19 SEPTEMBER 2017 10:17 AM
N Seoul Tower (or Namsan Tower) is one of the trinity landmarks of Seoul. From the observatory deck, you'll get a panorama view of the entire city of Seoul. However, it is quite a trek getting to the place. You have two options to get to the tower:
When you find yourself at the base of the tower, you'll find five floors of never-ending shopping, dining, and activities to do while you wait for your turn to enter to the observatory deck (entry is 10,000 won) . It is a tradition for you to bring friends and a romantic partner to join a personal locket that represents an unbreakable bond. Most lockets are inscribed or engraved, others have pictures or stickers on them. RECOMMENDATION: As romantic as it sounds walking up; the congregation of blood thirsty mosquitos alongside the uneven terrain, well, it's worth it taking the cable car up. Also, give yourself some time to browse around the many gift shops in the tower and amazing food vendors there. Hours: 10:00 am to 11:00 pm | Friday - Saturday 10:00 am to Midnight
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18 SEPTEMBER 2017 11:50 PM
I’ve learned that creating just the slightest bit of familiarity in places allow for further personal connections to develop. So how do you make living in a foreign country feel like home?
Week 2 Traveling is something I am extremely confident in ever since I found an app that tells you exactly when and where you should go from your starting destination, to your ending destination. The app is called KakaoMetro,which is a blessing in disguise, especially for those who do not understand Korean. Another useful app is City mapper which is similar to google maps. For some odd reason google maps does not work in South Korea (trust me, I’ve been lost ever single time I’ve used google maps here). I decided to pamper myself since it was a stressful week. The average cost of getting a manicure is 50,000 won, however, in my case the owner was nice enough to give me a gel manicure for only 30,000 won! Contrary, I asked my Korean friends a hair salon that they’d recommend.They recommended Busker hair salon that's located in anam (by the university). For a top hair stylist, the price I paid for a haircut and a solid color dye came out to 112,000 won. Week 2 findings:
Week 3 The comfort of my fellow apartment-mates is paramount to my liberation. I noticed that we're all facing the same issues, regardless of familiarity towards one another and cultural barriers, we’ve become a family under one amity. We've created familiarity in the unfamiliar of which we now call home. Seoul. It’s week two of school and I am confident in navigating myself throughout campus. It took me three weeks to realize that the campus is actually divided in three different locations. Contrary to notion, KUBA holds weekly events and this past week was N Seoul Tower. Lots of shopping was done in Myeongdong, as I had to replenish on a bit of skin purging necessities. The weather here, is really disrupting my skin and because so, I decided to go to a spa. I went to Shangpree, a chic spa that is cherished by many beauty enthusiasts and Korean celebrities alike. When I found that Shangpree has been featured by Vogue, Forbes, and The New York Times, I knew this was the place. I received an S-Power Treatment that included a 40 minute facial of cleansing, hydrating, and an invigorating 50 minute body massage which included shoulders, chest, back, legs, arms, and feet (crazy isn’t it?). To ensure the best service, I believe I met six different esthetician who specialized in a particular area of care. For 130,000 won, it was worth the hour thirty minutes. Week three officially marks a month since my arrival in Seoul and here are some new findings:
Hope this was insightful! Cheers, Cindy 7 SEPTEMBER 2017 1:17PM
Korea University is acknowledged as one of South Korea’s oldest, largest and top-ranked universities in the country. Being a major comprehensive university, I enrolled myself into their Business School that holds a reputation for quality and excellence in teaching. For instance, executive team members amongst the top 500 companies in the country were asked to provide their education background, the findings? Korea University Business School had the largest percentile of alumni's amongst other private universities in South Korea. Contrary, the campus is home to more than 35,000 international students, and this years enrollment for the Fall 2017 semester welcomed 850~ students from 82 different countries. Though, what stood out to me the most was KU's campus. On one end you’ll witness the not so pretty aspects of the campus that appears to be as a long-term construction site. Whilst the other end you’ll see timeless stone architecture, withering historical buildings, and sculptures proudly donated by proud alumni. The greatest finding was realizing that my accommodation is a three minute walk from the front gate of my school. Now I have one less thing to worry about. KUBA (Korea University Buddy Assistants): Orientation day featured a lengthy welcoming speech, lunch in the universities cafeteria, and a tour around campus. KUBA is a buddy matching program that connects exchange students with a KU domestic student to help and guide them during their stay in South Korea. Everyone is divided into ten groups of 80 students and you will have activities and outings with this group until the end of the semester. This semester I am in Group 1, also known as WANNA-ONE. Truthfully, I had no idea what WANNA-ONE was, but I've learned that it is a popular Korean boy band with 11 "star" members. KUBS (Korea University Business School): Fairly similar to a KUBA buddy, KUBS is dedicated entirely to incoming business exchange student. It was incredibly expedient being paired with a student who has an all-inclusive insight to the business school. Contrary, KUBS has a separate itinerary throughout the semester that features activates and networking opportunities for business exchange students. KUBA GROUP 1 | WANNA - ONE First Week of SchoolHonestly, it was stressful. Korea University has a participation restriction for exchange students. Every course has a 15% cap seating for exchange students. In this case, getting into a class, especially a business course is incredibly difficult. This past week was add/drop week, and thankfully, I got into every one of my waitlisted courses! The Global Student Services Center was so attentive throughout the past week, especially the first morning where a line of 300+ students started to form at 5:00AM all in hopes to get into the classes they wanted. The center opened at 9:30AM, and I finally made it to the list around 11:38AM. On another note, I get to move into the largest room that Crimson (My accommodation) offers which is a type D room. I currently live in a type C room. I made a promise with the manager that I will tutor her daughter english for an hour every week and she offered the same price that I currently pay for the room upgrade. As of now I pay 560,000 won for a room that is 880,000 won! ILLUSTRATIONS BY LEE YONG HWANG
