Korea University, South Korea

It’s been two months since I’ve arrived in Seoul to study at Korea University and so far with partying, studying, and meeting new people from across the world, I’ve been enjoying every minute of it. Korea is such a beautiful place that’s always thriving, even though the early hours of the morning. It’s a perfect blend of fast, exciting technological developments and rich traditional history and culture.

One thing that surprised me is the structure of classes at Korea University differs from UTS. In Korea University, there is usually one set time and day when a specific class runs. Therefore you don’t really have control over your uni timetable, as opposed to UTS where they are usually tuts running in 2-hour increments a day for you to pick from. Most of my days started at 9 am or 10:15 am, of which I’ve learned to really not mind because it sets up the whole day for me to do things. And I’m glad so because there are so many things to do in Korea. It’s only been a month, but I’ve had many valuable experiences here. From exploring Korea’s history at the Bukchon Hanok Village, to looking at Seoul’s impressive landscape at the Seoul Tower, to exploring the nightlife in Hongdae, I don’t think I’ll be running out of things to do anytime soon.

Before coming here, I was told that the social life in Korea University is absolutely thriving and I am glad to say that I have not been let down. Korea University has a buddy association called KUBA which organises events and dinners from exchange students. They also assign students into a KUBA group of about 100 students (I’m in Group 3!), and then to a “buddy” who oversees about 10 students and is there to answer any enquires and become friendly with you! You shouldn’t be worried about not making friends as KUBA is huge (there are about 800+ students each semester) and so you’re bound to make at least a few friends. KUBA usually has a weekly lunch and dinner, and I’ve found that the dinners especially, fosters a great sense of community and friendship not only between exchange students but also students and buddies.

Aimi Vi Bui
Bachelor of Communication (Public Communication)
Korea University
South Korea

Australian Government New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant recipient.

For more information about the UTS Global Exchange program please visit: www.global-exchange.uts.edu.au