bow. A 45 degree bow will probably suffice. If you do a handshake, it is more polite to place your left hand below your right elbow, or at the right side of your body almost below your right armpit.
4. Receiving/Giving Something. If someone hands you something (i.e. a business card) or you are giving something (i.e. cash/card when shopping), it is polite to do so with both hands or something similar to the gesture I mentioned in the greetings section.
5. Tips. You don’t need to tip in Korea! Places that are more used to dealing with foreigners may welcome tips, but I heard that some people consider it rude. I think they seem to appreciate people coming back multiple times instead.
6. Restaurants. Don’t get upset if your waiter/waitress doesn’t come to your table to check on you or ask if you need anything (remember, they’re not working for tips). If you want a someone to come to you, you have to call them over. Look for a little doorbell-like button on your table and push that. If there’s no button, then you’re gonna have to call them over. Yell (and I mean YELL) “yo-gi-o”, which means “over here”. If you’re uncomfortable with yelling, then you can wait for someone to make eye contact and then kinda raise your hand (but getting eye contact may take a long time).
7. Doors. It isn’t expected for you to hold doors open for strangers. In fact, it actually seems kinda weird if you do.
8. Recycling. Korea is very good about separating their recycling. Unfortunately, if you cannot read Korean, this can be especially confusing sometimes. Just try to follow what everyone else is doing.
9. Escalators. If you’re gonna just stand on the escalator, stay on the right side and let people pass on the left side.
10. Subways. At either end of each cart, there is a space for elderly, disabled, and pregnant women (you can tell because of the little picture signs). DO NOT sit there, you will get dirty looks and some people may yell at you!!
11. Subways. When waiting for the subway to arrive, you’ll see triangles on the ground in front of each door. You’ll notice that the triangle in the middle will point away from the subway because people getting off will usually exit in the middle. On the sides, the triangles will face towards the subway. So, you should line up on the sides where these triangles are and enter through those sides.
12. Public Transportation. While riding subways and buses, try not to talk too loud. This can be difficult when traveling in large groups, but try to resist if possible. Again, you will probably get dirty looks and there is a chance that someone may yell at you.
13. Hailing a Taxi. When trying to flag a taxi down, don’t do the ‘come here’ motion with your palms facing up (sorry…I’m not too sure how to describe that gesture, but I think you can kinda understand what I mean). Stick your hand out, palm facing down, and call them over that way (kinda like a wave to the ground I guess). This also goes for calling people over in general. I heard that calling someone over with your palm facing up is very rude and is a gesture that is more reserved for animals.
14. Drinking. Drinking is a major part of Korean culture. Koreans drink with friends, classmates, colleagues, bosses, etc. First off, you should never pour your own drink. If someone pours you a drink, then it might be good to also offer to pour him or her a drink. If the person is older or a higher ranking person, then you should receive a drink with both hands as well as pour his or her drink with both hands (or similar to the handshake gesture I tried to describe above).
15. Drinking. The eldest or highest ranking person usually drinks first. If this isn’t you, then wait your turn and when you do drink, you should turn away from them and drink (you don’t have to move your whole body, just kinda shift your upper body away). If you clink glasses (or conbae, in Korean), then make sure your glass isn’t above the other person’s glass. So, if they outrank you, the bottom of your glass shouldn’t clink with the top of their glass. Try to make it level or a little below their glass, just to be safe.

I’m sure there’s a lot more that I’m forgetting, but I just went over some of the more common things. Hope this was helpful!

Cell Phones in Korea

As the title suggests, today I’ll be talking about getting a cell phone in Korea! First you have to choose whether you want a smartphone or a non-smartphone. If you decide to get a non-smartphone, it’d be good to have something like an iPod or something that allows you use wifi and apps like KakaoTalk (a very popular messaging app in Korea). Wifi is available almost everywhere in Seoul, however, you have to pay or have a phone plan to access most of it. Also, you can only sign up for an actual phone plan if you have your ARC (Alien Registration Card) or if you know someone who is willing to sign you onto his or her plan. I mostly texted and really didn’t make too many phone calls, so I was fine with just a pre-paid phone. I only used about 35,000 won (about $35 USD) in four months.

If you have any old cell phones at home or if you can unlock your current phone, then I suggest you do so and bring that (FYI: AT&T will unlock for you as long as you meet certain criteria, so check the website and try to unlock BEFORE you come to Korea). It costs maybe about 50,000 won (approximately $50 USD) to buy a non-smartphone here. Unless you’re staying here for at least a year, then I wouldn’t suggest purchasing a smartphone here. From what I’ve heard, most smartphone users pay about 70,000 won/month if they have a two-year plan. From what I understand, this includes things like calling, texting, data, and access to your company’s wifi located all throughout Korea (sorry, I don’t know how much calling, texting, and data, but everyone I asked tells me that it’s more than enough for them), as well as the price of the cell phone. So…I guess the cell phone price is kind of paid in monthly installments. This would mean that if you’re here for only one year instead of two, then your price might be almost doubled. Honestly, I’m not too sure how everything works and everyone seems to say something different, but this was how it was explained to me. I heard that it’s also possible to take over someone’s abandoned plan instead, but I’m not too sure about that. Cell phone companies want to have customers who will keep coming back, so it seems really difficult to have short-term plans.