29 AUGUST 2017 1:53 AM
Introduction | When I was a a toddler, I would see frightening things on the tele. My mum would tell me "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping". To this day, I find comfort in realizing that there are so many helpers -- so many caring people in this world. Truthfully this will be the first time that I will be traveling by myself with no one to guide me but myself. It was bittersweet in a sense that I was excited to travel and immerse myself into a country of my unknown knowledge. It was overwhelming as I moved away from my support system; my dearest friends and family. I studied a bit of Korean before my flight, however, anxiety immediately hit me when I landed in Incheon. But before all else, Korea tested my utmost limits, it truly did. So lets begin from the start shall we? (If you want to hear about my struggle, it starts at Landing) On the day of my flight, I received an email from Korean Airlines delaying my flight for five hours. Yes, five hours. My initial time of 11:15 AM was moved to 4:15PM. Immediately, I panicked. This pushed my landing time of 5:15 PM to 10:15 PM in Korea. This means that the shuttle service that Korea University offered to students, will not apply for me as their last pickup service is at 11:00 PM, specifically for those who are landing before 10:15 PM. The airline apologized and provided me with a voucher of $25 to spend inside the terminal. Challenge one, accepted. Well as I thought so. With a jarring 10 hour flight, Korea Airlines had an extensive range of provided amenities which helped out flyers kill time in no time. Here are some of the inflight services that they provided:
Landing | I landed at 10:38 PM and going through immigration + baggage claim was the incredibly quick. As for customs, they provide a sheet to fill out thirty minutes before boarding off the plane. I immediately called my friend Erina who attended KU last semester and asked her what she did to get to her accommodation. There were options:
Getting to my accommodation | I was told by the front desk to get off the Mariott hotel stop and then take a taxi from there. I boarded the limousine around 11:10 PM and was told that the ride would take a little over three hours. Being exhausted as I was I sat in a nearly empty shuttle. I received a phone call in Korean and decided to accept the call. It was my landlord who knew little to no English. She asked me where I was and I told her I am on my way by limousine. She said that I could pay for my rent tomorrow and to get to the accommodation safely as it was late. Around 1:00 AM the driver told us "Hyatt Hotel" and I asked him if the Mariott stop was near. He replied to me in Korean "This bus does not stop at the Mariott Hotel". I took a picture of the bus number and the stops they had, and showed him that it did have a Mariott Hotel stop. He shoved my phone away and said " I will not drive there and the last stop is Hyatt Hotel". An American man noticed my situation and peered over looking at my phone and noticed that there was indeed a Mariott stop. The stranger told me to get off the Hyatt stop with him and said that drivers do not get paid overtime. This was understandable and I listened. We left the bus to grab our luggage's. The stranger asked me why I was traveling by myself this late and I explained to him my flight being delayed and my stay as an exchange student. Before all else, the stranger asked the bellman to flag down a taxi and translate my destination for me from the hotel so I could get to my accommodation. The stranger expressed that he has three daughters and would be incredibly worried if one of his daughters would be lost in a country she hasn’t been in. We both waited for a taxi at the front of the hotel. As my taxi was flagged down, and my luggage's were packed in the back of the car, I thanked him, but he told me to wait. He reached into his bag and said "If you ever get lost, and you don't know where you are, contact me, and dial 001, and my number is here". He handed me his business card. I was dumfounded as I read, Robert, corporate president of a tech company. I wanted to cry as I would been lost if he was not on the shuttle with me. He waited for me until I got into the taxi and waved off as I left. During my ride, I was again tested. The taxi man asked me in Korean "Where are you from", I said "Hawaii". He asked me what was the length of my stay and I said that I was a student for a semester. He hushed me and said in English "If you do not know Korean, stay out of Korea or do something about". I got scared. Nevertheless, I was nice to him and said I am studying Korean. However, we went into what was once started as a difficult conversation to a somewhat friendlier one. My ride by taxi took a little over an hour. The taxi man said that he will not charge me the late night fee and to study hard in Korea. These spur of the moment pressures, well, you can see how stressed I was throughout my time since landing. I'd be lying if I said Korea has made me speechless. When the truth and reality makes the tongue so weak, it forgets what language to speak in. It was 2:38 AM, and I have finally made it to my accommodation, Crimson House. coda: I hope you are proud of yourself, especially during circumstances where you said "yes", when it meant extra work for you, and genuine support only to someone else. 25 AUGUST 2017 3:28 PM
