안녕하세요! (Hello! in Korean)

My name is Kevin Chu, and I am a third-year student, currently undertaking a double degree in a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Science in IT. Truthfully, I didn’t even think to go on exchange until my sister had told me about her experience one day and thankfully, this semester (2022 Spring for UTS or 2022 Autumn for KU) restrictions were eased and I’m in Korea as you might’ve guessed.

Subjects
Doing a double degree meant that I had to do all direct equivalents for my credits and whilst this isn’t bad, this meant I did not have any free electives which could be used for language courses, but Korean is not needed for classes as they are taught in English. Subjects are taught twice-a-week with Monday/Wednesday paired together and Tuesday/Thursday paired. In terms of teaching style, I would say its different in that its not split into lectures and tutorials and rather you practice and discuss the content you learn as you go, but at the end of the day you still need to practice outside of class hours. The big difference I would say is the assignments and overall grading. UTS likes to have an assignment one, a group project and then a final exam. At Korea University, there are just more tasks with lower weighting, usually an attendance/participation mark, a few home-works, a mid-term, one or two group-projects and a final exam.

University Lifestyle
It has already been one month since I arrived and yet I feel like I have still so much to explore. Just walking around the campus is somewhat motivating to me although that might be because I entered university during the COVID era which meant I had a total of three in-person subjects over two-and-a-half year, so campus life was near non-existent. Anyways, around the campus there are plenty of food options to keep you satisfied, that are cheaper than eating out around UTS. In fact, eating out can cost more-or-less the same as trying to make meals from scratch here especially when you factor convenience. This is particularly true for eating-out Korean foods and trying to make western foods.

Korea University Buddy Assistants (KUBA) are Korean students that can speak English and are a huge part of university lifestyle. They can be your translator, helper, lifesaver but most importantly they are your friends from the get-go. They will setup fun events and weekly get-togethers where you will meet new people from around the world, explore Seoul, eat tasty food, and probably end the night drinking 😊.

There is a lot to do in Seoul whether it be sight-seeing, café hopping, shopping, partying or just wanting to enjoy food. Just research a little and you will not be disappointed.

Bingsu (Shaved Ice) and Mul Naengmyeon (Cold Noodles)

Accommodation

Luckily, I had a friend who was also going on exchange, so I ended up in an Airbnb, which is definitely more expensive than living on-campus however, I’m not a fan of needing to share basics like a fridge and cooking utensils with everybody else in the building. That being said, the dorms are an easy way to create new friends and ideally you aren’t spending much time indoors anyways!

Tips

• Make sure you have backup subjects because they can be competitive to get into especially Business where classes filled up in less than two minutes
• Apply for ARC appointment early before orientation for after orientation as it is the main identity verification used for online services (e.g., food delivery)
• Get a T-Money card at the airport/nearest convenience store (opal card equivalent)
• Learn the alphabet so you can read at the very least (lots of English words are transliterated e.g., ice-cream = 아이스크림 = a-i-seu-keu-rim
• Be open to trying new foods
• Be respectful

Anyways, that’s it from me. I hope you find the opportunity to go exchange as it is a truly fun experience and still counts to your degree! It doesn’t have to be South Korea, but it is really nice here.

Kevin Chu

Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Science in IT

Global Exchange Student at Korea University, South Korea

New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant Recipient