Costs for pre-paid plan

SIM Card: 5,000 won (approximately $5 USD)

Voice calling: 4.8 won/sec

Text: 22 won/text

Data: 0.28 won/0.5 kb (1MB costs 600 won)

All incoming texts and calls are free!

Data Alternatives

• Olleh wifi is found almost everywhere and I think you can also pay about 10,000 won/month for unlimited access.
• There’s also something called an ‘egg’. I’ve heard it called the ‘Olleh egg’, so I’m not sure if it’s exclusively at Olleh stores. I think it’s kind of like a hotspot that you can hook up a few devices (i.e. cell phone, laptop, etc.) for internet. I believe you have to buy the device and pay about 10,000 won/month, but this might also depend on how long your plan lasts.

There are plenty of cell phone stores all around Seoul, but if you don’t have a Korean friend to translate for you, then the closest global Olleh store to Yonsei with English-speaking employees is in Hongdae. You can take the green subway line (line 2) and it should be right in front of exit 9. Just enter the store, go upstairs, and then take a number from the machine. Also, remember that they’re closed on weekends!

Sorry this entry was filled with so much uncertainty! It really seems like everyone has different experiences with buying a cell phone in Korea and getting a plan. Even my friends who went to the same store had slightly different experiences. Anyway, I hope this was helpful for just letting you know what some of your options are!

End of 1st Semester

So it's actually been a while since the end of the first semester. Sorry I've been gone for so long! Final exams actually ended on December 21st, which I believe was a week after UHM actually finished. Exams were definitely different than what I had expected them to be. I guess I got used to having exams being broken down into multiple midterms throughout the semester. From my experience at Yonsei, the midterms cover a much broader range because there is only one midterm and one exam. It also seems fairly common for professors here to give 3-4 short answer questions for their exams. Throughout the semester I was very worried about how my grades would turn out. I honestly didn't do very well on my midterm exams, but there were a lot of other people struggling too. There's actually a huge curve at the end of the semester. Someone in our class said that most professors pass about 80% of the class.
Professors gave us the percentage weights of things like participation, exams, and homework, but many didn't tell us what they expected from us. Other than topic, font size, and spacing, they gave almost no instructions for how to write our papers or make our presentations. I guess we had a lot of freedom to choose.
Note: Koreans seem to LOVE fancy presentations (i.e. colorful, animated, and very clustered presentations). Back home we were taught that we shouldn't have too much text on powerpoint slides, but they don't seem to mind huge blocks of text here either.

Yonsei University

Facebook
One thing that you should do before getting here is to check out different Yonsei Facebook pages (i.e. clubs you're interested in joining, the dorm page, and someone will probably make a page for the year that you're studying abroad). It's very helpful for finding information and asking questions.

Travel
Once you get here, you're gonna need a T Money card for traveling (I've also seen it sold as a cell phone strap or you can connect it to your Korean bank card, but that's kinda complicated). You can buy this at any convenience store or I got mine at the information/help booth in the subway. You can put money on this card at the convenience store or there are machines at every subway station.

Food
Yonsei doesn't have a meal plan, but there are a lot of places to eat on campus. There's a convenience store, a cafeteria, and a few small restaurants in the basement of the SK Global House. There are also a lot of restaurants around the east and west gates as well (the international dorms are located near the east gate). It seems like you can buy food in the basement of almost every building on campus, including the library. Cafeterias are pretty efficient. You usually pay in one place and receive a number, then go to that station and wait for your number to light up and you can take your food (don't forget to grab a tray with utensils and side dishes!!).


Overall, I really enjoyed Korea and Yonsei. I'm definitely glad that I decided to stay here for a year. Although I miss Hawaii, I decided not to go home over winter break, even though it's over 2 months long. It's a great chance to immerse myself into Korean culture. Thanks again to Mr. Freeman and Mrs. Freeman for this amazing experience!

View from SK Global <3

Education in Korea

So today I will be comparing the differences between Yonsei University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM).