The Business School is incredibly attentive as they reply and send emails frequently to inform business students. The main reason why I signed up for KU was because of their Buddy system. Every international student is assigned a buddy who helps them during their stay in Korea. In this case, I had two buddies, one from Korea University, and one from the Business School. Their emails included pre-arrival check lists and arrival checklists. The school will send you an email providing the things you would need before arrival: 1 ) Visa: You would need to go to the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea. On the bright side, there is no need to wait to get a visa, as long you have the required documents, you can go directly there without an appointment to get your VISA. Here are the the general requirements for VISA Application: You will not receive your VISA until a few days, they will provide you a tentative date for pickup
2 ) Housing: I did not make it into the dorms so I was resorted to find my own accommodation, fortunately, I found a place five minutes away from the universities front gate by foot! The place that I am staying at is called "Crimson House". 3 ) Korea University Health Clearance form: This is to ensure the school that you have received all of your TB tests within three months before arrival and will be filled out by your doctor. 4 ) Flight: I would suggest you to look into dates upon arrival as soon as the school releases the tentative date for orientation. To prevent the mistake I have done, it is best to arrive at least a few days before orientation to familiarize yourself to South Korea. 5 ) Class Registration: The Business School will send a few reminders of course registration. There is a timetable that changes semesterly. In my case, I would have to sign up on August 16 (Wed) 10:00 AM - August 17 (Thu) 9:00 AM (Korea time). The school will provide further instructions on how to sign up in detail. Before the day of course registration, the system allows students to prepare a "preferred course list" that you can utilize to form a schedule that will have classes that will not overlap. Thankfully I have gotten into all of my classes without having to get on the waitlist. If you confused with which courses to take, definitely take reference of Korea University Course Equivalencies in order to know whether or not your credits will transfer back as the right classes. Contrary here is a visual of the courses that I am taking this semester : 6) Alien registration card : This is mandatory for all students who are staying in South Korea four months and on. Right when you board off the plane, your passport will notify the government when you have landed. After two period days of landing, you are permitted to create an appointment to create an Alien registration card. More details will be sent through Korea University !
First and foremost, explore your destined country’s partnered schools and create a list of your favored universities. A few things that I kept in mind while selecting a school were location, class offerings, and semester dates (when the semester will begin and end). If you are interested in studying abroad, UH Manoa has two programs that students can choose from:
Applying to Manoa International Exchange (MIX) :
Personally, I went with the MIX since the program permits more flexibility with my options while abroad. Things to keep in mind while applying: MIX has a priority deadline and the application takes 1-3 hours to complete. Secondly, you should have a valid passport on hand. The application will also ask for your top five schools. Keep in mind that you should have researched your schools beforehand since it is set and stone. Students who turn in their application during the priority deadline are more likely to be selected into their desired school. If you ever feel lost and confused with selecting a school, Rikki Mitsunaga at the College’s Office of Student Academic Services (OSAS) can guide and assist you in matching schools to your academic path. Here’s another tip: if you want to meet up with Rikki, it’s best to book an appointment with her a month beforehand, her availability is very slim to none for last minute openings. Contrary, if you have any questions in respect to the MIX Application, you can visit their office in QLC 206. The application will ask a few short answer questions and a statement of purpose. After submitting your MIX Application, you will receive a nomination email which will entail proceeding steps for the application process. In addition, there will be a mandatory meeting for all students who study abroad through the MIX Program, so don't forget! Over the course of time you will receive an email by your selected University (in this case Korea University Business School) enclosing another application that will officially permit your acceptance into the University! Dear Mr. Graeme Freeman and the Freeman Foundation,
I am writing to express my sincerest gratitude for being selected as one of the recipients for the 2017-2018 Freeman Scholarship cohort. I am deeply honored to be selected as an applicant for this upcoming Fall 2017 semester. Your generous support will allow me to focus on my learning during my study abroad journey at Korea University Business School in Seoul, South Korea. Before all else, I would love to introduce myself to you in all openness. My name is Cindy Phong, and I am a Junior at the Shidler College of Business. Contrary, you may ask me why I have chosen that particular school and location. Korea University stood out to me because of how centralized it is in the city. Nevertheless, Seoul's cultural interaction is a mixture of old culture and new. Professionally, studying abroad while pursuing a degree in Finance and International Business will allow me to grow in many ways. Dealing with another culture enables ones understanding through becoming more profound in their own culture. Creativity level increases, curiosity grows, but more importantly, communications skills become even more fluid as your knowledge opens to the manners and acceptable practices of a new culture. Once again, Thank you for your generous donation. It was an absolute honor meeting you and your family in person! Truly, your scholarship has given me so much financial and emotional support. Nevertheless, I look forward to sharing my journey with you in Seoul, South Korea. Warmest regards, Cindy Phong |
AuthorCindy is an epicurist, a food photographer, and a self-proclaimed creative writer. When Cindy isn't studying at Korea University Business School (2017), she can be found in cafes, asking random seoulites for directions, or singing at noraebangs (korean karaoke). Archives
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