Similar to UHM, students at Yonsei register for classes online. I mentioned in an earlier post that English-taught business classes are especially competitive to register for (only 5 seats reserved for exchange students!!). If you don’t get the classes you want during the registration period, try to email the professor(s) and/or go to the first week of classes. Some people drop classes and many professors will allow more than 5 exchange students, so you can register for them during the next registration period. You may want to carefully read the syllabus and email the professor beforehand, regardless of whether you are able to register or not. I’ve heard that some professors may teach in English, but the homework is done in Korean, or vice versa.

Many classes in the US have multiple “midterms”. For example, I may take 5 courses and each course has 2-4 midterm exams spread throughout the semester. So sometimes I end up having a midterm exam almost every other week. However, in Korea, there is one week set aside specifically for midterms (no classes!). The downside to this is that each exam is worth a huge chunk of your grade. At UHM each exam was typically worth 15-30% of my grade, but here, each of my exams fall between 30-40% of my overall grade. In my opinion, exams are a little more difficult here because each exam covers more information. However, people in other classes have said that their exams were easier because some professors take into consideration the difficulty that native Koreans have with taking an English course.

Instead of regular homework assignments, the rest of my grades are usually determined by participation, papers, or presentations. All of my teachers check attendance and attendance/participation is usually worth around 10%. There are also a lot more group projects and papers here at Yonsei and I think it has something to do with Korea’s collective culture. Professors really want us to work together and will usually try to mix native Korean students and international students into each group. I also noticed that some professors would pick the group leaders rather than letting the group decide. Korea also has a vertical structure hierarchy, so the group leader is usually either the eldest person or the person who has been at Yonsei the longest.

UHM uses an online system called Laulima, in which students can check their grades, send/receive messages, download Powerpoints that professors post, etc. Yonsei has something similar called YSCEC (http://yscec.yonsei.ac.kr/en/). Check this site out before the first day of class because some professors may go over some material that’s posted there.

Most of my teachers studied in America at some point, so their English is understandable. With the exception of a few words, their pronunciation is pretty good. However, most of them have a hard time giving explanations of more difficult concepts. I strongly recommend that you try to read before class so you can understand their examples during the lecture.

I hope this was informative! Just remember that most of what I said was based on my own personal experiences. Each professor is different, so they may not follow the same format. I have friends with professors who still held classes during midterms week and some who decided to have their midterm either the week before or the week after the scheduled midterms week.

Yonsei Pride

Earlier I mentioned something about 연고전 (Yonko games). So every September there is a huge two-day competition between Yonsei University and Korea University, but it's also supposed to be about good sportsmanship and friendship too. It's a really big deal and some professors even cancel class because they know that everyone will be going to the games. They play a total of 5 sports: baseball, basketball, ice hockey, rugby, and soccer. However, everyone in the audience doesn't seem to really pay attention to the games. Everyone just does nonstop cheering for the ENTIRE time! I have no idea how the players are even able to concentrate. It's a lot of fun though and you get a chance to bond with other students. 

On the last day of the competition, f(x) came to perform at Yonsei and everyone celebrated all night. Unfortunately, I missed out. But I had a good reason!!

My friends and I went to a SISTAR concert later that night. If you have the chance to go to an actual K-Pop concert, I definitely recommend that you do! They really put a lot of effort into making their concerts fun and do performances that you can't see anywhere else. They even sang songs by Madonna, Beyonce, 2PM, and Big Bang!

First Week of School

So it’s been a few weeks since I moved to Korea and I’ve been having so much fun exploring and meeting new people. I’m now living in a dorm at 연세대학교 (Yonsei University) called SK Global House. Fortunately, I ended up with a Korean roommate. Although she grew up in Argentina and doesn’t know Korea very well, it is extremely helpful to have someone who can explain what things mean. She speaks fluent Spanish and Korean, and even learned English through watching TV! How cool is that? I wish I could speak Korean as well as she speaks English by watching Korean dramas all day. J

The weather has cooled down a bit, so walking is more bearable. Most people here do a LOT of walking. There are many hills here, so we get some good exercise just walking to class or out around 신촌 (Sinchon) area to shop or get food. If you like shopping, then there are a lot of good shopping areas that are mostly outdoors. My friends and I like the ones around 이대 (Ewha Womans University), 홍대 (Hongdae), and 명동 (Myeongdong).

This was my first week of school too. I have a Korean through Ethnography class that seems interesting. The class is made up entirely of other foreign exchange students from all over the world. As for my business classes, they have mostly Korean national students in them. I heard that Korean students are required to take a class in English, so hopefully I get a chance to practice some Korean!

Our school has been getting ready for something called the 연고전 (Yonko games). 연세대학교 and 고려대학교 (Korea University) are rival schools and every fall semester they have a big competition and play games, such as basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. It’s coming up soon, so we just had a cheer orientation. We learned a lot of the cheers and saw video clips of previous games. These students are so passionate and proud to be here, so it’s cool to see everyone get together and show their spirit. I’ll let you know how they go!